ICA 2003 2
Abstract
This paper offers empirical grounding for a theory of organizational culture based on the
simultaneous enactment of fragmentation, differentiation, and integration during organizational
change. It has as its site an information-technology organization at a large western university.
This public bureaucracy merged three, disparate, high-technology cultures to provide integrated
computer and telecommunication services for its campus. Part of a two-year case study, this paper
makes three contributions to our understanding of organizational cultural change. First, cultural
change in the high-technology, public bureaucracy studied exhibits similar patterns to private-
sector, high-technology organizations undergoing change. Second, the merged, independent
technical cultures studied handle the tensions resulting from a mandated consolidation by
reproducing their subcultures while adopting new organizational outcomes. Third, the behaviors
of the members studied lend support to the claim that full integration or consensus is not a
necessary feature of a productive culture. In the organization studied, a discourse of
communication enabled the simultaneous development of an integrated culture and the
reproduction of the subcultural identities within the context of technological evolution of services.
Convention