1.1 Introduction Organisational culture has been an important theme in management and business research for the past few decades due to its effect and potential impact on organisationally and individually desired outcomes such as commitment, loyalty, intent to turnover and satisfaction (Chow et al., 2001). In today's business environment, organisational culture is used as a powerful tool that portrays many facets of a workplace as well as to quantify the way a business functions (Gray, Densten & Sarros, 2003). Research has confirmed that organisational culture is not only able to change, guide and display but also give significant contributions by influencing the thought, feeling, interacting and performance in the organisation (Ab. Aziz Yusof & Juhary Ali, 2000). The importance of culture is enhanced through its impact on employee morale and work attitudes such as job satisfaction (Dose, 1997). Similarly, employee morale is a workforce phenomenon that confronts every organisation at some time. The understanding of morale is important because it can have tangible and wide- ranging effects and outcomes for an organisation. Morale is not a simple concept and the outcomes associated with high or low morale may impact upon staff turnover, attainment of organisational or personal goals, the ability to adopt new practices, learning new skills and the delivery of good 1
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1.1 Introduction
Organisational culture has been an important theme in management and business research for
the past few decades due to its effect and potential impact on organisationally and individually
desired outcomes such as commitment, loyalty, intent to turnover and satisfaction (Chow et al.,
2001). In today's business environment, organisational culture is used as a powerful tool that
portrays many facets of a workplace as well as to quantify the way a business functions (Gray,
Densten & Sarros, 2003). Research has confirmed that organisational culture is not only able to
change, guide and display but also give significant contributions by influencing the thought,
feeling, interacting and performance in the organisation (Ab. Aziz Yusof & Juhary Ali, 2000).
The importance of culture is enhanced through its impact on employee morale and work
attitudes such as job satisfaction (Dose, 1997).
Similarly, employee morale is a workforce phenomenon that confronts every organisation at
some time. The understanding of morale is important because it can have tangible and wide-
ranging effects and outcomes for an organisation. Morale is not a simple concept and the
outcomes associated with high or low morale may impact upon staff turnover, attainment of
organisational or personal goals, the ability to adopt new practices, learning new skills and the
delivery of good customer service. As early as the 1940s morale was being viewed as an
important workplace issue. At the time, it was suggested that when any person holds a position
of responsibility in a business, the word "morale" comes to have real meaning and refers to
something that has great importance, even if that something remains vague and illusive. At
times the feelings of poor morale are difficult to articulate by those that are affected by it.
While there are a number of thematic variations on the definition of morale, for the purposes of
this review, positive morale is seen as an attitude of confidence in the mind of the individual
where they identify with a group, accept group goals and work towards achieving them
collectively. The fact that there has been no unifying definition of morale goes some way to
explaining the reasons why definitive empirical studies on the phenomenon have been
somewhat sporadic.
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Despite the considerable body of organisational literature that has been conducted to examine
the relationship between corporate culture and employees' satisfaction in various countries as
well as industries (for example, Chow et al., 2001; Mohammad Saeed & Arif Hassan, 2000;
Pool, 2000; Rashid et al., 2003; Grifford, Zammuto & Goodman, 2002; Lund, 2003; Sheridan,
1992), there is very little literature that recognises organisational culture studies within the
context of the Banking industry, particularly on how employee morale amongst employees is
affected by organisational culture dimensions that have otherwise attracted considerable
attention in organizational literature. As the banking industry is the spotlight of the global
service industries and is considered to be one of the major contributors to the global economy,
organisational culture is strategically and tactically important for gaining a competitive
advantage. Moreover, the banking industry differs from other industries in terms of their
organizational structures, responses to the environment, managerial styles and the ways in
which they compete with other firms. The importance of culture is enhanced through its impact
on employee morale and work attitudes such as job satisfaction (Dose, 1997). In order to
bridge the gap and provide organisations with practical assistance in dealing with this issue,
this research is aimed towards examining whether the application of eight dimensions of
organisational culture adoption results in an improvement of employees' working conditions
that contribute towards the higher employee morale specifically in the context of the Indian
Banking Industry.
