"MODELUL KOPIERNICAN" Studiu de caz al culturii în organizație: "Modelul Kopiernican"

This paper continues the analytical approach initiated in WP-01 (Jeney, 2026) and investigates the organizational culture of a private Transylvanian company in Cluj-Napoca, understood not as “decor” (logo, dress code, events) but as the symbolic infrastructure of coordination: a configuration of artifacts, values, and basic assumptions that, during the stability phase, sustained rapid cooperation, loyalty, performance, and internal/external reputation. The study is retrospective and follows an interpretive case-study paradigm, grounded in participant observation and professional memory (2009–2012; 2013–2015), while explicitly acknowledging its specific limitations (possible recall bias and possible nostalgia bias, and the absence of statistical generalization). The analysis draws on Schein’s model of organizational culture (artifacts–espoused values–basic assumptions), complemented by Hatch’s cultural dynamics, the cultural effectiveness perspective (Denison & Mishra), the structural tensions highlighted in the Competing Values Framework (Cameron & Quinn), and the subculture perspective (Martin). Findings indicate a strong cultural core (rituals, norms, prestige narratives, and “Kopi” as an identity marker), alongside rupture points under crisis conditions: tensions between subcultures (commercial vs. operational), symbolic asymmetries of prestige, and the erosion of trust under financial uncertainty. The “Kopiernican Model” is treated conventionally as a descriptive-analytical label, while the author’s contribution concerns the mode of presentation and the systematic linkage of cultural mechanisms to comparative analysis across WP-01/WP-02, with a view to subsequent validation through triangulation. Keywords: organizational culture; internal communication; retrospective case study; Schein; subcultures; crisis; climate and trust; organizational performance.