CORPORATE CULTURE AS CORPORATE HEGEMONY
John O. Ogbor
Texas Southern University

Key Words: Corporate culture, Ideology, Hegemony, Identity crises, Ethics,
Diversity.

ABSTRACT

This article challenges the assumptions under which the presence of strong
corporate cultures in organizations is legitimized. The dialectics of three
of these assumptions are examined and it is argued that the pervasiveness of
strong corporate culture in organizations renders organization members as
prisoner of the corporate system. It is shown that the hegemony of corporate
culture is manifested in (1) the manner in which corporate cultures produce
crises of identity among organization members; (2) the manner in which
individual ethics is reconciled with those of the corporation; and (3) the
manner in which organizations use corporate culture as tools for suppressing
diversity in the workplace. In conclusion, it is suggested that
organization/corporate culture researchers, like participants in the
organization, are culturally programmed to advance the hegemony of corporate
cultures. Questions of ethical dilemma confronting corporate culture
researchers are raised.