In view of the absence of such research on these relationships, therefore, this paper reports the
results of a survey that was designed to answer a general research question: "Does
organisational culture predict employee morale in banking sector?"
This research is particularly important, as most of the studies carried out in the Indian
environment attempt a partial understanding in the sphere of organizational culture and
employee morale. Most of these stress only a single characteristic of these two aspects.
Indian organizational culture with both its formal and informal characteristics has been the
object of hardly any studies. Most of our knowledge about it is derived from day to day
experience and heresay rather than a comparative, systematic and scientific analysis. It’s effect
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on morale too how escaped scientific analysis and is subject to rough estimates and highly
personal perceptions in most cases.
To address the knowledge gap, this study contributes to the literature by attempting to satisfy
the clear need for an analytical study that examines recognizable dimensions of organisational
culture, and linking organizational culture and employees' morale, using appropriate statistical
methods (i.e. data analyses were used based on both descriptive and inferential methods)
within five major banks, both the private and the public sector banks in the tricity region.
Based on an extensive study of previous research on organisational culture, eight core
dimensions of organisational culture have been identified as key dimensions, which support an
organisation's business strategy towards the increase in employees' work outcomes. These
dimensions of organisational culture are: Openness, Confrontation, Trust, Authenticity,
Proaction, Autonomy, Collaboration and Experimenting. Similarly, the dimensions of
Employee morale are the Index Of Job Satisfaction, the Index Of Organisational Image, the
Index Of Career Growth, the Index Of Satisfaction With Superiors, the Index Of Satisfaction
Of Emotional And Physical Needs. Finally, this research project uses quantitative methods to
study the impact of organisational culture on employee morale in the banking sector within the
tricity region.
The purpose of this investigation is two-fold. Firstly, to provide a greater understanding of the
influence of organizational culture on employee morale. Secondly, to present a comparative
study of the organizational culture and employee morale in the two types of banks – private
and public sector banks.
1.2 Introduction to the Banking Sector
Banks are the most significant players in the Indian financial market. They are the biggest
purveyors of credit, and they also attract most of the savings from the population. Dominated
by public sector, the banking industry has so far acted as an efficient partner in the growth and
the development of the country. Driven by the socialist ideologies and the welfare state
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concept, public sector banks have long been the supporters of agriculture and other priority
sectors. They act as crucial channels of the government in its efforts to ensure equitable
economic development.
The Indian banking can be broadly categorized into nationalized (government owned), private
banks and specialized banking institutions. The Reserve Bank of India acts a centralized body
monitoring any discrepancies and shortcoming in the system. Since the nationalization of
banks in 1969, the public sector banks or the nationalized banks have acquired a place of
prominence and has since then seen tremendous progress. The need to become highly customer
focused has forced the slow-moving public sector banks to adopt a fast track approach. The
unleashing of products and services through the net has galvanized players at all levels of the
banking and financial institutions market grid to look anew at their existing portfolio offering.
Conservative banking practices allowed Indian banks to be insulated partially from the Asian
currency crisis. Indian banks are now quoting al higher valuation when compared to banks in
other Asian countries (viz. Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines etc.) that have major problems
linked to huge Non Performing Assets (NPAs) and payment defaults. Co-operative banks are
nimble footed in approach and armed with efficient branch networks focus primarily on the
‘high revenue’ niche retail segments.
The Indian banking has finally worked up to the competitive dynamics of the ‘new’ Indian
market and is addressing the relevant issues to take on the multifarious challenges of
globalization. Banks that employ IT solutions are perceived to be ‘futuristic’ and proactive
players capable of meeting the multifarious requirements of the large customer’s base. Private
Banks have been fast on the uptake and are reorienting their strategies using the internet as a
medium The Internet has emerged as the new and challenging frontier of marketing with the
conventional physical world tenets being just as applicable like in any other marketing
medium.
