If the integration perspective on culture emphasises consensus and denies
ambiguity, the differentiation perspective on culture (Meyerson and Martin 1987)
shifts attention to inconsistencies in culture manifestations and non-leader sources of
cultural change. Culture is seen to arise at the intersection between factors internal
and external to the organisation. Culture is viewed as a collection of manifestations,
some of which may be contradictory. In fact, espoused values may be inconsistent
with actual practices and words may carry different meanings in different contexts.
Thus, what is unique to an organisation is the specific combination of cultures
that meet within an organisation’s boundary. This view of culture emphasises both
internal and external factors as important agents for change: thus, a firm may adopt
Internal Marketing because of heightened competition or poor employee morale.
The adoption of Internal Marketing has a localised (and not an organisation-wide)
impact on organisational functioning, as some departments/individuals may be more
receptive than others to it. Such localised changes tend to be loosely coupled with
each other and are frequently neither planned nor under the total control of senior
management