Cultural Dynamics within a Structural-historical Framework - the Cedejor Case

Informações

Código: EOR2086
Divisão: EOR - Estudos Organizacionais
Tema de Interesse: EOR-A - Teoria das Organizações

Autores

André Ofenhejm Mascarenhas, Flávio Carvalho de Vasconcelos

Resumo

Early organizational culture studies were influenced by theoretical approachesassuming culture as contextual constraint on thought and behavior. Recent theoreticaldevelopments place emphasis on the production and reproduction of culture: practice-orientedapproaches would complement the earlier focus, this being a tendency to incorporate praxis,interaction, event, agency and other concepts into theoretical models. Although a pioneer inthe practice-oriented approach, Marshall Sahlins’ structural-historical anthropology hasdeserved no more than a few quotes within Organization Studies. Drawing on linguistics,Sahlins’ ideas constitute a general theory of change in meanings and language, a frameworkfor analyzing the evolution of organizational key symbols and concepts as resulting frominterested actions of individuals. In this article we suggest the relevance of Sahlins'anthropology to our understanding of organizations through the analysis of the Cedejor Case –an NGO in south Brazil –, empirical findings drawing on a historical and ethnographicalresearch. Some research opportunities are outlined: a criticism to traditional concepts ofculture and the strategic value of sahlinian concepts for understanding culture dynamics,implying longitudinal and historical studies of how cultures overlap and evolve.

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