Abstract

Research which focuses on organizational culture formation is usually conducted within the context of change from an established culture to a transformed one. This longitudinal case study aims to trace culture formation from its genesis. It applies a multi-perspective analytical framework to explore organization members' experiences as they adjusted to, and strove to shape, working life in the first three years of a new television station. The article presents three separate views of culture formation by applying divergent lenses to analyse the data. It then offers a dialogue between the competing perspectives in order to show the interrelatedness of contrasting evidence. Results of the study indicate that culture forms through a continuous sequence of integration, differentiation and fragmentation. This suggests that the cultural patterns of cohesion which emerge in organizational life are, at the same time, fluid, diverse and paradoxical. The article contributes to the current debate on multi-perspective enquiry by providing empirical evidence to support the notion that reliance on a single analytical lens is insufficient to explain the complex realities of life in new, evolving organizations.