The Indian banking has come from a long way from being a sleepy business institution to a
highly proactive and dynamic entity. This transformation has been largely brought about by
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the large dose of liberalization and economic reforms that allowed banks to explore new
business opportunities rather than generating revenues from conventional streams (i.e.
borrowing and lending). The banking in India is highly fragmented with 30 banking units
contributing to almost 50% of deposits and 60% of advances. Indian nationalized banks (banks
owned by the government) continue to be the major lenders in the economy due to their sheer
size and penetrative networks which assures them high deposit mobilization. The Indian
banking can be broadly categorized into nationalized, private banks and specialized banking
institutions.
The Reserve Bank of India acts as a centralized body monitoring any discrepancies and
shortcoming in the system. It is the foremost monitoring body in the Indian financial sector.
The nationalized banks (i.e. government-owned banks) continue to dominate the Indian
banking arena. Industry estimates indicate that out of 274 commercial banks operating in
India, 223 banks are in the public sector and 51 are in the private sector. The private sector
bank grid also includes 24 foreign banks that have started their operations here.
The liberalize policy of Government of India permitted entry to private sector in the banking,
the industry has witnessed the entry of nine new generation private banks. The major
differentiating parameter that distinguishes these banks from all the other banks in the
Indian banking is the level of service that is offered to the customer. Their focus has always
centered on the customer – understanding his needs, preempting him and consequently
delighting him with various configurations of benefits and a wide portfolio of products and
services. These banks have generally been established by promoters of repute or by ‘high
value’ domestic financial institutions.
The popularity of these banks can be gauged by the fact that in a short span of time, these
banks have gained considerable customer confidence and consequently have shown impressive
growth rates. Today, the private banks corner almost four per cent share of the total share of
deposits. Most of the banks in this category are concentrated in the high-growth urban areas in
metros (that account for approximately 70% of the total banking business). With efficiency
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being the major focus, these banks have leveraged on their strengths and competencies viz.
Management, operational efficiency and flexibility, superior product positioning and higher
employee productivity skills.
The private banks with their focused business and service portfolio have a reputation of being
niche players in the industry. A strategy that has allowed these banks to concentrate on few
reliable high net worth companies and individuals rather than cater to the mass market. These
well-chalked out integrates strategy plans have allowed most of these banks to deliver
superlative levels of personalized services. With the Reserve Bank of India allowing these
banks to operate 70% of their businesses in urban areas, this statutory requirement has
translated into lower deposit mobilization costs and higher margins relative to public sector
banks.
The key players in the banking sector in India are State Bank of India (SBI) and Punjab
National Bank (PNB) in the Public Sector Banks while Industrial Credit and Investment
Corporation of India (ICICI) and Housing Development and Finance Corporation (HDFC) in
the private sector.
1.3 Chapter Scheme
This research consists of five chapters. The first chapter gives the introduction and background
of this study along with an industry overview. The second chapter is a review of the literature
on organisational culture and employees' morale. The third chapter leads to the development of
the conceptual framework and hypothesis development that is tested in this study and also
provides a description of the methodology that is used in the research. The fourth chapter
provides the discussion of the results obtained after analysing the data, and is followed by the
limitations and suggestions for future research, conclusion and implications in the last section.
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2.1 ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
2.1.1 IntroductionThe information age has arrived in full force and technology along with all of its advancements
is here to stay. Even though businesses seem to be all about numbers and making a fast buck,
companies are again realizing the immeasurable significance of their human workforce. The
recent awareness of organizational culture theory is evidence that ‘the time has come to write
meaning and emotion back into organizations’ (Gabriel 1991, p. 319).
This chapter presents a literature review on different aspects of organisation culture and
employee morale. It also explores selected tools used by other researchers to assess
organisational culture and employee morale. A brief review of some works studying the
relationship between organisational culture and employee morale is also presented in this
chapter.
