Artifacts, espoused values, and assumptions
Culture at three levels. There are the visible artifacts, the values the organisation espouses, and the underlying assumptions that drive behaviour in practice, which are usually unspoken and often at odds with the espoused values. Where they diverge, the behaviour is the culture.
Evidence grade: practice A widely adopted practitioner model with clear provenance.
Use it when
Diagnosing an organisation's real culture; naming the assumption that a costly moment revealed.
Where it stops working
It diagnoses and does not prescribe. It says where to look, and is silent on how to change what you find.
Where the standard uses it
- CC-5Values, integrity, and ethical judgment under pressureWhat you do when the right call is the costly one.
Sources
- Edgar H. Schein. Organizational Culture and Leadership. Jossey-Bass, 1985. In the bibliography
Used alongside it
- Culture as what is rewarded, tolerated, and punished practice
- Leading change practice
- Service-level objectives and error budgets practice
- The costly moment practice
Cite this model
Chicago, BibTeX and licence →Engineering Management Academy. (2026). Artifacts, espoused values, and assumptions. In Engineering Management Academy Body of Knowledge (Version 3.1, TEC.artifacts-espoused-values-and-assumptions). https://www.engineeringmanagement.academy/body-of-knowledge/techniques/artifacts-espoused-values-and-assumptions