Mastering Risk Management

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE?

There are numerous definitions of organisational culture. Perhaps the original one was in the 1960s by Marvin Bower, CEO of McKinsey, ‘the way we do things round here’.4 The one which is used universally was Edgar Schein:

‘A pattern of basic shared assumptions learned by a group as it solved its problems . . . which has worked well enough to be considered . . . as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to [the group’s] problems.’5

The IRM, in a report, came up with:

‘The culture of a group arises from the repeated behaviour of its members. The behaviour of the group and its constituent individuals is shaped by their underlying attitudes.’

But it then went on to say ‘Both behaviour and ...