Organisational Culture: Concept, Context, And Measurement (In Two Volumes)

Concept, Context, and Measurement(In Two Volumes)

Elizabeth Kummerow, Neil Kirby

• Éditeur: WSPC
• Année: 2013
• ISBN:
  9789814525107
• Sujet: Business
• Sous-sujet: Comportamento organizzativo

In 1989, the prominent organisational culture scholar, Stephen Ott, lamented what he saw as the failure of the organisational culture perspective to have the kind of lasting influence — whether empirical, or in terms of its contribution to practice — that had been hoped for. In attempting to explain this state of affairs, Ott observed that: “Some of the most important unanswered questions are methodological, and without methodological advancement, the perspective will not achieve maturity.” The situation today, more than two decades after Ott voiced these concerns, is that academics, researchers, and practitioners alike continue to struggle with the question of how best to decipher and measure an organisation's culture.

Organisational Culture: Concept, Context and Measurement (In Two Volumes) aims to encourage an agenda for organisational culture research that gives a renewed emphasis to methodological issues. In pursuit of this aim, consideration is given to both conceptual questions and questions of measurement. In Volume I of the book, the main focus is on the concept of organisational culture. Based on an analysis and critique of existing treatments, as well as a comparison of organisational culture with a number of closely related concepts, consideration is given to how the concept might usefully be elaborated and further refined. In Volume II of the book, the focus is on methodological issues. Drawing on the findings of a series of empirical studies conducted over a number of years, consideration is given to what would be required to develop a measure for organisational culture that is practically useful and also capable of accessing culture at its deepest, and arguably most influential yet most elusive, level. In particular, an approach is advocated that seeks to contextualise organisational culture, in terms of various time and experience domains, and that also promotes the use of attributions analysis as a means whereby to further understand culture at this level.

A valuable resource for scholars and practitioners alike, the book provides readers who are interested in understanding the role and influence of culture in organisations with a comprehensive analysis of the development and application of the organisational culture concept. For readers who are interested in conducting research into the measurement and practical application of organisational culture, the book provides a methodological approach that can be used to guide their research.

Contents:

• Volume I:
  • The Concept:
    • Organisational Culture: Development and Early Application
    • Conceptualising Organisational Culture
    • Describing Organisational Culture: Structure, Strength, and Differentiation
  • Related Concepts:
    • Organisational Climate and National Culture
    • Social Representations
  • Measurement and Context:
    • Deciphering Organisational Culture
    • Introduction to a Contextual Framework

• Volume II:
  • Exploring Method:
    • An Exploratory Study of Organisational Culture (Study 1)
    • Piloting a Prototype Method (Study 2)
  • Analysis Context:
    • Towards a Refinement of the Method (Study 3, Part 1)
    • The Use of Semi-Structured Interviewing (Study 3, Part 2)
    • The Operationalisation of Context (Study 3, Part 3)
  • Evaluation and Further Research:
    • A Contextual Analysis of Organisational Culture: Evaluation and Recommendations for Future Research
    • Developing Attributions Analysis for Assessing Organisational Culture

Readership: Advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students in organisational psychology and business (including students enrolled in coursework and/or research Masters and PhD programs); organisational psychology or business academics engaged in organisational culture research; organisational change agents and consultants involved in change programs related directly or indirectly to organisational culture.

Volume II

Elizabeth Kummerow

The University of Adelaide, Australia

Neil Kirby

The University of Adelaide, Australia

Published by

World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

5 Toh Tuck Link, Singapore 596224

USA office: 27 Warren Street, Suite 401-402, Hackensack, NJ 07601

UK office: 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE

The image on the cover is taken from WikiPaintings,

http://uploads8.wikipaintings.org/images/giovanni-battista-piranesi/the-lion-bas-reliefs.webp,

Public Domain, Artwork by Giovanni Battista Piranesi.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kummerow, Elizabeth.

Organisational culture : concept, context, and measurement / Elizabeth Kummerow, Neil Kirby.

volumes cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-9814449519 (hardcover, v. 1 : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-9814449526 (hardcover, v. 2 : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-981-283-782-0 (hardcover : alk. paper)

1. Corporate culture. 2. Organizational behavior. I. Title.

HD58.7.K857 2014

302.3'5--dc23

2013027369

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Copyright © 2014 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the Publisher.

