| Course | MAN-4250 Advanced Organizational Management |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 1 |
| Paper type | Module 1 written assignment: organizational culture and leadership |
| Length | About 651 words, 5 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Thomas Edison State University |
| Program | B.S.B.A. in Human Resources/Organizational Management |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MAN 4250 Module 1
Reading a Firm Below the Surface: Schein's Three Levels of Culture at an Engineering Consultancy
Student Name
B.S.B.A. in Human Resources/Organizational Management, Thomas Edison State University
MAN-4250: Advanced Organizational Management
Mentor Name
Month Day, Year
Reading a Firm Below the Surface: Schein's Three Levels of Culture at an Engineering Consultancy
Introduction
I work as a project coordinator at a composite civil engineering firm in Princeton that designs roads, bridges and stormwater systems for municipalities and the state. Schein (2010) defines culture as the shared basic assumptions a group learned while solving problems of adapting outward and integrating inward, assumptions that worked well enough to be considered valid and are passed to newcomers as the right way to perceive, think and feel. That definition directs attention below what people say to what they take for granted.
Level One: Artifacts
Artifacts are what one sees, hears and feels in an organization. Ours include a lobby lined with framed photographs of bridges the firm designed since 1962, private offices for licensed professional engineers and open desks for everyone else, drafting tables kept in a corner although no one has drafted by hand in decades, and a dress code that is formal on days with client meetings. Schein warns that artifacts are easy to observe but hard to decipher: a visitor might read the drafting tables as nostalgia, but they mean something more to the people who work here.
Level Two: Espoused Beliefs and Values
The firm's website and annual meeting speeches stress three values: safety, technical excellence and innovation. Safety and excellence are consistent with what we do. Innovation is less so. The firm adopted building information modeling software years after competitors and still requires a senior engineer to sign off on every calculation by hand. Schein notes that espoused values may or may not match the assumptions that actually drive behavior; when they do not, the gap is itself evidence about the culture.
Level Three: Basic Underlying Assumptions
Beneath the stated values lie assumptions so taken for granted that people rarely discuss them. The deepest at our firm is that a licensed engineer's judgment is not to be questioned by anyone without a license. The drafting tables, the private offices and the hand sign-offs all express it. A second assumption is that mistakes are unacceptable, because in our work a mistake can cause a bridge to fail. These assumptions explain why innovation remains an espoused value but not a practiced one: new methods threaten both the authority of senior engineers and the certainty that guards against error.
Culture and Leadership
Schein (2010) argues that culture and leadership are two sides of the same coin: leaders create cultures when they found groups, and cultures later constrain who can lead and how. The firm's founders were licensed engineers who built a reputation on caution and precision, and they promoted people who shared those traits. Their assumptions served the firm for decades, when clients wanted conservative designs. Today, clients want faster delivery and digital models, and the culture's caution slows the firm.
Measuring Culture
Hofstede et al. (1990) found that organizational cultures differ mainly in shared perceptions of daily practices rather than in values, which suggests that our firm's practices, such as hand sign-offs, may reveal more about its culture than its stated values do. That finding supports Schein's advice to look at what people do. Schneider et al. (2013) similarly distinguish climate, what employees experience as rewarded and expected, from culture, the deeper assumptions that explain why, and argue that the two must be studied together.
Reflection
My own frustrations look different to me after writing this paper. I had blamed individual senior engineers for resisting new software. Schein's model shows me that they are acting on assumptions the whole firm shares and once depended on.
Conclusion
At three levels, the firm's culture is consistent: artifacts, practices and assumptions all express respect for licensed judgment and fear of error. The espoused value of innovation sits uneasily on top. Any leader who wants the firm to change must work at the level of assumptions, not only at the level of statements.
References
Hofstede, G., Neuijen, B., Ohayv, D. D., & Sanders, G. (1990). Measuring organizational cultures: A qualitative and quantitative study across twenty cases. Administrative Science Quarterly, 35(2), 286-316. https://doi.org/10.2307/2393392
Schein, E. H. (2010). Organizational culture and leadership (4th ed.). Jossey-Bass.
Schneider, B., Ehrhart, M. G., & Macey, W. H. (2013). Organizational climate and culture. Annual Review of Psychology, 64, 361-388. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-113011-143809
MAN 4250 Module 1 instructions, in plain terms
MAN-4250's four written assignments carry 40 percent of the grade, each built from essay questions on the textbook chapters and a personal reflection, along with four discussions, a proctored midterm covering the first two modules and a final integrating paper. The first assignment covers Schein's definition of culture, the three levels and the link between culture and leadership. Apply the concepts to an organization you know, preferably the one you will use in the final paper, and include a short reflection on what the analysis taught you. Choose a workplace, often a current or past employer, whose artifacts you can describe and whose hidden assumptions you can reasonably infer. Keep confidential details out of the paper and change names if needed.
Inside the MAN 4250 Module 1 example
The paper opens with the setting and Schein's definition. Three sections apply the three levels, moving from artifacts a visitor would see to stated values and then to the assumptions that explain them, and the analysis notes where values and practices disagree. A section explains how founders created the culture and how it now constrains leaders. A section uses research on measuring culture to support looking at practices. A reflection and conclusion follow. Each level is illustrated with several examples, and the paper explains how the examples connect, which is the skill Schein's model requires. The reflection shows the analysis changing the writer's view of a workplace frustration, which is the kind of personal learning the assignment asks for.
MAN 4250 Module 1 rubric: what earns full marks
MAN-4250 assignments are graded on full answers to every question, correct use of Schein's concepts, application to a real organization and a genuine reflection. Papers that move beneath artifacts to the assumptions that explain them show understanding of the model's depth. Identifying a gap between espoused values and practice, and explaining it, demonstrates critical thinking. A reflection that changes how the writer sees a problem shows learning rather than recitation. Mentors also look for correct use of Schein's terms, especially the difference between espoused values and underlying assumptions, which students often blur. Headings for each of Schein's levels, with APA references, finish the paper.
MAN 4250 Module 1 help from the desk
Students lose points by listing artifacts without interpreting them, by treating stated values as the culture or by describing assumptions that are really opinions. Others skip the reflection. Look for patterns that connect your examples. Test whether a value is practiced. Name an assumption people would hesitate to say aloud. Include what you learned about your own view of the organization. Be careful not to judge the culture as good or bad before you understand it; Schein's point is that assumptions persist because they once solved real problems. Ask a colleague whether your reading of the assumptions matches theirs. A free first sample on your own MAN-4250 Module 1 assignment is available on request.
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MAN 4250 Module 1 questions, answered
Where can I find a free MAN 4250 Module 1 sample paper?
Artifacts, espoused values and unspoken assumptions at a Princeton civil engineering consultancy are read in the assignment above.
How does Schein define organizational culture?
As the hard-won assumptions a group develops while coping with outside pressures and inside relationships, then teaches to new members as correct.
What are Schein's three levels of culture?
Visible artifacts at the surface, stated values beneath them and unspoken assumptions at the core.
Why are artifacts hard to interpret?
Because they are easy to see but their meaning depends on the assumptions behind them.
What textbook does MAN-4250 use?
Edgar Schein's Organizational Culture and Leadership, fourth edition, from Jossey-Bass.