A Typology of Organisational Cultures

Ron Westrum’s 2004 paper in BMJ Quality & Safety introduced a three-part typology for organizational cultures based on how they process information. Pathological (power-oriented) cultures suppress bad news, bureaucratic (rule-oriented) cultures channel it through procedures, and generative (performance-oriented) cultures actively seek it out. The model predicts safety outcomes in healthcare and has since been validated in software delivery by the DORA/Accelerate research as a strong predictor of high performance.

Resources

• Ron Westrum, “A Typology of Organisational Cultures” (BMJ Quality & Safety, 2004)
• Westrum’s Typology — the concept page derived from this paper