Rethinking Culture: Embodied Cognition and the Origin of Culture in Organizations

Author:   David White
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
ISBN:  

9780367242893


Pages:   298
Publication Date:   06 June 2019
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Our Price $83.99 Quantity:  
Add to Cart

Share |

Rethinking Culture: Embodied Cognition and the Origin of Culture in Organizations


Add your own review!

Overview

Organizational or corporate ‘culture’ is the most overused and least understood word in business, if not society. While the topic has been an object of keen academic interest for nearly half a century, theorists and practitioners still struggle with the most basic questions: What is organizational culture? Can it be measured? Is it a dependent or independent variable? Is it causal in organizational performance, and, if so, how? Paradoxically, managers and practitioners ascribe cultural explanations for much of what constitutes organizational behavior in organizations, and, moreover, believe culture can be engineered to their own designs for positive business outcomes. What explains this divide between research and practice? While much academic research on culture is challenged by ontological, epistemic and ethical difficulties, there is little empirical evidence to show culture can be deliberately shaped beyond espoused values. The gap between research and practice can be explained by one simple reason: the science and practice of culture has yet to catch up to managerial intuition.Managers are correct in suspecting culture is a powerful normative force, but, until now, current theory and research is not able to adequately account for cultural behavior in organizations. Rethinking Culture describes and presents evidence for a new framework of organizational culture based on the cognitive science of the so-called cultural mind. It will be of relevance to academics and researchers with an interest in business and management, organizational culture, and organizational change, as well as cognitive and cultural anthropologists and sociologists interested in applications of theory in organizational and institutional settings.

Full Product Details

Author:   David White
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Weight:   0.476kg
ISBN:  

9780367242893


ISBN 10:   0367242893
Pages:   298
Publication Date:   06 June 2019
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

Part 1: Functionally Embodied Culture 1. What’s Wrong with Organizational Culture? 2. The Nature of Grounding: Embodied Cognition, Schemas and Analogical Transfer 3. Motivated Meaning: Cultural Schemas and Hierarchies 4.Functionally Embodied Culture: The Professional and Strategic Grounding of Organizational Culture Part 2: Cultural Schemas in a Diversified Industrial Manufacturer 5. Investigating Schemas: Contexts, Methods and Challenges 6. Seeing Schemas: Research at IMCO 7. Where Culture Comes From: Functional Grounding and its Affordances 8. Functionally Embodied Culture: Possible Limits, or Limitless Possibilities?

Reviews

"""David G. White, Jr. maps out a provocative journey into the multidisciplinary possibility of holding an integral understanding that finds new meanings in useful theories. Supported by an extremely thought-provoking framework, White insists on a more up-to-date and unified approach to culture and change. This exciting and well-researched book steps beyond the thought boundaries within which organizational culture and cognition are usually confined. He is not willing to accept today’s challenges and conflicts as intractable. And he doesn’t want us to accept them either."" —Brenda B Jones, Co-editor, NTL Handbook for Organization Development and Change; recipient of the OD Network’s Lifetime Achievement Award ""Imagine an anthropologist studied your culture through the eyes of your employees and asked them to describe the purpose and workings of your organization. David J. White Jr. did just that, and he shows how those descriptions reveal that many ""cultures"" exist in every organization, and they may not be as ""manageable"" as you think. His scholarly argument suggests evidence that culture emerges from the logic models or ""schemas"" that help people make sense of the organization and their place in it. For example, is your organization a ""machine"" or an ""organism?"" Is something ""true"" only when experienced, or can truth emerge from extrapolation? This perspective on culture has profound implications for whether and how culture can be shaped and directed, and takes you beyond the hype that culture can be everything and anything."" —Dr. John W. Boudreau, Professor and Research Director, Center for Effective Organizations, University of Southern California ""David G. White, Jr. charges into the crowded morass of organizational culture with a keen eye and a sharp machete in hand. This thorough and provocative book offers no easy answers or quick fixes. Rather it challenges the reader to explore the terrain of cognition, practice and language, which are the most perceivable and visible instantiations of true (not espoused) organizational culture. Like Gideon Kunda, White seeks out the deeper structures of culture and thus presents a very innovative and compelling perspective on this most impactful dimension of organizational life."" —Eric Rait, Principal, Honeycomb Development ""David G. White Jr.’s thoughtful, hard-working and intelligent treatise sounds a cautionary note to current thinking about ‘organizational culture,’ and opens up a fresh, provocative perspective on this popular topic."" —Robert Kegan, Meehan Research Professor of Adult Learning, Harvard University Graduate School of Education, and Co-author, An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization"


