Institutionalized Organizational Culture Values in the ESAL Constitution Process (1892-1938)

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze the values that characterize the organizational culture institutionalized in the constitution of the Escola Superior de Agricultura de Lavras (ESAL) from the institutionalist theory. The school gets its name in 1938 but was founded in 1908, when the Rev. Samuel Rhea Gammon decided to create a school that could teach agriculture to the region’s youth. The history of ESAL was based on written documents, such as personal diaries, biographies and guest books, which became part of its institutional memory. As a result of Protestant ideas, ESAL was institutionalized based on this value. Its theoretical framework is based on studies of organizational culture, the institutional theory of Protestant culture and the classics of reformist thinking. The values identified, analyzed and put into practice by the founders, recognized and reinforced throughout its history for several generations of students and teachers are working streamlined, the cult of education as education, broad cultural training of technicians, the honor-related formation of character as honesty, discipline at work, practical sense, the vision of progress and love of country, and the slogan to serve “the glory of God and Human Progress.” These values constitute ESAL identity.