Academic libraries operate in a fluid environment, where they must provide, and demonstrate that they provide, a high quality service that is focussed on customers’ needs. It is broadly accepted that the way to provide a high quality service responsive to customers’ needs is to have a culture of quality that underpins all the organisation’s efforts, i.e. TQM. The literature on how to improve the service quality of libraries in particular, and organisations in general, is extensive and varied. But it is not informative to practitioners who wish to know what to do to improve the quality culture of their library. The literature provides many examples of what a high quality organisation looks like, and, by inference, what a low quality organisation looks like. However, anyone who has worked in an organisation knows that quality culture is not binary but is instead a developmental process. This disconnection between the published research and known practice has led libraries to avoid attempts to measure, and therefore improve, their culture of quality. The purpose of this research is to facilitate engagement by directors of academic libraries with issues of quality culture. This is achieved by producing a new representation of the concept of quality culture, the Quality Maturity Model. The QMM enables library directors to assess their location on a roadmap to a culture of quality, guides them as to the next step forwards, enables them to measure their progress over time, and enables them to compare themselves to others and so learn from best practice. The characteristics of the research problem suggest the use of Design Science Research as the most appropriate research paradigm. This is a novel paradigm for library and information science research; one that has the potential to bridge the research-practice gap prevalent in this field. Design Science is iterative, creative and evaluative in the process of devising useful artefacts to attain specified goals. This research applies the Design Science Research Methodology (Peffers et al., 2008) as a framework and uses interpretive synthesis and grounded theory methods to create the Quality Maturity Model consistent with both theory and practice. Practice was identified via interviews with a cross-section of staff at ten academic library and information services in the UK. The QMM delineates 40 elements of quality culture, grouped into eight facets: Management of the organisation; environmental sensing; learning organisation attributes; attitude to change; attitude to quality; leadership; investment in staff; and alignment. The QMM has five maturity levels describing the progression from low quality maturity to high quality maturity for each of the elements. As a companion to the QMM, this research applied standard survey design methods to develop the Quality Culture Assessment Instrument. The QCAI enables library directors to self-assess the location of their library on the QMM using feedback from their library staff. The QMM rubric then enables library directors to identify what the next level of maturity looks like for each element. The evaluation of these artefacts demonstrates that they fulfil the aims of this research: changed the representation of quality culture and so promote engagement with such issues by academic library directors.

The purpose of this research is to establish an innovative organizational culture in a Turkish software company. In order to do this, the perceived current and the preferred organizational cultures of the company were studied. The preferred culture of upper management and the differences between the perceived current and preferred organizational cultures by different employee groups were also investigated. The culture assessment was performed using Cameron and Quinn&rsquo / s (1999) Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI). According to the survey results, the company&rsquo / s current culture was Hierarchy culture, and the least perceived current culture was Adhocracy. The preferred organizational culture of employees was Clan and Adhocracy was the second. Top management&rsquo / s preferred organizational culture was Adhocracy. Different from the employees, top management also believed that Adhocracy also exists in the company after Hierarchy culture. After analyzing the company&rsquo / s current and preferred cultures, a model based on Lewin&rsquo / s (1958) model of Organizational Change was adapted. Lewin&rsquo / s model was modified by removing the first stage of the model: unfreezing / it is believed that there will be no resistance to change when trying to establish an innovative culture. As for further research, a tactical plan should be established according to the proposed actions and the model established for the company should be tested if it reaches its goal or not.

