Types of organisational culture
| Published date | 01 March 1999 |
| Pages | 73-75 |
| Date | 01 March 1999 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01435129910251520 |
| Author | Maurice B. Line |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
Types of organisational
culture
Maurice B. Line
Every organisation has its own culture,
whether it knows it or not. It is a very
powerful influence on everyone's behaviour,
from senior management to the janitor. There
are some things one simply does not do, and
the newcomer has to learn what they are
pretty quickly. New bosses often set them-
selves an early aim of changing the culture;
sometimes they succeed, although usually it
takes a long time, but sometimes they are
swamped by the existing culture.
Metaphors are never quite accurate, but
they are useful in helping people to see
ordinary things in a fresh light, and they can
be very revealing, not only in themselves but
because staff will often say things under the
guise of a metaphor that they would never say
directly. I like animal metaphors, because
they are easily understood, and are often
amusing. It is usually interesting to ask staff of
an organisation what kind of animal it
represents. You generally get a variety of
answers within one organisation, partly de-
pending on its size and the degree of
autonomy each unit in it has, but there is
usually a bias towards one genus (if not
species) of animal.
This article looks at some kinds of animal
and considers what cultures they represent.
The Lion Culture is a leader in its field,
dominating it without a great deal of effort;
eating others when it needs to, but relaxed for
the rest of the time. There is a dominant male
at the top, and only one: woe betide other
mature males who seek a little power. In fact,
they generally move outside the organisation
and seek to build one of their own. But the
lionesses have a great deal of unspoken
power; they keep the pride going, catch most
of the food, bring up the young ones, and
manipulate the head lion in ways of which he
may or may not be conscious.
The Chimpanzee Culture is very different.
The individuals are very intelligent, but also
very aggressive, co-operating with one an-
other most of the time because they have to in
order to survive but constantly having power
struggles to establish and challenge orders of
precedence. Often these struggles take place
behind the scenes. The head of the organisa-
tion can never feel secure.
Bonobos, which are pygmy chimpanzees,
differ profoundly from their larger cousins.
They spend virtually all the time that they are
not eating or sleeping in various kinds of
The author
Maurice B. Line is an independent Information and
Library Consultant.
Keywords
Libraries, Management, Metaphors,
Organizational culture
Abstract
It can be productive to think of analogues of organisa-
tional cultures in the animal world. Lion, chimpanzee,
bonobo, gorilla, hyena, wolf, dog, sheep, cow and
elephant cultures are less desirable than the cat culture,
which has to operate on the principle that cats cannot be
made to do anything that they do not wish to do.
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73
Library Management
Volume 20 .Number 2 .1999 .pp. 73±75
#MCB University Press .ISSN 0143-5124
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