organisational culture & its potential in enhancing …€¦ · the denison model this robust...

ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE & ITS POTENTIAL IN ENHANCING CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

BY: GABAPELO EMMANUEL PHILLIP

ANISH GEORGE OOMEN

PRESENTED TO BCIRC 2012

BACKGROUND OF STUDY

This paper assesses BOTHO COLLEGE’s organisational culture

and the extent to which Botswana’s leading private tertiary

institution can apply the concept to adopt a ‘customer centric’

approach in order to survive in the sector’s cut throat

competition.

In 2007, Botswana Government changed its Sponsorship Policy

such that students who qualifies to enroll in local private

tertiary education institutes are funded by government

Background of the study

The Botho College External environment changed following a

shift in policy – The Education and Training sector witnessed the

entrance of many other private tertiary institutions, which

brought about competition with the College for funding,

programs and students.

Besides the Private Tertiary Institutions, there is

University of Botswana, and BIUST which is planned to operate in 2013

This add to competition for students, academic and

government funding

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

CHALLENGES

There is a need for Botho College to remain relevant to

broader economic, societal and student and industry needs.

The need to adopt the appropriate organisational culture

which could be to the benefit of both the CUSTOMERS and the

ORGANISATION in the long term

What is organisational Culture

A common perception held by the organisation’s members; a system of shared meaning– simply the way of life

CHARACTERISTICS

Pride, and espirit de corps

Performance rewards

Openness, Communication

and Supervision

Customer orientation

Commitment

Organisational Culture

Kotter & Heskett describe organisational culture as having (2)

levels:

Values shared by people in a group, that tend to persist

over time even as groups change

Behavior patterns or styles that new employees are

encouraged to follow

The first level is much more difficult to change

Organisational Culture

Culture is NOT the same as a firm’s structure or strategy but is

a component of each

Culture needs to be integrated into both the structure and the

strategy of the institution

ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE -BENEFITS

CULTURE’s FUNCTIONS

Defines the boundary between one organisation and others

Conveys a sense of identity for its members

Facilitates the generation of commitment to something larger

than self-interest

Enhances the stability of the social system

ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE

We all know what bad service entails and how it makes a

customer feel, and can imagine the consequences that it can

have on the business when, for e.g., unfavourable information

about a disappointing experience is transferred by word of

mouth and the media spreading enough poisonous material for

results such as a bad reputation or bad image.

ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE

Often, when bad service is delivered:

It is easy for customers to apportion blame to the

easiest most prominent target that comes to mind.

Some may even go as far as recommending laymen

solutions about what should be done to avoid bad

service and overcome the bad service reputation.

PURPOSE OF STUDY

This study assesses the contribution of corporate culture and

the aspects related to that on customer satisfaction.

Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction are born and

bread within the business like humans are born into a family

belonging to a certain culture and raised and shaped by many

influences, but taking place in that culture.

PURPOSE OF STUDY

Individuals later become a mature example of the character

of the culture to which they belong.

Customer Satisfaction is in a similar fashion born in a business

and raised in the organisation culture of a business.

There are multitude of factors that influence the quality of

service – and consequently the organisation level of

customer satisfaction.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

THE MODEL Designed to measure

specific aspects of an organisation’s culture in each of the four(4) areas – referred to as Traits.

Mission Adaptability Involvement Consistency

THE DENISON MODEL OF ORGINISATIONAL CHANGE

Patterns…Trends… Market Place

Translating the demands of the business environment into action “Are we listening to the marketplace?” Indices”

Indices

Creating Change

Customer Focus

Organisational Learning

Direction…Purpose…Blueprint

Defining a meaningful long-term direction for the organization

“Do we know where we are going?”

Indices

Strategic Direction and Intent

Goals and Objectives

Vision

ADAPTABILITY MISSION

THE DENISON MODEL OF ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE

Commitment…Ownership… Responsibility

Building human capability, ownership and Responsibility

“Are our people aligned and engaged?”

Indices

Empowerment

Team Orientation

Capability Development

Systems….Structures….Processes

Defining values and systems that are the basis for a strong culture

“Does our system creates leverage?”

