Information, communication and organizational culture : a grounded theory approach.

This research is focused on information and communication phenomena
within one industrial organisation. From its intellectual situation
within the interpretive epistemological tradition the thesis seeks to
demonstrate the utility of the case study approach combined with the
style of qualitative analysis known as 'grounded theory' for scholars
interested in furthering their understanding of the information
dimension of complex organisations. More specifically, a preliminary
examination of the data set in conjunction with a theoretical position
which posited the socially and cognitive constructed nature of
organisations quite naturally led to the case study material being
interpreted through the prism of the cultural metaphor.
Chapter 1 provides an account of the methodological and research
design principles, issues and assumptions on which this research has
been predicated. Chapter 2 gives an overview of the data collected in
the form of brief summaries of the central themes which have been used
to analyse the case study organisation. The cultural perspective on
organisations is then presented in Chapter 3. Acquaintance with the
content of the cultural approach to Complex organisations is required
in order to facilitate the reader's understanding of Chapters 4-10 in
which the data are examined and analysed.
Chapter 4 gives a short introduction to the case study organisation at
which the research was conducted. Chapters 5-8 are detailed case
study analyses of four of the organisation's principal subsidiaries.
These are followed by a macro-organisational analysis which examines
the cultural and information/communication profiles that have been
developed for the subsidiaries within the total socio-organisational
context. Chapter 9's emphasis on the core categories omits some
important aspects of the organisation's culture (its strengths,
weaknesses, the issue of control and its relative stability) which are
dealt with in Chapter 10. Chapter 11 provides a description and
analysis of a new product launch conducted by the organisation: the
chapter seeks to evaluate the merits of using an approach which
emphasises information/communication and cultural variables for the
understanding and analysis of organisational behaviour.
Finally, Chapter 12 sets out some of the conclusions that can be drawn
from this research project. It takes a critical look at the research
design and methodology employed and introduces Kuhn's (1962) concept
of a paradigm which is used as a descriptive and analytical tool for
evaluating the cultural perspective. Some further conceptualisation
of the cases and the new product launch is attempted and process
models of complex organisations in general and organisational culture
in particular are derived and explained. The inter-relation of
information and communication phenomena and organisational culture is
further elaborated first normatively in the form of typologies and
second prescriptively in terms of the use value of culture for
information and communication studies. The conclusions are then
summarised and recommendations for further research are made.