Organisational Culture Theories

Covering Assessment Criterion 2.1 of 5CO01, this video addresses the theories and models used to examine organisational culture, drawing on three of the most widely cited frameworks in this area. The work of Edgar Schein, Geert Hofstede, and Charles Handy forms the core of the content, each approached as a distinct analytical tool for understanding how culture shapes behaviour within organisations. Schein's three-level model — encompassing artefacts, espoused values, and basic underlying assumptions — receives sustained attention, as does the relationship between what organisations claim to value and what their actual practices reinforce.

Hofstede's cultural dimensions are examined across all six of his identified variables, including power distance, individualism versus collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity versus femininity, long-term versus short-term orientation, and indulgence versus restraint. The video considers how these dimensions account for variation in organisational behaviour across different cultural contexts, and why approaches that function effectively in one setting may encounter significant resistance in another. Handy's four culture typologies — power, role, task, and person — are also covered, with attention to how each type reflects a different structural logic and set of behavioural expectations.

Throughout, the video maintains a focus on practical application to organisational analysis rather than treating these frameworks as purely academic constructs. The connections between Schein's deeper levels of culture and the challenges of sustained cultural change are addressed, as is the explanatory value of Hofstede's dimensions when evaluating cross-cultural working arrangements. Handy's typology is examined in relation to why particular management approaches align naturally with certain culture types but create friction in others.