The New Organization: Organizational Culture in a Contemporary Context

Abstract

As organizations are faced by an increasingly dynamic business environment, modern organizations are arguably no longer characterized according to the traditional, monolithic structural design but rather emerge as highly complex concepts defined by flexible work arrangements and employment structures, evident in the increased adoption of virtual- and part-time work. Although these digital and flexible organizations in many ways are defined by culture, common definitions of cultural formation focus on variables that are surprisingly absent in this contemporary context. This thesis therefore examines how organizational culture is formed differently in a co-located and virtual environment from a part-time employee perspective. A literature review is conducted covering organizational evolution, virtual work, part-time work and organizational culture to facilitate an understanding of the research landscape. The theoretical foundation is presented focusing on organizational culture formation and is applied in a single case-study with a Copenhagen based SaaScompany through semi-structured interviews. Through a thematic analysis organizational culture is found to form differently in the researched context within three main areas; virtual structures, virtual communication and virtual motivation. Furthermore, organizational culture emerges as defined by higher individuality and ambiguity and suggests an increased bottom-up formation of culture in a virtual context from a part-time employee perspective. Lastly, managers need to acknowledge that changing the organizational context has implications for cultural formation and that increased ambiguity leading to a bottom-up formation can complicate the possibilities to strategically engineer organizational culture. This thesis provides implications for practice to reduce ambiguity and enable increased opportunities for top-down formation of culture.