For photocopying of material in this volume, please pay a copying fee through the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. In this case permission to photocopy is not required from the publisher.

In-house Editor: Lee Xin Ying

Typeset by Stallion Press

Email: [email protected]

Printed in Singapore

Contents — Volume II

Contents — Volume I

Preface

About the Authors

PART FOUR: EXPLORING METHOD

Chapter 8An Exploratory Study of Organisational Culture (Study 1)

8.1Research Rationale and Introduction to Study

8.2The Research Setting: Background Information and Access

8.3Method

8.4Data Analysis and Results

8.4.1Themes pertaining to the nature of human nature

8.4.1.1Promotional practices

8.4.1.2Reward and recognition

8.4.1.3Performance appraisal

8.4.1.4Superior/Subordinate perceptions

8.4.2Themes pertaining to the nature of human relationships

8.4.3Themes pertaining to humanity’s relationship to nature

8.5Methodological Implications of the Findings of Study 1

8.6Conclusions

Chapter 9Piloting a Prototype Method (Study 2)

9.1Introduction to Study 2

9.2Research Method

9.2.1The interview protocol

9.2.2Participants in Study 2

9.2.3Procedure

9.3Approach to Data Analysis

9.4Results and Discussion

9.4.1Open-ended question

9.4.2Theory X — Theory Y rating

9.4.3Evaluation questions

9.4.4Personal experience questions

9.4.5Context questions

9.5Overall Evaluation of the Study 2 Method

9.6Conclusions

Appendix A

Study 2 Interview Protocol

Part A: The Role of Workers

Part B: The Role of Supervisors

PART FIVE: ANALYSING CONTEXT

Chapter 10 Towards a Refinement of the Method (Study 3, Part 1)

10.1Introduction to Study 3

10.2Key Design Features of the Revised Method

10.2.1Issue-focussed interview

10.2.2Semi-structured interview

10.2.3The operationalisation of context

10.2.3.1Context in the revised method

10.2.3.2Context in existing conceptualisations of organisational culture

10.2.3.3Context in existing approaches to the measurement of organisational culture

10.2.3.4A concluding comment on context

10.2.4The use of causal attributions

10.3Research Method

10.3.1The interview protocol

10.3.2Participants in the study

10.3.3Procedure

10.4Approach to Data Analysis

10.5Format for Reporting Results

10.6Conclusions

Appendix B

Study 3 Interview Protocol: The Role of Workers

Part A: Duties/Activities

Part B: Characteristics of Good Workers

Chapter 11 The Use of Semi-Structured Interviewing (Study 3, Part 2)

11.1Combining Open-Ended Questions with Closed Questions or Prompts

11.1.1Findings for the present context

11.1.1.1Open question data

11.1.1.2Prompt data

11.1.2Interpreting the discrepancy between open question and prompt data

11.1.2.1Findings for ‘information meetings’

11.1.2.2Findings for ‘attend training’

11.2The Use of Qualitative Data to Give Meaning to Quantitative Data

11.2.1Findings for ‘information meetings’

11.2.1.1What are information meetings?

11.2.1.2Thematic content analysis: Themes common to both divisions

11.2.1.3Thematic content analysis: Themes unique to each division

11.2.1.4Attributions data

11.2.1.5Concluding comments about the analysis of qualitative data on information meetings

11.2.2Findings for ‘attend training’

11.2.2.1What is training?

11.2.2.2Initial comments about worker involvement in training

11.2.2.3Thematic content analysis: Themes common to both divisions

11.2.2.4Thematic content analysis: Themes unique to each division

11.2.2.5Attributions data

11.2.2.6Concluding comments about the analysis of qualitative data on ‘attend training’

11.2.3Methodological issues arising from the analysis of qualitative data

11.3Conclusions

Chapter 12 The Operationalisation of Context (Study 3, Part 3)

12.1Organisational Culture as Context-Specific

12.2Spontaneous References to Contextual Domains in Responses to Questions About the Present

12.2.1References to the past in responses to questions about the present

12.2.2References to the future, other, and ideal in responses to questions about the present

12.2.3Methodological implications

12.3An Introduction to Contextual Data Elicited Through Specific Questioning

12.3.1Guide to reading Tables 12.3 and 12.4

12.3.2General observations about the nature of the responses to questions about context

