Article ID: | iaor20113940 |
Volume: | 22 |
Issue: | 2 |
Start Page Number: | 482 |
End Page Number: | 502 |
Publication Date: | Mar 2011 |
Journal: | Organization Science |
Authors: | Kellogg Katherine C |
Keywords: | culture |
One of the great paradoxes of organizational culture is that even when less powerful members in organizations have access to cultural tools (such as frames, identities, and tactics) that support change, they often do not use these tools to challenge traditional practices that disadvantage them. In this study, I compare data about work practice change from my own field study of an elite teaching hospital (conducted in the early 2000s) to previously reported data from field studies of two similar hospitals (one conducted in the 1970s and one in the 1990s). I demonstrate that although cultural toolkits supporting change may allow less powerful organization members to see traditional practices as running counter to their interests, they may not be able to significantly change traditional practices unless they also have access to what I call