This article proposes a theoretical framework for elucidating how organizational culture evolves as an organization goes through its life cycle. This framework reveals that as the organization goes through its life stages of start-up, growth, maturity, and revival, organizational culture evolves through corresponding mechanisms of inspiration, implantation, negotiation, and transformation. This framework contributes to the literature on the dynamic view of culture. This article suggests that human resource development professionals need to be perceptive of the life stages of their organizations and intentionally leverage different cultural mechanisms to respond to critical organizational needs.
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