Business Anthropology and Corporate Culture: Viewing Corporate Culture at Morse Inc.Through the Eyes of a Business Anthropologist.

Abstract

Anthropologically, culture is defined as the shared sets of beliefs and values of a common group of people. Culture can encompass everything from language, to religious beliefs, to the types of food one eats and may include the clothes that one wears. To the uninitiated, culture is often thought of as describing the affairs of an obscure ethnic group on a far off island. However, one does not need to study the exotic; different cultural vectors and the rules and regulations that accompany them control our everyday lives. We can study the effects of culture very close to home. For most people, whether they understand it or not, the main cultural group they identify with is found in the workplace. As a result, people become ingrained within a corporation (workplace) and its corporate culture. This paper will look at several characteristics of corporate culture: what comprises corporate culture, the way it works, and how it affects different aspects of the company. I will look at the way business anthropology functions within the corporation and how it can benefit corporate culture. Finally, these two ideas will come to life with first-hand examples from a typical business environment -- the corporate culture at Morse Inc. By using my research on the topics of business anthropology and corporate culture combined with the knowledge and insights from my internship at Morse Inc., I will delineate the workings of corporate culture and business anthropology within a workplace.