6. Engagement & Culture
Schein's three levels
Reading a culture honestly
Use when
Diagnosing culture before attempting to change any of it
3
Artifacts
What you can see: rituals, language, offices, who talks in meetings
2
Espoused values
What we say we value: posters, value statements, strategy decks
1
Underlying assumptions
What we believe in practice: revealed by decisions under pressure
Base ↑ read upward
How to use it
Culture change fails when aimed at level one or two; the work is surfacing level three. Method: collect decision stories ('tell me about the last time X was chosen over Y under pressure') and read the assumptions off them. The gap between espoused values and assumptions is where cynicism lives, and closing it beats launching new values every time.
Card details
- Model type
- Ladder
- Origin status
- Established
- Content last reviewed
- 28 July 2026
Origin
EstablishedEdgar Schein, Organizational Culture and Leadership, 1985.