Understanding Administrative Culture: Some Theoretical and Methodological Remarks

Abstract

The article highlights five aspects of administrative culture. It first describes different ways of conceptualizing administrative culture. The second aspect is the ontology of administrative culture, two views of which are presented. The first of these sees organizational culture as a dependent variable that can be manipulated and altered to reflect management and leadership preferences; the other views organizations as miniature societies reflecting broader societal culture. Change is more path dependent than rationally arranged at will. The third aspect of administrative culture concerns epistemology, focusing on how knowledge about culture is created, how a researcher may carry out inquiry, and what the inquiry is about. The fourth aspect – the axiology of administrative culture – concerns the appropriate administrative norms and ethical standards of public officials. Finally, the methodological aspect points to how to study and capture different aspects of administrative culture.

Keywords:

• administrative culture
• ontology
• epistemology
• axiology
• methodology

Notes

¹According to Scott (cited in Dowding, 2006, p. 137), domination may take place in both thick and thin senses. Thick domination is when one is subjected to subordination by others, while thin domination indicates a situation where one acquiesces voluntarily to social structural norms. In this regard, Nussbaum and Sen (cited in Dowding, 2006, p. 137) give an example of “the Indian woman who gives up food and her health for her husband and male children,” and she does so willingly.