Organisation Culture

Culture is all about how a company can create an atmosphere using different management techniques to create a personality for a business. It is to do with how employees share values in the workplace. Such as punting in Cambridge, we use culture to make customers feel welcomed and happy, by trying to stay traditional to Cambridge and its history we make an atmosphere for people visiting the city wanting to see its architecture. If we were not enthusiastic about the job, the culture of the business would not attract customers.


Handy's view on culture is split into four main groups, which he explains to be how different a company can be using the different cultures.

A power culture in his theory is described as a 'web'. this culture is normally found in small familly business's, reflecting concentration of power in a family orientated operation. strict responsiblitys given to personalities rather than expertise creating the power structure, or 'web'. for example, a corner shop.

Role culture is sometimes stereotyped as portraying bureaucracy. the triangle at the top is when decision making takes place. the pillars represent the workers who put decisions into actions. the strength of the business will be shown in how strong the employees are in the pillar area of a company. Handy states that your job description will be more important than your skills and abilities in this culture type. performance past the job description is not needed. for example, a large enterprise.

This culture is seen a lot in research and development activities as they are much more dynamic. they are always changing and creating temporary task teams to keep future needs maintained. expertise and information is very important in this culture. their is close connections between each department shown by its 'net' like representation. this means that the organisation can see change occurring quickly and are able to adapt to these changes.

this culture isn't really used for business's, but more for self-help groups or communities, etc. it has rejected the idea of a managerial heirachy. organisations that use this culture collectively make decision together as a group. it is more for meeting needs of the members, and not for a 'getting the job done' culture.

it is difficult to suggest what type of culture an organisation may be using as all managerial roles may have completely different values, and ideas on how to get a business to flow.


In conclusion i think that these four cultures are a good outline of how a business can function and use values to work.