Organizational Culture and Leadership

“Culture” has become a trendy word in today’s business talk. Many popular books espouse it as a cure-all to every organizational malady. Much hype certainly permeates those book, but Edgar Schein’s work cuts through the hype with an academic lens. Known as the father of the field of organizational culture, Schein describes his early explorations about it with the now-defunct DEC and how his ideas expanded with later work. As a result, this 5th edition presents an engaging textbook that moves seamlessly from theory to practical cases to elucidate key insights.

Not just for an academic crowd, this classic book contains many actionable topics, like how to analyze a culture is covered in depth. Many firms prefer culture surveys, but show more Schein warns that culture surveys, if wrongly done, can actually harm an organization by mistakenly exposing once-dormant artifacts. He also describes all that’s involved in changing culture, including potential mistakes to watch out for.

He identifies, better than I’ve ever read or heard before, how cultural dynamics and personal traits can translate into generative results, played out over time. I learned about how a group’s founder can successfully navigate the waters of letting others lead and learning from others’ contributions. I’ve seen too many promising ventures die when a leader exerts their ego over countervailing guidance.

If you’re in a position of influence over an organization – whether in its infancy, mid-life, mature years, or even in decline – reading this book can benefit you directly. Its comprehensive approach will point out what you need to improve in your circumstance. Many books only talk about one fix for one situation. This book offers a foundational, 360-degree look at a scholar contributions to the business world. show less

While this book is the classic on organizational culture, it's also incredibly verbose and tedious. There's value here, but a 100 page version with another 300 pages of examples linked to it would be a lot more useful. There were also a huge number of really dated examples (pre technology, companies were mainly dead dinosaurs like DEC), which is because the book is in 4th edition and only lightly revised.

I also listened on audible, rather than reading, which made it extra-tedious. (Textbook pricing for the printed or e-book, single credit for the audiobook, so...). I'd recommend reading this as an e-book instead.

I'd probably give it 5 stars as the canonical book on an important topic, except for being vastly too long and pretty tedious.

Insightful.

This book was read for a graduate course and I will have to turn in a review. I shall post my high-brow, elitist review (complete with big, complicated words and theory) for Goodreads once it is completed.

Great material.

Edgar Scheinin kirjoittama kirja yritysten ja organisaatioiden kultuurista ja johtajuudesta on hyvä tietopaketti jokaiselle, jolla ei ole vielä niin hyvää tietämystä yritysten kulttuurista ja kuinka tällaiset syntyvät/toimivat.
Schein on kirjassaan selittäny todella hyvin organisaatioiden toimintaa, kulttuuria yleisesti, ryhmien kulttuuria ja kuinka tälläiset kulttuurit syntyvät ja toimivat. Hän on myös kokemuksen kautta ottanut selvää, millaista on johtaa eri ryhmiä, jotka ovat kehittäneet keskenään ihan erilaiset kulttuurit. Myös monikulttuurisuutta on selvitetty, ja miten tällaisissa tilanteissa tulisi toimia johtajana.
En itse pahemmin tykännyt kirjasta. Se oli pitkä, pitkäveteinen ja ei oikein minun makuuni. show more Vaikka johtajuutta ja sen opiskelua pidänkin mielenkiintoisena, ei tämä kirja tarjonnut minulle hirveästi uutta tietoa.
Joitain kohtia pidin todella hyvänä, mutta se jäi siihen. Pidän tämän mieleläni hyllyssä myöhempää käyttöä varten, mutta en lukisi uudestaan. show less

For mange en Bibel i organisationsstudier. For mig, der læser Bibelen som Fanden, alt for omstændig, kedelig og unødigt usexet. Svær at komme igang med - og let at lægge fra sig. Var dog tvunget ombord, qua mine uni-studier 2004.