Hernandez, Gabriel C.

October 31,
2020

Pitas, Peter Bryan F. Ms. Chapap

Taruc, Psalm Comm 100

CULTURAL APPROACH: A MEANS OF CHANGING TOXIC CULTURE IN THE

ORGANIZATION

Organizational communication is a theory that transmits messages between

individuals in a particular environment or setting to achieve an individual or shared goal.
Though organizational communication is a form of group communication, organizational
communication is structured compared to group communication, which is fluid. A criticism
of organizational communication is the classical management theory that applies a
problematic mechanistic approach to the organization's relationships because of the
bureaucratic treatment. Then emerged two approaches to organizational communication:
critical and cultural approaches. The critical approach views organizations as political
systems, while the cultural approach looks at the shared meaning unique to an organization.
For this paper, we will focus on the cultural approach and its application to schools.

The group found organizational communication useful in determining a group's

shared goal while establishing a shared culture within the organizational structure. The
contrast of group communication and organizational communication was where our group
started to find the differences between these two concepts. Our group found it interesting that
the culture depends on the structure the organization adapts to; in this case, a lattice structure
can have an egalitarian culture wherein there is leniency to communicating with the
organization's individuals, regardless of position. On the other hand, a pyramid structure
conforms to a bureaucratic culture; this leaves the organization with a hierarchy that affects
the individuals' relations depending on their organization's status.

In this context, we will be using a school as an example to illustrate the observations

and criticisms that our group has inferred from the theory because most organizations in the
Philippines follow densely structured management.

A school is an educational institution that traditionally follows a pyramid structure,

having a hierarchy within the administration. Usually, the administration is the school's
governing body, then followed by the faculty to implement those rules and regulations. On
the bottom are the students who have the choice to abide by these rules or defy them. The
school's culture also varies according to the programs, curriculum, or denomination the
organization ascribes with: public or private, non-secular or secular, single-gendered or co-
ed, and the list goes on.

Schools also have rituals that they practice like flag ceremonies, prayer times, lunch
breaks, and rules such as no running in the corridor, not being late to class, and wearing
uniforms. Rituals and rules are interesting requirements in organizational communication
because they reinforce the organization's power dynamic; an example is the implementation
of uniforms distinguishes students from the faculty and administration. Likewise, there are
also separate rules that faculty members must adhere to that differ from students' rules. Still,
our group's observation was the schools' vision and mission because this meant that the
institution has a shared goal. The school's culture is associated with setting its goals,
reinforcing values, ethics, rituals, and culture to its staff, faculty, and students.

The last idea that caught our attention to this theory is that managers are not agents of
cultural change, and instead, they can only propose ideas to the group. Most organizations are
formed with a hierarchical structure where the source of power is vertical. As an employee, it
is expected that I would comply with whatever a person of higher rank suggests. A student
with the same standing would likewise agree on their teacher's advice or a professor from the
administration. Though it is not mandatory, the words expressed by someone superior have a
more significant impact than that of an equal position. A decision made by the administration
of a school will be forced on the students and faculty. The indirect manifestation of coercion
will forcefully affect their organizational culture. This may also result in blind allegiance
where as long as someone complies with what the higher rank says, it doesn't matter if it is
unaligned to that person's morale.

Cultural Approach's Impact on Ourselves, to Other People, and Society

Organizational communication aims to be aware of the goals that we set individually

and collectively. As an organization, you have a shared goal that you and your team aims to
accomplish; the process of accomplishing that goal will depend on the culture set in the
organization. The organization's normalized culture continues to reflect within us even after
we have left the organization; it has become a habit due to the routinary practice of this
culture.
 Cultural Approach is useful in dealing with other people because it lets the members
share the goals and attain them. This way, making rapport with the other members of the
organization is way easier. Because of the bond brought by shared goals, an organization can
become one's support system. If the members' deeper relationships and camaraderie are
formed, the organization will ultimately be more effective in meeting its objectives and
serving its purpose.

