UNCOVERING SCHOOL CULTURE: A STUDY OF JOINT EXPLORATION THROUGH
ITERATIVE INTERVIEWING The concept of organizational culture has
been receiving a growing amount of attention in education as
well as in business. In this emphasis devising a means for
uncovering culture becomes a special concern. Edgar H. Schein
developed a definition of culture and then designed a method for
uncovering it. Schein defined culture as a pattern of basic
assumptions which focuses on external adaptation and internal
integration issues. An example of an external adaptation issue
deals with determining the organization's main purpose. An
example of an internal integration issue is how power and status
are obtained. The assumptions about the external adaptation and
internal integration issues become taken-for-granted and are
used to orient new members to their work and to the
organization. By uncovering organizational culture, some
important information can be learned and understood, for
example, the purpose of the organization, the wa