Indices

Core Values

Agreement

Coordination and Integration

INVOLVEMENT CONSISTENCY

THE DENISON MODEL

An effective organisation has high culture scores in all the four

(4)traits. Thus, the organisation should have cultures that are

adaptive, yet highly consistent and predictable, and that foster

high involvement, but do so within the context of a shared

sense of mission.

THE DENISON MODEL

This robust model is also split into hemispheres:

Internal/External and Flexible/Stable.

External Focus (Adaptability + Mission):

The organisation with a strong external focus is committed to adapting and changing in

response to the external environment.

It has a constant eye on the marketplace and a strong sense of where it is headed.

Internal Focus (Involvement + Consistency) An organisation with a strong internal focus is committed to the dynamics of the internal

integration of systems, structures, and processes.

It values its people and prides itself on the quality of its products or services.

A strong internal focus has been linked to higher levels of quality and employee satisfaction.

THE DENISON MODEL

Flexibility (Adaptability + Involvement)

A flexible organisation has the capability to change in response to the environment.

Has its focus is on its customers and its people.

Is typically linked to higher levels of product and service innovation, creativity, and

a fast response to the changing needs of customers and employees.

Stability (Mission + Consistency)

A stable organisation has the capacity to remain focused and predictable over

time.

It is typically linked to high return on assets, investments and sales growth, as well as

strong business operations.

FRAMEWORK OF STUDY

The Model guided this research with a measure of the

College’s progress toward achieving a high-performance

culture

Purpose of studies to determine whether a relationship exists

between corporate culture and long term satisfaction of the

consumers

Clarify nature of this relationship if determined and to utilise

this study to enhance the firm’s other centres i.e. Franscistown

and Maun

SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

Organisational culture will probably be an even more

important factor in determining success or failure of

organisations in the next decades

An organisation which does not possess strong

organisational culture will more likely to be unable to adapt

to change.

Inability by the organisation to change directly tied to

potential for missed opportunities and negative financial

impact.

HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY

Three (3) hypothesis were listed and stated in the null form,

these are

Organisational culture does not influence customer satisfaction

Organisation culture has no profound influence on the way the

customer perceive the organisation

There is no relationship between organisation culture, and

customer satisfaction.

PRESENTATION OF RESULTS

The results of the organisational culture questionnaire gathered

from the research sample (n = 120).

Descriptive statistics are presented graphically followed by

description of the most salient sample characteristics in the

form of frequencies and percentages.

The Examination of each hypothesis formulated for the

research is presented.


The majority in the sample (n = 47 or 40.4%) were

male, whilst the remaining 59.6% (n = 69) comprised of

female respondents.

It was a fairly balanced difference in gender representation -

could be attributed to a larger number of females being

enrolled in the College


The respondents’ length of time studying at Botho College is

depicted. The majority of the sample 45.6% (n = 53) have

studied at Botho College for a period less than 2 years,

36.2%(n = 42) for a period between 2.5 and 3 years whilst

18.2% (n = 21) have been studying for more than 3 years.


Denison Organisational Culture Survey was adapted for this

research and a five-point Likert scale was used according to

following choices:

1 = Strongly Disagree

= Disagree

3 = Neutral

4 = Agree

5 = Strongly Agree

FINDINGS FROM THE STUDY

In terms of the adaptability

dimension, respondents rated

customer focus highly with respect

to organisational culture.

Customer Focus - (mean = 4.37, s

= 0.14), while the lowest value

related to creating change

(mean = 2.94, s = 0.67).

010203040506070

ADAPTABILITY CULTURE

%ORGANISATIONAL CUTLTURE RATINGS


With regard to the dimension

mission, the dimension rated

strongest is that of vision (mean =

3.42, s = 0.69), while the lowest

value corresponds to strategic

direction and intent (mean =

2.42, s = 0.62).

