Culture and control in a life insurance company1

Bibliographic Data

ID20193015
AuthorsDavid Knights (0000-0003-0072-0393, Manchester School of Architecture), Hugh Willmott (0000-0002-7945-7796, Manchester School of Architecture)
Year1995
Volume1
Issue1
Pages29-46
Publication date1995-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueStudies in Cultures Organizations and Societies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1024-5286
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10245289508523444
OpenAlexW2085710595
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited14

This paper presents a case study of a corporation undergoing organizational and cultural change within the context of a transformation in the political philosophy of Britain. Studying these cultural and symbolic changes enables us to appreciate how the restructuring of the economy is worked out at the level of the enterprise as the British government embraced a New Right politics of “free market” economics. The analysis is framed within an overall perspective that perceives the localised changes within a single enterprise as reflecting certain shared conditions which also effect more global changes in a political economy. In short, the changes that we witness in our case study of an insurance company were already taking place before they were reinforced by the competitive conditions ensuing from New Right governmental policies. The paper provides a thick description of the tensions and difficulties of transforming an organizational culture even when global conditions are providing considerable support

Corporation · Economic system · Economics · Free market · Management · Market economy · Organizational culture · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Restructuring · Witness · Banking stability, regulation, efficiency · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Insurance and Financial Risk Management · Law

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