David G. White, Jr. maps out a provocative journey into the multidisciplinary possibility of holding an integral understanding that finds new meanings in useful theories. Supported by an extremely thought-provoking framework, White insists on a more up-to-date and unified approach to culture and change. This exciting and well-researched book steps beyond the thought boundaries within which organizational culture and cognition are usually confined. He is not willing to accept today's challenges and conflicts as intractable. And he doesn't want us to accept them either. -Brenda B Jones, Co-editor, NTL Handbook for Organization Development and Change; recipient of the OD Network's Lifetime Achievement Award Imagine an anthropologist studied your culture through the eyes of your employees and asked them to describe the purpose and workings of your organization. David J. White Jr. did just that, and he shows how those descriptions reveal that many cultures exist in every organization, and they may not be as manageable as you think. His scholarly argument suggests evidence that culture emerges from the logic models or schemas that help people make sense of the organization and their place in it. For example, is your organization a machine or an organism? Is something true only when experienced, or can truth emerge from extrapolation? This perspective on culture has profound implications for whether and how culture can be shaped and directed, and takes you beyond the hype that culture can be everything and anything. -Dr. John W. Boudreau, Professor and Research Director, Center for Effective Organizations, University of Southern California David G. White, Jr. charges into the crowded morass of organizational culture with a keen eye and a sharp machete in hand. This thorough and provocative book offers no easy answers or quick fixes. Rather it challenges the reader to explore the terrain of cognition, practice and language, which are the most perceivable and visible instantiations of true (not espoused) organizational culture. Like Gideon Kunda, White seeks out the deeper structures of culture and thus presents a very innovative and compelling perspective on this most impactful dimension of organizational life. -Eric Rait, Principal, Honeycomb Development David G. White Jr.'s thoughtful, hard-working and intelligent treatise sounds a cautionary note to current thinking about `organizational culture,' and opens up a fresh, provocative perspective on this popular topic. -Robert Kegan, Meehan Research Professor of Adult Learning, Harvard University Graduate School of Education, and Co-author, An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization


David G. White, Jr. maps out a provocative journey into the multidisciplinary possibility of holding an integral understanding that finds new meanings in useful theories. Supported by an extremely thought-provoking framework, White insists on a more up-to-date and unified approach to culture and change. This exciting and well-researched book steps beyond the thought boundaries within which organizational culture and cognition are usually confined. He is not willing to accept today's challenges and conflicts as intractable. And he doesn't want us to accept them either. -Brenda B Jones, Co-editor, NTL Handbook for Organization Development and Change; recipient of the OD Network's Lifetime Achievement Award Imagine an anthropologist studied your culture through the eyes of your employees and asked them to describe the purpose and workings of your organization. David J. White Jr. did just that, and he shows how those descriptions reveal that many cultures exist in every organization, and they may not be as manageable as you think. His scholarly argument suggests evidence that culture emerges from the logic models or schemas that help people make sense of the organization and their place in it. For example, is your organization a machine or an organism? Is something true only when experienced, or can truth emerge from extrapolation? This perspective on culture has profound implications for whether and how culture can be shaped and directed, and takes you beyond the hype that culture can be everything and anything. -Dr. John W. Boudreau, Professor and Research Director, Center for Effective Organizations, University of Southern California David G. White, Jr. charges into the crowded morass of organizational culture with a keen eye and a sharp machete in hand. This thorough and provocative book offers no easy answers or quick fixes. Rather it challenges the reader to explore the terrain of cognition, practice and language, which are the most perceivable and visible instantiations of true (not espoused) organizational culture. Like Gideon Kunda, White seeks out the deeper structures of culture and thus presents a very innovative and compelling perspective on this most impactful dimension of organizational life. -Eric Rait, Principal, Honeycomb Development David G. White Jr.'s thoughtful, hard-working and intelligent treatise sounds a cautionary note to current thinking about 'organizational culture,' and opens up a fresh, provocative perspective on this popular topic. -Robert Kegan, Meehan Research Professor of Adult Learning, Harvard University Graduate School of Education, and Co-author, An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization


Author Information

David G. White, Jr., Ph.D. is a cognitive anthropologist who has spent his career working in large organizations as well as entrepreneurial start ups. He is a co-founder of and principal in ONTOS Global, a boutique consulting firm in the alignment of business strategy, change and organizational culture.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions
Latest Reading Guide

ls

Shopping Cart
Your cart is empty
Shopping cart
Mailing List