Michigan Business School created an interesting model to determine and
diagnose the culture type of an institution or business after extensively
researching various attributes that drive organisation effectiveness. This
Culture archetype model ultimately managed to distil all attributes to just
four significant drivers. This model referred to as – Competing Values
Framework is attributed to Robert Quin and Kim Cameron. They used four
simple and insightful quadrants and classified organisations based on –
1. Flexibility
2. Focus
3. Externally driven
4. Internally driven
An organisation that is Flexible and Externally driven is entrepreneurial,
visionary and experimental. Such an organisation was referred to as
Adhocracy Culture. This entity is focused on being the first in the market.
This culture is often chaotic, open and inefficient, but innovative. An
example would be Telsa. The theme of this organisation is likely to be –
We create.
An organisation that is Flexible but Internally driven is a mentorship
driven organisation focused on empowering people. This culture is about
collaboration and facilitation. Such a culture maybe referred to as the Clan
Culture. Netflix and Pixar are examples of this. These are very team driven
cultures where jerks are not tolerated and results are paramount. The
theme of this organisation is likely to be – We collaborate.
An organisation that is Focused and Internally driven maybe referred to
as a Command and Control culture. Here roles are clearly determined,
status is well defined and hierarchy reigns supreme. Classic examples are
most Government institutions, Army and a majority of traditional business
entities. Here the focus is on order, efficiency, well defined KPIs etc. The
theme of this organisation is likely to be – We control.
An organisation that is Externally driven but Focused is singularly driven
by its competitiveness – ie, keeping track of the market and outsmarting
competitors with a view to beating them. This entity is very efficient and
very competitive. Such a culture plays great emphasis on speed. Xiaomi
and Huawei are examples of this type of culture. The theme of this
organisation is likely to be – We compete
