second type of culture that the author discusses is the role or Apollo culture. This type of culture bases its approach on the definition of the role or the job to be done. The symbol the author uses to represent this type of culture is a Greek temple. The pillars of the temple represent the functions and divisions in an organization. The pillars are joined managerially only at the top, the pediment, where the heads of the functions and divisions join together to form the board, management committee, or presidents office (Handy p. 44). Besides being joined at the pediment, the pillars are also connected through rules and procedures.This type of organization looks to the past in order to predict the future based on the premise that tomorrow will be like yesterday. This then allows the organization to examine and pull apart yesterday in order to formulate improved rules and procedures. Stability and predictability are assumed and encouraged (Handy p. 45). The role or set of duties are fixed in the Apollo culture. Furthermore, in this type of organization, efficiency is determined upon meeting deadlines and standard objectives. Exceeding the objectives or beating the deadlines does not lead to reward but rather a reevaluation the institutions goals and objectives. This in turn results in very little initiative among the employees. According to the author, some typical examples of the role or Apollo culture are life insurance companies, civil service, state industries, and local government (Handy p.47). Furthermore, apollonian cultures abhor change. Generally an apollonian response to a change in the environment would be to first ignore it and then usually do more of what they were already doing. Role cultures respond to drastic changes in the environment (changing consumer preferences, new technologies,, new funding sources) by setting up a lot of cross-functional liaison groups to hold the structure together. If these m...