Objective: To examine the perception of patient safety culture amongst health care workers in Libyan Hospitals. Study Design: The study adopted a mixed methods approach with 2 phases. Phase 1 was conducted prior to the Libyan revolution. This was a quantitative research study, which used the Survey of Hospital Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC) that was developed by the US Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHRQ, 2004). Phase 2 was conducted post revolution and it was a qualitative research study, which used semi-structured interviews. Setting: The three largest hospitals which were located in the Northeast of Libya were involved in the study. Participants and sampling: Phase 1 of the study included a stratified sample of 346 health care workers who were working as Doctors, Nurses, Technicians, Pharmacists and Managers. Phase 2 of the study used a purposeful sample which involved 27 health care workers from those took part in the survey study. Main Outcome Measures: The survey measured twelve Patient Safety Culture dimensions. It indicated that ten of the twelve dimensions were weak and need to be improved. The interview findings also showed that the 12 patient safety culture dimensions were very weak and shed light on some of the reasons for this sub-optimal practice. Findings: The respondents who took part in the study were from different departments in the three hospitals. The survey showed the dimensions with acceptable positive ratings were teamwork within hospitals and organizational learning and continuous improvement, while those with lowest ratings included frequency of reporting errors, non-punitive response to error and communication and openness. Approximately 60% of health care workers perceived patient safety culture practice in Libya negatively. Twenty respondents (5.8%) who gave an excellent grade for patient safety in their hospitals. Furthermore, the interviews results revealed that patient safety culture dimensions were very weak. The interview explored further factors and issues of poor safety culture in the 3 hospitals; which had not been identified in the survey. These were related to results of the political changes, administrative factors, environmental issues, organisational system issues, and health care workers matters. Conclusions: The study identified that the current state of patient safety culture in Libyan hospitals is very weak and there is a need for improvement to safety practice and for promotion of this important issue amongst those health care workers and health managers working at the frontline of health care delivery. Furthermore, the study found that the level of patient safety in the 3 hospitals was below an unacceptable level according to the perceptions of the health care staff. It was noted that there was no effective patient safety system in any of the 3 hospitals to deal with patient safety issues and there were no proactive patient safety measures in place to reduce the level of risk to patients. Furthermore, the study revealed other significant aspects that represent a serious threat to patient safety in the 3 hospitals, which were mainly due to poor hospital management, ineffective emergency services and a lack of training programmes. Moreover, poor organisation of monitoring systems for the licensing of medical practice of health care workers was shown to have a significant impact on patient safety culture. Lastly, the study showed the political change in Libya had affected patients’ safety sharply as result of the military conflict and the lack of hospitals’ preparedness to cope with such emergency events.

The principles and practices of project management are increasingly adopted by organisations (technical and non-technical) that hope to reap its multiple benefits, particularly 'the opportunity to be both externally effective (fast to market) and internally efficient (doing more, faster, with less)' (Pinto, 2002). Organisations may not be as successful as they anticipated when they opted to engage in project management, because their organisational culture does not support project work. The primary objective of this research was ‘to develop a reliable holistic diagnostic assessment tool to measure project management culture, as an operational culture, in organisations’. This research made use of multi-methods (triangulation) including: • a thorough literature study; • verification of the theoretical model of du Plessis (2001) by project management experts using Lawshe’s (1975) technique; • the development of a scale instrument (project management culture assessment tool) by using DeVellis’s (1991) process supported by Clark and Watson’s (1995); and • a reliability test of the developed project management culture assessment tool (PMCAT), by using the Mann-Whitney t-test, in two independent organisations. The results indicated that 94% of the project management experts who responded perceived the model and descriptive elements on project management culture by Du Plessis (2001) as valid. A questionnaire with 135 variables derived from the validated model and descriptive elements was subjected to 494 project managers of whom 236 responded. This data was the input to the development of the scale instrument, using statistical techniques such as item analysis (SAS, 1997) and exploratory