Marion's offering of "four major kinds of information useful in describing
the culture of an organization have been identified" seems a very welcome
and definite contribution, accompanied by components of the four major
kinds.
There are, however, some questions stimulated by Marion's material:
(1) Who identified these four main headings, and who has reviewed them?
Are they in the literature?
(2) Given that a number of researchers agree that language is both one of
the key aspects of a culture, as well as one of the main indicators of
cultural values, how come this vital topic isn't specifically mentioned?
Anyone who gets within miles of the Department of Defense will understand
that the very frequent use of acronyms of all kinds (leading to a book at
least a quarter inch thick filled with acronyms and their decodings) is a
key aspect of the culture of that organization.
(3) Marion's suggestion for scanning the various components and playing
around with them is certainly interesting, but it would also be
interesting to know if anyone has ever used this schema to analyze even
one culture; and if so, how can that information be dug up?
Marion, I hope you get well soon, and when you do please enlighten me on
these points! Thanks.
-- JOHN WARFIELD Johnwfield@aol.com