What is the Cultural Web Model?

Developed in 1992 by Gerry Johnson and Kevan Scholes, the cultural web model helps define the ‘paradigm,’ or the lived reality, of working within an organization. 

The cultural web model is a business management framework that describes the interactions and dependencies between an organization’s business processes and its stakeholders.

The model focuses on how business processes interact and depend on stakeholders to create value for the organization.

Stakeholders are defined as “those who have an interest in an organization’s activities and outcomes.” The model also describes interrelationships between stakeholders, business relationships, and organizational culture.

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In addition to that, it is also a way to explore:

• What power structures exist within a company
• The collective ‘history’ of a company
• How behaviours or ‘rituals’ are formed

How Do You Use The Cultural Web Model?

The cultural web model is a strategic planning model for economic development that structures the community by highlighting all the aspects of the community, from “culture to cuisine”, “belief systems to business”, and “heritage to healthcare” .

The model provides a framework for businesses to create a competitive advantage by understanding and utilizing the cultural aspects of a community. The model allows businesses and communities to compete in a global economy by offering unique competitive advantages through leveraging cultural assets.

Why are cultural web models necessary? 

They help organizations to understand their culture, and to identify and change the parts of it that are not working well. A cultural web model can also be used to help an organization to develop a new culture, or to understand how to change its culture to become more effective.

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