Deconstructing divisions: Cultural schismogeneses as sources of creativity in organizations

Abstract

Drawing on Gregory Bateson's theory of cultural schismogenesis, the authors analyse such processes within two organizations: the Birdwatching and Bird Study Association of Slovenia and VU University Amsterdam. Both cases illustrate internal cultural divisions typical for non-profit organizations whose goals go beyond optimizing financial profits and can thus be interpreted in various, sometimes conflicting, ways. The article demonstrates how organizational members, through continuous processes of creative deconstruction, transform organizations by simultaneously creating both schisms and coalitions. This shows that, although cultural divisions may at first glance seem destructive, they are at the same time sources of creativity that permit organizational renewal and growth.

Keywords:

• cultural schismogenesis
• organizational cultures
• creative deconstruction
• ethnographic approach
• non-profit organizations

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the members and employees of the DOPPS and the employees and students of the VU for sharing valuable information with us. Our thanks also go to the reviewers for their constructive comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Organizational cultures of the DOPPS are presented in detail in Podjed (2011). The analysis of the VU is based on the unpublished master's thesis of the first author (Gorup 2013).

2. In coining the term différance, a play on words was used to explain that a meaning is constantly ‘deferred’, that is, postponed, and simultaneously ‘differentiated’ in relation to other elements.

Additional information

Funding

This work was partly supported by the EU 6th Framework Programme project EuMon, funded by the European Commission [grant number 6463], and the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO) [grant number G.OC42.13N].