Cultural approach to organizations

When I used to work for a bank as a teller, I can think of many instances where the culture of that organization applies to this theory. The structure of any bank has many levels, creating many sub-cultures. My personal experience working at the bank taught me a lot about the business world.

Once I looked at the three types of narratives, I realized that corporate stories were posted everywhere at the bank. We had our own intranet that included everything from daily jokes to the new vice president of a regional office. It also was used daily to track international exchange rates and updated company policy procedures. This was defiantly an illustration of the company and its values. Especially when there was down time, I’d find myself browsing the intranet an awful lot. The slogans and current advertisements were also abundant on our net, enforcing the ideology of management to its fullest.

I find that a lot of times, personal stories in an organization usually are discussed with other employees casually. I do not view them as planned and structured conversations that eventually will be etched in someone’s memory. They are positive comments about ourselves that make us look good to other people in the organization, especially newer employees. I remember a lot of times when I would talk to another teller, or hear stories of mistakes made, I am guilty of chiming in and making it known that I’ve never made that mistake before.

Collegial stories are my favorite because they are the meat and potatoes of the organization’s culture. It is made up of all of the shared perceptions by employees, and the gossip that follows. I also like this narrative because it tells it how it is, what really goes on behind the scenes. I remember a lot of collegial stories I heard when I first started at the bank; why corporate hired this manager, what you really have to do to earn a bonus, and the real reason why only 5 employees have been with the company for over 10yrs.

The bank didn’t really consist of any rituals, just a conference call here and there when corporate decided to check in. All in all, the culture in the bank was very diverse because it consisted of so many different offices and regions. In my branch, all of the tellers were against the manager because she was very ineffective. In turn, we used all three narratives to either vent, explain why we were venting, or to make sense of the web we were spinning. It was a very small branch, so we had to be very careful with what we said, where we said it, and who can hear it.