Research in multinational organizational structures has traditionally used either a rational, conscious perspective in which decision makers, through a single-loop change process, strategically choose to interpret the environmental culture to shape the organization’s structure or a nationalistic view, in which through a double-loop change process, organizational members of one culture impose their favored structures on organizational members of a different culture. This article considers a third perspective, one in which organizational culture and structure are socially constructed phenomena. Through a case study of a multinational office staffed by members of two distinct national cultures (Japanese and American), this research demonstrates how cultures and structures can be simultaneously created through single-, double-, and triple-loop change processes. These processes can lead to a third-order level of change. Ideas for “actionizing” this concept are discussed.
Argyris, C., Putman, R., & Smith, D. M. (1985). Action science: Concepts, methods and skills for research and intervention. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
3.
Argyris, C.,& Schon, D. A. (1978). Organizational learning: A theory of action perspective. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
4.
Argyris, C.,& Schon, D. A. (1996). Organizational learning II: Theory method and practice. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
5.
Ashkanasy, N. M., Wilderom, C. P. M., & Peterson, M. F. (2000). Handbook of organizational culture and climate. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
6.
Austin, J. R. (1997). A method for facilitating controversial social change in organizations: Branch Rickey and the Brooklyn Dodgers. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 33, 101-118.
7.
Barley, S. R. (1986). Technology as an occasion for structuring: Evidence from observations of CT scanners and the social order of the radiology departments. Administrative Science Quarterly, 31, 78-108.
8.
Bartunek, J. M. (1984). Changing interpretative schemes and organizational restructuring: The example of a religious order. Administrative Science Quarterly, 29, 355-372.
9.
Bartunek, J. M., & Moch, M. K. (1987). First-order, second-order and third-order change and organization development interventions: Acognitive approach. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 23, 483-500.
10.
Bartunek, J. M., & Moch, M. K. (1994). Third-order organizational change and the Western mystical tradition. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 7, 24-41.
11.
Berger, P. L., & Luckmann, T. (1967). The social construction of reality. New York: Doubleday.
12.
Birkinshaw, J. M. (1994). Approaching heterarchy: A review of the literature on multinational strategy and structure. In S. B. Prasad (Ed.), Advances in international comparative management(Vol. 9, pp. 11-144). Greenwich, CT: JAI.
13.
Boyacigiller, N. A., Kleinberg, M. J., Phillips, M. E.,& Sackmann, S. A. (1996). Conceptualizing culture in international cross-cultural management research. In B. J. Punnett & O. Shenkar (Eds.), Handbook of international management research(pp. 157-206). Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.
14.
Daft, R. L., & Weick, K. E. (1984). Toward a model of organizations as interpretation systems. Academy of Management Review, 9, 284-295.
15.
Davis, S. (1984). Managing corporate culture. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger.
16.
Eisenhardt, K. M. (1989). Building theories from case study research. Academy of Management Review, 14, 532-550.
17.
Erez, M., & Earley, P. C. (1993). Culture, self-identity and work. New York: Oxford University Press.
18.
Foldy, E. G.,& Creed, W. E. D. (1999). Action learning, fragmentation and the interaction of single-, double-, and triple-loop change. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 35, 207-227.
19.
Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of culture. New York: Basic Books.
20.
Gibson, C. B. (1994). The implications of national culture for organization structure: An investigation of three perspectives. In S. B. Prasad (Ed.), Advances in international comparative management(Vol. 9, pp. 3-38). Greenwich, CT: JAI.
21.
Giddens, A. (1979). Central problems in social theory. Berkeley: University of California Press.
22.
Goodenough, W. H. (1971). Culture, language and society. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
23.
Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
24.
Hofstede, G. (1991). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind. London: McGraw-Hill.
25.
Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture’s consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions and organizations across nations(2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
26.
Keeling, R. M. (1981). Theories of culture. In R. W. Casson (Ed.), Language, culture and cognition(pp. 42-66). New York: Macmillan.
27.