MISSION CULTURE

60

62

64

66

68

70

72

74

76

78

80

Strategic Direction Goals and Objectives Vision

BOTHO CULTURE RATINGS


In terms of the Involvement Culture

variable team orientation (mean =

3.89, s = 0.65), while the lowest

value related to capability

development (mean = 2.54, s =

0.62).

This indicates that respondents

agreed more strongly with respect to

team orientation as an important

component of organisational culture.

INVOLVEMENT CULTURE

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Capability Development

Team Orientation Empowerment


PRESENTATION OF FINDINGS

With regards to consistency culture,

the dimension rated highest in terms

of the instrument relate to core

values (mean = 3.36, s = 0.32),

while coordination and integration

was rated the lowest (mean = 2.47,

s = 0.63). Hence, respondents rated

core values more strongly than they

did coordination and integration and

agreement as dimensions of the

measuring instrument.

CONSISTENCY CULTURE

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Coordination Agreement Core Values


DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS

.SUMMARY: ORANISATIONAL CULTURE INDEX RATINGS

VARIABLE MEAN STD DEVIATION

CORE VALUES 3.36 0.32

AGREEMENT 3.12 0.74

COORDINATION AND INTEGRATION 2.47 0.63

STRATEGIC INTENT 2.42 0.62

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES 3.32 0.58

VISION 3.42 0.69

CREATING CHANGE 2.94 0.67

CUSTOMER FOCUS 4.37 0.14

ORGANISATIONAL LEARNING 3.55 0.52

EMPOWERMENT 2.65 0.59

CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT 2.54 0.62

TEAM ORIENTATION 3.89 0.59


Thus the summary, depicts that respondents at Botho College

perceived customer focus, team orientation, and

organisational learning more positively.

They however, perceived capability development, co-

ordination and integration and strategic direction and intent

less positively.

INFERENTIAL STATISTICS

PEARSON’S CO-EFFICIANT

OF CORRELATION TECHNIQUE

WAS USED TO COMPUTE

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE

DIFFERENT VARIABLES OF ORGANISATI

ONAL CULTURE

The findings indicated significant relationships between almostall the sub-dimensions of the Organisational Culture Survey.

Notwithstanding the insignificant relationship betweenempowerment and organisational learning (p > 0.05), it isevident that there are statistically significant relationshipsbetween the other sub-dimensions of the construct (p < 0.01).

Results indicate that for the inter- correlation matrix assessing therelationship between the dimensions of the OrganisationalCulture Survey instrument, that all the coefficients were positive.

This indicates therefore that there is a significant statisticalrelationship between the dimensions of the OrganisationalCulture Survey instrument.

Hence, the null hypothesis is rejected for all the three(3) hypothesesbeing investigated.

INTERPRETATION OF FINDINGS

High level of involvement and participation creates a sense of ownership

and responsibility. Out of this ownership grows a greater commitment to the

organisation and a growing capacity to operate under conditions of

ambiguity.

Wesemann (2001) states involvement encompasses the importance that the

organisation places on building the capability of its professional and

administrative staff members. The value that the organisation places on

team orientation as opposed to individual accomplishment, and the

ownership that people feel in the organisation, is created by a high level of

involvement.

INTERPRETATION OF FINDINGS

Adaptability allows an organisation to recognise and respond to its

external environment and internal constituencies.

In the attempt to respond to either internal or external stimuli, the

organisation requires the capacity to restructure behaviours and processes,

as appropriate.

Internal integration and external adaptation can be at odds hence, an

organisation that is strong in adaptability usually experience sales growth

and increased market share (Denison & Mishra, 1995).

RECOMMENDATIONS

Recommendations be made to address the lowest rated indices:

To address low scores obtained in capability development, information about

performance, quality, competition and customers should be shared throughout the

hospital. Get ideas and contributions from those who are closest to the work and to

the customer by involving them in decision-making.

Build Botho College around teams, not individuals by encouraging multi-skilling so

that there is adequate understand on how work is done in other areas and how

they need to work together to create value for the customer.

Reward team work and team accomplishments.

Make performance management a strong to encourage goal setting, performance

reviews, and providing feedback on achieving objectives.

