Chapter 4 also brings up artifacts. I'm not sure why artifacts stick out in my mind... probably because they remind me of the movie Office Space.
One of the important aspects that the book covered is that "artifacts are more visible than values." This phrase stood out since it made me think about the way that artifacts and a company's culture complement and contrast each other. Artifacts are described as "manifestations of the deeper levels of culture." While this is no doubt true, I think another interesting facet of artifacts is the way a company will manipulate them as a tool to create culture. Some artifacts may be used in efforts to grow a pre-conceived idea of an optimal culture; however, the success is often not always guaranteed.
So while artifacts are often regarded as the results of a company's culture and doings... they may also be a foundation.
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I am very interested in cultural artifacts. I have a collection of antique literature related to food. Primarily they are advertising, and promotional booklets from the period roughly 1914 - 1960. I originally started collecting them because I like the colorful graphics. Once I started reading them however, I realized that they were also interesting for what they revealed about the social context of food, gender and ethnic relationships. Among the many issues raised was the way food advertising reconciled the marketing of more expensive convenience foods to women, at a time when most women did not work outside of the home and ostensibly would not need them. There is also a glaring absence of men in these advertisements, other than to suggest ways women can use food to please or attract them. Racism is also rampant in ads prior to WWII - depicting African Americans exclusively as servants. These artifacts starkly depict the cultural context of the times, and call attention to our blindness to underlying assumptions.
Office Space was an educative Documentary on Modern Organizational Work Culture - one can learn so much from just one viewing, but multiple viewings greatly benefit one's understanding :-)
Seriously, I think your point about companies manipulating artifacts to create culture is quite accurate. For example, I've noticed that companies working on sober projects like finance, construction, etc. try to appear cool to the world by introducing artifacts that are hip (like race cars) when the company culture really is very somber to an insider. It may perhaps be that they wish to impress upon visitors that they are "in touch" with the cool culture outside the company, and "like any other ordinary person". It becomes a case of the company management using artifacts to achieve either an effect on the company's culture or a positive display of the company's culture to the external world.
First of all, there could easily be an entire organizational class, considering organizational culture and some rhetorical analysis, arranged around and focused on Office Space. The bit about the flair is really a funny concept (but also sad for someone who works in that level of work).
There is a sense that artifacts can be manipulated to affect culture, but only if one considers organizational culture according to the culture-as-variable view. According to the culture-as-root metaphor the visible artifacts, etc, are simply manifestations of underlying values. To some extent, in this case, the test of whether changes in artifacts changes culture will render one view more valid than another. Interesting area of study.
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