Charles Handy’s model of organisational culture connects an organisation’s cultural characteristics to its structural and leadership style. Handy defined four main culture types (Personnel Today, 2023). Key leaders control power culture while making decisions but risk authoritarianism. Role culture relies on formal roles, rules, and procedures (Personnel Today, 2023; VQ Solutions, 2024). Decisions in role cultures follow the chain of command to provide stability in large organisations like Unilever. Task culture focuses on task force projects and teamwork. In this culture, Handy explains that power comes from expertise, not position. This brings innovative ideas to teams like those in Unilever’s R&D departments to support creativity. However, it needs resources to build teamwork. Person culture serves individual goals, found in partnerships, with minimal hierarchy (Personnel Today, 2023; VQ Solutions, 2024). Individuals resist control, prioritising autonomy, but this can weaken strategy. Unilever shows how cultures merge. Its core role culture ensures efficiency, while its departments use a task culture for innovations. Unilever’s top leadership facilitate a power culture under a CEO-setting vision. Hence, understanding Handy helps managers build a culture with goals and avoid conflicts.
David Rock’s SCARF theory explains social motivations and responses in the workplace. SCARF stands for five key domains: Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, and Fairness. These domains trigger brain reward or threat responses (VQ Solutions, 2024). Status relates to one’s sense of importance and (reward, while disrespect poses a threat (CIPD, 2017; VQ Solutions, 2024). Certainty involves predictability and expectations that create security. Autonomy means having control to empower people (reward), but micro-management might get threatened. Relatedness concerns social connection and belonging to facilitate inclusion. Fairness is about treatment to build respect. For example, a sudden reorganisation at Unilever could threaten certainty and status, triggering fear. Unilever’s leaders using SCARF can reduce threats and boost rewards. This helps Unilever to provide clarity (Certainty), involve staff in decisions (Autonomy and Relatedness), and ensure transparency (Fairness) (CIPD, 2017; VQ Solutions, 2024). This creates a friendly environment. Thus, using these domains, Unilever promotes empathetic leadership, higher engagement, and better performance.
References.
Personnel Today (2023). What are the models of organisational culture? [online] Personnel Today. Available at: https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/what-are-the-organisational-culture-models/. CIPD (2017). CIPD | The neuroscience of change. [online] CIPD. Available at: https://www.cipd.org/ae/views-and-insights/thought-leadership/people-profession/neuroscience-change/.