Kleinberg, J. (1994). “The crazy group”: Emergent culture in a Japanese-American bi-nationalwork group. In M. G. Searapo (Ed.), Research in international business and international relations(pp. 1-45). Greenwich, CT: JAI.
28.
Kleinberg, J. (1998). Anethnographic perspective on cross-cultural negotiation and cultural production. In J. Wagner (Ed.), Advances in qualitative organization research(Vol. 1, pp. 201-249). Greenwich, CT: JAI.
29.
Lincoln, J. R., Hanada, M.,& McBride, K. (1986). Organizational structures in Japanese and U.S. manufacturing. Administrative Science Quarterly, 31, 338-364.
30.
Linowes, R. G. (1994). The design of American and Japanese bi-cultural work teams. In M. G. Searapo (Ed.), Research in international business and international relations(pp. 47-71). Greenwich, CT: JAI.
31.
Martin, J. (1992). Cultures in organizations: Three perspectives. New York: Oxford University Press.
32.
Martin, J. (2002). Organizational culture: Mapping the terrain. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
33.
Martin, J.,& Frost, P. (1996). The organizational culture war games: A struggle for intellectual dominance. In S. Clegg, C. Hardy,& W. Nord (Eds.), Handbook of organizational studies(pp. 599-621). London: Sage.
34.
Meyer, J. W., & Rowan, B. (1977). Institutional organizations: Formal structure as myth and ceremony. American Journal of Sociology, 83, 340-363.
35.
Nielson, R. P. (1991). “I amwe” consciousness and dialog as organizational ethics method. Journal of Business Ethics, 10, 649-663.
36.
Nielson, R. P. (1993). Woolman’s “I amwe” triple-loop action-learning: Origin and application in organization ethics. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 29, 117-138.
37.
Nielson, R. P. (1996). Varieties of dialectic change processes. Journal of Management Inquiry, 5, 276-292.
38.
Ouchi, G. (1981). Theory Z: How American business can meet the Japanese challenge. New York: Avon Books.
39.
Pugh, D., Hickson, D. J., Hinings, C. R.,& MacDonald, K. M. (1969). Anempirical taxonomy of structure of work organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly, 14, 115-126.
40.
Ranson, S., Hinings, B.,& Greenwood, R. (1980). The structure of organizing structure. Administrative Science Quarterly, 25, 1-17.
41.
Riley, P. (1983). A structurationist account of political culture. Administrative Science Quarterly, 28, 414-437.
42.
Salancik, G.,& Pfeffer, J. (1977). Whogets power and howto hold onto it: Astrategic-contingency model of power. Organizational Dynamics, 5, 3-21.
43.
Schein, E. H. (1985). Organizational culture and leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
44.
Scott, W. R. (1992). Organizations: Rational, neutral and open systems. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
45.
Smircich, L. (1983). Concepts of culture and organizational analysis. Administrative Science Quarterly, 28, 339-358.
46.
Spradley, J. P. (1980). Participant observation. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
47.
Swidler, A. (1986). Aculture in action: Symbols and strategies. American Sociological Review, 51, 237-286.
48.
Trice, H., & Beyer, J. (1993). The cultures of work organizations. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
49.
Van deVen, A. H.,& Drazin, R. (1985). The concept of fit in contingency theory. In L. L. Cummings& B. M. Staw (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior(Vol. 7, pp. 333-365). Greenwich, CT: JAI.
50.
Van deVen, A. H.,& Poole, M. S. (1995). Explaining development and change in organizations. Academy of Management Review, 20, 510-540.
51.
Van Mannen, J.,& Barley, S. R. (1984). Occupational communities: Culture and control in organizations. In B. M. Staw& L. L. Cummings (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior(Vol. 6, pp. 287-365). Greenwich, CT: JAI.
52.
Yin, R. K. (1981). The case study crisis: Some answers. Administrative Science Quarterly, 26, 58-65.
53.
Yin, R. K. (1984). Case study research. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
