Organizational Culture in the High Tech Sector

Sarah Busse Spencer, Associate Professor at the School of Management at HSE Perm, presented the results of research into the organizational culture within Russian high tech companies at the Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, held August 20-23, 2016, in Seattle, Washington.

Sarah Busse Spencer presented her report at the session on organizational culture entitled ‘Organizations, Occupations, and Work’. The study is based on qualitative data from interviews with start-uppers in Novosibirsk.

In her research, Sarah Busse Spencer found that a start-up’s organizational culture is largely based on the company leader’s personal vision. Employees, meanwhile, create a common environment based on the norms and habits generated at other organizations, and which are widespread in Russian society. In addition, start-up employees adapt features of Russian culture to their new conditions (such as high growth rate), thus creating a new type of organizational culture, which is both based on national traditions and yet also adapted to the high tech sector.