ACCA Applied Knowledge · Business and Technology · Organisational culture
A company's website states that 'integrity is our core value'. Staff, however, routinely overstate sales figures to meet targets and managers ignore this. According to Schein, which statement best describes the situation?
The espoused values conflict with the basic underlying assumptions. The website's integrity claim is a stated value, but the tolerated overstatement of sales shows the deeper, taken-for-granted beliefs that actually drive behaviour. Schein's levels are therefore misaligned in this company.
- AThe espoused values conflict with the basic underlying assumptions in operationCorrect
- BThe artefacts and the espoused values are fully aligned
- CThe basic assumptions have been publicly declared as values
- DOnly the artefacts level of culture is present
Explanation
The stated value of integrity is an espoused value. The accepted, unquestioned practice of overstating sales reveals the real basic assumptions about how things work. The gap between the two shows inconsistency between levels. It is wrong to say they are aligned, since behaviour contradicts the statement.
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