Running Head: ORGANIZATION CULTURE – AL QAEDA
Organizational Culture – al Qaeda
James M Fisher
Central Washington University
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SCHEIN’S MODEL – AL QAEDA
Abstract
Within this paper I will provide a brief overview of Edgar Schein’s model of
organizational culture and discuss how it can be related to the terrorist group called al Qaeda
located predominantly in Afghanistan. Through each level of the model I will provide examples
and details of how it pertains directly to the terrorist group.
Keywords: Afghanistan, al Qaeda, level, terrorist, culture
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SCHEIN’S MODEL – AL QAEDA
Organizational Culture – al Qaeda
Edgar Schein is a management scholar and consultant interested in the role of leaders in
the development and maintenance of organizational culture, it is within his book Organizational
Culture and Leadership that he describes his model (Miller, 2012). Schein’s model consists of
three levels: 1) artifacts, 2) espoused values, and 3) basic assumptions.
In order to fully explain what his model is and what it stands for you must first have a
good understanding of Schein’s definition of culture itself. According to the textbook, he
describes culture as “a pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its
problems of external adaption and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be
considered valid, and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive,
think and feel in relation to those problems” (Miller, 2012). Without going any further it is quite
easy to see how the culture of those within terrorists group is displayed. They solve problems by
exterminating the conflicting opinion. Organizations like al Qaeda are able to spread their culture
through the communication of their beliefs, ideas, and actions. Al Qaeda is a global militant
Islamist organization founded by Osama Bin Laden back in the late 1980s.
Schein’s model has three levels that all stem from one another, it starts with basic
assumptions, and like layers of an onion it will stem from that to espoused values and artifacts on
the outer layer. Such as business organizations, they may have the basic assumption that change
is bad therefore they will value steadiness and sustainability, which could lead to the strict
following of rules and not venturing to new ideas. This behavior will be the result of the core
assumption that change is bad.
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SCHEIN’S MODEL – AL QAEDA
The most visible layer of culture in Schein’s model consists of the physical and social
environment that the organizational members create, like Schein states, it is difficult to decipher,
especially with a hidden terrorist group such as al Qaeda (Miller, 2012). What we do know
about them is that they dress like any ordinary middle eastern/Muslim person. Women have
their heads covered, same skin tone and hair color, and dress similarly. Al Qaeda carries out
multiple attacks on foreign influences; by foreign I mean any non-Muslim country. These
attacks include suicide bombings, simultaneous bombings and raids. Al Qaeda and other terrorist
typically rely on guerrilla warfare, where they do not abide by rules of the Geneva Convention
and rules of war. Guerrilla warfare is generally fought by poor countries with a lack of
technological advancement and resources. Since we know that al Qaeda doesn’t value physical
items or money, they only value actions and religion which leads us to Schein’s second model;
espoused values.
Knowing that al Qaeda does not value materialistic things allows us to realize their value
for non materialistic things such as actions and religion. Their root reasoning for their extremist
actions is due to their religious beliefs. They feel they need to cause these acts of terror in order
to please Allah (God), what they are doing is good in their minds. When they do suicide
bombings they consider it an honorable way to die. Al Qaeda thinks man-made laws shouldn’t
exist; they feel so strongly against outer influences that they ignore the scripture that states
murder as being a bad thing. To them, killing civilians is religiously sanctioned so long as their
doing it with the mindset of removing foreign influence.
Due to the attacks on all foreign influences it is safe to assume that they feel all other
religions are a threat and should be relinquished. We can make this basic assumption because of
their actions and values. Al Qaeda holds many assumptions, for example they think the Jewish
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SCHEIN’S MODEL – AL QAEDA
and Christian communities are conspiring against Islam, so with this conviction being bestowed
upon all members of al Qaeda they all assume it is their purpose to destroy the Jewish and
Christians.
Their leader; Osama Bin Laden persuaded people of this extremist belief, without him
this global militant Islamist organization may have never taken off, even when there were several
people who shared similar beliefs as him. Like all organizations, it took one individual to start
and inspire those to follow him. I personally hate what al Qaeda stands for and what they do; I
disagree with everything they do and the reasoning behind it. I feel this way because my
artifacts, values and assumptions that I have accumulated throughout my life. Just like al Qaeda,
my behaviors of joining the military stem from my value of a freedom which consequently
comes from my assumption that everyone deserves to live freely and pursue happiness. Al
Qaeda uses the same thinking but rather than having the basic assumption of everyone deserving
a chance to live freely and pursue happiness they have the assumption that everyone is out to get
them and that in order to sustain their religion and way of life they must obliterate any and all
foreign influence. Due to this conflicting way of thinking we clash, one of the two cultures
either ours or theirs will never be satisfied while the other exists.
Clearly, al Qaeda not only fits Schein’s definition of a culture but they can be related to
each of the three levels of his model. With their underlying assumptions about the world being
reflected in a set of values that in turn generates behaviors and artifacts. Even though they fail to
reason with us, they continue to think we and other foreigners are the enemy. “Their basic
assumptions reveal a coherent paradigm that guides their united culture” (Miller, 2012). For now
we too must fight for what’s right and in time the righteous will come out on top.
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References
Miller, K. (2012). Organizational Communicational (Sixth ed.). (M. Eckman, Ed.
Boston, MA, USA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.