In Gods of Management, Charles Handy identifies and examines what have been characterized as “the four basic forms of management.” Here they are the club culture (Zeus), based on formal power and influence; the role culture (Apollo), based on logic and rationality; the task culture (Athena), based on problem solving and getting things done; and the existential cu;ture (Dionysus), that exists to serve the purpose and passions of its members.”

This four-dimensional framework has certainly withstood the test of time. “It provides a highly practical way of understanding the choices firms make bout how they are organized. To be more specific, each of these perspectives suggests a very different management model: Bureaucracy, Meritocracy, and Adocracy.

“Each of the three models has its place in the modern organization, so the question you should be asking is not, ‘Which model is better’ but ‘Which model is needed for the given set of challenges?’”

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Charles Handy CBE (born 1932) is an Irish author/philosopher specialising in organisational behaviour and management. Among the ideas he has advanced are the “portfolio worker” and the “Shamrock Organization” (in which professional core workers, freelance workers and part-time/temporary routine workers each form one leaf of the “Shamrock”). Gods of Management: The Changing Work of Organizations was published by Oxford University Press in1996. To learn more about him and his work, please click here.