CHAPTER 6

Founders and Organizational Culture

Introduction

Not surprisingly, there are differences of opinion regarding the definition of organizational culture and how it develops. Schein offers one useful definition of the term by declaring that

[o]rganizational culture . . . is the pattern of basic assumptions that a given group has invented, discovered, or developed in learning to cope with its problems of external adaptation and ­internal integration—a pattern of assumptions that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems.1

Schein has noted that the founders of an organization not only ­create the group but also ...

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