Page 385 - Cultures and Organizations

350 CULTURES IN ORGANIZATIONS

TABLE 10.1 Organizations Participating in the IRIC Project

Private manufacturing companies (electronics, chemicals, consumer goods)
Total divisions or production units 6
Head offi ce or marketing units 3
Research and development units 2
Private service companies (banking, transport, trade): units 5
Public institutions (telecommunications, police): units 4

Total number of units studied 20

both a qualitative feel for the whole (the gestalt) of the unit’s culture and
a collection of issues to be included in the questionnaire for the ensuing
survey. Informants were handpicked in a discussion with the person who
served as the researchers’ contact in the unit, on the basis that they would
have something interesting and informative to relate about the culture.
The group of informants included in all cases the unit top manager and
his (never her) secretary; along with these were a selection of people in
different jobs from all levels, both old-timers and newcomers, women and
men. Sometimes the gatekeeper or doorman was found to be an excellent
informant; an employee representative (equivalent to a shop steward) was
always included.
The interviewer team consisted of eighteen members (Danish or
Dutch), most of them with a social science training but all deliberately naive
about the type of activity going on in the unit studied. Each unit’s inter-
views were divided between two interviewers, one woman and one man, as
the gender of the interviewer might affect the observations obtained. All
interviewers received the same project training beforehand, and all used

the same broad checklist of open-ended questions.
The interview checklist contained questions along the following lines:

■ About organizational symbols: What are special terms here that
only insiders understand?
■ About organizational heroes: What kinds of people are most likely
to advance quickly in their careers here? Whom do you consider as
particularly meaningful persons for this organization?