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Examining organizational culture and subculture in higher education : utilizing the competing values framework and the three-perspective theory

This case study describes the organizational culture of a small, private Midwestern university (SPMU). Specifically, the study employs the Competing Values Framework (CVF) (Quinn & Rohrbaugh, 1981) and the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) (Cameron & Quinn, 1999) to diagnose overall institutional culture and identify distinctive subcultures along representative demographic criterion. The cultural diagnosis achieved with OCAI is expanded through data analysis and used to investigate and demonstrate the utility of the Three-perspective Theory (TPT) of culture offered by Martin (2002).The results of this investigation support the ability of the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) data to demonstrate simultaneously the three perspectives offered by Martin (2002): integration, differentiation and fragmentation. The integrationist bias of CVF and OCAI is shown to be overly narrow given its ability to quantitatively demonstrate multiple perspectives of culture with appropriate analysis. The intersection of OCAI data with the Three-perspective Theory is shown to expand the implementation and interpretation of both approaches to cultural investigation. This is the first time the OCAI has been used in intersection with the Martin (2002) Three-perspective Theory and the second time the OCAI has been used to test for subcultures in higher education as indicated by Paparone (2003) and available research published to date. This is the first published account of subcultural testing with OCAI in a traditional, comprehensive institution of higher education along demographic parameters. / Department of Educational Studies

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/174711
Date January 2005
CreatorsAdkinson, Stacy J.
ContributorsMulvihill, Thalia M.
Source SetsBall State University
Detected LanguageEnglish
Formatxi, 107 leaves : ill. ; 28 cm.
SourceVirtual Press

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