Handy C. -1993- Understanding Organizations Today

👇 Have you mapped your team’s culture lately? Title: Book Summary & Reflection – Handy, C. (1993). Understanding Organizations

Fave quote: “Organizations are not buildings or charts. They are relationships.” Let’s discuss Handy (1993), Understanding Organizations

🔹 – Web of control. Fast, but relies on a central figure. 🔹 Role Culture – Pillars of logic and rules. Stable, but slow (think bureaucracy). 🔹 Task Culture – Net of expertise. All about getting the job done, often in teams. 🔹 Person Culture – Cluster of individual stars. The organization serves them (e.g., partnerships). handy c. -1993- understanding organizations

If you’re in change management, OD, or leadership, this is still a masterclass.

Organizations are not machines. They are cultures, politics, and psychological contracts. 👇 Have you mapped your team’s culture lately

Just finished revisiting – and it’s striking how relevant it still is.

Handy (1993) saw the future: ✅ The shamrock organization (core + contract + flex workforce) ✅ The end of job-for-life ✅ Culture as the real structure 🔹 Role Culture – Pillars of logic and rules

💡 Why read a 30-year-old book? Because many of today’s hybrid work, agile team, and decentralization debates are mapped out here. Handy asks: What kind of culture fits your strategy?