Clan-Culture Attributes in a Privatized Kibbutz Industry: An Israeli Case Study

This article focuses on one privatized kibbutz factory. The research question was: How did this factory preserve clan cultural features after the process of privatization, while most other privatized kibbutz factories discarded their communal nature and became bureaucratic and highly hierarchic? While most privatized kibbutz factories experienced worker alienation and frustration, this case study describes an organization with a strong culture of commitment and solidarity among workers. Management, on its part, invests in the workers and encourages them to develop with the factory. The findings indicate that a double social control mechanism maintains the factory's success. Within a family-like working environment, internal control demands professionalism, commitment, integrity, quality, and innovation. External control, from the surrounding kibbutz community, reinforces communal values.