The concern of this paper is how people in organizations understand the dynamics of an organization's practices. The way that organizational culture influences advising systems is considered. The focus is on how people understand the function of academic advising and the influence of three concepts of culture (cognitive, symbolic, and psychodynamic). The way each of these concepts could enable individuals to maintain a view of their advising program that is inconsistent with advising practice is illustrated. According to the cognitive view, culture is a system of knowledge and beliefs about the organization and its practices. The symbolic perspective emphasizes culture as systems of shared symbols and meanings. The psychodynamic perspective views culture as the expression of unconscious psychological processes. The way that these three perspectives operate in judging the competence of college students is addressed. The illustrations show how advisers can deny that students require advising assistance. The three ways of seeing organizational culture provide a framework for understanding how people understand, as well as seeing how understanding can be translated into behaviors and actions. Implications for practice are considered. (SW)