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organizations have in absorbing acquisitions and so realizing the
synergies expected can be attributed to culture clashes. There are
certainly elements operating inside a business system that are usually

attributed to the Emergence construct. The interactions of employees
personality, needs, values etc. and the system goals certainly exist.
There is path dependence in that prior choices affect current goals and

attitudes as well as resources. But, we believe there are differences as
well as similarities between the culture creation process inside a
business versus that which occurs in the context.

 The Goal Effect: A business system is goal-directed so evolves
under the influence of its goals; whereas, the context is not goal-
directed and simply evolves under stigmergic action. Unlike the

termites building a nest under the rules of stigmergic action, the
‘nest’ created by an organization has a clearly defined and
understood purpose, and there are indeed organization-building

schools for building businesses where ‘best practice’ is archived
and transferred. The influence of applying the body of
knowledge impacts the legitimacy of an organization and so its
(cultural) self-image as ‘professional’.

 The Isomorphic Pressure Effect: The firm sits inside the
general context and is under isomorphic pressure to conform to

the requirements of the context (legal, structural, professional
norms, social mores, etc.) if it is to achieve contextual legitimacy.
This makes the bounded organization a subset of the context and
it evolves with the context under the requisite complexity

demand for adaptation.
 The Technical System Effect: A business system is socio-
technical, such that the needs of the technical system have a real

impact on the social system that runs the processes etc. This has
implications for the types of people who inhabit the firm and the
relative proportions of those groups and as a corollary the
professional and trade attitudes that they import from the

context. To a degree, the mix of people can be managed.

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