The Cultural Analysis of Soft Systems Methodology and the Configuration Model of Organizational Culture

Organizations that find themselves within a problematic situationconnected with cultural issues such as politics and power require adaptable research andcorresponding modeling approaches so as to grasp the arrangements of that situation andtheir impact on the organizational development. This article originates from aninsider-ethnographic intervention into the problematic situation of the leading publichousing provider in Luxembourg. Its aim is to describe how the more action-orientedcultural analysis of soft systems methodology and the theory-driven configuration modelof organizational culture are mutually beneficial rather than contradictory. The datacollected between 2007 and 2013 were analyzed manually as well as by means of ATLAS.ti.Results demonstrate that the cultural analysis enables an in-depth understanding of thepower-laden environment within the organization bringing about the so-called“socio-political system” and that the configuration model makes it possible to depictthe influence of that system on the whole organization. The overall research approachthus contributes toward a better understanding of the influence and the impact ofoppressive social environments and evolving power relations on the development of anorganization