Date of Award

12-2011

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Specialization

Communication and Leadership

School or Department

School of Leadership Studies

First Advisor

Dr. Alexa Dare

Second Advisor

Dr. David Givens

Abstract

When analyzing an organization's success, taking a cultural approach allows the dissection of key components necessary to determine and produce such findings. Culture brings more to the table than just the values and ways an employee is expected to conduct their daily job duties. Umpqua Bank, an Oregon-based bank, was the organization chosen for this study because the employees take great pride in its unique retail bank culture. Geertz's Cultural Approach (1973) and Edgar Schein's (1991) idea of Three Levels of Culture: core beliefs and assumptions; values and behavioral norms and artifacts were utilized, along with other communication theories used throughout this study, to help point out the key components of a healthy culture. Ethnographic research was conducted with the employees of Umpqua Bank; their interactions with customers helped validate the ideas of culture presented in this study by Schein (1991) and Geertz (1973). Findings suggest that employees are an important factor to the success and health of their work culture. In a customer service based organization, the main components of culture are the employees and their beliefs, which coincide with the core values and ideology of the organization. The employees are the true reflections of the organization's culture, which can be seen and heard through the interactions with each other and with their customers. Because corporate culture varies from one organization to another, the research conducted in this study identifies the importance of culture and how each member of an organization contributes to its success through personal, as well as organizational, beliefs and values.

Comments

All rights reserved.

Download

Share

COinS