Edgar Schein

Edgar Henry Schein (March 5, 1928 – January 26, 2023) was a Swiss-born American business theorist and psychologist who was professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

He was a foundational researcher in the discipline of organizational behavior, and made notable contributions in the field of organizational development in many areas, including career development, group process consultation, and organizational culture.

He was the son of former University of Chicago professor Marcel Schein.

Schein's original research in the mid-1970s identified five possible career anchor groups: (1) autonomy/independence, (2) security/stability, (3) technical-functional competence, (4) general managerial competence, and (5) entrepreneurial creativity.

Schein's model of organizational culture originated in the 1980s.

Follow-up studies in the 1980s identified three additional constructs: (6) service or dedication to a cause, (7) pure challenge, and (8) life style.

Schein (2004) identifies three distinct levels in organizational cultures:

The three levels refer to the degree to which the different cultural phenomena are visible to the observer.

The career anchor is a part of what one finds as they clarify their self-image surrounding one's (1) needs and motives, (2) talents, and (3) values, the anchor being set of needs, values, and talents that a person is least willing to give up when forced to make a choice.

The concept is Schein's attempt to reflect the lifelong search of every human to find themselves.

A 2008 study distinguishes between entrepreneurship and creativity to form nine possible constructs.