Charles Handy’s model of organisational culture
Handy defines culture as the way individuals live and follow unwritten rules and norms (Klein, 2007). According to him, the culture characterising an organisation is determined, built and disseminated by the dominant group within the organisation. However, besides (or rather below) a dominant culture, subcultures may exist, which can either improve or diminish the performance of an organisation. Handy identified the following four types of organisational culture. (1) Power culture: power is concentrated among a few people, in the hands of one leader or a small group of individuals only. This type of culture is based on the work of individuals; performance and success are significant elements of it. (2) Role culture: power mainly derives from the personal position; there is strict control, and the bodies and roles within such organisations are more important than individuals. (3) Task culture: the structure of such cultures resembles a matrix, where those individuals with expertise gain power rather than those having favourable positions or strong personalities. These organisations are flexible and adaptable. (4) Person culture: individuals stand in the core of such organisations, which basically have no structure as these cultures are made up of non-cooperating individuals creating a cluster. The size of an organisation is also determined by the certain types described above. Namely, a power culture is typical of smaller organisations, such as a sports team, where decisions are rather made by the leader (and other co-workers). Role cultures are present in larger organisations which normally include more units/bodies, such as a sports association being constituted by various departments. Mainly different bodies and the rights delegated to them are what count here. Task and person cultures are irrelevant to the case of sports organisations; however, if we take the example of a sporting goods manufacturer being made up of design engineers or a legal counsellor’s sports lawyers, these two types of culture can also be observable, more or less, within the field of sport.
Those interested might find it useful to read about Handy’s typology of culture in detail under the following link: