ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE Organizational Culture and Leadership, 3rd Edition

DEEPER CULTURAL ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT REALITY AND TRUTH 145managers in different countries tended to be either pragmatic, seekingvalidation in their own experience, or moralistic, seeking validationin a general philosophy, moral system, or tradition. For example,he found that Europeans tended to be more moralistic, whereasAmericans tended to be more pragmatic. If we apply this dimensionto the basic underlying assumptions that a group makes, we can specifydifferent bases for defining what is true, as shown in Table 7.1.This dimension not only highlights the basis on which truth isdetermined but also can be related to uncertainty avoidance, a majordimension derived in Hofstede’s survey-based cross-national study,and tolerance for ambiguity, an important dimension that has comeout of post-World War II research (Hofstede, 2001; Adorno and others,1950). Managers and employees in different countries and in differentcompanies vary in the degree to which they share a certainlevel of comfort with varying degrees of uncertainty and ambiguity.Some researchers argue that higher tolerance levels in certain managerialareas are associated with more effectiveness (Davis andDavidson, 1991; Pascale and Athos, 1981; Peters, 1987), but thoseresults may themselves apply only in broader cultural contexts thatare more tolerant of and even value ambiguity. Analysts concernedabout planning for and adapting to an uncertain and uncontrollablefuture would argue that as environments become more turbulent,the ability to tolerate uncertainty becomes more necessary for survivaland learning, suggesting that organizational and national culturesthat can embrace uncertainty more easily will be inherentlymore adaptive (Michael, 1985).For the purpose of this analysis, one needs to determine whetheror not there is consensus on the underlying assumptions held by themembers of a group. If such consensus does not exist, the collectionof people will not evolve as a group in the first place.This discussion can be summarized best by showing how it appliesto our two organizations. DEC had both high consensus thatreality was defined by pragmatic criteria and debate, and a very hightolerance of ambiguity. In my consultation work with DEC, forinstance, I was never asked for a recommendation. If I gave one, it