12.4The Past Context

12.4.1Findings for the open questions

12.4.2Prompt questions: Some initial findings

12.4.3The past context: Summary of key findings

12.4.4An historical overview of the role of workers in each division

12.5The Future Context

12.5.1Findings for the open questions

12.5.2The difference between open questions and prompted responses

12.5.3Prompt questions: Some initial findings

12.5.4The future context: Summary of key findings

12.5.5Methodological issues arising from the findings for the future context

12.6The Other Context

12.6.1Results of the analysis of other context data

12.6.2The other context: Summary of key findings in terms of key divisional differences

12.6.3The other context: Methodological issues

12.7The Ideal Context

12.7.1Findings for the open questions

12.7.2Differences between the open and prompt questions

12.7.3The prompt questions: Some initial findings

12.7.4The ideal context: Summary of main findings

12.7.5Information about the ideal context: What does it add?

12.7.6Methodological issues arising from the findings for the ideal context

12.8Conclusions

PART SIX: EVALUATION AND FURTHER RESEARCH

Chapter 13 A Contextual Analysis of Organisational Culture: Evaluation and Recommendations for Future Research

13.1Evaluation of the Method: Key Features

13.1.1Issue-focussed interview

13.1.1.1Arguments in favour of an issue-focussed interview

13.1.1.2The ‘role of workers’: An evaluation of the issue chosen

13.1.1.3The ‘role of workers’: An evaluation of the questions asked

13.1.2Semi-structured interview

13.1.2.1Open-ended and closed questions: Benefits of their combined use

13.1.2.2Open-ended and closed questions: Do prompts introduce a social desirability bias?

13.1.2.3Open-ended and closed questions: Additional issues related to the use of prompts

13.1.2.4Open-ended and closed questions: The use of additional follow-up questions

13.1.2.5Elaborations and qualifications: Maximising the success of qualitative interviewing

13.1.2.6Elaborations and qualifications: Key benefits

13.1.2.7Elaborations and qualifications: The importance of a systematic approach to qualitative data analysis

13.1.3The operationalisation of context

13.1.3.1The past context: Advantages

13.1.3.2The past context: Specific versus general information about the past

13.1.3.3The future context: Advantages

13.1.3.4The future context: Organisational culture as an influence on, and influenced by, future expectations

13.1.3.5The other context: Advantages

13.1.3.6The ideal context: Advantages

13.1.3.7Integrating cultural contexts

13.1.4Respondents’ attributions and organisational (group) culture

13.2Evaluation of the Method: Comparison with Extant Approaches and Practical Considerations

13.2.1Comparison with extant approaches

13.2.1.1Advantages when compared with quantitative methods

13.2.1.2Advantages when compared with qualitative methods

13.2.2The proposed method: A tool for use in culture change?

13.2.3Practical considerations in using the proposed method

13.2.3.1Sampling and sample size

13.2.3.2Researcher involvement in the research setting

13.2.3.3Personality and skill requirements of the researcher

13.3Suggestions for Future Research

13.3.1Research using the existing data set

13.3.2Research involving additional data collection with our proposed method

13.3.3Research involving data collection with other measures, alone or in combination with our proposed method

13.4Conclusions

Chapter 14 Developing Attributions Analysis for Assessing Organisational Culture

14.1Overview of Approaches to the Assessment of Organisational Culture

14.2The Case for an Attributions Analysis Approach

14.3Introduction to the Present Analysis

14.3.1Research participants

14.3.2Data for the analysis

14.4The Coding Framework

14.5Results

14.5.1Codability of the data

14.5.2Coding reliability

14.5.3Findings for individual dimensions

14.5.4The content, and commonality, of specific causal factors

14.5.4.1Differences in causes between the divisions

14.5.4.2Similarities in causes between the divisions

14.5.4.3Summary of findings concerning the content of causal factors

14.5.5Interrelations among dimensions

14.6Summary and Methodological Implications

14.7Conclusions

References — Volume II

Author Index — Volume II

Subject Index — Volume II

Contents — Volume I

PART ONE: THE CONCEPT

Chapter 1 Organisational Culture: Development and Early Application

Chapter 2 Conceptualising Organisational Culture

Chapter 3 Describing Organisational Culture: Structure, Strength, and Differentiation

PART TWO: RELATED CONCEPTS

Chapter 4 Organisational Climate and National Culture

Chapter 5 Social Representations

PART THREE: MEASUREMENT AND CONTEXT

Chapter 6 Deciphering Organisational Culture

Chapter 7 Introduction to a Contextual Framework

References — Volume I

Author Index — Volume I

Subject Index — Volume I

Preface

What is this Book About?

