Organizational Culture in a Russian High-Tech Company: Retain and Adapt

• In Event: 413 - Section on Organizations, Occupations and Work Refereed Roundtable Session. Table 01. Culture and Organizations
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 01. Culture and Organizations

Abstract

To what extent does the broader cultural context affect organizational culture? This paper presents a case study of a small but rapidly growing firm in the Russian IT sector with international clients. Data were collected with semi-structured qualitative interviews of a representative sample of employees and managers in June 2011. In this rapidly expanding IT firm, an organizational culture is developing which abandons some elements of Russian interactional culture (such as hierarchical leadership and formal interaction styles) but adapts and retains other aspects of Russian culture, including chaepitie (drinking tea) and kolletivnost (communality), which have historically been important norms and daily practices in Russian workplaces. Both the exposure to global clients and the international culture of IT occupations mitigate the extent to which this new organization adopts distinctively Russian traditions, but despite these global forces, local cultural context still plays a significant role in shaping organizational culture.

Author

• Sarah Busse Spencer, Higher School of Economics, National Research University