תרבות ארגונית היברידית: המקרה של עסקים חברתיים

In recent decades, the phenomenon of hybrid organizations that promote a double-bottom-line of profit and social gain has been expanding. There is a broad spectrum of organizations. One end of that spectrum includes businesses that are motivated by considerations of financial profit and promote social activities in an effort to fulfill “corporate social responsibility”. The other end of the spectrum includes nonprofit organizations, which promote social goals and operate business enterprises in order to create independent sources of income. In the middle of the spectrum are social enterprises, which integrate business and social values as part of their core activities. Hybrid organizations create structures and practices that enable the coexistence of values and identities representing two paradigms, business and social, even when some of their values contradict each other. Hybrid organizations are fertile ground for chaos, but they can also promote innovation and creativity, and they create a new organizational field. The topic of hybrid organizational culture in social enterprises has not been examined comprehensively to date, and current research seeks to fill this gap. In this article, we present the findings of a study that examined the organizational culture of hybrid organizations based on models developed by Schein (1990) and Martin (1992). We present research findings that indicate the unique characteristics of the organizational culture in WISE organizations (Work Integration Social Enterprises) by focusing on the interface between the business and social orientations in two organizational models (“synergetic partnership” and “synchronous partnership”). These models have a substantive impact on the extent of hybridity in the enterprise, and on the dynamics of the relationships between representatives of the two orientations. Based on our findings, we developed a model that presents parameters to support the establishment of a hybrid organizational culture. The parameters include: the vision of the entrepreneur, a hybrid professional staff, complementary practices, inter-organizational relationships, and characteristics of a “learning organization”. The findings broaden organizational theory and shed light on the way contradictory orientations coexist in hybrid organizations.