Cultural and Critical Approaches:

An Application on - Australia

1
 Table of contents
List of tables 2
Executive summary 3
1 Introduction 4
1.1 Purpose 4
1.2 Scope 4
1.3 Method 4
1.4 Limitations 5
1.5 Assumptions 5
1.6 Background 5
2 Findings 6
2.1 Cultural Approach 6
2.2 Critical Approach 6
3 Discussion 6
3.1 Cultural Approach 6
3.2 Critical Approach 8
4 Conclusion 10
5 Recommendations and implementation 11
Tables and References 12

List of tables and Graphs

Table 1: Implementation of the HSE Management System

Table 2: Architecture for the HSE Management System

Table 3 Scheins Cultural Model

2
Executive summary

- project in Darwin - The -- - is regarded as the biggest investment the

Northern Territory ever experienced. - is an international oil and gas company with
projects in every part of the world. The -- project is unique to other investments as it
is isolated in the sea and it is only connected to Darwin through the world longest
underwater pipe. In addition, the project will move Australia to become the world
number one gas supplier. All of these inputs give the project a huge attention from
Politicians, unions, environmental activists and the general public. Every party has
strong opinions about the project, as it resembles a big conflict of interests.

- with its long experience in this field understand all of these expectations and
demands from the public and governments. As a well-established company they do
promote the organization as a culture of Innovation and health & safety. Furthermore
they act on that by holding innovation programs, scholarships to students, having a
HSE program built in the corporate structure, minimizing their environmental
footprints and reaching a high reliability environment. Within the company the
existence of subcultures is wide spread, as employing thousands of employees from
all parts of the world will create diversity.

For - to make all these cultures interact and work in harmony they need to be
strict in applying standards and procedures. The goal is high reliability and the tools
are diverse but the consequences are big, as there are lives at stake here, the
adoption of strict hierarchy with control of the decision process and technology gives
- the control of modes and means to channel work in what they regard as the proper
way of doing business.

This brings us to the critical approach that sees - as source of domination.

The power of - coming from formal authority or control of resources should be
investigated, the general ideology of workers not to question the rules and
standards put down by senior management should be considered as oppression. A
place where female considered being unfit for work is oppression.

To emancipate these oppressed groups the identification of the sources of

power and the proper way of resistance through unions and women support
organization are identified in the discussion and the recommendations.

In conclusion - with its long years of experience and its bureaucratic yet
flexible culture is continuously working to see all of its core values and assumptions
running in harmony with the subcultures of its organizations. Above all they are trying
to meet all the expectations of the public, governments, and environmental groups
regarding compliances or just even giving back to the community through
educational programs or building or donating.

3
1 Introduction

1.1 Purpose

The purpose of this report is to apply to approaches the first being the Cultural
Approach and the Critical Approach to a Northern territory Company.

The first step is applying the Cultural approach in order to gain a subjective
understanding of the organisation from an outsider point of view and explaining the
organizations communication phenomena. (Miller, 2012).

The second is applying the critical approach, which will be implemented by

considering the organisation as a site of domination, with an objective of identifying a
domination area and suggesting ways to emancipate the oppressed individuals and
pinpoint resistance areas (Miller, 2012).

1.2 Scope

- Australia will be the target of research in particular the under construction --

project in Darwin. The focus will be the culture - will bring to its employees with its
underlying assumptions and values. Further we will investigate the subculture within
the Darwin project.

The other part of the report will consider the power of - in Darwin and its
consequences on communities and individuals within the organization or as external
stakeholders.

1.3 Methods

A qualitative method accompanied with Schein model is adopted in the report

under the Cultural approach to gain better understanding of the cultural groups in the
organization. This will be done from a non-participant observant view where the goal
and objective is minimizing the distance with the Culture in -.

