Profiling Organizational Culture: Using Grid-Group Cultural Theory as a Lens to Take a Snapshot of an Organization’s Culture

Jeroen Maesschalck,Heidi Paesen

doi:10.1177/21582440211061564

Abstract

This article draws from grid-group cultural theory (GGCT) to develop a survey instrument that allows to take an “adequate snapshot” of the culture of an organization. It specifies GGCT’s typology into 15 dimensions, situated in the two-dimensional space defined by the cross-tabulation of the grid and group axes. Those 15 dimensions are operationalized in a questionnaire that is used in two consecutive studies: one in 64 local police forces in Belgium and one in a large ministry of the Belgian federal government. Confirmatory factor analyses largely corroborate the 15-dimensional model. Multidimensional scaling indicates that the 15 dimensions largely take the positions in the two-dimensional space that GGCT would expect them to take. Finally, latent profile analysis identified six cultural profiles (i.e., particular combinations of the dimensions) in the studied work units, showing the potential benefits of a configural approach to the study of organizational culture in public sector organizations.

Highlights

Public administration has a long tradition of research into organizational culture (Jung et al, 2009)
The remaining 48 items delivered a model with a good fit in both Study 1 (RMSEA = .041; Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = .953; Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) = .946) and Study 2 (RMSEA = .040; CFI = .957; TLI = .951)
As shown in the previous section, the confirmatory factor analysis in Study 2, like the one in Study 1 (Paesen et al, 2019), largely confirms the 15-dimensional model, two items had to be removed from the remainder of the analysis

Summary

Introduction

Public administration has a long tradition of research into organizational culture (Jung et al, 2009). The concept has been conceptualized using various typologies, mostly drawn from research in the private sector (e.g., Quinn & Rohrbaugh, 1983) It has been measured in various ways, ranging from standardized surveys over interviews to ethnography. While the latter provide in-depth, nuanced and “thick” understanding of a culture in an organization, the former rather offer a snapshot. This article proposes both a conceptual framework and survey measurement instrument that allow researchers and practitioners to take such a snapshot of the culture of an organization or work unit within an organization. It generates a meaningful and theory-based profile of an organization that can be enriched with in-depth qualitative information using the same theoretical framework

Methods

Results

Conclusion