2.1.2 Organisational cultureThis sections looks at different aspects of organisational culture including its concepts,
definitions, its importance and components. A brief review of some tools used by other
researchers to assess organisational culture is also included.
A. Concepts and definitions of organisational culture
The concept of ‘organisational culture’ has become popular since the early 1980s. Along with
the growing interest in the topic, there seems to be little agreement within the literature as to
what ‘organisational culture’ actually is and, therefore, there are different definitions and
perspectives on this topic. Some define organisational culture as the observable behavioural
rules in human interaction (Van Maanen 1979); some as the dominant values in an organisation
(Deal & Kennedy 1982); others as a consistent perception within an organisation (Robbins
1998). One of the most common definitions of organisational culture includes shared values,
beliefs, or norms (Beyer & Trice 1987; Tunstall 1983; Wilkins & Patterson 1985; Martin 1985;
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Barney 1986; Kerr 1991) (Chen, CS 1994). As a summary, Yanagi (1994, p. ii) stated that
organisational culture can be defined as ‘philosophies and values shared by the members of
organisations and their behavioural patterns for translating them into practical actions’.
Another often referred-to definition of organisational culture was devised by Schein (1989,
1992). According to Schein (1989), culture is a coherent system of assumptions and basic
values, which distinguish one group or organisation from another and orient its choices.
Hence, organisational culture implies ‘a pattern of basic assumptions – invented, discovered, or
developed by a given group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and
internal integration – that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be
taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those
problems’ (Schein 1989, p. 9).
‘Culture is the unique whole, the heart and soul that determines how a group of people will
behave. Cultures are collective beliefs that in turn shape behaviour’ (Organisations @ Onepine
2003). A key role for organisational culture is to differentiate the organisation from others and
provide a sense of identity for its members.
An important point made by some researchers while exploring the concepts and definitions of
organisational culture is the stress that culture is a dynamic, evolving process, not at all static.
Morgan (1986), for example, argued that culture must be understood as an active, living
phenomenon through which people create and recreate their worlds. Schein (1989) also stated
that organisational culture changes over time and becomes more embedded into the ‘out-of-
awareness’ functioning of an organisation. Both Morgan and Schein’s views imply that key
individuals have a crucial role to play in shaping and refining the culture. Schein (1989, p. 2)
claimed that ‘organisational culture are created by leaders and one of the most decisive
functions of leadership may well be the creation, the management, and – if and when that may
become necessary – the destruction of culture’. Although the main focus of this research is
culture at the organisational level, it is also important that due attention be given to the broader
external societal, cultural context within which organisations are embedded. Cultures are
“layered” as stated by researchers. Cultures permeate many levels of social life simultaneously.
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Some aspects of culture are nearly universal, like the high value placed on family bonds and
good childcare. Other cultural themes are characteristic of whole regions of the world (regional
culture). A culture becomes characteristic of a specific nation (national culture), or even of a
particular social group (organisational/corporate culture), largely because of its linkage to
specific locales and experiences. Organisational culture, therefore, has to be viewed in a
broader perspective, with due consideration given to the interrelation or the linkages between
cultural themes at the regional, national, organisational and individual levels.
Despite the various definitions and perspectives on organisational culture, one thing is
universal amongst most of them, and that is the shared nature of the beliefs, philosophies,
norms …etc. In essence, many claimed that the function of organizational culture is to create a
feeling of ‘esprit de corps’ within the organisation (Van Maanen & Barley 1985, p. 39). If this
is so, then we should attempt to examine why organizational culture is regarded so important
and valuable.
B. Increasing importance of organisational culture and research on organizational culture
Organisational culture is the key to organisational excellence and the function of leadership is
the creation and management of culture (Schein 1992). ‘In general we find that outstandingly
successful organisations usually have strong and unique cultures… Unsuccessful organisations
have weak indifferent sub-cultures or old sub-cultures that become sclerosed and can actually
prevent the organisation’s adaptation to changed circumstances’ (Hofstede 1980, p. 394).
