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128 culture, corporate
overall culture, there are usually subcultures. For
example, marketing and accounts personnel may
have different subcultures due to the differences in
the nature of their work and environment. The
conflicts which sometimes arise among departments
can be attributed to such differences. In a
similar but broader vein there is a hotel culture,
which in turn takes a different hold when the
corporate culture of the Hilton chain is compared
to that of Sheraton. Similarly, airlines still have a
different corporate culture; that of TWA and
Singapore airlines are not the same.
Researchers agree that corporate culture operates
at three levels of varying visibility. The first
level includes audible and visible patterns of
behaviour, technology and art. The second level
includes the individuals' values. At the third level
are the basic ideas and assumptions of individuals
that affect their behaviour �Schein 1981). Since
most such ideas, assumptions and values are
difficult to articulate, corporate culture can mostly
be inferred by studying such external manifestations
as shared things, sayings, activities and
feelings.
Culture has several components: beliefs, expectations
and shared values, which together drive the
organisation towards its goals; heroes and heroines
who serve as role models and external symbols;
myths and stories about key people and incidents;
rituals and ceremonies that bond the organisation's
members; and the physical arrangements of
buildings, spaces, interior decor and so on �Gordon
1993: 171±5).
Can corporate cultures be classified? Several
researchers have addressed this question. Among
the better known of these attempts are the Deal
and Kennedy model �1982) and the Harrison
�1972) and Handy �1987) models. The first one
shows that corporate cultures are influenced by the
amount of risk a company has to take in its
operations and the speed of feedback on the
outcome of such risk taken. In this framework,
firms are classified into high risk±slow feedback �for
example, luxury hotels), high risk±fast feedback
�such as motion picture studios), low risk±slow
feedback �such as insurance providers) and low
risk±fast feedback �such as restaurants) organisations.
The Harrison and Handy models, though
using varying descriptor terms, are essentially
similar in conceptualisation. Both these researchers
classify firms into four quadrants based on the
degree �high or low) of formalisation and centralisation.
An interesting alternative view is based on the
notion that `culture's main function is to try to
mediate dilemmas' �Hampden-Turner 1994: 24).
Organisations constantly face dilemmas: standardisation
versus customisation, external adaptation
versus internal integration, and so on. Corporate
cultures must change over time as organisations
adapt to the ever changing environment. Yet, a
cultural continuity must be maintained in order
not to destabilise the organisation. This in itself is a
dilemma. How well organisations avoid such twohorned
dilemmas by finding synergistic solutions
determines whether they succeed or not. It is the
organisational leader's responsibility to build and
maintain a culture that reconciles such dilemmas
�Hampden-Turner 1994: 24±33).
Corporate cultures are often categorised as
strong or weak, depending upon how much the
employees share the organisation's core values and
basic philosophies, usually laid down by either the
founder or the current CEO. Well-known examples
of firms with strong corporate cultures include
Disney and McDonald's. Significantly, corporate
cultures cannot be created overnight. They evolve
over time. Building a cohesive organisational
culture depends upon four conditions: developing
a sense of history, creating a sense of oneness,
promoting a sense of membership and increasing
exchange among members. Fostering these conditions
can be accomplished by elaborating on
history, communications on and by heroes and
others, leadership and role modelling, communicating
norms and values, instituting appropriate
reward systems, career management and job
security, recruiting and staffing, socialisation of
new staff members, training and development,
member contact, participative decision making,
inter-group co-ordination and personal exchange
�Gross and Shichman 1987).
However, culture tends to perpetuate itself.
Hiring and socialising members who fit in with
existing culture, removing those who deviate from
it, justifying behaviour under current cultural
norms and communications biased towards current
culture are some of the ways in which an