Nick Chandler

Everything changes? A repeated cross-sectional study of organisational culture in the public sector

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore how organisational culture has changed between 2011 and 2016 in a higher education institution (HEI) that has been faced with both significant internal and external changes. There are three areas to be examined: the change in culture on an organisational level, the demographic changes in the workforce, and the changes in values and perceptions of the workforce over time. Design/methodology/approach - This is an explorative study and a repeated cross-sectional study of the organisation. The authors used the same methodology and approach for both the 2011 and 2016 studies, namely, the Organisational Culture Assessment Instrument was used to ascertain respondents values and perceptions. The instrument was distributed in printed format to all members of staff and approval was received prior to distribution. Results were tested for significance using Cronbach’s Findings - There were demographic changes in the workforce primarily for age, occupation and tenure of staff, but little change in gender. Despite these changes in the workforce, on an organisational level perceptions and values have changed little over the five-year period, despite a multitude of external and internal developments. Although there were statistically significant differences between culture types and demographics (age, tenure, gender and occupation), there was no single demographic with a statistically significant difference for a particular culture type, either in values or perceptions. Research limitations/implications - The study questions the concept of organisational culture being affected by internal integration and external adaptation over time. Results indicate that culture is, by itself, either slow to react change, or does not react at all. A high response rate would be best for getting a clear picture of the culture of the organisation and a qualitative study is necessary (and planned) to develop the findings further, as well as triangulate the findings of this study. Practical implications - This study should be of interest to practitioners as it presents the caveat that organisational culture of this study cannot be expected to change on its own, and highlights the need for a planned change process for the organisational culture to adapt to the changing needs of both the external and internal environments. The potential for resistance to change in this organisation appears is high and values and perceptions appear unrelated to any particular demographic. Social implications - Although the authors cannot generalise from this longitudinal case study, the authors can consider some potential social implications, especially if further studies confirm the findings. First, despite government attempts to develop higher education in Hungary, staff perceptions and values within the institution are harder to change. Second, any attempts to revitalise the organisation from the inside (such as in this case with the forced retirement of older employees) seem unfruitful. Finally, the HEI is struggling to survive, and yet employees seem to not be a part of that struggle. Originality/value - Although there are studies of organisational culture in HEIs, very few have undertaken a longitudinal approach. The study takes place in a unique situation: just before and just after extreme changes – both internally and externally – have taken place. Few studies question the organic and evolving nature of culture as it is difficult to predict when changes will occur. The study is in the unique position of having been able to do so.

A Symbiotic Relationship: HR and Organizational Culture

The main aim of this chapter is to provide insight into how HRM activities (e.g. reward management, performance management, recruitment and selection) can affect organisational culture and how organisational culture, in turn, can affect the approaches to HRM activities, with a special emphasis on the operational perspective of HRM. Once we have considered these two areas and a case study example, we consider the challenges of a fragmented culture and the importance and need for HR department to be proactive by conducting a cultural audit of their organisation.

The World I Know: Knowledge Sharing and Subcultures in Large Complex Organisations

Practitioners and researchers have agreed upon the fact that the culture of organizations is one of the most difficult challenges and holds the key to the success of knowledge management. The basis for formation of subcultures has been found in empirical studies to range from age and gender though to department and function within the organization and have a range of both positive and negative impact upon the performance of a range of areas in an organization. We examine how knowledge in its various forms may have an impact on the formation of subcultures on knowledge sharing, and through a quantitative approach, our explorative study uncovers five subcultures in a Hungarian higher education institution. Our findings confirm subcultural boundaries and tribes and territories in this context and we apply these findings to existing theory on the evolutionary nature of strategy implementation as a means of considering the potential impact of subcultures on knowledge management initiatives. We conclude that subcultural lenses affect the assimilation of knowledge from management in general and find that multiculturalism in this large complex organisation is likely the best approach as each subculture has its own specific range of competencies as part of an overall market orientation. As a concluding section, we offer a ‘subcultural audit’ model for practitioners that may reduce the subcultural obstacles to knowledge sharing as part of knowledge management programs.

Cultural Complexity in Large Organisations

This chapter presents the key concepts and perspectives involving cultural diversity in large organisations. The concept of a large homogenous organisations culture is questioned using the case study of a large Higher Educational Institution and arguments are made for adopting a differentiation perspective. With this new perspective, employee subcultures are viewed in terms of diversity and uniformity . The nature of diversity in the long term is considered through the findings of a longitudinal study of the Higher Educational Institution. The diversity in the organisation is considered in terms of intergenerational diversity through a study the student’s values and perception. Finally, the strategic effect of complexity in organisations is considered in terms of the evolutionary nature of strategy.

The Pendulum Strikes Back? An Analysis of the Evolution of Hungarian Higher Education Governance and Organisational Structures since the 1980s.

Higher education in Central Europe has been scrutinised from many different perspectives during the last 30 years. In our analysis, we focus solely on Hungary and specifically on two key areas: governance and organisational structure. Using an analytical model proposed by Leisyte (2014), we analyse how the governance and organisational structure of institutions have changed between 1985 and 2015, and consider what the driving forces might be behind these changes. Through our analysis, we found that the pendulum effect observed in organisational culture and leadership in Eastern Europe (Bakacsi, 2014) in periods of transition could also be identified in the governance models in Hungary. Despite evidence of a convergence of higher education policies in Bulgaria, Romania, Poland and the Czech Republic (Dobbins, 2011) towards the market-type model of higher education governance, we found that in Hungary the model is much more state-controlled and there is already an apparent move away from foreign-inspired ideals and models. It is suggested that Hungary is ahead of the apparent trend in other countries where they have yet to experience a swing in the opposite direction.

Running in the Family – Paternalism and Familiness in the Development of Family Businesses

The study focuses on two features of family businesses (FBs), namely familiness and paternalism. These two concepts are inseparable in two ways: inseparable from family businesses and also from each other. Family businesses differ from one another in the degree of family involvement, leadership and management in the business. Paternalism as a leadership attitude is naturally present in FBs, especially in the founding stage of development. This feature provides the solid bases for establishing a strong and proud culture built around the personality and success of the founder. This characteristic however can become a major hindering factor upon succession. Through a review of the literature and the INSIST studies for Central Europe this study aims to identify the supportive and limiting factors of both phenomena and examine the case studies of the INSIST research project for signs of the existence of these supportive and limiting factors. It is found that the degree of familiness in these firms is a sliding scale and a lack of familiness is not a precursor for failure. Paternalism is found to be broken down into authoritarian, benevolent, moral and enlightened. After discovering studies claiming that paternalism is a stage in the process of leadership style changing from participative to autocratic (or vice versa) and that Central Europe and the current era of instability and uncertainty lead to employees preferring a more autocratic or paternalistic style, our findings suggest that there are more driving than restraining forces for family firms adopting a paternalistic style. Furthermore many cases appear to be on the path from an authoritative towards a more enlightened paternalistic leadership style either out of choice in the search to shake off the drawbacks of other types of paternalism or as part of a natural evolution of this particular leadership style within the context of this study.