Example 1: A fragmented culture in an insurance firm
Linda Smircich studies the top executive group of an American insurance company. The company was a division of a much larger organization offering a broad range of insurance services to agriculrural organizations and to the general public. Sustained observation of day to day management generated two key conflicting impressions:
• On the one hand, the company seemed to emphasize cooperative values and an identity rooted in the world of agriculture rather than in that of competitive business. The staff were police and gracious and always seemed prepared to give help and assistance wherever
it was needed. This ethos was reflected in one of the company’s mottoes: "We grow friends.
• On the other hand, a second dimension of organization culture suggested that the cooperative ethos was at best superficial. Meetings and other public forums always seemed dominated by polite yet disinterested exchange. Staff rarely got involved in any realdebate and seem to take very little in-depth interest in what was being said. Hardly anyone took any notes, and the meetings were as ritrual occasions. This superficiality was confirmed by observed differences between the public and private faces of the organization. Whereas in public the echo of harmony and cooperation ruled, in private people often expressed considerable anger and dissatisfaction with various staff members and with the organization in general.