Concepts of Culture and Organizational Analysis

Critical Analysis

As an organization, design studio is an example of several predominant theories of culture at work. One is a view of culture as an internal variable where, in addition to teaching, the organization itself is producing “distinctive cultural artifacts such as rituals, legends, and ceremonies” (344). Smircich claims this as largely determinant, as if a school or department or instructor can take behavior to explicitly enact a certain cultural demeanor. In practice, instructors are disappointed to find that this may not work as they intend, leading to instructors continually question why—despite their best efforts to add cultural dimensions to a space—their students are not present in studio or working in a way they want. These instructors understand that culture “conveys a sense of identity for organization members” and “serves as a sense-making device that can guide and shape behavior” (345-346), but understanding that and applying techniques in support of that understanding likely do not combine to the cultural desired.

A more productive theoretical lens is one that views culture as “an epistemological device to frame the study of organization as social phenomenon”—as a “particular form of human expression” (353). Studio culture is something that is generated through language, symbols, stories and rituals, and these elements are not prescribed and are not output, but instead are processes. This paints an organization as something that is “accomplished” (353).

The cultural rituals of staying late, working hard, leaning into critique, developing a sense of criticism, and sharing incomplete work have been described as pedagogy. Studio culture becomes tied to pedagogy as it is enacted, not to pedagogy as it is written or conceived; while a pedagogical approach may cause instructors to take certain actions, it is only how pedagogy is brought to life that becomes studio, both in its academic sense and in its cultural sense. Studio becomes a verb; “I’m going to studio” does not mean to go to a space, but instead, a practice.