Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
587912 Journal of Safety Research 2008 13 Pages PDF
Abstract

IntroductionSmall to Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) form the majority of Australian businesses. Method: This study uses ethnographic research methods to describe the organizational culture of a small furniture-manufacturing business in southern Australia. Results: Results show a range of cultural assumptions variously ‘embedded’ within the enterprise. In line with memetics – Richard Dawkin's cultural application of Charles Darwin's theory of Evolution by Natural Selection, the author suggests that these assumptions compete to be replicated and retained within the organization. The author suggests that dominant assumptions are naturally selected, and that the selection can be better understood by considering the cultural assumptions in reference to Darwin's original principles and Frederik Barth's anthropological framework of knowledge. The results are discussed with reference to safety systems, negative cultural elements called Cultural Safety Viruses, and how our understanding of this particular organizational culture might be used to build resistance to these viruses.

Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Chemical Engineering Chemical Health and Safety
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