Schein's Model and four types of organisations - Google's case study
The organisational culture is very much shaped by the leaders’ views as well as their relationship with followers. To explore this topic, Schein's model is explained in an attempt to provide insight on a formal definition of organisational culture and the underlying levels of it.
Then, four types of organisational culture are explained as well as the leaders' possible roles within that culture, and lastly, a contemporary example taking Google as a case study for success in creating an organisational culture which values quality work as well as employee satisfaction.
SCHEIN’S MODEL
Leaders do an important role in keeping or changing an organisational culture. According to Edgar Schein organisational culture is defined as the group of shared basic assumptions learned by a group while solving problems of external adaptation and internal integration (Schein 2010).
The Schein’s model is a theory in which the basic assumptions determine an organisation’s culture, shaping the values which in term shapes the behaviours, practices and more visible parts of an organisation. Then, there are three layers, the top one and most superficial are the artifacts being the most visible part for an outsider such as the symbols.
The next layer are the espoused values, this are the intended values of a company and how their ways of working are perceived from the outside, and at the deepest layer, there are the underlying beliefs or basic assumptions, this elements are usually less visible, unconscious and it is what really constitutes the essence of an organisation’s culture (Schein 2010).
A leader should try to understand these several levels of their organisational culture to evaluate whether it aligns with their views and then reinforce it by the way they interact with followers.
FOUR TYPES OF ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
Nanayakkara describes four types of culture in which the leader’s role differs depending on the type of organisation, for example, a hierarchical culture cares about uniformity, strong control, order and regulations in organisations such as military forces, police and most governmental organisations.
In a market culture, leaders care more about profitability, targets and results such as in sales, telecommunication and insurance companies. In an adhocracy culture, individualism and innovation are the norm mainly in research organisations, software and consulting firms.
Lastly, a clan culture is characterised by trust, involvement, teamwork and corporate commitment to staff, most likely to be seen in private service organisations, banks and healthcare (Nanayakkara 2021).
Therefore, depending on the organisation it might have one of the several types of culture, making it an opportunity for leaders to interact with their followers at all levels of the organisation causing a positive impact on the organisational culture.
GOOGLE CONTEMPORARY EXAMPLE
Furthermore, Google is a contemporary example of how the relationship between leaders and followers causes an influence in the organisational culture, the study ‘Google: a reflection of culture, leader, and management’ concludes that a leader is a key component in fostering the organisational culture or connection culture as they like to call it at Google (Tran 2017).
Larry Page and Sergey Brin are the founders of Google, their teams have grown to a degree in which there are Google teams all around the world, making it a set of cultures and subcultures, however very much aligned in the key components relevant for their culture as a company.
It is also concluded that the interaction between Google’s leaders and followers have shaped their current organisational culture, Larry and Sergey have created an appropriate environment to be attractive for the best talents in the world under the premise of creating a company in which people want to work, making it a culture of innovation and tolerance for mistakes while providing a stimulating work environment.
References
Boyce, P 2022, Pygmalion effect definition, Boyce Wire, retrieved 08 October 2022, <https://boycewire.com/pygmalion-effect-definition/>
Schein, E 2010, Organizational culture and leadership, Wiley 4th ed pg 23-35.
Fragouli, E 2019, Employee trust and ethical leadership decision making, Journal of behaviour studies in organisations, JBSO, 2019 (1), 1-12.
Herrity, J 2021, Functional Leadership Model: Key Components, indeed, retrieved 08 October 2022, <https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/functional-leadership>
Lumen 2022, Equity theory, Lumen, Module 10: Motivating employees, retrieved 07 October 2022, <https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-introductiontobusiness/chapter/equity-theory/>
McLeod, C 2020, Trust, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Fall 2021 ed, Edward N. Zalta ed, retrieved 07 October 2022, <https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/trust/>
Nanayakkara, K, Wilkinson, S 2021, Organisational culture theories, Routledge, 1st ed, pg 132 - 145.
