Doina Catana

Organisational culture dimensions in Romanian finance industry

As part of the GLOBE project, this paper explores the societal and the organizational culture of the Romanian finance industry as reflected by middle managers’ opinion. The two culture levels are compared across nine cultural dimensions. The differences between the cultural manifestations (practices and values) are analyzed through comparing the middle managers’ answers to “what is” and “what should be” type questions at organizational and societal levels. The findings show some significant differences for the majority of the cultural dimensions examined both between culture levels (organizational versus societal) and culture manifestations (practices versus values).

Continuity and change in Romanian societal culture dimensions

Our study contributes to the literature about societal culture dimensions, as reflected by the perceptions and expectations of students and present managers. We find some similarities but also statistically significant differences between students and middle managers in Romania in terms of their perception on nine societal culture practices as well as their expectations about societal culture values. The research sample consists of 427 undergraduate and graduate students in engineering and business and 216 middle managers. Our results show similarities in perceptions of society’s future orientation, institutional collectivism and assertiveness and significant differences in perception of the other six cultural practices. Similarities in expectations (values) were also noted concerning gender egalitarianism and assertiveness.

How Business Students View Corruption, and Why This Should Concern Us: Insights from Lebanon, Romania and the United States.

When seeking to understand corruption in its ongoing temporal context, it is useful to consider business students. Because of their high numbers and the kinds of jobs they enter, they have a key role to play in challenging or sustaining corruption in their societies. This exploratory study focuses on these people in three countries in different regions — the USA, Romania and Lebanon — and asks ‘How does long-standing corruption in a country shape their attitudes toward bribery?’ Using a case-study methodology structured along four theoretical perspectives — universalism, cultural relativism, ethical relativism and consequentialism — the study suggests that, when viewed from a universalist perspective, students in corrupt societies may be more tolerant of corrupt practice than those living in less corrupt countries. Thus, rather depressingly, those who should be part of the solution may actually be part of the problem.

Core Decisional Values in Romanian Hospitals Leadership

The present study offers a theoretical and empirical model of analyzing the core values critical decisions should be based on in hospitals, in the managers and followers minds. Theoretically, the research belongs to the field of charismatic (value based) leadership. Methodologically, the study is an exploratory one (inquiry) performed in 11 hospitals. Data base concerns 11 top managers and, respectively, 82 direct followers. We discovered the subjects believe patient satisfaction should be the top of the values set. But, factorial analysis reveals the decisional process is the outcome of a set of factors: health services market; social welfare; organizational climate; sensitivity toward female and minority employees; professional ethics. The findings are discussed from a cultural perspective.

Effectiveness of Charismatic Leadership in Romanian Hospitals

In the present study the authors build a model of analyzing leadership effectiveness in hospitals, from charismatic leadership perspective (Value based leadership- VBL). The charismatic leadership behavior is measured through the direct followers’ perception on their leader’s vision, inspiration, self sacrifice, moral integrity, decisiveness and performance. Leadership effectiveness is measured through followers organizational commitment, work satisfaction and, respectively, work motivation. The study is an exploratory one (inquiry) on a sample of 11 top managers and 82 direct followers from 11 hospitals locate in Cluj County, an important medical center in Romania. The most important finding of the study is the positive correlation of charismatic behavior with leadership effectiveness.