ACCA Applied Knowledge · Business and Technology · Organisational culture
Why does Schein suggest that studying artefacts alone is a poor way to understand an organisation's culture?
Artefacts are easy to see but hard to interpret on their own. Their true meaning depends on the espoused values and basic assumptions beneath them, so an observer needs to look at deeper levels to understand the culture properly.
- AArtefacts are easy to observe but difficult to interpret without understanding the underlying values and assumptionsCorrect
- BArtefacts do not exist in most organisations
- CArtefacts are always the same across all organisations
- DArtefacts are the only level that can change
Explanation
Artefacts are visible but their meaning is ambiguous: the same feature, such as an open-plan office, may signal different things in different firms. Interpreting them needs insight into espoused values and basic assumptions. The other options are factually incorrect.
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