10.2b Handy's Cultural Model Flashcards
What are cultural models?
The different ways organisational culture can be classified
What did Handy identify?
Four different types of organisational culture
Each culture suggested by Handy is determined by different assumptions about what?
- The basis of power and influence in an organisation
- What motivates people
- How people think and learn
- How changes should occur
What are the four cultures identified by Handy?
- Power culture
- Role culture
- Task culture
- Person culture
Features of power culture:
- Control radiates from the centre
- Concentrates power among a few
- Few rules and little bureaucracy
- Autocratic
- May struggle if business grows and cannot be run from centre
- Employees more resistant to change because they don’t have faith in managers
- E.g. Apple, Virgin
Features of role culture:
- Clearly delegated authorities
- Hierarchical bureaucracy
- Power derives from a person’s position
- Autocratic/paternalistic
- Poor communication between departments so respond slowly to change
- Avoid risk
- Resistance to change as employees are not used to doing things differently
- E.g. banks, government departments
Features of task culture:
- Teams are formed to solve particular problems
- Power derives from expertise as long as a team requires expertise
- No single power source
- Matrix organisation
- Paternalistic/democratic
- Supports objectives based around products
- Change is normal because they are used to changing teams
- E.g. accounting
Features of person culture:
- People believe themselves to be superior to the business
- Full of people with similar training, background and expertise
- Develop own careers
- Democratic
- E.g. Firms of professionals such as lawyers
What happens in a strong culture?
Staff understand and respond to culture
What happens in a weak culture?
There is little alignment with business values
What is a clan culture?
Organisation acts more like a family with managers as parent-figures
What is a market culture?
One in which the focus is on competition with other organisations and between employees