Then, four types of organisational culture are explained as well as the leaders' possible roles within that culture, and lastly, a contemporary example taking Google as a case study for success in creating an organisational culture which values quality work as well as employee satisfaction.
SCHEIN’S MODEL
Leaders do an important role in keeping or changing an organisational culture. According to Edgar Schein organisational culture is defined as the group of shared basic assumptions learned by a group while solving problems of external adaptation and internal integration (Schein 2010).
The Schein’s model is a theory in which the basic assumptions determine an organisation’s culture, shaping the values which in term shapes the behaviours, practices and more visible parts of an organisation. Then, there are three layers, the top one and most superficial are the artifacts being the most visible part for an outsider such as the symbols.
The next layer are the espoused values, this are the intended values of a company and how their ways of working are perceived from the outside, and at the deepest layer, there are the underlying beliefs or basic assumptions, this elements are usually less visible, unconscious and it is what really constitutes the essence of an organisation’s culture (Schein 2010).
A leader should try to understand these several levels of their organisational culture to evaluate whether it aligns with their views and then reinforce it by the way they interact with followers.
FOUR TYPES OF ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
Nanayakkara describes four types of culture in which the leader’s role differs depending on the type of organisation, for example, a hierarchical culture cares about uniformity, strong control, order and regulations in organisations such as military forces, police and most governmental organisations.
In a market culture, leaders care more about profitability, targets and results such as in sales, telecommunication and insurance companies. In an adhocracy culture, individualism and innovation are the norm mainly in research organisations, software and consulting firms.
Lastly, a clan culture is characterised by trust, involvement, teamwork and corporate commitment to staff, most likely to be seen in private service organisations, banks and healthcare (Nanayakkara 2021).
Therefore, depending on the organisation it might have one of the several types of culture, making it an opportunity for leaders to interact with their followers at all levels of the organisation causing a positive impact on the organisational culture.
GOOGLE CONTEMPORARY EXAMPLE
Furthermore, Google is a contemporary example of how the relationship between leaders and followers causes an influence in the organisational culture, the study ‘Google: a reflection of culture, leader, and management’ concludes that a leader is a key component in fostering the organisational culture or connection culture as they like to call it at Google (Tran 2017).
Larry Page and Sergey Brin are the founders of Google, their teams have grown to a degree in which there are Google teams all around the world, making it a set of cultures and subcultures, however very much aligned in the key components relevant for their culture as a company.
It is also concluded that the interaction between Google’s leaders and followers have shaped their current organisational culture, Larry and Sergey have created an appropriate environment to be attractive for the best talents in the world under the premise of creating a company in which people want to work, making it a culture of innovation and tolerance for mistakes while providing a stimulating work environment.
Written by Sergio Quintero, 2023, student of Master of Business Administration,
Kaplan Business School, Melbourne, Australia.
References
Boyce, P 2022, Pygmalion effect definition, Boyce Wire, retrieved 08 October 2022, <https://boycewire.com/pygmalion-effect-definition/>
Schein, E 2010, Organizational culture and leadership, Wiley 4th ed pg 23-35.
Fragouli, E 2019, Employee trust and ethical leadership decision making, Journal of behaviour studies in organisations, JBSO, 2019 (1), 1-12.
Herrity, J 2021, Functional Leadership Model: Key Components, indeed, retrieved 08 October 2022, <https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/functional-leadership>
Lumen 2022, Equity theory, Lumen, Module 10: Motivating employees, retrieved 07 October 2022, <https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-introductiontobusiness/chapter/equity-theory/>
McLeod, C 2020, Trust, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Fall 2021 ed, Edward N. Zalta ed, retrieved 07 October 2022, <https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/trust/>
Nanayakkara, K, Wilkinson, S 2021, Organisational culture theories, Routledge, 1st ed, pg 132 - 145.
Tran, S 2017, Google: a reflection of culture, leader, and management, International journal of corporate social responsibility, Springer, Int J Corporate Soc Responsibility 2.
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