ABSTRACT
This chapter sets out a checklist of items in describing an organization. It considers some ways of describing the culture of an organization. It explores the role of individuals within the firm. The checklist is a general descriptive framework. Some items will apply to all companies; others may be irrelevant, while a particular item may assume special significance. The quality of subsequent analysis is thus lower because the profile leaves out key items such as a company's culture or interpersonal politics. The chapter discusses a variety of approaches, which complement one another, to describing the culture of a business. One path towards understanding and defining a company's culture, derived from sociology, has been expounded by Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones. Another way of describing a corporate culture is from the anthropological standpoint. Corporate description needs to extend beyond basic facts and include material on a company's culture and detailed profiles of individual executives.
