Edgar Schein

Edgar H. Schein
Born	March 5, 1928 Zurich
Residence	United States
Citizenship	United States
Nationality	North American
Fields	Psychology
Institutions	MIT Sloan School of Management
Alma mater	Harvard University, Stanford University, University of Chicago
Known for	coercive persuasion, organizational development, career development, group process consultation, organizational culture, corporate culture
Notable awards	Lifetime Achievement Award in Workplace Learning and Performance of the American Society of Training Directors, 2000 Everett Cherrington Hughes Award for Career Scholarship, 2000 Marion Gislason Award for Leadership in Executive Development, from the BU School of Management Executive Development Roundtable, 2002

Edgar Henry Schein (born 1928), a former professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, has made a notable mark on the field of organizational development in many areas, including career development, group process consultation, and organizational culture. He is generally credited with inventing the term "corporate culture". (The Oxford English Dictionary traces the phrase "corporate culture" as far back as "1966 Acad. Managem. Jrnl. 9 362/2".)

Schein's organizational culture model

Illustration of Schein's model of organizational culture

Schein's model of organizational culture originated in the 1980s. Schein (2004) identifies three distinct levels in organizational cultures:

1. artifacts and behaviours
2. espoused values
3. assumptions

The three levels refer to the degree to which the different cultural phenomena are visible to the observer.

• Artifacts include any tangible, overt or verbally identifiable elements in an organization. Architecture, furniture, dress code, office jokes, all exemplify organizational artifacts. Artifacts are the visible elements in a culture and they can be recognized by people not part of the culture.

• Espoused values are the organization's stated values and rules of behavior. It is how the members represent the organization both to themselves and to others. This is often expressed in official philosophies and public statements of identity. It can sometimes often be a projection for the future, of what the members hope to become. Examples of this would be employee professionalism, or a "family first" mantra. Trouble may arise if espoused values by leaders are not in line with the general assumptions of the culture.

• Shared Basic Assumptions are the deeply embedded, taken-for-granted behaviors which is usually unconscious, but constitute the essence of culture. These assumptions are typically so well integrated in the office dynamic that they are hard to recognize from within.

Importance of Schein's Model

One can easily understand the paradoxical organizational behaviours and have an in-depth knowledge of the culture. Interpersonal skills also help in understanding culture. Helps to know the culture at different levels. The assumptions can be identified. Organizational culture is the most difficult to change, this model brought to light understanding of the organizational culture and can be applied to lead change.

Coercive persuasion

Schein has written on the issues surrounding coercive persuasion, comparing and contrasting brainwashing as a use for "goals that we deplore and goals that we accept."

Schein's 'Career Anchors'

A career anchor is one's self-concept, and consists of one's perceptions of one's talents and abilities, one's basic values and one's perceptions of motives and needs as they pertain to career.

In Schein's original research from the mid-1970s he identified five possible career anchor constructs: (1) autonomy/independence, (2) security/stability, (3) technical-functional competence, (4) general managerial competence, and (5) entrepreneurial creativity. Follow-up studies in the 1980s identified three additional constructs: (6) service or dedication to a cause, (7) pure challenge, and (8) life style.

A 2008 study distinguishes between entrepreneurship and creativity to form nine possible constructs.

Education

• Ph.D., social psychology, Harvard University, 1952
• Master's Degree, Psychology, Stanford University, 1949
• University of Chicago

Publications

• Brainwashing and Totalitarianization in Modern Society (1959)
• Coercive Persuasion: A socio-psychological analysis of the "brainwashing" of American civilian prisoners by the Chinese Communists (1961), W. W. Norton (publishers)
• Organizational Psychology (1980) ISBN 0-13-641332-3
• Organizational Culture and Leadership (1985) ISBN 1-55542-487-2
• Process Consultation Revisited (1999) ISBN 0-201-34596-X
• Procesadvisering (2005) ISBN 90-5261-531-4
• Cross-cultural management textbook: Lessons from the world leading experts (Introduction), with Fons Trompenaars, Charles Hampden-Turner, Meredith Belbin, Jerome Dumetz, Juliette Tournand, Peter Woolliams, Olga Saginova, Stephen M. R. Covey, Dean Foster, Craig Storti, Joerg Schmitz (2012)

Awards, honors

Awards

• Lifetime Achievement Award in Workplace Learning and Performance of the American Society of Training and Development, February 3, 2000
• Everett Cherrington Hughes Award for Career Scholarship, Careers Division of the Academy of Management, August 8, 2000
• Marion Gislason Award for Leadership in Executive Development, Boston University School of Management Executive Development Roundtable, December 11, 2002

Professional

• Fellow, American Psychological Association
• Fellow, Academy of Management

Board Member

• Advisory Board, Institute of Nuclear Power Operations
• Board Member, Massachusetts Audubon Society
• Board Member, Boston Lyric Opera

See also

For other individuals that have done further research in areas related to Schein's research see:

• List of cult and new religious movement researchers
• List of social psychologists
• Brainwashing