factor analysis (BMDP, 1993). The outcome was a project management culture assessment tool (PMCAT) that comprised of 89 items in a five-factor scale instrument. The overall reliability of the items in this scale was highly acceptable with a Cronbach alpha coefficient above 0.70. The scale inter-correlation showed that the factors are highly inter-correlated which can be expected from an interdisciplinary, holistic construct of factors that are systemic in nature. The PMCAT was tested in two independent organisations and was found to be a reliable diagnostic tool that can distinguish between organisations' project management culture, especially in the South African project management environment. / Thesis (PhD (Organizational Behaviour))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Human Resource Management / unrestricted

Assessing the team is an essential part of the evaluation process conducted by venture capitalists before an investment opportunity. In turn, the team is completely influenced by its organizational culture. Therefore in this study, I investigate how organizational culture can become an integral part of the VC evaluation process to improve this pro-cedure. This is done by exploring how the culture assessment is performed and what culture factors that are considered important. For this purpose, semi-structured in-terviews have been conducted with seven investment managers from five different VC firms. My findings indicate that the investors lack a structured methodology to assess culture. The assessment is mainly focused on the founders and management team, and performed through interactions with their network, personality tests and discussions. Except from the founders and management team, the investors also highlights the im-portance of assessing the degree of teamwork and consensus, diversity and inclusion, receptivity and adaptability, talent attraction ability, employee turnover, defined and shared responsibility and focus within the venture. Ultimately, this thesis suggests an assessment framework regarding organizational culture for venture capitalists. / Att utvärdera teamet är en väsentlig del inom utvärderingsprocessen, som utförs av riskkapitalister, inför en investeringsmöjlighet. Vidare är teamet fullständigt influerat av dess organisationskultur. Av den anledningen undersöker jag, i denna studie, hur organisationskultur kan bli en integrerad del av riskkapitalisternas utvärderingsprocess, för att förbättra denna procedur. Detta görs genom att undersöka hur utvärderingen av kultur utförs, och vilka kulturella faktorer som anses väsentliga. För detta ändamål, har semi-strukturerade intervjuer utförts med sju investerare från fem olika riskkapitalbolag. Mina resultat visar att investerarna saknar en strukturerad metod för att utvärdera kultur. Utvärderingen fokuserar främst på grundarna och management teamet, och utförs genom interaktioner med deras nätverk, personlighetstester och diskussioner. Förutom grundarna och management teamet, sätter investerarna stort värde på att utvärdera nivån av teamwork och konsensus, diversitet och inklusion, lyhördhet och anpassningsförmåga, förmåga att attrahera talanger, personalomsättning, definierat och delat ansvar samt fokus inom startup bolaget. Slutligen, erbjuder uppsatsen ett förslag på ett analysramverk som gör det möjligt för riskkapitalister att identifiera viktiga kulturella faktorer.

Pasaulyje vykstantys ekonominės krizės procesai, jos padariniai, įtakojantys visą valstybės gyvenimą, taip pat ir mokesčių sistemą, verčia kalbėti apie jų įtaką mokesčių kultūros pokyčiams. Siekiant pagrįsti mokesčių kultūros tyrimų svarbą, darbe pateikta mokesčių ir kultūros sąryšių bei mokesčių sistemos analizė (filosofiniu, socialiniu – kultūriniu, teologiniu aspektais). Disertacijoje pateikta sisteminė mokesčių kultūros sampratos ir jos formavimosi prielaidų analizė, patikslinta mokesčių kultūros samprata, pagrįsti mokesčių kultūrą sąlygojantys veiksniai. Mokesčių kultūros vertinimo prielaidos patikrintos, įvertinus mokesčių kultūrą sąlygojančių veiksnių atsispindėjimą makroekonominiuose rodikliuose ir atlikus Lietuvos mokesčių mokėtojų nuomonės tyrimą mokesčių kultūros sampratos tikrinimui ir ją sąlygojančių svarbiausių veiksnių nustatymui. Suformuotas sisteminis mokesčių kultūros vertinimo modelis apima mokesčių kultūrą sąlygojančių veiksnių tikslinimą ir sisteminimą, svarbiausių veiksnių nustatymą ir išskyrimą, rodiklių įvertinančių šiuos veiksnius parinkimą ir pagrindimą, mokesčių kultūros vertinimo matematinio modelio formavimą ir jo tikrinimą bei universalaus mokesčių kultūros vertinimo modelio pagrindimą. Modelis atspindi mokesčių kultūros kaip požiūrio ir elgsenos sintezės vertinimą. Sudarytu ir empiriškai ES šalių pavyzdžiu patikrintu modeliu gali naudotis bet kurios šalies su apmokestinimu susiję dalyviai ar jų grupės ir ypač politikai, mokesčių administratoriai... