2.5 Organizational (corporate) culture (HL)
2.5 Organizational (corporate) culture (HL only)
“Culture is the programming of the human mind by which one group of people distinguishes itself from another group.”
- Geert H. Hofstede (1928 - 2020), Dutch social psychologist
"Corporate culture matters. How management chooses to treat its people impacts everything – for better or for worse."
- Simon Sinek (b.1973), British-American author
Organizational culture (or (corporate culture) is all about:
What is deemed to be normal to the business organization
The guiding principles of the attitudes and behaviour at work
The set of beliefs or values in an organization
The norms at work that have been established over a long period of time
The character or personality of the organization.
The learning outcomes (or assessment objectives) for this section of the IB Business Management syllabus are:
Organizational culture (HL only) (AO1)
Types of organizational culture, for example, Charles Handy's “Gods of management” (HL only) (AO3)
Cultural clashes when organizations change, including but not limited to, when organizations grow and merge and when leadership styles change (HL only) (AO3)
Teacher only boxNote to teachers
Please note the following changes to the new syllabus (first exams M24).
A noticeable change is that culture is no longer part of the key concepts in the new course, but is part of the new Business Management Toolkit (namely Hofstede's cultural dimensions for HL only candidates).
Elements of organizational culture (AO2) in the previous syllabus (final exams N23) does not feature in the new syllabus.
Types of organizational culture (AO2) has been clarified as Types of organizational culture, for example, Charles Handy's “Gods of management” (HL only) (AO2). Notice that Charles Handy's model has been named, so this is the only one that must be covered. Teachers can, but are not inclined nor encouraged to, cover other theories of origanizational culture.
"The reasons for, and consequences of, cultural clashes within organizations when they grow, merge and when leadership styles change (AO3)" has changed to "Cultural clashes when organizations change, including but not limited to, when organizations grow and merge and when leadership styles change (AO3)". Notice the phrase "but not limited to", which suggests scope for including other sources of cultural clashes. This creates an opportunity for integrating Hosftede's six cultural dimensions as part of the BMT.
The learning outcome "How individuals influence organizational culture and how organizational culture influences individuals (AO3)" has been removed from the new guide.
Please be aware of the above changes if/when using resources for the previous syllabus, such as past IB examination papers and mark schemes.
Watch this short (promo) video clip about working at Google. What does it suggest about the culture of working at Google?
This video can help students to consider the main elements of the norms at Google, which help to formulate its cultural identity and culture. For example, Google promotes creativity / free thinking and does not run on traditional rules / policies / procedures. This is, perhaps, vital for its business success. For example, although not mentioned in the video, the culture at Google enabled one of their employees to code the basis for the creation of Gmail in a single day!
InThinking Business Management resources
Click the hyperlinks below to access the InThinking resources for this particular section of the IB Business Management syllabus.
Organizational culture (AO1)
Cultural clashes (AO3)
- Unit 2.5 Smart quiz questions
- Unit 2.5 Organizational culture - Question bank (interactive questions to test student understanding)
- 2.5 True or False Quiz
- Glossary of key terms
InThinking lesson ideas
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