Over the last three decades the notion of "Corporate Culture" has been
advanced by business writers and management thinkers who knew little
anthropology; at the same time corporations tried to understand the
role of national and regional cultures in their global expansion and
they did so with little or no understanding of the contributions
anthropology might make to their transnational aspirations. In far too
many cases the corporation, their employees, and various countries
were served poorly by amateur anthropologists and self-proclaimed
ethnographers.  This course will explore 1) historical and
contemporary anthropological approaches to the concept of culture; 2)
exemplary writings on the role of culture in corporations; 3) the
ethnography of contemporary businesses; and 4) the role of various
cultures 1n the operation of trans-national corporations.

Goals
The goal of the course is to gain some understanding of just what the
concept of culture and the practice of anthropology can bring to the
leadership and management of businesses throughout the world.

Readings
The readings have been selected for their breadth of thought and place
and for a coherence of focus on the high-technology industry (with one
notable exception, the study of McDonalds in Asia).  In addition to
the monographs listed below, articles will be assigned from
week-to-week and electronic copies of these articles will be available
though On Course.

One of the two assignments for this course will be to complete all the
readings in advance of the class for which they are assigned and to be
prepared to discuss their content at the appropriate point in our
collective conversation. (The second assignment will be discussed below).

You should purchase (or obtain from the library) the following books:

English-Lueck, J. A.
2002        Cultures @ Silicon Valley. Stanford University Press,
Stanford,CA.

Forsythe, Diana E.
2001          Studying Those Who Study Us. Stanford University Press,
Stanford, CA.

Gannon, Martin J.
2001        Understanding Global Cultures: Metaphorical Journeys
Through 23
Nations, Second Edition. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA..

Kuper, Adam
1999        Culture: The Anthropologists' Account. Harvard University
Press,Cambridge, MA.

Van Maanen, John
1988        Tales from the Field: On Writing Ethnography. University of
Chicago Press, Chicago.

Orr, Julian E.
1996        Talking About Machines.: An Ethnography of a Modern Job.
Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY.

Packard, David
1995        The HP Way: How Bill Hewlett and I Built Our Company. Harper
Business, New York.

Schein, Edgar H.
1999        The Corporate Culture Survival Guide.  Josey-Bass,
SanFrancisco.

Watson, James L. editor
1997        Golden Arches East: McDonald's in East Asia.  Stanford
University Press, Stanford, CA.

Assignment
In addition to the readings above (and yet to be assigned), we will
engage collectively in the study of a corporation and its culture
through materials available in the public domain (corporate
publications like annual reports, case studies, biographies and
industry histories, films, advertising, legal records, other public
records, etc.).  If there are fewer than 7 students in the combined
A400/A600 sections of the class we will take on one culture -
Hewlett-Packard.  If there are more than 7 students, then we will
split into two groups and the second group will choose from among IBM,
Sun, and Cisco.  I will meet with and work

with both groups.  The goal will be a clear description of the
culture(s) of the corporation and the evidence for its construction.

Grading
Grades will be based upon the quality of class participation and in
each student's contribution to the work of the collective study of the
corporation's culture.

Mandatory Admonition
If you have not done so, please read the sections on Academic
Misconduct in the IU Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and
Conduct: http://campuslife.indiana.edu/Code/index1.html .  Plagiarism
and other kinds of academic misconduct will not be tolerated in any
form. Material breech of these rules will result in expulsion from the
class and referral to the Dean of Students for further action.