Andrew Young School of Policy Studies Faculty Publications

Occupational Cultures: Whose Frame Are We Using?

Carol D. Hansen — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 07:21:14 PDT

Increasingly, organizations are trying to draw the energy needed to solve problems and innovate from all members of the enterprise. Most of the organizations pursuing this new learning and decision making path must first overcome problems associated with having a mix of occupational groups whose different values, priorities, and decision making strategies frequently produce cultural barriers to overall progress in reframing their culture. These cultural barriers can be thought of as occupational frames that can be both limiting and self-protective. A key strategy to dealing with these barriers can be an educational effort in culture awareness and practical systems theory led by support staff professionals. Those charged with carrying out that type of strategy would be well advised to be familiar with (or refamiliarize themselves with) the underlying theory to both organizational transformation and the impact of occupational frames. These issues are discussed in detail and specific means to overcome these barriers are offered.

Executive Managers: Cultural Expectations through Stories about Work

Carol D. Hasen et al. — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 07:21:13 PDT

An article reports on an exploratory inquiry into the beliefs and perspectives that shape business executives as an occupational culture. The findings and theory were derived from the analysis of components of subject-generated stories of work place experiences. Data were collected from chief executive officers of their direct reports in the Fortune 500 companies. The results suggest that top executives informally influence work assumptions and education of their own profession. Results additionally indicate that executive managers constitute an action-oriented, somewhat insular, and highly influential cultural entity. They control subtly by creating organizational templates that promote assertion, risk-taking, creativity, flexibility, financial acumen and team play to operationalize their organizational visions. It is argued that students of management need to understand executive's values, biases, and expectations in order to succeed in managerial roles. Additional implications for management education are discussed.

Identification of Key Predictors of Rapid Change Adaptation in a Service Organization: An Exploratory Study that Also Examines the Link Between Rapid Change Adaptation and Organizational Capability

Carol D. Hansen et al. — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 07:21:12 PDT

This exploratory study attempted to identify key predictors of rapid change adaptation in a service organization. The results of this study suggested that rapid change adaptation would be more likely to occur in an organizational setting within which there is an emphasis on process and quality improvement, innovation, rapid technology assimilation, and internal customer focus. Rapid change adaptation was in turn found to be highly associated with the following organizational outcomes: quick product/service introduction, quality performance, productivity, and competitiveness.