Cultural Inertia and Uniformity in Organizations
31 Pages Posted: 23 Apr 2003
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Cultural Inertia and Uniformity in Organizations
Cultural Inertia and Uniformity in Organizations
Date Written: October 2002
Abstract
We analyse aspects of the structure of organizational culture. We show that old and culturally uniform organizations are prone to cultural inertia; that is they are reluctant to adopt a different culture in response to a change in the environment. Cultural uniformity can be beneficial because the associated inertia protects and therefore encourages culture-specific investments by agents within the organization. We also explore the model's implications for such issues as cultural uniformity within an organization, cultural heterogeneity across organizations, the destabilizing effect of growth and mergers, and the conflicts arising in the management of organizational culture.
Keywords: Culture in organizations, inertia, screening, uniformity, diversification
JEL Classification: L20
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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