The cultural perspective
Traditionally, strategy has been viewed as the planned response of the organisation to
its environment. However, the strategies an organisation follows can also be attributed
to cultural factors. Organisations faced with similar environments will respond differently. The strategies they choose to pursue will not result solely from a precise planned approach to the environment, but under influence from the attitudes, values, and perceptions which are common among the members and stakeholders of that organisation. Further, management cannot be conceived of simply in terms of the
manipulation of techniques or tools of analysis. Management is also about the application of managerial experience built up over many years; and often within the same
organisation or industry. Nor do managers typically work in isolation; they interact
with others. Their experience is not only rooted in individual experience, but on
group and organisational experience built up over time. It is important therefore to
recognise the significance of cultural aspects of management.
By ‘organisational culture’ is meant the ‘deeper level of basic assumptions and
beliefs that are shared by members of an organisation, that operate unconsciously
and define in a basic “taken for granted” fashion an organisation’s view of its self
and its environment’.30 A cultural perspective suggests, then, that managerial experience is likely to be based on ‘taken-for-granted’ frames of reference which are brought to bear by a manager - or group of managers — and which will affect how a given
situation is perceived and how it is responded to. Over time this taken for grantedness
is likely to be handed on — or ‘inherited’ — within a group. That group might be, for
example, a managerial function such as marketing or finance; a professional grouping,
such as accountants; an organisation as a whole; and more widely an industry sector,
or even a national culture. just as these frames exist at the organisational and subunit level they also exist on an industry wide basis,“ or indeed at a national level.
Managers, then, are influenced by many cultural frames when making a decision.
However, especially important for the strategic management of most organisations is
the organisational frame of reference, which we call the ‘organisational paradigm’.
The paradigm is likely to contain within it the beliefs which managers talk about in
their day to day lives: but it is also likely that it will contain assumptions which are
rarely talked about, are not considered problematic, and about which managers are
unlikely to be consciously explicit. Examples might include the deep rooted assumption that banks are about secure lending; local newspapers about purveying news
(i.e. as more their raison d’étre than advertising); that universities are about doing
research and so on. As such, these deep rooted assumptions can play an important
part in strategy development.
An organisati0n’s paradigm is, then, built up from different influences such as history and past experience (both personal and organisational) and may also reflect the
desires of particular stakeholders.” The strength of these influences will depend on a
number of factors. For example an organisation with a relatively stable management
and a long-term momentum of strategy is likely to have a more homogeneous paradigm than one in which there has been rapid turnover of management and significant
change forced upon it.
Of course for any organisation to operate efficiently it must, to some extent, have a
generally accepted set of beliefs and assumptions. These may not be a static set of
beliefs, although it is quite likely that they will evolve gradually rather than change
suddenly. What this represents is a collective experience without which managers
would have to ‘reinvent their world’ afresh for all circumstances they face or decisions
they need to take; as such it enables new situations to be perceived in a way which is
not unique.“ The paradigm allows the experience gathered over years to be applied
to a given situation so that managers can decide upon relevant information by which
to assess the need for change, a likely course of action, and the likelihood of success
of that course of action.An organisation’s strategies, then, develop in accord and within the confines of its culture and dominant paradigm. The cognitive and perceptual processes operate to orientate the definition and solution of a strategic problem internally ensuring a strategic response is based within the domain of the organisation“ and the history of its members.“