- 8 Marks
BMIS – L1 – QD1 – Organisation culture in business
Question
(a)
(i) What are the three levels of culture identified by Schein?
(ii) Which of these levels of culture is the most difficult to interpret and understand?
(iii) Which of these levels of culture is the most difficult to change?
(b) A music publishing company operates from a single office building. Everyone in the company calls each other by their first name or familiar name. All meetings between employees or with clients and customers are held in a cafeteria on the second floor of the building, and there are no meeting rooms or other meeting spaces.
Which of the three levels of culture, as identified by Schein, do these features of the company represent?
Answer
(a)
(i) The three layers of culture are (1) the outer skin or ‘artefacts’ (2) an inner skin or ‘espoused values’ such as the formal mission, stated corporate values and declared strategies, and (3) an inner core or paradigm, representing basic underlying assumptions and unconscious beliefs.
(ii) According to Schein, the artefacts are the most difficult to interpret and understand.
(iii) The paradigm is the most difficult to change.
(b) The custom of calling everyone by their first name or familiar name, and the custom of holding all meetings in the staff cafeteria are examples of artefacts – the outer layer. They are a part of the superficial culture of the company, but it is difficult to extract much meaning from them.
- Tags: artefacts, organisational culture, Schein, workplace practices
- Level: Level 1
- Uploader: Samuel Duah