Organisational culture: The Quinn and Cameron organisational model

In the blog last week, we completed our evaluation of the Trompenaars organisational types. This week, we shall start with a brief overview of the highly influential cultural model developed by Quinn and Cameron. Then, across the next four blogs we shall investigate each of their organisational models in more detail. Finally, they define their approach as the Competing Values Framework.

Introduction to the Competing Values Framework

This approach is based on the argument that to understand organisational cultures it is initially essential to focus on two primary characteristics. These are the degree of flexibility versus controlling behaviour, and internal focus versus an external orientation.

The four competing models of organisational culture

This classification results in four corporate cultural types which illustrate how an organisation function in terms of the degree of employee collaboration and the key core values that underpin the philosophy and define the organisational purpose.

Finally, one of the most distinctive contributions arising from this model is the argument that competition between these four organisational styles can motivate significant change in the culture to the extent of significantly refocusing operational priorities.

Reference

Cameron, K. S., & Quinn, R. E. (2011). Diagnosing and changing organizational culture: based on the competing values framework (3rd Ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.