This book is concerned with the concept and measurement of organisational culture. The first volume deals with the historical development of the organisational culture perspective and with existing approaches to the conceptualisation and measurement of organisational culture. It also considers a number of concepts that are closely related to organisational culture, namely, organisational climate, national culture and social representations. The concept of social representations is perhaps a surprising inclusion here, but as we will show, it has striking similarities to the concept of organisational culture, despite developing quite separately from it, within social psychology rather than in organisational psychology and management. The second volume of the book is predominantly methodological. It deals with the empirical investigation of a proposed method for assessing those aspects of an organisation’s culture that exist at a deeper level and that have proven to be particularly difficult to reveal. It has been recognised by researchers such as Steven Ott that problems associated with the measurement of organisational culture have prevented the concept from fully realising its useful application in practice, and have made it difficult for the organisational culture perspective more generally to achieve maturity.

An issue that is central to our treatment of organisational culture throughout this book, and that we believe sets the concept apart from other closely related concepts like organisational climate, is the idea that organisational culture exists at different levels. As Edgar Schein has so clearly articulated, an organisation’s culture can be thought of as comprising: a surface level associated with artefactual elements (the physical design of the organisation, its dress code, logo, etc.) and normative behaviours; a somewhat deeper and less easily discerned level of values that influence the culture’s more observable manifestations; and, at its core, an even deeper level of beliefs and assumptions that over time may have become taken-for-granted and unconscious, but that nevertheless profoundly affect how the organisation operates and, in particular, how it responds to challenges and change. While practically useful quantitative measures of normative behaviours and values have been developed to assess the more surface levels of organisational culture, accessing the deeper level of unconscious beliefs and assumptions has proved to be much more difficult. Culture at this deeper level has traditionally been investigated using qualitative methods, akin to those used in anthropology, which require considerable time and lived experience in an organisation, and which are therefore compromised in terms of their practical usefulness, for example, for understanding and facilitating change in organisations. It is the central purpose of this book to propose and investigate a method that, when compared with existing approaches, might provide a more systematic and more economical means whereby to decipher organisational culture at the level of basic beliefs and assumptions. To the extent that such a method could be developed, it would allow this most basic and influential aspect of the concept to achieve a level of theoretical and practical utility that, in our opinion, it has not yet achieved.

To Whom is this Book Addressed?

This book has been written with two audiences in mind. The first volume has been designed primarily for teaching and study purposes, for use in postgraduate level courses in which an understanding of the concept of organisational culture and its measurement is required. We have assumed that such courses will most likely be concerned not only with the theory of organisational culture but also with the practical usefulness of the concept for understanding organisations and how they operate, particularly in response to challenges and change. In the context of addressing these issues, in the first volume we also review the research on the related concepts of organisational climate, national culture, and social representations. A key objective in this regard is to consider how the integration of these concepts with the concept of organisational culture might contribute to a more comprehensive account of the social and cultural aspects of organisations.

The content of this book has been shaped in important ways by the scholarship of others working in the area of organisational culture. A major (and perhaps the foremost) influence has been the work of Edgar Schein. Schein’s conceptual treatment of organisational culture — in particular, the distinction that he draws between a culture’s surface-level elements and the deeper-level elements that constitute its ‘essence’ — remains, in our opinion, the most useful and well articulated of its kind. It successfully conveys the complexity of the phenomenon, at the same time as making sense of it in a way that is at once intuitively appealing, theoretically important, and practically useful.

We agree with Schein that one of the key benefits of a cultural analysis of an organisation that is based on a depiction of culture as multi-layered is that it can reveal discrepancies between the elements comprising the different levels of the organisation’s culture, and these discrepancies can help to explain complex and sometimes counterproductive aspects of how the organisation operates. The value of an understanding of this kind is perhaps most apparent when seeking to explain why it can be so difficult to achieve change in organisations. The research suggests that the implementation of a proposed change can encounter serious difficulties (and perhaps fail) even when there seems to be broad agreement among the organisation’s member...

Table des matières

• Volume I
• Volume II