Virtual Online Organizations and Organizational Culture

This study addresses Schein's (1999) three levels of organizational culture and virtual universities, where an attempt is made to reflect on Schein's artifacts, values and basic assumptions when visiting an online university on the internet. The study examines three online universities and gives a thorough critique of the websites and the cultural factors derived from it. To describe such a complex concept, the study discusses scholars' work in this area, such as Hatch's (1993) expansion of Schein's trinity into a cultural dynamics model of four concepts evolving over time. She puts her concepts on one level, giving it an equal importance rather than Schein's hierarchy. Her concepts are values, assumptions, artifacts and symbols. This framework emphasizes the importance of artifacts as cultural elements that are worth studying and scrutinizing in different contexts such as the digital world. Hatch's model gives artifact the importance of value. Thus, an online university's website reflects its values. Moreover, definitions and different research papers about this theme are presented as well