Organizational Culture Theory in "Office Space"

This clip, a seven minute excerpt from the Mike Judge comedy "Office Space," shows Organizational Culture Theory through the eyes of Peter, Michael and Samir, software developers at a company called Initech.

Several different aspects of the Communicative Performance are shown. First, Samir and Michael show a social performance, acting politely to the woman delivering memos, even though she stumbles over Samir's name and fixates on Michael's last name -- Bolton. Michael then displays a passion performance, when he tells the others that he could program a computer virus that could cripple the company. Peter then suggests a social ritual performance in getting out of the office and going to Chotchkey's for coffee.

Here, the waiter repeats what the woman delivering memos said -- "Sounds like someones got a case of the Mondays" -- a verbal symbol shared by both the office workers and the nearby restaurant that they frequent. After exiting the restaurant, the three encounter a co-worker ranting and raving about downsizing, in a passion performance. The staff meeting he mentions ends up being an enculturation performance, familiarizing the workers with two efficiency experts.

All of these performances show the overall culture at Initech, the spider web that the workers all weave. It's a depressed, nervous, paranoid atmosphere, and this is reflected in the low morale of the workers.

Organizational Culture Theory in "The Office"

The clip above is of an episode of NBC's hit "The Office" condensed, or JAMMED as its called, into the ten minute block allotted by YouTube. The show focuses on the Scranton branch of the paper company of Dunder-Mifflin. "The Office" as a series has many examples of organizational culture but for the purposes of this blog we will discuss examples from the episode "Safety Training".

The first example of cultural performances in organization is in the opening seconds, where Andy Bernard and Pam (Jenna Fischer) show examples of social performances by greeting each other and exchanging small talk while Pam welcomes Andy back to the office, after his stint in anger management. His conversations with Jim ( John Krazinski) and Dwight (Rainn Wilson) seem to be more political performances than social, although they may start out as social. Jim refuses to give Andy power by calling him by his "new" name and Dwight shuns Andy in an Amish fashion. While Jim and Dwight had always been at Dunder-Mifflin Scranton, Andy was one of the workers who eventually came from the Stanford branch, and they continue to exercise their power over him, as no one likes Andy.

There are many examples of ritual performances and enculturation rituals throughout the episode. Both Darrell's and Toby's safety training rituals are enculturation rituals; they try, and fail, to teach the office about different types of safety. It is also mentioned that these safety orientations are supposed to take place once every year or after every accident, and it is noted that they never make it a full year. This is also an example of passion performances. Michael Scott's "performance" of a safety orientation is more of a combination of an enculturation performance and a passion performance. After Pam points out to Michael that Darrell's lecture was more captivating because it had visuals he takes it upon himself to stage a suicide attempt in order to "inform" on the dangers of depression. It attempts to be informative, in Michael's eyes, but is really exaggerated and over the top.

The constant betting is an example of ritual performance; it is a social ritual. They bet on how many jelly-beans are at reception, how long it will take Kelly to explain NetFlix to her boyfriend Ryan (B.J. Novak) and how many times she will say "awesome" and mention romantic comedies, and if Creed will notice that the apple he was eating was replaced by a potato. The Dunder-Mifflin employees often make bets in the office and play pranks on each other; they have even created an Olympics stemming from invented games played during the workday. Michael's eccentricities and Jim and Dwight's fighting are also social rituals that the rest of the office is used to, almost so that they are task rituals, as common as checking one's voice mail. Those in the office are used to having to save Michael from himself. Each of these rituals have been introduced to viewers, much as they were introduced to Ryan, the temp, during the pilot and first few episodes.

Organizational Culture Theory in The Devil Wears Prada

After learning about Organizational Culture Theory on Tuesday the first example that popped into my head was the movie The Devil Wears Prada. It is an over the top example of the theory so I am not surprised that another student thought of it as well. I chose another scene from the movie that demonstrates almost all of the communicative performances involved in Organizational Culture Theory.
In the first scene of the clip there is an enculturation performance between Andy (Anne Hathaway) and Nigel (Stanley Tucci). Stanley is making it perfectly clear that to be an acceptable employee at Runway Andy has to lose weight and wear designer clothes. Physical symbols that represent Runway (and its employees) are designer brands and trendy appearances. He makes a comment about how he will never find anything in the Runway closet to fit a size six, and that Hathaway’s character is in desperate need of Gucci and Chanel. To be an employee of Runway she must be thin, fashionable and pretty.
In the second scene the two female employees are participating in a political performance by gossiping about Hathaway’s character. Emily (Emily Blunt) is telling a coworker the story of when she first met Andy, and how she knew by her appearance that she would be an “utter disaster” at Runway. There is also an example of social performance in the second scene. When Hathaway enters the room the three girls participate in a polite, but tense, exchange. Polite comments are exchanged even though all three girls are aware that they do not get along.
Finally in the last scene there is an example of ritual performance when Andy performs a task ritual. She enters her boss Miranda’s (Meryl Streep) office and places a glass of water on her desk and magazines (something that she must do every morning before Miranda arrives). You can also see in the background that Miranda throws her coat and bag on Andy’s desk before she enters her office (a ritual shown in the clip above that happens every single morning).

Organizational Culture Theory- The Devil Wears Prada

In the 2006 film “The Devil Wears Prada” Andy (Anne Hathaway) plays a young girl who is hired as the boss’s secretary by the company Runway. As soon as she is hired she hears horrific story after story of the head of the company Miranda (Meryl Streep). Employee after employee expresses their own tales of Miranda, none of which consist of any positivity. Within the Organizational Culture Theory there are different types of communicative performances. In this scenario passion performance is represented. Once employees hear that Andy is Miranda’s new secretary they enthusiastically overwhelm her with horror stories of Miranda and her past relationships with her secretaries.

In the clip shown above many of these communicative performances are present. The most obvious is ritual performance. First, Andy demonstrates a task ritual. Each day she does exactly as Miranda tells her. Every morning Miranda throws her jacket and purse wherever she’d like on Andy’s desk and it becomes Andy’s responsibility to put these items in their correct location. Also it becomes Andy’s responsibility to fulfill whatever task Miranda asks of her each day. For example, it may be something as easy as retrieving someone’s phone number or something ridiculous such as fetching the next Harry Potter book before it is even released for Miranda’s daughters. Next, Andy demonstrates personal ritual as well. Every day she is responsible to check the voicemail and email for the company. Thirdly, every year the company Runway attends Fashion Week in Paris. It is Miranda’s secretary’s responsibility each year to make sure all aspects of the trip are organized and perfect.

Finally, this clip depicts political performance as well. By throwing her jacket and purse on her secretary’s desk everyday and barking orders, Miranda demonstrates the power she possesses over her employees. She “maintains the bottom line” at Runway and is not afraid to show it.