RECOMMENDATIONS

COORDINATION AND INTEGRATION

The vision and mission should also constantly be referred to in decision-making and

during performance reviews so that individuals know where they fit in in relation to

the mission and vision of the institution.

Focus should be give on activities that exemplify the core values. To actively create

alignment of behaviour and core values it should be in the context of the culture, the

core values, and skills development as part of Botho College’s competitive strategy.

Increased interaction and communication between individuals and groups and

increased number of people involved in problem solving, goal setting and

generating new ideas should be encouraged.

RECOMMENDATIONS

To address low scores regarding STRATEGIC DIRECTION AND INTENT

Botho College management need to adopt long-term strategy and

direction as their highest priority - change the rules of the game in the

education sector by focusing on competitors and continuous rethinking of

how the College can create value, make everyone in the organisation

familiar with the institution’s strategy and vision.

Everyone in the organisation, from the boardroom to the filing room, must

be able to define their goals in terms of the overall mission, vision and

strategy of the organisation.

Strategic direction must be supported at all levels.

RECOMMENDATIONS

A customer-centric organisation believes in sales and profits are the end-

results of great customer experiences – Botho College should be steadfast

on rendering the best possible customer experience for its clients as this is

the best way to grow their businesses

A clear focus on earning sales and loyalty, rather than buying sales and loyalty

A highly ‘cultured’ organisation has relentless focus on customer experience

There should be a clear focus on the value of a customer engagement cycle

that relies on the ‘Botho experience’ as an engine that drives retention and

positive word of mouth.

CREATING A CUSTOMER RESPONSIVE CULTURE

Select employees with personality and attitudes consistent with high service

orientation

Train and socialise current customers to be more customer focused

Align organisational culture to give more employees more control –

EMPOWERING EMPLOYEES WITH DECISION MAKING DISCRETION TO

PLEASE THE CUSTOMER.

Lead by conveying a customer-focused vision and demonstrating

commitment to consumers

Provide on-going recognition foe employees who make special efforts to

please customers

CONCLUSIONS

Two(2) significant dynamic tensions that the institution must negotiate.

The tension between Top-Down and Bottom-Up Management, represented by the

Mission and Involvement traits, is important for the organisation to understand. To be

successful, Botho College management must be able to link the mission, purpose and

goals of the institution to create a shared sense of ownership, commitment and

responsibility for its employees.

The second important dynamic tension is the link between Adaptability (Stimulate

Progress) and Consistency (Preserve the Core).

A successful organisation learns to balance the dual challenges of external

adaptation and internal integration and consistency.

Experience tells that the most the successful organisation has a balanced profile.

CONCLUSIONS

In an education sector, organisational culture is associated with several elements of

organisational experience that contribute to quality of the offer, job satisfaction

and customer satisfaction, and patient safety (Boan & Funderburk, 2003).

A supportive organisational culture is often noted as a key component of successful

improvement initiatives in a variety of industries, including education sector.

Price (2003) notes that traditionally, produce and process technology, protected or

regulated markets, access to financial resources, and stable economies have all

provided organisations with competitive advantage however, an organisation can

no longer count on these advantages.

Organisational culture is therefore central to the operation and function of the

organisation, providing a shared vision that can serve as an effective guide to

relevant and goal-directed social and individual behaviours

THANK YOU

Bibliography

Boan, D., & Funderburk, F. (2003). Health quality improvement and organisational culture.

Retrieved August 26, 2005

Denison, D., & Mishra, A. (1995). Toward a theory of organisational culture and effectiveness.

Retrieved December 21, 2004,

Heskett, J. & Kotter, J. (1992). Corporate Culture and Performance. NY: The Free Press.

Price, A. (2003). A culture assessment of xyz manufacturing company. Unpublished master’s

thesis, University of Wisconsin-Stout, Wisconsin.

Wesemann, E. (2001). Culture Club: Legal managers can manage their firm dynamics for better

service.

organisational culture & its potential in enhancing …€¦ · the denison model this robust...

Documents