Tab. 5: Strong vs. weak cultures. Source: Own work.
| Features | Strong culture | Weak culture |
| Degree of acceptance of organisational values and norms. | Agreement as to organisational values and norms. | Conflicts regarding organisational values and norms. |
| Sense of community among employees. | A strong sense of community among employees. | A sense of conflict of interests and striving for confrontation. |
| Degree of formalisation of norms. | Unwritten, commonly respected norms. | Formalised rules, which are often eluded. |
| Employees’ involvement in their organisation’s issues. | A high level of employees’ involvement. | A low level of employees’ involvement. |
| Degree of employee loyalty to the organisation. | A high level of employees’ loyalty to the organisation. | A low level of employees’ loyalty to the organisation. |
| Emotions related to being an organisation member – pride or shame. | Pride in being a part of the organisation. | Feeling ashamed of being a part of the organisation. |
| Emotions of the employees – a sense of being appreciated or humiliated. | Employees feel appreciated in the organisation. | Employees feel humiliated in the organisation. |
Still, the homogeneity of organisational culture has its drawbacks. V. Sathe, accepting the superiority of strong organisational cultures, proposes to assess them in organisational terms, taking into consideration their distinctiveness ←49 | 50→and the extent to which they are spread and rooted86. However, there are also numerous researchers pointing to the disadvantages of strong organisational cultures. I. Janis described the dangerous phenomenon of ‘group thinking’, which is a social mechanism of group integration, coercing conformity87. A culture which is strong, or homogenous, distinct, spread-out and rooted in an organisation can limit the innovativeness and rationality of the decisions made, as well as hinder the process of introducing changes. The focus on the community of values obscures the views of non-conformists and provokes schematic thinking, which is shared by the majority. The unique, individual knowledge of some organisation members remains hidden, although it is often of key importance to the process of innovation. A different type of criticism is made by the researchers of the critical current (CMS), who believe that the issue of strong culture is a ←50 | 51→typical example of the instrumentalisation of organisational culture, which was called ‘organisational culturism’ by H. Willmot, and the ‘pigeonhole problem’ by L. Smircich88. Strong organisational culture means striving for the creation of an oppressive mechanism for employees, the aim of which is to coerce even greater involvement and loyalty, which is supposed to increase effectiveness. In this sense, strengthening the organisational culture is a kind of social engineering and psychomanipulation, leading to higher indoctrination and in consequence, to exploitation of the employees.
2 Positive culture – negative culture
The criterion for distinguishing positive and negative cultures is mostly their long-term influence on the effectiveness of organisational activities. Positive cultures should support the achievement of goals indicated by managers, while negative cultures can hinder the achievement of these goals. Based on research, P. Bate described a syndrome of negative organisational culture that can be juxtaposed with a positive culture (Tab. 6)89.
Tab. 6: Negative vs. positive cultures. Source: Own work, based on P. Bate, 1984.
| Features | Negative culture | Positive culture |
| Emotionality | Emotional coldness – avoiding expression and feelings. | Moderate or strong emotionality – sharing emotions with others. |
| Personalisation of organisational bonds | Depersonalisation of interpersonal relationships – a high level of formalisation. | Personalisation of relationships in the organisation – personal, direct statements, a lower level of formalisation. |
| Employee activity | Subordination – expecting guidelines from superiors in order to solve problems. | Activeness – employees strive for making decisions and solving problems by themselves. |
| Approach to changes | Conservatism – lack of flexibility in new situations. | Flexibility – openness to changes and readiness to implement them. |
| Isolation | Focus on one’s own duties, specialisation. | A wider perspective on the enterprise’s functioning, attempts at generalisations. |
| Approach to other organisations | Antipathy – people are opponents, rather than supporters (individualism). | Friendliness – people are more often supporters than opponents (collectivism). |
Manifestations of ‘negative cultures’ are related to the risk of passivity (subordination) and conservatism. Passivity can result from the fact that the paternalistic management style prevails. Thanks to the sense of security resulting from the subordination to organisational power, employees no longer have to make decisions. Conservatism is related to a striving for the maintenance of the known, safe, status quo. Nevertheless, in the case of turbulence in the organisation’s environment, both passivity and conservatism contribute to lowering the enterprise’s competitiveness.
3 Bureaucratic culture – pragmatic culture
There is much research concerning the problems of the bureaucratisation of organisational cultures, which has led to the creation of this typology90. ←51 | 52→Bureaucratic cultures are bound by a number of formalised rules, orders and prohibitions, which standardise an organisation’s life in every detail. These are cultures of the written word, with limited and routine interpersonal contact. Pragmatic cultures are characterised by a lack of detailed organisational regulations (Tab. 7). There is a clear orientation towards verbal communication of an interpersonal character. The dichotomy between