The theoretical and methodological armoury of anthropology allows for close enquiries of social facts in variable settings. Work-cultures (organizations) are a viable site for the exploration and understanding of values, practices and notions reflective of the network and relationships of institutions, markets, community and the state. All the stakeholders have their own definition and sense of business rationalities inspired from industry, region, leadership, partnership with several institutions. The vision and planning behind the norms (formal-informal settings) of a workplace are an execution of belief system of a community and ethics deriving from the larger understanding of growth and development. The discourse of modernities and enlightenment theories are expressed in unique ways in workplace organizations where the rationalities are expressed and manifested in planned forms. The given paper explores the justification of intellectual production in the context of workplace cultures based in south east asia, with special reference to Indian cooperatives. It was found out that several management ethos are culturally appropriated and justified based on the situated belief systems of institutions in the wider socio-political context. The arguments presented in the paper is an extension of doctoral work undertaken by the author on the work culture of Indian cooperatives.
