organizational culture. the west german case

summary: complex organizations exist and develop within their specific socio-cultural framework, and this factor should not be neglected. not only "exotic" cultural conditions have to be acknowledged. there is still too much uncontrolled tendency tounderstand organizations in isolation from the specific culture on which they are founded. this paper is a preliminary attempt to explain the west german case by summarizing various data and insights related to the cultural contingencies. the cultural factor becomes more and more recognized in the organizational field and the professional literature is fast growing. however, there is still not enough recognition that the civilizational framework is difficult to be studied. the historical background must be well known. the basic socio-cultural trends and contingencies have to be looked for. it is absolutely necessary to relate the socio-economic and political background of the investigated complex organizations to the whole national or regional culture in which they are immersed. the practice of management and organizational structuralization has to be socio-culturally interpreted. the relationship between the public sector and the private sector must be acknowledged. a comparative study of a given country with its neighbours is also necessary. various subcultures within the national culture need to be recognized. the west german case is particularly interesting for the variety of reasons. both frg and gdr are rooted in the same nation but they follow much different routes. the americanization of west germany is quite substantial, and the same may be said about the sovietization of east germany. the traditional cultural identity of germans in both cases is under a substantialpressure but at the same time the german nation as a whole is quite successful in the economic and organizational field. it is an interesting question to what extent the german success is justified by the cultural continuity of the nation remaining more or less the same under the changing historical circumstances. the paper here presented is only a modest attempt to deal with this problem which is much complicated and multidimensional. the short-comings and the limitations of the author may inspire readers to do something better in the future.;