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The processes of the global economic crisis and its effects affecting the whole life of the State, including the tax system, require examination of their influence on changes in tax culture. To justify the importance of tax culture research, analysis of links between taxes and culture and the tax system from philosophical, social-cultural and theological aspects are presented in the dissertation. The dissertation presents the systematic analysis of the conception and preconditions for formation of the tax culture, specifies conception of the tax culture, and identifies factors affecting the tax culture. Assumptions concerning assessment of tax culture have been validated by assessing how factors determining the tax culture are reflected in macroeconomic indicators, by means of taxpayer opinion survey for specification of the conception of tax culture and for determination of the key factors determining it. The four stages are included into the systematic Tax Culture Assessment Model, which encompasses specification and systematization of factors affecting the tax culture, identification of the most important factors, selection and justification of the indicators reflecting those factors, development and validation of the mathematical model for assessment of the tax culture, and substantiation of universality of the Tax Culture Assessment Model. This model reflects assessment of the tax culture as a synthesis of attitudes and behavior. The developed model was validated on the... [to full text]

The processes of the global economic crisis and its effects affecting the whole life of the State, including the tax system, require examination of their influence on changes in tax culture. To justify the importance of tax culture research, analysis of links between taxes and culture and the tax system from philosophical, social-cultural and theological aspects are presented in the dissertation. The dissertation presents the systematic analysis of the conception and preconditions for formation of the tax culture, specifies conception of the tax culture, and identifies factors affecting the tax culture. Assumptions concerning assessment of tax culture have been validated by assessing how factors determining the tax culture are reflected in macroeconomic indicators, by means of taxpayer opinion survey for specification of the conception of tax culture and for determination of the key factors determining it. The four stages are included into the systematic Tax Culture Assessment Model, which encompasses specification and systematization of factors affecting the tax culture, identification of the most important factors, selection and justification of the indicators reflecting those factors, development and validation of the mathematical model for assessment of the tax culture, and substantiation of universality of the Tax Culture Assessment Model. This model reflects assessment of the tax culture as a synthesis of attitudes and behavior. The developed model was validated on the... [to full text] / Pasaulyje vykstantys ekonominės krizės procesai, jos padariniai, įtakojantys visą valstybės gyvenimą, taip pat ir mokesčių sistemą, verčia kalbėti apie jų įtaką mokesčių kultūros pokyčiams. Siekiant pagrįsti mokesčių kultūros tyrimų svarbą, darbe pateikta mokesčių ir kultūros sąryšių bei mokesčių sistemos analizė (filosofiniu, socialiniu – kultūriniu, teologiniu aspektais). Disertacijoje pateikta sisteminė mokesčių kultūros sampratos ir jos formavimosi prielaidų analizė, patikslinta mokesčių kultūros samprata, pagrįsti mokesčių kultūrą sąlygojantys veiksniai. Mokesčių kultūros vertinimo prielaidos patikrintos, įvertinus mokesčių kultūrą sąlygojančių veiksnių atsispindėjimą makroekonominiuose rodikliuose ir atlikus Lietuvos mokesčių mokėtojų nuomonės tyrimą mokesčių kultūros sampratos tikrinimui ir ją sąlygojančių svarbiausių veiksnių nustatymui. Suformuotas sisteminis mokesčių kultūros vertinimo modelis apima mokesčių kultūrą sąlygojančių veiksnių tikslinimą ir sisteminimą, svarbiausių veiksnių nustatymą ir išskyrimą, rodiklių įvertinančių šiuos veiksnius parinkimą ir pagrindimą, mokesčių kultūros vertinimo matematinio modelio formavimą ir jo tikrinimą bei universalaus mokesčių kultūros vertinimo modelio pagrindimą. Modelis atspindi mokesčių kultūros kaip požiūrio ir elgsenos sintezės vertinimą. Sudarytu ir empiriškai ES šalių pavyzdžiu patikrintu modeliu gali naudotis bet kurios šalies su apmokestinimu susiję dalyviai ar jų grupės ir ypač politikai, mokesčių administratoriai... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

This Diploma Thesis focuses on comparison of organisational culture in state-controlled, commercial and non-profit organisations in the area of pre-school education. It is based on the Competing Values Framework developed by Cameron and Quinn, according to whom there are four types of organisational culture. The goal of this Thesis is to identify and describe the culture types in organisations in the above-mentioned three sectors, and to subsequently compare these types so that their similarities and differences can be revealed. The chosen method of research is a case study; the data was collected by a questionnaire survey among employees and by analysis of documents used in the organisations. My research has indicated that the organisational culture in the three sectors is similar in certain elements, but different in others. An established similarity is the presence of the clan culture, which is a friendly and informal working environment. Regarding the differences, the culture is more bureaucratic and hierarchic in a state-controlled organisation, while more dynamic and focused on innovations in commercial and non-profit ones.

