Organizational Culture Concepts from Cheney's Framework
This paper examines key concepts of organizational culture drawn from George Cheney's Organizational Communication in an Age of Globalization (2011), focusing primarily on Chapter 4. The paper explores the definition and origins of organizational culture, Mary Jo Hatch's taxonomy of culture types (unitary, integrated, differentiated, fragmented, and disorganized), and six organizational rites including rites of passage, degradation, enhancement, renewal, conflict reduction, and integration. Additional topics include cultures built around inherent conflict—illustrated through correctional officer environments—and the role of historical identity in shaping organizational culture. Real-world examples are used throughout to ground each concept.
- Introduction: Overview of Cheney Chapter 4 focus
- Defining Organizational Culture and Its Origins: Origins of culture concept and nature vs. nurture
- Culture Types and Mary Jo Hatch's Framework: Five culture types from unitary to disorganized
- The Six Organizational Rites: Six rites shaping organizational culture
- Conflict, Identity, and Organizational Culture: Conflict cultures and historical identity influences
- Conclusion: Importance of subcultural alignment and unity
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper consistently grounds abstract concepts in concrete, relatable examples — such as IBM illustrating multicultural complexity and a family business illustrating unitary culture — making theoretical material accessible.
- The use of a structured bullet-point list for the six organizational rites provides clarity and easy reference, demonstrating effective formatting judgment for concept-heavy material.
- The paper moves logically from definition, to taxonomy, to applied examples, maintaining a coherent conceptual thread throughout.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates applied textbook synthesis — a technique in which the student distills and reorganizes a source text's core concepts, then anchors each one with an original illustrative example. Rather than simply restating the text, the writer shows comprehension by mapping abstract frameworks (such as Hatch's culture types) onto real-world organizations and scenarios, demonstrating both content mastery and analytical application.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a brief framing introduction, then moves through three substantive sections: a definitional section on organizational culture, a taxonomy section covering Hatch's five culture types, and a section on the six organizational rites presented as a formatted list. A penultimate section addresses conflict cultures and organizational identity using the correctional officer example. The paper closes with a concise conclusion reinforcing the value of subcultural alignment.
Introduction
George Cheney's Organizational Communication in an Age of Globalization (2011) contains many themes and ideas relevant to organizational culture that are important to consider. The most substantive portion of the book for this purpose is the fourth chapter, beginning on page 75. Within that section, there is a wealth of information that should not be overlooked by anyone reviewing it carefully and thoroughly. The following report explains the key topics from that portion of the book and applies them to real-world examples and concepts.
Defining Organizational Culture and Its Origins
One of the first concepts defined in Chapter 4 is the most foundational: the definition of organizational culture itself. The book notes that "culture" was first defined and used as a term in the context of botany. However, the term has since expanded considerably in scope and application. One major outgrowth of that expansion is the nature versus nurture argument — a paradigm that remains relevant even in the context of organizational culture, as it speaks to what people bring to an organization by nature and what can instead be shaped and influenced by environment after the fact.
Another important idea is that cultures are rarely defined or manifested as a single pattern or unit of meaning. Quite often, more than one cultural trend or pattern is simultaneously at work. The larger a culture — organizational or otherwise — the more applicable this observation becomes. For example, a company of fifty employees may have a somewhat varied culture, but the degree of cultural variation can reasonably be expected to be modest. By contrast, a firm like IBM will have a culture with many layers, variations, and differences as one moves from unit to unit and department to department (Cheney, 2011).
Culture Types and Mary Jo Hatch's Framework
The work of Mary Jo Hatch, as presented in Box 4.1 of the text, is particularly useful for understanding the variety of forms that culture can take within organizations. Hatch identifies five culture types commonly seen in organizational settings: unitary, diverse/integrated, diverse/differentiated, diverse/fragmented, and disorganized.
The first and last types represent the most basic forms. A unitary culture is essentially monolithic, with no meaningful internal variations. A disorganized culture, by contrast, is one in which subunits exist but are not organized around any dominant cultural framework. The three middle types — integrated, differentiated, and fragmented — share similarities but differ in important ways.
In an integrated culture, a dominant culture exists alongside lesser subcultures, but all are broadly unified within the same overarching framework. The subcultures do not work against the larger culture. In a diverse/differentiated culture, subcultures exist within the larger organization but are not uniformly linked to one another or to the broader culture; some subcultures may work well together, but this is not true across the board. A differentiated culture falls between integrated and fragmented: there is more subcultural unity than in a fragmented culture and a recognizable dominant culture, but the degree of integration is weaker than in a fully integrated one.
To illustrate with real-world examples: a family-owned company with a small employee base might commonly exhibit a unitary culture, as might many religious organizations. A large firm with no discernible dominant culture would tend toward disorganized. Any organization of significant size with a recognizable dominant culture would likely fall somewhere in between these extremes (Cheney, 2011).
Conclusion
Organizational culture is even more complex and sometimes convoluted than the cultures of non-corporate groups and communities. With that in mind, it is important to recognize that having subcultures and subunits is a normal and often unavoidable feature of organizational life, and that a truly monolithic culture is rarely achievable or practical. At the same time, the various cultures and subcultures within an organization should maintain a reasonable degree of unity and alignment so as to minimize internal discord and dysfunction.
References
Cheney, G. (2011). Organizational communication in an age of globalization (1st ed.). Waveland Press.
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