Cultural Approach to Organizations

The Cultural Approach to Organizations Theory says that culture is the organization, created by the members of that organization. The illustration given in class was that culture is like the water fish swim in; it is all around. An example of this theory is best illustrated by the restaurant that I work in. I work as a server and also a cook. Even though I serve and cook for the same restaurant, the cultures of both jobs are completely different. When I am cooking, I am part of the "line", and the cooks on the line are very laid back and we spend a lot of time joking around. If someone was to walk in the kitchen one night without any prior knowledge of our culture, they would probably be uncomfortable. It is the same concept with the servers at the restaurant. We have a certain flow that each of us understands. We know what each other means when we refer to the third room as "old smoky" or the back workstation as "the hole." Each culture is created and maintained by those of us in it.