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ACCA Strategic Professional · Strategic Business Leader · Leadership and organisational culture

Karel Retail's directors state that the company values 'customer first' in its annual report, but frontline staff are measured only on speed of till transactions and are disciplined for spending time helping customers. According to Schein's levels of culture, what does this gap illustrate?

It shows that the espoused values, such as customer first, differ from the underlying assumptions revealed by real behaviour, measures and discipline. In Schein's model the true culture is seen in what is rewarded and practised, so the stated value has not been embedded.

  1. AEspoused values differ from the underlying assumptions revealed by actual behaviour and artefactsCorrect
  2. BThe company has no culture at the artefact level
  3. CUnderlying assumptions are always the same as the stated values
  4. DCulture has been successfully embedded through the control system

Explanation

Schein distinguishes artefacts, espoused values and basic underlying assumptions. The report states the espoused value, but measurement and discipline reveal the assumptions actually driving behaviour. The mismatch shows the stated value is not embedded. It is wrong to claim assumptions always match the stated values or that culture is embedded.

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