The first step will be to identify the values and assumptions at work in -. The
second is a discussion about theses findings. Finally we will try and develop an idea
about what drives the organizations members through an anthropological method
that conveys a realist tale about -. (Van Maanen, 1988)

The Critical approach will adopt Ideology Critique with the use of interpretive
research technique. (Taylor & Trujillo, 2001). After gathering Cultural Data and
interpreting these data, a judgement about the power relationship will be made with a
deconstruction method to be applied under a radical frame of reference.

Further more a Pluralist Feminism view will be considered as Ashcroft (2000)

argued in his book for a hybrid combination for best results.

4
1.4 Limitations

The actual operations are scheduled to start at the end of 2014. So the offices
in Darwin are merely for administration purposes and overseeing the project
construction. The mix of employees in the operational department is proposed by -
and adopted here in the report. So the assumption about the organizations
employees are based on the future plans for - to bring in a mix of overseas and local
workers. The cultural mix will be what - will bring in to those employees in addition to
the employees contribution in building such culture.

Schein model oversimplifies the nature of organizations culture and the role
of communication in creating and sustaining that culture so it can obscure the
complexity of - Culture. (Miller, 2012, p. 92)

As for the critical approach, while the production of gas (LNG) is not up and
running the report will be considering the same policies and strategies that - is
implementing in their operations around the world.

There are no right or wrong answers in applying any communication theory; it

is just another view of the communication process from a different perspective.

1.5 Assumptions

Under the Cultural approach the investigation is assumed to look for qualities
that make - Australia What it is. Adopting Schein model as shown in table 3 (Schein
, 1992) to explain the organizations life and behaviour is my focus, in addition
applying concepts dealt by deal and Kennedy in their book Corporate Cultures in
conjunction with the most important approaches in todays cultural researchers like
Martin (2002) and Eisenberg & Riley (2001).

As for Critical approach the belief that the social structure and process in - will
lead to imbalance of power which in consequence will lead to the oppression or
alienation of certain social classes and groups. The report will uncover those
imbalances and bring them to the attention of the oppressed group

1.6 Background

- has been a part of the Australian business community since 1986 and is
currently involved in a number of projects in Australia and the Timor Sea including
the -- Project, the Griffin Fields Project in Darwin. The --, however, is the most
expensive development per ton of LNG produced, mainly because of its isolated
location and the 885-kilometer pipeline that will need to be constructed from the
offshore gas field to Darwin.

The Territory has secured its economic future and is on the way to becoming
the oil and gas capital of Australia. It will provide 3000 jobs during construction and
the resources growth will underpin our economy for the future providing training,
employment and business opportunities for Territorians. As a result of the - project,
Australia will overtake Qatar as the worlds largest LNG exporter by 2017.

5
2. Findings

2.1 Cultural View

- core values and assumptions are Innovations, Health & Safety, Error free
environment (High reliability).
Subculture do exist as the 3000 employees to be working will be from
different demographics and cultures (Thai, Chinese, Bangladesh, etc.)
Physical artefacts are seen through the big building and the 880km pipe
through the sea to the massive processing plant plus the new technology
possessed by -.
- culture is a Complicated, Emergent and ambiguous in certain parts

2.2 Critical View

There is a strict hierarchy that channels the power from top to down.
- have control of resources and technology.
There is a tendency in employing more males than females in the
operation facilities as it is considered male job.
- have control of the decision process.
- control the modes and means of production. There is one way to do the
manufacturing of LNG and it is mainly computerized.
- Ideology is based on strict procedures in an error free environment and
they expect that all employees have the same assumption and behave in
these frames.
Based on the above Ideology - expects all employees to follow the strict
procedures and manuals set by the senior management.
As a result employees will have the Ideology that - procedures are always
correct.
Hegemony exists in the influence of the groups that worked for - longer
against the new employed by shaping the idea that - procedures and
standards not to be questioned.
Emancipation of female workers in the operation sites is needed

6
3 Discussion

3.1 Cultural Approach

- culture is a complex one due to the many markers that reflect the existence of
this culture. For example - is famous for its ceremonies, which are usually followed
by an act of celebration like a cultural dance that represent its ties to the community.
Artefacts at the head quarters, massive equipment, expensive technologies and
huge constructions are the physical marker, which represent the worldwide
accomplishment of the organization.

