ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE Organizational Culture and Leadership, 3rd Edition

HUMAN NATURE, ACTIVITY, AND RELATIONSHIPS 179widely shared, we speak of anarchy and anomie. Whereas the previousassumption areas deal with the group’s relationship to the externalenvironment, this set of assumptions deals more with thenature of the group itself and the kind of internal environment itcreates for its members. Here we proceed with a more general analysisof what was covered in Chapter Four as the issues groups facewhen a culture first emerges and the internal integration problemsthat were reviewed in Chapter Six.What Problems Must be Resolved?Assumptions about relationships must solve four basic problems foreach member:1. Identity and Role—Who am I supposed to be in this groupand what will be my role?2. Power and Influence—Will my needs for influence and controlbe met?3. Needs and Goals—Will the group’s goals allow me to meetmy own needs?4. Acceptance and Intimacy—Will I be accepted, respected,and loved in this group? How close will our relationships be?Every group, organization, and society will develop different solutionsto each of these problem areas, but some kind of solution mustbe found for people to get past self-oriented defensive behavior andbe able to function in the group. How this process works out in a newgroup was illustrated in Chapter Four. In organizations we have toassume that sometime early in their history the group learned certainways of relating that worked and hence became the norm. For example,at DEC you were supposed to develop and push your ownidentity and formulate your own role. Power and influence were tobe perpetually negotiated rather than being fixed in any positions.The open climate encouraged employees to define their jobs in such