Similar to its usefulness to ourselves, understanding the organization's culture that

you belong to gives you an overview of how things stimulate in the said workplace. It then
forms uniformity, which is seen in our interaction with society since we inevitably adapt to
the culture practiced in our workplace. Having to execute such an organizational culture
towards interfacing with the society around us would give a more structured relationship that
would be useful in forming connections with them.

Critiques on Cultural Approach

The main critique of Cultural Approach is its lack of evaluation of the customs it has
presented. Although it effectively identifies an organization's culture, it fails to dissect if such
culture is still beneficial to the organization or if it still serves the members. Cultural
Approach lacks indicators on how certain practices and traditions negatively or positively
affect the members. And if it turns out to be the former, this approach does not tell us how to
transform or change specific cultural aspects. If only Cultural Approach is applied, it could
cause stagnancy in the organizations. We understand the members' actions and how they
present themselves through thick descriptions; we know what their culture means to them.
However, it all stops there. Cultural Approach is a tool merely for description as it fails to
become a trigger for change when necessary.

Going back to the example of schools as an organization, it is evident that the same
problem of stagnancy applies to it despite a school's ever-changing nature with new groups of
people coming in every year. Many schools with big names are known for their reputations
they have been keeping for years as part of their corporate stories. Catholic values, honor and
excellence, zeal of service, etc. — every institution presents itself as the ideal of the values it
chooses to embody. And when the good is all they want outsiders to see, they must protect
their names, and part of this is to silence and bury the ugly.

A personal example would be a senior high school within a vast university with
administrators who actively stop their students from voicing their complaints on social media.
It is worth noting that the students turn to social media because the administration does not
listen to them. However, instead of looking at these complaints as desperate cries from
struggling students, the administration took offense and labeled the students they should be
servicing as "haters" who spread "propaganda" and acting against "catholic values" and
"excellence." The administration went as far as having teachers keep an eye on students'
social media and giving offense slips to those who dare talk badly about the institution. They
did this while insisting on the culture the student body should have. It seems like the
administration wants silent students who abide by their reformed rules regardless of how
negatively it affects the students. Thus, the students spent their senior high years battling a
narrative that's being pushed onto them — who they should be and how they should act. This
culture serves only the people of power while the student body and some teachers suffer from
it. Teachers from the side of the admin and the students clash, students curse the admin
behind their backs, and manipulative and gaslighting people abuse their power — all of these
have become part of the school's everyday culture.

Unfortunately, there are many more toxic cultures that can mess up huge groups of
people and organizations. Some of these are as follows: "padrino" system in the
administration in which the existing people of power freely give positions or privileges to
their relatives or family members, control of the curriculum and activities to actively suppress
academic freedom, prevention of certain topics to be taught like sexuality and sex awareness
because of traditional Catholic values, etc. Although there are usually people who advocate
for counterculture within these existing cultures. However, attaining change is a long process,
but having people unafraid of challenging the system is always a step towards the better.

What We Can Do to Improve the Cultural Approach

After laying down our group's criticisms towards the Cultural Approach, we came up
with solutions that would improve the theory by having countermeasures on its weaknesses.
Instead of just describing the culture that an organization has, it would maximize the theory's
potential if it would also evaluate the customs practiced by the members and see if it is
beneficial to the organization. It may help the organization in identifying which culture
should be retained or changed. Aside from knowing which practices benefit the entity,
aligning the described culture with strategies and processes determined for the organization's
future may result in better performance. Through these suggestions, the stagnancy, which is
also one of the cons of the theory, will be easily resolved for the culture practiced (aligned on
the entity's strategy) will depend on the long-term and short-term goals that the association
wants to reach.

Organizational communication plays a significant role in the formation of culture

within the organization. The cultural approach then helps us describe and identify the
customs practiced by knowing the symbols (metaphors, narratives, and rituals) seen in an
organization.

Although the group found the theory interesting and useful from the organization to
the members' personal lives, we thought it lacked a beneficial contribution towards the
organization. Thus, we indicated suggestions on how the theory would improve and identify
their organizational culture and evaluate the customs of the organization's well-being. Since
theories are subject to change, enhancing the cultural approach to deepen further, its analysis
would give an organization a better competitive advantage.