Organizational Culture and Discourses: a Case of Change in a Brazilian Public Organization

Abstract

This work analyses the use of the discourse as a strategy for the dissemination of new cultural values in a State Secretary beginning in 1995. For this purpose, discourse analysis was used according to the concept by Fiorin (1997) based on the concepts of figures, themes and ways to manipulate discourses. It is a descriptive and exploratory study. The theoretical discussion was based on the concept of organizational culture in the dimensions of artifacts and cultural values. The analysis was carried out from the documents of the organization, including the projects of modernization, plans of action, reports of strategic planning, laws and decrees. Furthermore, the official journal of the organization from 1998 to 2006 was analyzed. For the years 2007 and 2009, the analysis was conducted based on the organization’s website. The results show that there was deep concern with regard to the theme of organizational culture during the whole process of modernization. They also indicate that the organization used different discourse resources to guide the individual behavior of its members such as seduction, temptation, intimidation and provocation. They also show that the official discourses are not in harmony with the various discourses found in the organization due to the plurality of values that are shared by the organizational actors.

Keywords

• organizational culture
• public organizations
• cultural change
• discourse analysis.