To what extent can organisational culture be managed. How critical is it for organisation success

The first 200 words of this essay...

To what extent can organisational culture be managed? Is organisational culture critical to the success of an organisation?

Peter Anthony (1994) asserts that the pursuit of change in a cultural sense has been considered synonymous with the pursuit of excellence for organisations. It is true that a wide variety of management practitioners view the control of organisational culture as something both possible and necessary for organisational success (Brown 1993). A survey of organisational practices of a range of firms revealed that 94% of the firms had engaged in 'culture management' of some sort (IRS 1997). However, despite the apparent popularity of these practices and the strong level of importance placed upon these activities, it can be seen that there is no factual evidence that supports the assertion that organisational culture as a whole can be managed, or that such a culture is critical to the success of an organisation. An examination of the various theoretical and practical pieces that both support and reject these ideas reveals that the truth of the theories are at best overstated, and possibly completely incorrect altogether.

An evaluation of the extent to which organisational culture can be managed must first be given