Organisational behaviour

Schein’s model of organisational culture

Cultures are hard to define and very hard to change, but they matter a lot because they shape behaviour

Every organization has a culture, which is an unwritten set of rules and expectations for how employees should behave. Cultures are difficult to define and even more difficult to change, but they are important because they shape behavior and influence who joins and leaves. Many attempts have been made over the years to make sense of culture. Ed Schein, an MIT Professor, has proposed one of the most influential models.

When to use it

● To diagnose the culture in which you work.
● To understand what types of behavior are acceptable and why.
● To assist you in making changes.

Origins

There is a long history of thinking about organizational culture, which is sometimes referred to as 'organization climate.'

During the 1970s, Ed Schein was a Professor at MIT, where he collaborated with other well-known behavioral researchers such as Kurt Lewin and Douglas McGregor. His research focused on how individuals in organizations made sense of their roles and motivations, as well as how organizations enabled or frustrated individuals in achieving their goals.

His 1985 book, Organizational Culture and Leadership, provided a defining statement of what culture is and how leaders can influence it. Many subsequent studies have expanded on his work, often with the goal of defining specific types of culture. Daniel Denison's Corporate Culture and Organizational Effectiveness and Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones' The Character of the Corporation are two important examples.

What it is

Culture, according to Schein, is a subjective interpretation, or set of assumptions, that people have about the group or organization for which they work. It works on three levels: ● artefacts – what you experience with your senses;

● espoused beliefs and values;

● basic underlying beliefs.

Artefacts are any tangible, visible, or verbally identifiable elements of a company. If you go to Google's campus, for example, you will see people dressed casually, and the buildings are quite unique, with unusual furniture, leisure equipment, games rooms, and so on. Some aspects of Google's culture can be picked up without even speaking with anyone.

People in the organization say their norms of behavior are espoused beliefs and values. It is how employees represent the company to themselves and others. Sometimes it is done through written vision and values statements, and sometimes it is done through more informal conversations.

Shared basic assumptions are the unquestioned aspects of how people behave in an organizational setting. These are usually subconscious and so well-integrated into workplace behavior patterns that they aren't even noticed. At Google, for example, it is assumed that if you hire the brightest people and give them a lot of leeway, they will come up with game-changing innovations.

The iceberg metaphor can be used to explain these three layers: artifacts and espoused beliefs are visible, but the shared basic assumptions are beneath the surface and are the most important part.

How to use it

Schein's model is primarily descriptive – that is, it is intended to assist you in diagnosing the culture of the organization for which you work or to which you are providing advice. Rather than focusing solely on the visible artifacts, Schein's work encourages you to investigate the underlying beliefs and assumptions to better understand what is going on.

Schein recommends the following steps in deciphering and assessing cultures in his 1985 book:

● visit and observe;

● identify artefacts and processes that puzzle you;

● ask insiders why things are done that way;

● identify espoused values and ask how they are implemented;

● look for inconsistencies and ask about them;

● figure out from the above the deeper assumptions that determine the observed behaviour.

One limitation of this approach is that culture is subjective. In other words, any conclusions you reach about the deeper assumptions that drive the organization may not be shared by others.

Top practical tip

Schein's model is useful because it forces people to confront their organizations' unwritten behavioral assumptions. Instead of focusing on the visible artifacts, you should always ask why the organization works the way it does, and try to uncover some of the underlying assumptions.

Top pitfall

Make certain that organizational beliefs and values are not confused with individual beliefs and values. Psychologists will tell you that our individual beliefs and values are formed at a very young age, if not before we are adults, and that they are nearly impossible to change. So, when we talk about organizations having certain 'values,' we don't mean that all of the people in the organization fully adhere to those values. Individuals will, ideally, choose to work for organizations whose values align with their own, but this will not always be the case.

One implication of this point is that when we talk about culture change in organizations, we usually mean changing the way people behave in the first place, and encouraging some of their underlying values to become more visible. We are not asking them to change their core values; that is nearly impossible.