Levels of Organizational Culture

What are levels of organizational culture

Well, the dominant theory regarding levels of organizational culture identifies three distinct levels

The base level is basic assumptions, and these are our individual beliefs of human nature and reality

These common elements of beliefs form the base or structure from which other elements of culture form

Then we have our values. These are the things that matter to us, that are important to us

And within the organization, these are generally the principles, the standards, the goals

the things that you'll find in the organizational mission and value statement

That is what the organization stands for, what you're trying to accomplish

From there, we move on to artifacts. And these are the things we most readily notice about organizational culture

because this is everything else. It's everything that can be seen or felt about the actual physical environment in which the organization operates

So it's your physical environment. It's how your employees interact. It's the company policies in place for carrying out your duties

It's the reporting structure, any divisions of the company or work divisions

It's incentive systems. It's, well, any observable characteristics of how the organization operates

Most of what we study begins with these core beliefs about individuals and values

And the subjective element, the unique element to any organization itself that can't be compared readily to, say, a very similar organization or perhaps a completely different organization

but shares the same beliefs, values, and that type of thing, are the artifacts

That's what makes the individual organization highly unique from any other environment that exists