Abstract:
Research by Barley, Meyer and Gash (1988) showed that the publication of Peters and Waterman's In Search of
Excellence (1982) coincided with culture becoming a popular and acceptable topic for organization theorists.
This helped establish the dominance of a conception of culture that proffered an instrumental view of the
relation between managerial practice and management knowledge, Barley, Meyer and Gash (1988)
suggested. They saw this as a relatively recent occurrence. While we do not deny the possibility of the
instrumental relation as depicted in Barley, Meyer and Gash (1988), we do not concur with their judgement
that the study of culture is a relatively novel interruption of previously more academic concerns. On the
contrary, we suggest that, while the relationship between practice and knowledge is borne out by a
genealogical analysis of culture, the time period for such analysis should be drawn both more widely and
more deeply to be an adequate test of Barley, Meyer and Gash's (1988) hypotheses. We argue that the
relationship postulated in the hypothesis supported by their research - that academic research on culture
has increasingly been prejudiced by instrumental concerns that developed in the lead up to, and in the wake
of, the 'excellence' studies - defies social science traditions. We show this by enlarging the canvass of
culture. The purposeful use of organizational culture as a management tool returns culture to those origins
revealed by genealogical analysis that uncovers its etymology and sociology.
