The aim of this study was to determine the impact of feedback on organisational culture change. The empirical study was conducted among the employees of a financial institution in South Africa by means of a one-group Pre-test-Post-test design using the Corporate Culture Lite Questionnaire. The sample size for the pre-test and post-test measurement was 1584 and 927 employees respectively. A total of 203 feedback sessions were facilitated in five business units after the pre-test measurement according to the survey feedback approach. The data of the two measurements were compared using independent t-tests and p-values, to determine any areas of statistical and practical significant differences. The results indicate that in one of the five business units there was a practical significant difference between the two measurements of organisational culture on ten of the dimensions. This research therefore confirms that feedback has a limited impact on organisational culture change. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Comm. (Industrial Psychology)

The aim of this study was to determine the impact of feedback on organisational culture change. The empirical study was conducted among the employees of a financial institution in South Africa by means of a one-group Pre-test-Post-test design using the Corporate Culture Lite Questionnaire. The sample size for the pre-test and post-test measurement was 1584 and 927 employees respectively. A total of 203 feedback sessions were facilitated in five business units after the pre-test measurement according to the survey feedback approach. The data of the two measurements were compared using independent t-tests and p-values, to determine any areas of statistical and practical significant differences. The results indicate that in one of the five business units there was a practical significant difference between the two measurements of organisational culture on ten of the dimensions. This research therefore confirms that feedback has a limited impact on organisational culture change. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Comm. (Industrial Psychology)

Text in Afrikaans / Summaries in English and Afrikaans / In die vinnig veranderende omgewing waarin universiteitbiblioteke funksioneer is daar besorgdheid oor die vermoe van universiteitbiblioteke om tred te hou met die verandering ten einde suksesvol te kan bly voortbestaan. Kreatiwiteit en innovasie speel 'n rol in die veranderingsproses. Organisasiekultuur het 'n invloed op die mate waarin kreatiwiteit en innovasie in 'n organisasie gestimuleer word. 'n Voorlopige model wat op die literatuur gebaseer is, het getoon dat strategie, organisasiestruktuur, ondersteuningsmeganismes, innovasiegedrag en kommunikasie die organisasiekultuurdeterminante is wat kreatiwiteit en innovasie in organisasies beinvloed. In die onderhawige empiriese studie is bestaande data, wat ingesamel is om die organisasiekultuurvan 'n universiteitbiblioteek te beskryf, gebruik om die voorlopige model te toets. 'n Faktorontleding het getoon dat strategie, doelgerigtheid, vertrouensverhouding, innovasiegedrag, werkomgewing, klientgeorienteerdheid en bestuursondersteuning 'n invloed het op die mate waarin kreatiwiteit en innovasie in die universiteitbiblioteek gestimuleer en bevorder sal word. / In the rapidly changing environment in which university libraries function there is concern about the ability of such libraries to keep pace with change in order to be able to survive. Creativity and innovation have a role to play in the change process. Organisational culture has an influence on the degree to which creativity and innovation are stimulated in an organisation. A preliminary model which is based on the literature, has shown that strategy, organisational structure, support mechanisms, innovation behaviour and communication are the organisational culture determinants that influence creativity and innovation in organisations. In the empirical study, existing data which were collected to describe the organisational culture of a university library, were used to test the preliminary model. A factor analysis showed that strategy, purposefulness, trust relationship, innovation behaviour, work environment, customer orientation and management support influence the degree to which creativity and innovation are stimulated and promoted in the university library. / Information Science / M.Inf.

Text in Afrikaans / Summaries in English and Afrikaans / In die vinnig veranderende omgewing waarin universiteitbiblioteke funksioneer is daar besorgdheid oor die vermoe van universiteitbiblioteke om tred te hou met die verandering ten einde suksesvol te kan bly voortbestaan. Kreatiwiteit en innovasie speel 'n rol in die veranderingsproses. Organisasiekultuur het 'n invloed op die mate waarin kreatiwiteit en innovasie in 'n organisasie gestimuleer word. 'n Voorlopige model wat op die literatuur gebaseer is, het getoon dat strategie, organisasiestruktuur, ondersteuningsmeganismes, innovasiegedrag en kommunikasie die organisasiekultuurdeterminante is wat kreatiwiteit en innovasie in organisasies beinvloed. In die onderhawige empiriese studie is bestaande data, wat ingesamel is om die organisasiekultuurvan 'n universiteitbiblioteek te beskryf, gebruik om die voorlopige model te toets. 'n Faktorontleding het getoon dat strategie, doelgerigtheid, vertrouensverhouding, innovasiegedrag, werkomgewing, klientgeorienteerdheid en bestuursondersteuning 'n invloed het op die mate waarin kreatiwiteit en innovasie in die universiteitbiblioteek gestimuleer en bevorder sal word. / In the rapidly changing environment in which university libraries function there is concern about the ability of such libraries to keep pace with change in order to be able to survive. Creativity and innovation have a role to play in the change process. Organisational culture has an influence on the degree to which creativity and innovation are stimulated in an organisation. A preliminary model which is based on the literature, has shown that strategy, organisational structure, support mechanisms, innovation behaviour and communication are the organisational culture determinants that influence creativity and innovation in organisations. In the empirical study, existing data which were collected to describe the organisational culture of a university library, were used to test the preliminary model. A factor analysis showed that strategy, purposefulness, trust relationship, innovation behaviour, work environment, customer orientation and management support influence the degree to which creativity and innovation are stimulated and promoted in the university library. / Information Science / M.Inf.

