
Power Cultures have few rules and little bureaucracy swift decisions can ensue.Įdgar Schein an MIT Sloan School of Management professor, defines organizational culture as: Control radiates from the center like a web.
A Power Culture which concentrates power among a few. Charles HandyĬharles Handy (1985) popularized the 1972 work of Roger Harrison of looking at culture which some scholars have used to link organizational structure to organizational culture.
While it is easy to criticize these cultures for being overly cautious or bogged down in red tape, they do produce consistent results, which is ideal in, for example, public services. This is often associated with bureaucracies. People become bogged down with how things are done not with what is to be achieved.
The Process Culture occurs in organizations where there is little or no feedback. Typically, these might involve development or exploration projects, which take years to come to fruition, such as oil prospecting or military aviation. The Bet your Company Culture, where big stakes decisions are taken, but it may be years before the results are known. It is often characterized by team meetings, jargon and buzzwords. This is typical in large organizations, which strive for high quality customer service. The Work Hard/Play Hard Culture is characterized by few risks being taken, all with rapid feedback. This can be a very stressful culture in which to operate. This often applies to fast moving financial activities such as brokerage, but could also apply to a police force, or athletes competing in team sports. Feedback is quick and the rewards are high.
Using these parameters, they were able to suggest four classifications of organizational culture:
Risk : Represents the degree of uncertainty in the organization's activities. This could be in monetary terms, but could also be seen in other ways, such as the impact of a great save in a soccer match.
Feedback : Quick feedback means an instant response.They measured organizations in respect of: Deal and Kennedy defined organizational culture as the way things get done around here.