Organisational researchers are becoming more aware of the importance of understanding and
enhancing the cultural life of an organisation. ‘One study of a group of high-performance
companies in North America indicated that paying attention to organisational culture is an
important ingredient in organisational success’ (Frost et al. 1985, p. 16). Organisational
learning, development and planned change cannot be understood without considering
organisational culture as the primary source of resistance to change (Schein 1992).
The ability to perceive and assess the limitations of one’s own culture and to develop the
culture adaptively is the essence and ultimate challenge of leadership (Schein 1992).
Interpreting and understanding organisational culture is an important activity for managers,
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researchers and consultants because it affects strategic development, productivity and learning
at all levels. Organisational culture has been shown to ‘affect workers’ commitment to and
identification with the group and organisation, as well as their sense of involvement with their
work assignments’ (Louis 1985, p. 85). With respect to the issue of change and culture, there is
solid documentation that overlooking organisational culture has impeded efforts to change
organisational functioning. Examination of past failures in organisational development efforts
points to the role of culture as a critical force to be considered in effecting change (Beer 1980).
Some of the reasons why it is important to understand an organisation’s culture are:
It will determine the responses that an organisation will make to new problems and
challenges. It may facilitate change or be a stumbling block.
It will determine the kinds of people who are attracted to the organisation and who will be
successful in it.
It determines what counts as important in the organisation and so gives a clear direction for
planning training and management development programs. Failing to understand and manage
the organisational culture can lead to much time being wasted on irrelevant activities and even
to conflict between different levels in the organisation, cynicism and disillusionment. Without
control of the culture, subsidiaries, departments and functions may take on their own culture.
While some differences in culture between groups within the same organisation may be
acceptable or desirable, there may be core values, which are vital to the success of the
organisation and should be shared by all. These core values need to be identified and
embedded in the culture. The process involves being explicit about what values are important
to the organization and getting people to understand and commit themselves to these values
(Human Factors International 2004).
Schein (1989, p. 48) stated ‘failing to understand how culture works is just as dangerous in the
organisational world as failing to understand gravity and the atmosphere in the
physical/biological world’.
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C. Different aspects of organisational culture
While exploring the ‘content’ of organisational culture, researchers seems to use a wide variety
of approaches, methods and terms to describe what organisational culture might contain and/or
entail. The organization ‘has’ perspectives sees organizational culture as consisting of
variables, subsystems or components. These components have been described in McKinsey’s
7-S framework. (Peters and Waterman, 1982; see Figure 2.1)
Figure 1- McKinsey’s 7-S framework
In this framework, components have certain functionality and management can control and
integrate different components to form strong or weak cultures. As Meek (1988) stated:
“’strong cultures are somehow more likely to be associated with effectiveness than are weak
cultures and strong cultures can be deliberately created” (p.196) and “Organisational cultures
are created by leaders and one of the most decisive functions of leadership may well be the
creation, the management, and - if and when that may become necessary – the destruction of
culture”
Similarly, Schein (1989) referred to various ‘cultural elements’ such as the physical layout of
an organisation’s offices, rules of interactions that are taught to newcomers, basic values that
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come to be seen as the organisation’s ideology or philosophy, and the underlying conceptual
categories and assumptions that enable people to communicate and to interpret everyday
occurrences. He distinguished among these elements by treating basic assumptions as the
essence – what culture really is – and by treating values and behaviours as observed
manifestations of the cultural essence. In a sense, he classified these elements into three levels
of culture (see Figure 2.1)
Figure 2 Levels of culture and their interaction
Earlier, Lundberg (1985, p. 171-172) had offered a very similar view and distinguished four (4)
separate levels of meaning for an organisation’s culture (adapted from Schein (1981) and Dyer
(1982) (See Figure 2.3)
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Figure 3 Organisational culture – levels of meaning
Source: Adapted from Lundberg, CC 1985, 'On the feasibility of cultural intervention in organisations',
Organisational Culture, Sage Publications, Beverley Hills, CA, pp. 171-172.