A survey of literature has revealed that there is a need for a reliability study of the Denison Organisational Culture Survey (DOCS) for use in a financial institution in South Africa. The major objective of this research was therefore to determine the internal consistency reliability of the DOCS - in other words, to determine the accuracy or consistency with which the set of survey items measures one particular scale. The total sample of 2 735 individuals used in this research consisted of both male and female full-time employees of a financial institution in South Africa. The results of this introductory study on the reliability of the DOCS in South Africa demonstrated clear support for similar research conducted abroad and proved to be compatible with the cognitive-behaviouristic psychology movement's original concept of organisational culture. The reliability of the DOCS, as applicable to this South African sample, reflects statistical significant internal consistency. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Comm.

A survey of literature has revealed that there is a need for a reliability study of the Denison Organisational Culture Survey (DOCS) for use in a financial institution in South Africa. The major objective of this research was therefore to determine the internal consistency reliability of the DOCS - in other words, to determine the accuracy or consistency with which the set of survey items measures one particular scale. The total sample of 2 735 individuals used in this research consisted of both male and female full-time employees of a financial institution in South Africa. The results of this introductory study on the reliability of the DOCS in South Africa demonstrated clear support for similar research conducted abroad and proved to be compatible with the cognitive-behaviouristic psychology movement's original concept of organisational culture. The reliability of the DOCS, as applicable to this South African sample, reflects statistical significant internal consistency. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Comm.

Business-IT alignment (BITA) continues to be a top management concern. It generally refers to a preferred condition in which the relationship between business and IT is optimised to maximise the business value of IT. Early approaches in both research and practice have focused on the role of IT in supporting business strategies. Today, a more extended approach of BITA has been embraced that recognises soft factors that are related to people and culture issues at both tactical and operational levels of organisations. ‘Why alignment is important’ is not the crucial question today. In fact ‘how it can be achieved and matured’ is the real concern of business executives. There exists a number of theoretical models for conceptualising BITA, however, they have different focuses and contain different BITA components. Therefore, there is a need for a means of supporting practitioners for selecting an appropriate model. Furthermore, there is a need for a more practice-oriented research that target higher maturity of BITA by understanding the organisational context, including barriers that hinders BITA and the mutual relationships between organisational culture and BITA. Thus, the overall problem addressed in the thesis is the following: In spite of extensive literature on business-IT alignment, there is still limited maturity of business-IT alignment in practice due to the limited knowledge on barriers that hinder BITA achievement from practitioners’ perspective, on the means for supporting the selection of an appropriate model for assessing BITA, and on mutual relationships between BITA and organisational culture. Based on this research problem, five research objectives were developed. The first two objectives corresponded to barriers to achieving BITA and supporting the selection of BITA model respectively. The remaining three objectives corresponded to the two unidirectional influences between BITA and organisational culture (OC) and to the mutual relationships between them respectively. Different research methodologies and strategies were applied to achieve the research objectives, including qualitative and quantitative studies as well as design science. The results presented in the thesis, each corresponding to an objective, are the following:  A list of barriers that practitioners can use as a basis for better achievement of BITA, a better focus on strategic vs. tactical barriers, and their relationships to BITA components. An evaluation framework that supports practitioners in selecting appropriate BITA models for assessing and modelling BITA. An extended version of the strategic alignment model (SAM) of Luftman (2000), which considers organisational culture. An analysis of the impact of BITA components on organisational culture profiles. A BITA-organisational culture integrated view that supports decision-makers in facilitating decisions regarding both BITA and organisational culture. The results of the research provide both theoretical and empirical contributions to the business-IT alignment research and practice. / MIT

