Introduction: Rethinking culture, organization and management

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides a highly original and personal reflexive account of the impact of three foundational feminist writers on her own research, practice and writing: Judi Marshall, Arlie Hochschild and Kathy Ferguson. It highlights the nuanced writing of Joanne Martin – a sociologist whose work on culture has been overlooked and under-utilised when compared to textbook staples such as Schein and Hofstede. The book illustrates the ways in which Joanne Martin challenges the reductionism and simplification that characterises extant theory and practice on culture in organizational contexts, while at the same time acknowledging the value that is to be found in both theory and practice. Culture as understood through women writers is embodied – it is not constructed without people, and the diversity of experience and bodies lies at the heart of understanding culture.