CULTURE - THE MISSING CONCEPT IN ORGANIZATION STUDIES

Inattention to social systems in organizations has led researchers to underestimate the importance of culture-shared norms, values, and assu mptions-in how organizations function. Concepts for understanding cult ure in organizations have value only when they derive from observation of real behavior in organizations, when they make sense of organizati onal data, and when they are definable enough to generate further stud y. The attempt to explain what happened to ''brainwashed'' American pr isoners of war in the Korean conflict points up the need to take both individual traits and culture into account to understand organizationa l phenomena. For example, the failure of organizational learning can b e understood more readily by examining the typical responses to change by members of several broad occupational cultures in an organization. The implication is that culture needs to be observed, more than measu red, if organization studies is to advance.