O gerenciamento de projetos de forma sistematizada vem se tornando essencial para todo tipo de organização, pois os mercados a cada dia tornam-se cada vez mais competitivos, os recursos mais escassos e os clientes muito mais exigentes. É possível observar isso com o número crescente de empresas que se associam ao Project Management Institute (PMI) - referência nas melhores práticas em gerenciamento de projetos - que desde o final de 2013 possui mais de 400.000 empresas associadas em todo o planeta. Tal tendência é natural, visto que as empresas necessitam se destacar nos negócios em um mercado cada vez mais dinâmico a fim de garantir a sua sobrevivência. De acordo com Gu et al. (2013), uma questão-chave na investigação de gerenciamento de projetos gira em torno de porquê alguns projetos são bem sucedidos, enquanto outros não. Esta questão levou os pesquisadores a explorar determinantes potenciais que possam levar ao sucesso ou fracasso de um projeto. Por exemplo, o Standish Group International (2009) encontrou uma taxa global de fracasso do projeto em torno de 72% nos EUA. É certo que a cultura organizacional exerce forte influência no sucesso dos projetos, mas seria possível diagnosticá-la para com isso melhor conduzir as equipes de projeto? Deste modo, o objetivo do presente estudo foi analisar a relação entre a cultura organizacional e o gerenciamento de projetos, utilizando-se para tanto dos modelos como o Competing Values Framework (CVF) e o Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI). O emprego dos modelos se justifica por serem os mais utilizados na literatura em gestão organizacional, embora não tenham sido encontrados estudos empíricos que os utilize no contexto brasileiro em gerenciamento de projetos. O método utilizado para obtenção do perfil cultural dominante para o sucesso em gerenciamento de projetos foi survey, na qual o modelo OCAI foi adaptado e destinado para gerentes e membros de equipe de projetos. Observou-se através da análise dos dados, que a cultura de clã foi a que apresentou forte influência para o sucesso no gerenciamento de projetos de acordo com a percepção dos respondentes da survey. É importante ressaltar que não há um perfil de cultura melhor que o outro, portanto, a cultura de gerenciamento de projetos obtida é apenas o diagnóstico de uma cultura organizacional que poderá permitir a obtenção de um desempenho superior, ou seja, sucesso no atendimento de escopo, qualidade, custo e prazo. Discute-se para estudos futuros a importância de se empregar respondentes de diferentes estados do Brasil e ainda de outros países, buscando estabelecer que não existam influências de outros fatores culturais regionais na percepção dos respondentes. / Project management in a systematic manner has become essential for any type of organization, because the markets every day become increasingly competitive, scarce resources and more demanding customers. You can see this with the growing number of companies that are associated with the Project Management Institute (PMI) - reference the best practices in project management - which since late 2013 has more than 400,000 affiliates around the world. This tendency is natural, since companies need to stand out in business in an increasingly dynamic market in order to ensure their survival. According to Gu et al. (2013), a key issue in project management research centers on why some projects are successful while others do not. This question led the researchers to explore potential determinants that can lead to success or failure of a project. For example, the Standish Group International (2009) found an overall rate of failure of the project around 72% in the US. Admittedly, the organizational culture has a strong influence on the success of the projects, but it would be possible to diagnose it for it better lead project teams? Thus, the aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between organizational culture and project management, using for both models like the Competing Values Framework (CVF) and the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI). The use of models is justified because they are the most used in the literature on organizational management, although we did not find empirical studies that use them in the Brazilian context in project management. The method used to obtain the dominant cultural profile for success in project management was the survey, in which the OCAI model was adapted and designed for managers and project team members. It was observed by analyzing the data, the clan culture showed the strong influence for success in project management according to the perception of the survey respondents. Importantly, there is a better culture profile than the other, so the obtained project management culture is only the diagnosis of an organizational culture that may allow obtaining superior performance, ie success in scope of service, quality, cost and schedule. It is argued for further study the importance of employing respondents from different states of Brazil and even from other countries, seeking to establish that there are no influences from other regional cultural factors in the perception of respondents.