- culture is emergent where cultures here are socially created through the
interaction of the organization and its members as discussed by Eisenberg & Riley
(2001, p. 294). - members are from all parts of the world, the -- project will have 3000
employees at peak most of them will be skilled overseas workers that - will deploy
through the skilled immigration system. This will bring many different groups to the
work force, which in turn will constitute the grounds for different subcultures.

This interactional performance, which requires the participation of the

employees is one part of - culture, the other part is contextual performance where -
culture is embedded in the organizational history and situations (Martin, 2002) that
co-exist in harmony or indifference with the interactional elements. This leads us to
conclude that - culture is not unitary. In addition it is always changing as those three
3000 employees will be reduced to 700 when the construction finishes in 4 years and
the process is computerized, so these subcultures will change with the change of the
employees.

This constitutes a rapidly changing complex web of culture and subcultures as

Martin described it Often Ambiguous (2002). To simplify it an adoption of Scheins
model of organizational culture is adopted. The first level of the model is the visible
markers where in - situation are the artefacts, technology they posses, big plants,
lots of formal documents and manuals.

The second level composes of individual and groups values, as observations

indicated most employees had values of hard work, commitment, innovation and
reliability. These values sometimes match or hold equal weight across the
organization. These different values will affect the individual behaviour within the
organization. For example employees with values of hard work at the processing
plant usually put more hours towards their work than employees at the head office, in
a result a subculture of workers doing long shift is the norms in the processing plant.

The third level is the core assumptions that individuals and all members
usually uniformly hold it. These core assumptions are embedded in the organization
and passed on from group to group as a basic employment tool. The observation of -
documents and web pages lead us to basic core assumptions like Innovation, Safety
& Health and Error free environment (high reliability). These assumptions match the
companies work line in gas and petrol where safety is the most important part of their
daily work as there lives and natural resources at stake, beside the need of
continuous development in technology thats where innovation comes in.

7
 The core assumption are embedded through the system, table 1 and 2 shows
how - designed a system for health and safety and they incorporated this system
through each part of their organization as they need to reach error free environment
for being a high reliability company. On the other hand - joined ventures with
Universities that sponsor scholarships and their contribution to innovations
conferences around the globe is an indicator of their commitment to continuous
development in technology. (Inpex , 2007)

Further more - try continuously to give back to the communities and try to
build a cultural connection between the organization and the communities. Reasons
might vary for these action from being a genuine act of good faith to just a
compliance with the demands of unions and environmental activists which will be
discussed further under the critical approach. For example - in Darwin is strongly
committed to regional development and will join with local community leaders in the
field of Indigenous employment to develop a responsible strategy.

The Western Australian government will also provide $256 million in funding
over 30 years for housing, education, economic development, promotion and
protection of cultural heritage and a Kimberley enhancement scheme, which will
invest in indigenous social programs. These include the implementation of ongoing
education, training and employment initiatives, indigenous job targets, support for
indigenous businesses, cultural initiatives and payments upon project milestones.

3.2 Critical Approach

The Territory has secured its economic future and is on the way to becoming
the oil and gas capital of Australia, Northern Territory Chief Minister Paul Henderson
said. With this statement by the chief minister - took a position of power in the
Northern territory. Public perception to this organization is now shaped to see it as
the giant or the savior for the territorys economy.

The hierarchy system in - conveys that the formal authority starts at the top
with board and senior managers. Some sort of bureaucratic control was observed
through the system. The critical approach with its radical frame of reference starts by
the consideration of the organization as a site of domination. This domination is
practiced through sources of power. Power is critical to this approach so an
investigation about - power as the first step and its imbalances that leads to
oppression is important.