At the more visible or superficial levels of culture in Schein’s and Dyer’s formulation are
artefacts. These are tangible aspects shared by members of an organisational group, including
variable verbal, behavioural and physical attributes. Also included are such things as the
language, stories and myths, rituals, symbols and ceremonies, technology and art used by an
organisation. The next level involves perspectives: the rules and norms the members of a group
or organisation develop and share socially in any given context. Perspectives may be viewed as
the solutions to a common set of problems encountered by organizational members from time
to time. They define and interpret situations of organisational life and prescribe the bounds of
acceptable behaviour in such situations. They are relatively concrete and members are usually
aware of them The values are the evaluation base that members of an organisation use for
judging the ‘rightness’ or ‘wrongness’ of situations, acts, objects and people. Values reflect the
real objectives, standards and goals in an organisation and define as well its transgressions,
sins, and wrongdoings. At the deepest level of an organisational culture are the basic
assumptions, which are the tacit beliefs that members hold about themselves and the world,
their relationships to one another and the nature of the organisation in which they work.
Largely unconscious, they underpin the first three levels above. They can be viewed as the
implicit and abstract axioms that determine the values, perspectives and artefacts of an
organisation’s culture.
Another well-known author, whose ideas influence organisational work, Geert Hofstede, has
argued that organisational cultures should be distinguished from national cultures. Cultures
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manifest themselves, from superficial to deep, in symbols, heroes, rituals and values etc.
National cultures differ mostly on the values level; while organisational cultures at the levels of
symbols, heroes and rituals, together labeled ‘practices’. Hofstede (1980) studied the
differences in national cultures for over fifty countries. The cultures show five independent
dimensions of values: power distance; individualism versus collectivism; masculinity versus
femininity; uncertainty avoidance; and Confucian dynamism.
Power distance: a measure of the inequality between ‘bosses’ and inferiors, the extent to
which this is accepted.
Uncertainty avoidance: the degree to which one is comfortable with or feels threatened by
ambiguous, uncertain situations, the extent one can or cannot tolerate uncertainty and tries to
avoid it by establishing more structure.
Individualism – Collectivism: the degree to which a culture relies on and has allegiance to
the self or the group. In other words, it is the degree to which one thinks in terms of ‘I’ versus
‘we’; either ties between individuals are loose or people are part of a cohesive group
throughout their lives.
Masculinity – Femininity (also known as achievement versus nurturance orientation): the
degree to which a culture values such behaviour as assertiveness, achievement, acquisition of
wealth or caring for others, social support and quality of life.
Confucian dynamism: this fifth dimension was later added following Hofstede’s work with
Michael Bond (Hofstede & Bond 1988) which was meant to explain the rapid economic
development of many Asian countries. This dimension refers to the selective promotion of
particular set of ethics found in Confucian teachings. Particular teachings that lead to economic
development include thrift, perseverance, a sense of shame, and following a hierarchy. The
impact of long-term or short-term orientation is also studied as part of this dimension.
In his research into organisation cultures, Hofstede identified six independent dimensions of
practices:
process-oriented versus results-oriented;
job-oriented versus employee-oriented;
professional versus parochial;
open systems versus closed systems;
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tightly versus loosely controlled; and
pragmatic versus normative
The position of an organisation on these dimensions is determined in part by the business or
industry the organisation is in. Hofstede (1991, 1997) emphasises that culture is not a property
of the individuals, but of groups.
Some other researchers, while studying organisational culture, noted that an organisation’s
structure is a determinant of its culture, i.e. certain structures create certain type of cultures, as
reflected in Charles Handy’ s work. He outlines a simple framework for categorising cultures.
