Cultural Management - Culture Cannot Be Managed

Paper Summary:

In this paper, the validity of the belief that in a business setting culture cannot be managed is critically analyzed and arguments are made both for and against the statement. The paper also presents examples that suggest that organizational culture does play a very important role in the success of the organization. However, these same examples also serve to reinforce a contention about the inability of corporate culture or management to undergo change.

From the Paper:

"It must be acknowledged that the assertion - "Culture cannot be managed" - would likely meet with some degree of skepticism from organizational management students as well as corporate professionals. However, it may be argued that there is some validity to the perspective on the relationship between management and organizational culture that is manifest in this assertion. Consider, for example, the case of software giant J.D. Edwards. The corporation's CEO and chairman, C. Edward McVaney, contends that the success of a business often has very little to do with its management and senior executives who - as is commonplace in corporate culture - often come and go with minimal impact upon the organization itself. It is McVaney's view that the success of an organization is based upon its culture, which is usually invulnerable to change by management or business leaders. In McVaney's words: "95% of the time, the leaders and management of a business do not lead and manage that business" (Jesitus 16)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Cameron, Kim, and Quinn, Robert. Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1999.
• Jesitus, John. "Cashing in on Corporate Culture." Industry Week. 246.1 (1997): 16-19.
• Lewis, Bob. "Managing Change is Not Enough: You Must Create a Culture that Embraces It." InfoWorld 20.45 (1998): 105.
• Nahavandi, Afsaneh, Malekzadeh, Ali, and Mizzi, Philip. "Leaders and How They Manage." The Journal of BusinessStrategy June (1991): 47-49.
• Plant, Ryan and Roger, Mark. "Managing your Corporate Culture." Training and Development Journal 42.9(1988): 61-66.

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