29 July 2007

Corporate Culture - Charles Handy

"Corporate cultures describe the way the organisation is managed, not the set of values shared by employees." (Charles Handy)

Charles Handy popularised a typology of organisations and cultures. Handy also uses four Greek gods to illustrate his basic approaches and the organizational cultures that result.

Power 'ZEUS' Culture:

There is one source of power and influence. This is most likely to be the owner(s) of the organisation, who strive to maintain absolute control over employees. there are few procedures and rules of a formal kind.

Role 'APOLLO' Culture:

In this version of culture, people describe their job by its duties, not by its purpose. It is a bureaucratic organisation, where the structure determines the authority and responsibility of individuals and there is a strong emphasis on hierarchy and status.

Person 'DIONYSUS' Culture:

This is characterised by the fact that it exists to satisfy the requirements of the particular individual(s) involved in the organisation. The person culture is to be found in a small, highly participatory organisation where individuals undertake all the duties themselves.

Task 'ATHENA' Culture:

this is a 'can-do' attitude, often created by the project teams or matrix structures in an organic manner, respective to change.

1 comment:

The Italian Blog said...

Great stuff. Corporate culture is an often misunderstood concept, which Handy explains brilliantly. Understood it is a concept that has a lot of applications. Posted by littleitalyblogspot