Organizational culture is a tricky concept to define adequately and accurately, although there can be no doubt that it impacts on the way we view things. Various attempts have been made to identify its sources and major components, including that of nationality. Indeed, studies have shown that national culture impacts significantly on organizational culture. So, while it is important for managers of hospitality, leisure and tourism services to establish a consistent quality standard, members' cultural diversity must also be accounted for.
Clearly, organizational culture exists and is sourced from multiple origins. It is viewed by managers as a better alternative to formal organizational control protocols. Contemporary thinking recommends the establishment of strong cultures for this reason. However, evidence suggests that in some cases this results in organizations which fail to learn from experience, are introspective and resistant to change, for example, the UK-based Forte company succumbed to a hostile takeover bid from Granada due to the strength of its culture (much to the chagrin of Rocco Forte who had been trying in vain to temper the extant dominant set of values and beliefs).
Culture may be considered from two perspectives. The first regards it as something objective which organizations have and is therefore controllable. This espoused cultures can be actively established, sustained and managed by founders, top managers and human resource policies. Consistent with this view, a number of researchers have attempted to classify organizations according to the overarching culture present or desired. Examples include 'macho', 'work hard/play hard', 'bet-your-company' and 'process' but there are plenty of others. Schein's (1985) processual typology offers valuable insight into the artefacts, values and assumptions of which organizational culture is comprised. This is helpful because it suggests that another set of values and beliefs exist alongside the formal ones. The 'second' view considers culhlre to be a property and sum of social interaction and processes which ensue in organizations.
In other words, it suggests that management do not have a monopoly on organizational culture. Instead, organizational culture is the property of all members and may differ considerably from the espoused view. This informal cultures, or cultures in practice, is difficult for managers to control and some argue that it may only be described or at best manipulated. The key is therefore to recognize its presence and to acknowledge that it impacts upon the nature of formal organizational cultures
Usually, certain conditions need to be present for the development and sustainance of informal cultures. The leisure services sector, especially seasonal organizations, provide the appropriate structural characteristics for this to be so. Despite the potential for several informal cultures or subgroups to exist, they are best explained using a notion of occupational communities.
Essentially, these groups are social frameworks that establish and sustain work cultures. The construct allows informal cultures to be positioned along two scales. The first shows the extent to which subgroups resonate with espoused values and beliefs and the second shows the same for informal or culture-in-practice.