Culture and Leadership
A critical review of
Edgar H Schein: 1996 “Culture: The missing concept in organization studies” Administrative Science Quarterly, 41, 229 – 240.
Introduction:
According to Edgar H Schein, if Organizational studies is to evolve fully, it should give importance to the study and understanding of culture in an organization. He is also emphasizing that, in order to understand culture, it has to be observed in an organizational setting rather than measuring it by using data.
Although most of the Psychologists and Sociologists studied the various concepts of organization but did not focus on the seriousness of ‘culture’, as Schein (1996) reiterates that the failure to take culture seriously is because of the method of inquiry which put a premium on abstractions rather than clinical observation of organizational phenomena. Schein, (1992) defines culture as the set of shared, taken-for-granted implicit assumptions that a group holds and that determines how it perceives, thinks about, and reacts to its various environments.
Huczynski et al (2007) defines Organizational culture as the ‘collection of relatively uniform and enduring values, beliefs, customs, traditions and practices that are shared by an organization’s members, learned by new recruits and transmitted from one generation of employees to the next.
Culture – Serious concept in Organization:
To understand the seriousness and importance of culture in an organization, it is important to explore some possible relationship between organizational culture to performance, ethical behaviour, challenge of managing a culturally diverse workforce and how organizations socialize individuals into their particular culture (John W Slocum & Don Hellriegel, 2007). Also, to understand culture better, Schein insists that organization studies should bring in whatever disciplines were relevant to the understanding of organizational culture. Schein was disappointed that the Psychologists, Sociologists,
Edgar H Schein: 1996 “Culture: The missing concept in organization studies” Administrative Science Quarterly, 41, 229 – 240.
Introduction:
According to Edgar H Schein, if Organizational studies is to evolve fully, it should give importance to the study and understanding of culture in an organization. He is also emphasizing that, in order to understand culture, it has to be observed in an organizational setting rather than measuring it by using data.
Although most of the Psychologists and Sociologists studied the various concepts of organization but did not focus on the seriousness of ‘culture’, as Schein (1996) reiterates that the failure to take culture seriously is because of the method of inquiry which put a premium on abstractions rather than clinical observation of organizational phenomena. Schein, (1992) defines culture as the set of shared, taken-for-granted implicit assumptions that a group holds and that determines how it perceives, thinks about, and reacts to its various environments.
Huczynski et al (2007) defines Organizational culture as the ‘collection of relatively uniform and enduring values, beliefs, customs, traditions and practices that are shared by an organization’s members, learned by new recruits and transmitted from one generation of employees to the next.
Culture – Serious concept in Organization:
To understand the seriousness and importance of culture in an organization, it is important to explore some possible relationship between organizational culture to performance, ethical behaviour, challenge of managing a culturally diverse workforce and how organizations socialize individuals into their particular culture (John W Slocum & Don Hellriegel, 2007). Also, to understand culture better, Schein insists that organization studies should bring in whatever disciplines were relevant to the understanding of organizational culture. Schein was disappointed that the Psychologists, Sociologists,