Handy's Four Classifications of Organisational Culture

What is power culture?

• Control radiates from the centre

• Concentrates power among a few

• Few rules and little bureaucracy

• Swift decisions

What are the benefits of power culture?

• Allows multiple orientations

• Maintains consistency between different departments and projects

• Provide mechanisms to deal with multiple sources of power in the organisation

What are drawbacks of power culture?

• Can cause role conflict for the individual who can be caught between the demands of two managers

• Very difficult to introduce

• High managerial costs and support

What is role culture?

• People have clearly delegated authorities within a highly defined structure

• Hierarchical bureaucracy

• Power derives from a person’s position

• Little scope exists for expert power

What are benefits of role culture?

• Succeed in stable environments

• Provide secure employment

• Roles and responsibilities are clearly defined

• A clear system for processing work exists

What are drawbacks of role cultures?

• Unsuitable to changing environments can be boring

• Does not often have room for personal growth and is slow to adapt to things like new technology

What is 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

• Team may develop own objectives (a risk)

What are the benefits of task culture?

• Extremely adaptable

• Teams can be easily reformed, abandoned or continued

• Can work quickly- As each group often has all the decision-making power it requires

• Individuals have a large degree of control over their work

What are the drawbacks of task culture?

• Finds producing economies of scale difficult

• Often cannot produce depth of expertise

• Control in such organisations is difficult

What is person culture?

• People believe themselves to be superior to the business

• Business full of people with similar training, background and expertise

• Common in firms of professionals- e.g. accountants and lawyers

• Power lies in each group of individuals

What are the benefits of person culture?

• Individuals have a greater deal of power

• Decisions are by mutual consent

• The role one plays depends on one’s expertise

What are the disadvantages of person culture?

• Control mechanisms are impossible to implement except by mutual consent

• Organisations are often powerless to evict such individuals

• Individuals with this orientation are not easy to manage

What are the leadership styles associated with each culture type?

• Power:

  • Autocratic

• Role:

  • Autocratic or Paternalistic

• Task:

  • Paternalistic/ Democratic

• Person:

  • Democratic