Organizational Culture as Enacted Reality: A Social Constructionist Inquiry into Indian Organizations

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18478679

Moni Mishra (Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management, Delhi)

This paper investigates organizational culture as an enacted and socially constructed phenomenon within Indian organizations functioning in a post-liberalization environment. The study transcends functionalist and variable-centric frameworks of culture, employing an interpretive and constructionist perspective to elucidate how shared meanings, assumptions, symbols, and quotidian practices influence organizational realities. Utilizing qualitative data from various Indian organizations, the paper examines how members interpret and navigate cultural change in response to alterations in the external environment. Based on the theoretical work of Schein (1985), Weick (1979), Berger and Luckmann (1966), and scholars of symbolic and interpretive organizational analysis, the study shows that culture is always changing and not just a fixed trait. The results indicate that India’s organizational culture is characterized by both continuity and change, wherein entrenched assumptions coexist with adaptive sensemaking practices. This paper adds to the literature on organizational culture by providing a local, context-sensitive view of culture as enacted reality. It also talks about what this means for theory, research, and management practice.