Handy also uses four (4) Greek Gods to illustrate his basic approaches and the organisational
cultures that result (Handy 1991):
Role Culture: is perhaps the most readily recognised and common of all the cultural types.
It is based around the job or role rather than the personalities and is epitomised by what we
tend to think of as the traditional hierarchical structure. Its strengths are in its predictability,
stability and consistency while its obvious opposites of inflexibility and slowness of reaction
and adjustment are its weakness.
Task Culture: is one where management is basically concerned with the continuous and
successful solution to problems. Performance is judged in terms of results and problems
solved. Although a structure exists, it is flexible and capable of being formed and reformed
depending upon the task in hand (more flexible and adaptable). Individuals empowered with
discretion and control over their work. Power and respect come from individual knowledge and
talent rather than rank or position.
Power Culture: In this type of organisation, power derives from the top person, and a
personal relationship with that individual matters more than any formal title or position. The
dominant influence of the centre results in a structure that is able to move quickly and respond
to change and outside threats. This culture is often found in small entrepreneurial organisations
and political groups but will frequently breakdown as they grow since the web is more difficult
to maintain with size.
Person (Star) Culture: The individual is the central point. If there is a structure, it exists
only to serve the individuals within it. The culture only exists for the people concerned; it has
no super-ordinate objective. The culture is that of educated and articulate individuals,
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specialists who have come together because of common interest – solicitors, academic
researchers, consultants etc…
D. Some tools / instruments used to assess organisational culture
Given the importance of organisational culture, many researchers, consultants and managers
have attempted to search for a valid and applicable measurement tool/instrument to help
understand, diagnose, measure and manage an organisation’s culture. Various tools have been
developed with a variety of qualitative and quantitative approaches to measuring organisational
culture, making the choice of methods a matter of goal and purpose of the particular
investigation. In some cases, qualitative measures may have an advantage in the assessment of
certain aspects of an organisational culture e.g. attitudes, satisfaction. The diversity of
measurement tools and approaches reflects the diversity in perspectives on the content, levels,
dimensions, typology and the formation and development of organisational culture which
ultimately dictate what needs to be uncovered and/or measured and who need to be involved in
the process.
The Denison organisational culture survey (Denison 1990) is one of the instrument for which
evidence of sensitivity to organisational change has been presented. This tool assesses
organisational culture along the four basic cultural traits, which are presented by certain
organisational dimensions. The tool consists of 60 items, which are used to assess and measure
the dimensions. Table below gives a brief description of the structure of the instrument.
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Source: Adapted from Denison, DR 1990, Corporate culture and organizational effectiveness, Wiley, New
York.
Denison’s Organisational culture survey offers a quantitative multi-dimensional assessment of
the main organisational cultural traits. The assessment has also been correlated with
organisational performance measures.
Organisational culture profile (OCP) (O’Reilly, Chatman & Caldwell 1991) has been used
extensively in various researches as an instrument for assessing cultural characteristics of
organisations. The OCP contains 54 value statements that can generically capture
organisational values and characteristics. The general procedure was to ask respondents
familiar with the organisation to sort the 54 items into nine categories ranging from least to
most characteristic of the organisation. Scores are allocated accordingly. The OCP was further
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tested and developed which led to the identification of seven organisational culture dimensions
underlying the OCP: Innovation, Stability, Respect for people, Outcome orientation, Detail
orientation, Team orientation and Aggressiveness.
The Human Factors International’s (2004) Organisational Culture Questionnaire (OCQ) was
designed as a practical instrument of measurement and management of organisational culture
change. It is a tool used for identifying the culture which is at present operating in the
organisation. The OCQ does not categorise the organizational culture into a particular type but
describes it in terms of its predominant characteristics, behaviours and attitudes. The OCQ
comprises 130 questions relating to 13 different dimensions of organisational culture: