This chapter discusses philosophy and organizations. All organizations operate primarily from one of three philosophical perspectives or a combination thereof. The three philosophical perspectives are cognitive, behavioral, and cultural. An organization's core values, strategies, and/or frames originate from its cognitive, behavioral, and /or cultural philosophical perspective. The chapter focuses on explaining cognitive, behavioral, and cultural philosophical perspectives of organizations and ethical implications.
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Within this book the term organization is used to represent business (for profit and not for profit), establishment, foundation, society, association, and institution. Swanson & Holton (2001) described organizations as “human- made entities that rely on human expertise in order to establish and achieve their goals” (p.10). Bush (1987) defined an institution as a “set of socially prescribed patterns of correlated behavior” (p. 1076) and noted that correlated behavior consisted of two key tenets; behavior within an institution is not random but purposeful and correlated, and values are the “correlators.” Therefore, behavior is influenced by values.
All organizations operate within philosophical perspectives and philosophical perspectives consist of core values (Collins & Porras, 1994), strategies (Drucker, 2008), and frames (Bolman & Deal, 2008). Organizations operate primarily from cognitive, behavioral, or cultural philosophical perspectives or a combination thereof. The three philosophical perspectives are. An organization’s core values, strategies, and/or frames originate from the cognitive, behavioral, and/or cultural philosophical perspectives.