O gerenciamento de projetos de forma sistematizada vem se tornando essencial para todo tipo de organização, pois os mercados a cada dia tornam-se cada vez mais competitivos, os recursos mais escassos e os clientes muito mais exigentes. É possível observar isso com o número crescente de empresas que se associam ao Project Management Institute (PMI) - referência nas melhores práticas em gerenciamento de projetos - que desde o final de 2013 possui mais de 400.000 empresas associadas em todo o planeta. Tal tendência é natural, visto que as empresas necessitam se destacar nos negócios em um mercado cada vez mais dinâmico a fim de garantir a sua sobrevivência. De acordo com Gu et al. (2013), uma questão-chave na investigação de gerenciamento de projetos gira em torno de porquê alguns projetos são bem sucedidos, enquanto outros não. Esta questão levou os pesquisadores a explorar determinantes potenciais que possam levar ao sucesso ou fracasso de um projeto. Por exemplo, o Standish Group International (2009) encontrou uma taxa global de fracasso do projeto em torno de 72% nos EUA. É certo que a cultura organizacional exerce forte influência no sucesso dos projetos, mas seria possível diagnosticá-la para com isso melhor conduzir as equipes de projeto? Deste modo, o objetivo do presente estudo foi analisar a relação entre a cultura organizacional e o gerenciamento de projetos, utilizando-se para tanto dos modelos como o Competing Values Framework (CVF) e o Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI). O emprego dos modelos se justifica por serem os mais utilizados na literatura em gestão organizacional, embora não tenham sido encontrados estudos empíricos que os utilize no contexto brasileiro em gerenciamento de projetos. O método utilizado para obtenção do perfil cultural dominante para o sucesso em gerenciamento de projetos foi survey, na qual o modelo OCAI foi adaptado e destinado para gerentes e membros de equipe de projetos. Observou-se através da análise dos dados, que a cultura de clã foi a que apresentou forte influência para o sucesso no gerenciamento de projetos de acordo com a percepção dos respondentes da survey. É importante ressaltar que não há um perfil de cultura melhor que o outro, portanto, a cultura de gerenciamento de projetos obtida é apenas o diagnóstico de uma cultura organizacional que poderá permitir a obtenção de um desempenho superior, ou seja, sucesso no atendimento de escopo, qualidade, custo e prazo. Discute-se para estudos futuros a importância de se empregar respondentes de diferentes estados do Brasil e ainda de outros países, buscando estabelecer que não existam influências de outros fatores culturais regionais na percepção dos respondentes. / Project management in a systematic manner has become essential for any type of organization, because the markets every day become increasingly competitive, scarce resources and more demanding customers. You can see this with the growing number of companies that are associated with the Project Management Institute (PMI) - reference the best practices in project management - which since late 2013 has more than 400,000 affiliates around the world. This tendency is natural, since companies need to stand out in business in an increasingly dynamic market in order to ensure their survival. According to Gu et al. (2013), a key issue in project management research centers on why some projects are successful while others do not. This question led the researchers to explore potential determinants that can lead to success or failure of a project. For example, the Standish Group International (2009) found an overall rate of failure of the project around 72% in the US. Admittedly, the organizational culture has a strong influence on the success of the projects, but it would be possible to diagnose it for it better lead project teams? Thus, the aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between organizational culture and project management, using for both models like the Competing Values Framework (CVF) and the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI). The use of models is justified because they are the most used in the literature on organizational management, although we did not find empirical studies that use them in the Brazilian context in project management. The method used to obtain the dominant cultural profile for success in project management was the survey, in which the OCAI model was adapted and designed for managers and project team members. It was observed by analyzing the data, the clan culture showed the strong influence for success in project management according to the perception of the survey respondents. Importantly, there is a better culture profile than the other, so the obtained project management culture is only the diagnosis of an organizational culture that may allow obtaining superior performance, ie success in scope of service, quality, cost and schedule. It is argued for further study the importance of employing respondents from different states of Brazil and even from other countries, seeking to establish that there are no influences from other regional cultural factors in the perception of respondents.