- sources of power as observed are likely to come from:

Hierarchy system
Control of resource (gas & plant & pipes and Equipment)
Control of the decision process
Control of technology
Control of knowledge and information through the organization

- control the modes and means of production, the biggest example is the 3000
employees to start the project will be reduced to 700 in 4 years as - will computerize

8
all its production and maintain workers for supervision and monitoring purposes. As
Braverman (1974) argued ta this technologically sophisticated workplace makes
workers deskilled and they are easily replaced.

Considering the Concertive Control theory (Miller K. , 2005) three concepts are
clear trough - organizations. - First key Control concept is a mix of Technological and
simple and part Bureaucratic. Second concept is Identification where individuals
define themselves in terms of the collective organization depend on their position in
the hierarchy in - example. The third concept is Discipline where reward and
punishment plays the major role of maintaining certain behaviours that - consider
appropriate and eliminate or correct undesired behaviours.

The second step is to consider the Ideology of the workers and the
organization as whole, the observation indicated that the set of behaviours and
attitudes and beliefs within the organizations walls was that the system knows better,
so if an employee observe an event his/her belief will be that this is the proper or
right way to do things. - system of processing is precise and there is no chance that
any worker will doubt or question the procedures. This will shape workers views and
influence their behaviours as Bernstein argued in his book The power of Ideologies.

This ideology will lead to the hegemony process inside -. Taking the previous
example when new workers join the organization the older groups will try and
influence the new comer with this assumption that everything here is set perfectly
and there is no space for change unless the organization introduces new technology
or pass on a new procedure.

Emancipation is needed here for workers from these strict and deskilled
procedures to free them from the control of modes of production by -. A part of this
emancipation is considered through resistance by employees to organise unions and
strikes to demand more participation in the decision making process and more skills
development for workers. - latest move to build a training centre as a joint venture
with larakeyah Corporation in Darwin is an indication for their acceptance of the
pressure of unions and workers.

Another example of resistance are the environmental activists who are in

continuous clashes with the company about their environmental footprints and using
the resources of Australian and indigenous people without giving back to the
community. As mentioned earlier - did put a plan for community development and
the actually produced the lowest percentage of environmental footprints in their
operations in Western Australia.

Applying the Feminist theories I found that females are oppressed in the
operation sites as being unfit or second best to males. - showed a tendency of
employing more males at oil & Gas rigs or at process plant where sometimes a site
will have no females at all. Using Ashcraft (2000) hybrid model Pluralist Feminism
this behaviour of - even it is genuinely unintentional will only indicate an oppression
of females at the production sites. This might be seen an ideology of - that can be
critiqued. From the cultural data collected in the previous section it showed that
females are mainly employed in administration jobs.

9
4. Conclusion
High reliability organizations are increasingly important in our technological
society as LaPorte (1996) argues that for the organization to uphold safety standards
they must cultivate a culture of reliability in which the underlying assumptions of the
work lead to error free behaviours (Miller, 2012). This is seen in - through strong
value for skilled performance, high degree of discretion and a declining tension
between the experts and system operators. Examples of similar environments are
BP corporate culture and NASA culture.

-- project as discussed above is of high importance to Darwin. - with its

massive experience will bring an innovative and error free culture to the workers in
Darwin. They will also bring in an extra 3000 workers from different parts of the
world, which will add a diverse subculture within the -- project and even the public
community. - culture is seen through the big scale projects and buildings, through
ceremonies and community programs, as through scholarships and research. The
interaction within this institution will be constitutive one; in addition it will add an
element of diversity to the community in Darwin by bringing an extra 3000 families to
move to this part of the world.

On the other hand - strict and bureaucratic way of operating can be critiqued.
However the operation is highly sensitive where there are lives and billions of dollars
at stake here, a researcher cannot but to question the methods and considerations
at hand. The control of resources and production methods might lead to a realisation
of oppression by workers. The alienation of females at the production plants and the
rigs might bring resistance from feminism activists.

