The Handbook of Knowledge-Based Coaching: FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE: SCHEIN

An organization’s culture is a significant factor in understanding a client’s current and desired behaviors. There is often a mutual attraction between people and organizations that can be characterized by the notion of fit. We often find ourselves feeling more satisfied and successful in certain types of environments and roles than in others.

Schein (2004) defines culture as “A pattern of shared basic assumptions that was learned by a group as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way you perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems” (p. 17); others characterize ...