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iddled with a lack of ethics like Enron and many of the recent lending practices in the U.S. and the U.K. that led to the credit crunch, in which the blame was placed firmly on the shoulders of the leaders and the culture that they had developed that might have promoted greed and a lack of ethical behaviours (Pfister 2009: 2).

Now that this understanding is becoming more readily accepted within organisational studies, theories on business culture and how it is being managed have begun to be formulated with a diverse array of ideas about how it plays out within management practice and organisational development (Martin 1992: 4. One of the earliest proponents of an organisational culture theory was Edgar Schein who believed that organisational culture was comprised of “assumptions, values, and artefacts” (Hatch 1993: 657). His perspective was based on a functional perspective in which these three components, which help to explain specific standards, beliefs, and ideals, form the basis of how to react to and cope with other factors that would help existing workers and new members to perceive and think about these factors in the same way to achieve a “normal” way in which to address existing problems or issues (Schein 1988: 12).

In this way, Schein's theory illustrated that culture was a multi-layered intangible within a company that was first based on visible organizational structures and processes known as artefacts that were then connected to the organisation's values (the strategies, philosophies, and goals) as well as to the basic underlying assumptions in an organisation, which is comprised of those beliefs that are “a given” or that are “taken for granted” (Schein 1992: 2). Similarly, Rousseau saw culture as a multi-layered, ring-like framework in which there are both visible and invisible signs and feelings of an organisation's culture both of which must be addressed (1990: 158), illustrating that it is both tangible and intangible aspect of daily operations.

Since then, a number of theories have evolved from this early definition to envision organisational culture as a combination of these components as well as symbols and processes, which provide fluidity and flexibility for cultures to shift and change based on both dynamic internal and external factors (Hatch 1993: 657). There are three key theoretical views of culture in organisations that help to explain how culture works and what it achieves. First, the integrative theory sees culture as a means of achieving some sort of a consensus across the organisation in which there is general agreement and united effort toward a common goal and purpose (Martin 2002: 94).

The differentiation theory maintains that there may be subcultures or groups within an organisation that share a common belief but that may diverge from an overall consensus (Martin 2002: 94). Then, there is the fragmentation theory, which maintains that there may always be ambiguity and conflict within any type of culture but that it is necessary in order to adapt, be flexible, and be open to change (Martin 2002: 94). These last two theories contend that these types of organisational cultures are often found in large organisations, particularly those that are global in nature (Bush 2003: 160).

There are also typologies of organisational cultures that have been developed within theoretical frameworks as a way to categorise certain approaches to d