ABSTRACT
Philip Atkinson’s preferred rhetoric is designed to establish the centrality of ‘culture’ and the consequent need to manage cultural change in order to meet the imputed challenges of the new millennium. Thus, culture is to be recognized as an array of organizational/business ‘building blocks’ formed, apparently, from ‘Values’. Atkinson asserts the presence of ‘the interests of the business’ and assumes that these will act to unify both cultural values and organizational conduct. Yet accounts of organizational culture – especially those focused upon the articulation of tools and techniques designed to secure culture change – ignore this important aspect of social life, reducing us all to the status of joyless, sexless drones. Discussing Scottish culture, David McCrone suggests that Scots history is very much like Scotland’s topography. Joanne Martin’s summary of ‘culture’ is significant because it highlights the significance of plurality and history.
