Win Friends and Influence People

Organizational culture research has primarily focused on organizations characterized by permanent, full-time employment relationships. The workplace is increasingly characterized by multiple employment relationships. It is not clear that current understandings of culture capture what occurs in these organizations. Employing participant observation and survey methods, the authors use a grounded theory approach to explore the transmission of cultural values and practices in a temporary placement agency, an organization characterized by multiple employment relationships. The authors find that successful purveyors of cultural values are characterized by how well they are liked and their perceived importance to their coworkers’ success rather than traditional means of culture management, such as policy and hierarchical authority.