The doctoral research project is titled ‘An Exploration of the Relationship of Organisational Culture and Enterprise System Success and sought to address the research gap identified in the literature between organisational culture literature and Information System success literature. This is a research project which is funded by the Australian Research Council in conjunction with industry. The industry sponsors for this research were SAP AG, SAP USA and SAP ANZ. The research project adopted a multi-method research design, grounded in practice, in order to surface any reported relationship between Enterprise Systems Success (ESS) and Organisational Culture (OC). A critical part of the study was to identify who could report on this relationship. Partners in implementation include internal change managers, internal consultants, vendor consultants and implementation partner consultants. Representatives from each of these constituents were interviewed, covering a range of industry sectors and Enterprise Systems vendor organisations. The first phase of the research was to qualitatively assess the perception of these participants on the role of culture to Enterprise Systems Success. This phase used open, axial and selective coding of the responses obtained in a semi-structured interview. The next phase of the research was to gather quantitative measures of Organisational Culture and Enterprise Systems Success. The Organisational Culture Assessment Inventory (OCAI) of Cameron and Quinn was selected to gather quantitative data on Organisational Culture. The Enterprise Systems Success instrument of Gable, Sedera and Chan was selected to measure the perception of ESS because of its proven reliability and validity. Each of these data sets were then analysed to determine if an association existed between the cultures of organisations that achieved most success with the Enterprise System as opposed to the culture types reported of organisations that achieved the least success with the ES. These findings then assisted in the development of a model of interaction between OC and ESS. Finally, the relationship of OC to ESS was explored in a rich case study of one large firm, to determine if the consultant’s reported relationships could be identified in the subcultures of the organisation. The key findings of this study were: 1. There was a relationship reported between culture type and success types. The findings a-e below represent findings using the culture definitions from Cameron & Quinn’s culture instrument: a. clan cultures which emphasised the behaviours of development of others were related to reports of ESS b. hierarchical cultures which emphasised the behaviours of control and coordination were related to reports of ESS c. hierarchical cultures which were poor in the execution of control and coordination were related to reports of the least success with ES d. market cultures which emphasised (internal) competitiveness were strongly related to reports of least success with ES e. literature attributes of continuous improvement (CI), flexibility (F) and innovation (I), which are often described as antecedents to innovation success and are found in the culture type of adhocracy, were reported as strongly related to success of ES, but the culture type of adhocracy was not reported as being present in the quantitative data describing consultant experiences with enterprises which had implemented ES. 2. that the literature supported theoretical reasons for the above findings 3. that these patterns of association were found in the case study. The research supports the proposition that there is a relationship between Organisational Culture type and ESS. Certain culture types practice behaviours that correspond to reported necessary behaviours for innovation success and ESS, whilst other culture types practice behaviours that correspond to behaviours for failure of innovation and of ES failure. A model of and explanation for this relationship was proposed as a result of the findings. Future research is now required to empirically test this model.

When integrating sustainability, companies are often overlooking the changes needed in their organisational culture. This hinders organisations’ core business to efficiently embed sustainability and dooms corporate sustainability initiatives to be superficial. A possible solution is for organisations to develop a sustainability- oriented organisational culture that engages employees with the sustainability change and that develops a leadership supportive of the engagement of their employees. As a result, this thesis aims at exploring how organisations can change their organisational culture in order to fully integrate sustainability by engaging employees and managers. Specifically, it studies how employee engagement can contribute to transforming organizational cultures to fully embed sustainability. Additionally, this paper analyses how managers can support employee engagement with sustainability. The thesis conducts a literature review to set the theoretical foundations; it further resorts to semi-structured interviews and document analysis conducted in a Swedish public company, which has begun to integrate sustainability into its culture. The study finds that organisations’ cultures are being changed at the artifact levels and, partially, at the values and beliefs level of their cultures. Additionally, the thesis establishes that organisations are failing to create the conditions for employee engagement. It finally shows that leadership in companies is not efficiently supporting the engagement of employees to integrate sustainability into their culture.

Strategic management of knowledge is considered one of the key factors for a sustainable competitive advantage. Knowledge sharing in particular is the most essential part of the knowledge management process. Its relation with the organisational culture has been the focus of attention of several studies especially in American, Asian and European companies. Firms are organising their work around project and project teams. Moreover, multinational project teams are seen as a source for knowledge generation. They can provide information about the needs of customers geographically dispersed, from different cultural backgrounds, who speak different languages and with different set of preferences. Nevertheless, the temporary nature, uniqueness, and complexity of international projects present their own set of challenges and companies need to work different in order to achieve project success. This study aims to analyse the organisational culture features that enhances or hinder the knowledge sharing process in multinational project teams working in Latin America. Although studies regarding the topic have been made before, they not provide empirical evidence or do not consider project teams working in a multinational environment. Furthermore, previous studies do not consider Latin American & Caribbean organisations, a region where foreign investment has continuously increased in the last decades and as a whole, is considered the third-fastest growing economy in the globe. A mixed approach is used to answer the research question, a deductive rationale to create a theoretical framework and an inductive approach to provide some theoretical propositions based on the findings. Seven semi-structured interviews were done to analyse two cross-sectional case studies. Our study identified several characteristics of organisational culture that influence knowledge sharing, some of them have a direct influence whereas others have an indirect influence. Speaking a different language and cultural differences are the main challenges faced by multinational project teams in order to enable knowledge sharing. Fear was also found to act as a barrier regarding the knowledge sharing process but is not specific only for this type of organisation. In contrast, trust in colleagues, positive relationships among employees and a culture of collaboration were found to enhance the knowledge sharing process but are not specific to multinational project teams.Finally, some managerial and theoretical implications are provided as well as suggestions for future research.