Organizational Culture and Structure. What came first?

The distinction between organizational structure and culture that is observed in traditional research raises the question of which one influences the other or how did their cause and effect relationship started. Organizations have their origins in groups and one can argue that social interactions and subsequently some form of pre-culture or cultural elements existed that initiated and created organizational structure. Alternatively, one can argue that organizational culture is different from the cultures of individual members and groups and that it cannot exist before an organization acquires some form of structure so in that sense organizational structure precedes organizational culture. 

My favorite way of looking at it is like a Yin - Yang situation. Culture can include the seeds that will form a better structure while structure can include the seeds that enable better cultures.