Organisational Culture Theories: Dimensions of organisational culture and office layouts

Abstract

Among many transdisciplinary theories, organisational culture theory is one of the silent, yet very powerful, theories that influence the workplace. If an organisation does not have an appropriate culture to support its business activities, it could have a substantial impact on the organisation’s day-to-day activities and, ultimately, the overall financial performance of the organisation. Few organisational culture theories were identified within management literature; however, the competing value framework introduced by Cameron and Quinn in 2006 is widely accepted and the most-used descriptive framework to identify different types of organisational culture. When it comes to workplace theories, the competing value framework is well suited for identifying different organisational culture types within organisations and, therefore, for arranging appropriate workplace settings for those different culture types. There are four main cultural dimensions in the competing value framework, namely adhocracy, bureaucratic, clan and market. In addition, there are organisational culture theories such as the four core dimension of organisational culture by Harrison and Stokes in 1992 and the three paradigms of organisational culture by Rodriguez and Gomez in 2009. This chapter examines various cultural aspects prevailing in organisations to obtain a deeper understanding of the effects of changes in office layout on the corporate culture of organisations.