Edgar Schein's Synthesis Of Organizational Culture

Since the People’s Bank Theatre reopened in January of 2016, an opportunity for volunteer coordinator Sarah Eels to establish an accepting culture where all volunteers, theatre staff, and performers alike feel welcome arose. With the theatre now being in commission for a bit over a year now, the foundations of such a culture are beginning to form. Throughout this essay, I will use Edgar Schein’s synthesis of organizational culture to critique the environment forming at the People’s Bank Theatre. To begin, Sarah does a fantastic job at the initial portion of the training process by establishing the expectations and norms of the volunteers. Before I could step foot into the line of the customer, I underwent an hour and a half workshop lead by Sarah and any other new volunteers that basically overviewed the different procedures we, as volunteers, were expected to know and apply during our time in the theatre. Ranging from what to do in the case of a fire to how to escort patrons to their seat, the standards were set for all the volunteers after going through this training.

“When we say that something is ‘cultural’ we imply that it is not only shared but also stable because it defines the group…Culture is hard to change because group members value stability in that it provides meaning and predictability” (Schein 286). In hosting this training, Sarah vastly contributed to the overall stability of the organizational environment; all the volunteers are on the same page and unified know what they will be doing when they come in for a