An Emergence-based Perspective on Organizational Culture

Despite the apparent enthusiasm for the study of organizational culture, a fundamental dichotomy still remains unresolved between two theoretical orientations: cognitive reductionism and cognitive collectivism. What is needed is an integrated framework in which culture can be conceptualized as at once grounded in and yet transcending individual agents’ mental states. To this end, the notion of emergence will be introduced. By representing culture as an emergent property, an attempt will be made to solve the paradox of having a higher-level cognitive state that is both autonomous and dependent on a lower-level one. Qua emergent, culture is ontologically autonomous although it remains nomologically dependent on individual cognition. We will examine how, while resolving the cultural paradox, emergence provides a framework in which the characteristics traditionally associated with culture can be accounted for on a theoretical basis. The discussion will also explore the potential of using computational social simulations for generating empirically testable hypotheses towards theory development.