Each approach has different perspective and a unique way to research and
investigate the organisations. However there is nothing such as the best approach to
apply, the approach depend on the researcher goals and objective and on what they
are trying to investigate.

Overall, the behaviour of - is nothing but more determination to overcome the

social and cultural obstacles to make their system work in harmony to reach their
end objectives and goals mainly to provide a stable and efficient supply of energy to the
customers by exploring and developing oil and natural gas resources throughout the world.
Through our business, we aim to become an integrated energy company, which contributes to
our community and makes it more livable and prosperous as stated in their strategic
policy as a mission statement (- , 2011).

10
5. Recommendations and implementation

More Development and in house programs for workers need to be established

to emancipate worker from the daily routine and control.
A cultural day like a harmony day need to be established within the
organization to bring the different people of different culture to interact share
their heritage.
A system of communication for reporting errors anonymously to be
established in order to reach high reliability environment.
Naoki Kuroda the chairman of - needs to lead by example in sharing more
ideas and lay out the grounds of more interactive decision process.
Open the doors for more female workers to take part of the operation, which
will give diversity and a competitive advantage in employment having more
innovative minds to join in.
More involvement of workers and employees in the decision making process.
Establish female worker support programs.
Establish an environmental department to oversee the production process.

11
Tables and Graphs

Table 1

Source: - Corporation CSR Document

12
Table 2

Source: - Corporation CSR Document

13
Table 3

Scheins Onion Model

14
References
1. Braverman, H. (1974). Labor and Monopoly Capital:The Degradation of Work in the
Twentieth Century. NewYork, NY, USA: Monthly Review Press.

2. Deal , T., & Kennedy, A. (1982). Corporate Culture: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life .
MA, MA, USA: Addison-Wesley.

3. Dwyer, J. (1997). The Business Communication Handbook (Fourth Edition ed.). (E. Thomas,
Ed.) Sydney, NSW, Australia: Prentice Hall Australia .

4. Eisenberg, E. M., & Riley, P. (2001). The new Hand Book of Organizational Communication:
Advances in Theory,Research, and Methods. Thousands Oaks, CA, USA: Sage.

5. - , C. (2007, October 1). Overview of HSE Management system. Retrieved 30 March, 2012,
from - Corpopraton: http://www.-.co.jp/english/system.html

6. - , C. (2011, October 1). Mission Statement. Retrieved 30 March, 2012, from - Corpopraton:
http://www.-.co.jp/english/mission.html

7. Martin, J. (2002). Organizational Culture : Mapping the Terrain. Thousand Oaks, CA, USA:
Sage.

8. Miller, K. (2005). Communication Theories: Perspectives, Process, and Context (Second

Edition ed.). New York, NY, USA: McGraw Hill.

9. Miller, K. (2012). Organizational Communication: Approaches and Process (Sixth Edition ed.).
(M. Eckman, Ed.) Boston , MA, USA: Wadsworth.

10. Millet, B., Boyle, M., Robins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2011). Organizational Behaviour (Sixth
Edition ed.). (M. Read, Ed.) French Forest, NSW, Australia: Pearson Australia.

11. Robbins, S. P., Bergman, R., Stagg, I., & Coulter, M. (2003). Management (Third Edition ed.).
(A. Green, Ed.) Frenchs Forest, NSW, Australia : Pearson Australia .

12. Schein , E. H. (1992). Organisational Culture and Leadership . San Francisco , LA, USA: Jossey
Bass .

13. Taylor, B. C., & Trujillo, N. (2001). The new Handbook of Organizational Communication:
Advances in Theory,Research, and methods. Thousands Oaks, CA, USA: Sage.

14. Van Maanen, J. (1988). Tales of the field:On Writting Ethnography. Chicago, USA: Unviersity
of Chicago Press.

Most of the research and collection of observations depended on The NT news

newspapers and different news web sites like yahoo news to collect general
information about the -- project.
Word Count is 3552, References, tables and content list are not included

15