Organisation Culture

Organisational culture was defined by Hofstede (1984) as ' a body of learned behaviour, a collection of beliefs, habits and traditions, shared by a group of people and learned by people'. People working within the organisation develop their own culture in the same way a national identity is developed in societies. Culture normally refers to a group of people that follow the same behaviour, when relating this to an organisation it gives a sense of identity for example 'what we do' and 'how we should behave'.


Visible aspects of organisational culture relate to the physical and social environment. There are two main theories which explore the levels of culture within an organisation these are Schein and French and Bell. According to Mullins (2010) Schein suggested in 1992 that ' the most visible level of culture was artefacts and creations'. This level includes technology, language both written and spoken and the behaviour of group members. This theory is often related to an onion  as the outer layers are visible aspects of culture, the middle layers are deeper aspects of culture and the centre is the basic beliefs on which the organisation was built.

Schein (1992)

The second theory is French and Bell' organisational iceberg. French and Bell (1990) suggested that tehre were two constrasting aspects to organisations, the first is visable and formal , whereas the second is more hidden and refers more to what goes on despite the formal structure.

French and Bell (1990)



Organisation culture can be classified in many different ways. Indeed, There is four types of organisational culture : Power culture, Role culture, Task culture and Person culture.

Power Culture
Within a power culture, decisions are often made as quickly as communication is made in person. Indeed, 'A power culture is often found in small businesses as it relies deeply on trust, empathy and personal communication'

Role Culture
A role culture is decided via rules and regulations. The job role or title is often seen as more important than the individual and therefore, the power is based on the level in the company hierarchy.
People in a role culture, work to a job description, these are often seen in the public sector such as for instance, hospitals.

Task Culture
A task culture is a project based on the organisation that involves a lot of teamwork. This type of culture uses the right resources and people to create a unique business. A task culture is more based on expert power rather than personal power. Within this type of culture there is a a lot more freedom and flexibility.

Person Culture
Person culture is mainly based on when the individual is the central focus and more important to the organisation. This means that there isn't a hierarchy as the company only exists to serve the interests of those within it. For instance ,  a group of doctors can start their own private practice or surgery. Therefore, this means that the organisation has a person culture as a result there is no hierarchy. This organisation will then exist to serve the main interest of those within the organisation.


To conclude, organisation culture refers to the behaviour, beliefs and traditions of a group of people within an organisation. Indeed, there are a few theories that explore organisation culture on a similar concept but Schein splits an organisation into three layers whereas French and Bell only split it into two. Every organisation is unique, and will therefore have a different culture. These can be classified under by the four types of culture, however this is not always possible as many organisation contain different aspects of all four cultures.


Bibliography

Mullins, L. (2010) Management and organisational behaviour.9th ed. Essex: Pearson Education Limited.

Schein (2012) [online]. Available from: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3653/3521730263_64bf4fd5fe_o.jpg [Accessed: 25th March 2010].