Schein's model of organizational culture

Edgar Henry Schein (born 1928), a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, has made a notable mark on the field of organizational development in many areas, including career development, group process consultation, and organizational culture. He is generally credited[by whom?] with inventing the term "corporate culture". (The Oxford English Dictionary traces the phrase "corporate culture" as far back as "1966 Acad. Managem. Jrnl. 9 362/2".)
 

Schein's organizational culture model

Schein (2004) identifies three distinct levels in organizational cultures:
1.    artifacts and behaviours
2.    espoused values
3.    assumptions
 

The three levels refer to the layers of corporate culture.
•    Artifacts include any tangible or verbally identifiable elements in an organization. Architecture, furniture, dress code, office jokes and history all exemplify organizational artifacts.
•    Values are the organizations stated or desired cultural elements. This is most often a written or stated tone that the CEO or President hope to exude throughout the office environment. Examples of this would be employee professionalism, or a "family first" mantra.
•    Assumptions are the actual values that the culture represents, not necessarily correlated to the values. These assumptions are typically so well integrated in the office dynamic that they are hard to recognize from within.[1]
 

The model has undergone various modifications, such as the Raz update of Schein's organizational culture model (2006), and others.

Edgar Schein
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