A case study of organizational culture change in a hospital

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Whitley Walker Vale

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] This dissertation presents a case study that describes and analyzes the organizational culture change that occurred at a hospital over a period of time (i.e., about 12 years, from 1993 through 2004). Qualitative data from five sources -- questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, observations, and documents -- was analyzed by applying the 'transformation of intentions model' for policy analysis. This dissertation proposes that this sociological model is a theoretical framework that is conceptually applicable to the empirical analysis of organizational culture change. The application of the 'transformation of intentions model' of policy analysis to the analysis of organizational cultural change resulted in a detailed description of the organizational structures and processes that were essential to the organizational culture change at the hospital. The analysis revealed a pattern in the transformation of intentions at the hospital. More specifically, it was revealed that the organizational culture change at the hospital was 'top-down' -- administratively led -- change initiated in response to interorganizational directives -- specifically, policy changes by the healthcare organization that managed the hospital.

2008 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 715-722 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann H. Cottingham ◽  
Anthony L. Suchman ◽  
Debra K. Litzelman ◽  
Richard M. Frankel ◽  
David L. Mossbarger ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 672-688
Author(s):  
Ville Juhani Teräväinen ◽  
Juha-Matti Junnonen

Purpose The construction industry has struggled with efficiency issues for decades. Organizational culture is identified as one of the biggest hindrances for the enhancement of efficiency in a highly labor-intensive sector such as construction. Based on recent academic studies, Finnish construction industry professionals would embrace clan and adhocracy culture features to achieve a better level of construction efficiency. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the promoters and the barriers for making the desired culture change happen in the case company. Design/methodology/approach The paper presents a semi-structured theme interview case study, including 12 in-depth interviews. The interviews were recorded, and later, transcribed into text, which forms the empirical data of this paper. Findings The Finnish construction industry must adopt a holistic approach to enhance its prevailing level of efficiency through the culture change. Basic learning and knowledge management processes seem to be missing from the industry and organizational levels. Better knowledge management in the case company would be the first step to start fixing this problem. Research limitations/implications Because of the nature of a case study, the research results can be generalized only with caution in the Finnish construction industry. Generalizing the findings in another country would require further studies in a different cultural environment, e.g. in another European country. Practical implications The paper includes implications for the development of the organizational culture on the Finnish construction industry level and on an organizational level. Originality/value The found influencers are discussed through Engeström’s activity model for the first time in the construction culture context.


2010 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 352-352
Author(s):  
Ann H. Cottingham ◽  
Anthony L. Suchman ◽  
Debra K. Litzelman ◽  
Richard M. Frankel ◽  
David L. Mossbarger ◽  
...  

2003 ◽  
Vol 2 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 11-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald E. Gibson ◽  
Sigal G. Barsade

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cameron David Willis ◽  
Jessie Saul ◽  
Helen Bevan ◽  
Mary Ann Scheirer ◽  
Allan Best ◽  
...  

Purpose – The questions addressed by this review are: first, what are the guiding principles underlying efforts to stimulate sustained cultural change; second, what are the mechanisms by which these principles operate; and, finally, what are the contextual factors that influence the likelihood of these principles being effective? The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted a literature review informed by rapid realist review methodology that examined how interventions interact with contexts and mechanisms to influence the sustainability of cultural change. Reference and expert panelists assisted in refining the research questions, systematically searching published and grey literature, and helping to identify interactions between interventions, mechanisms and contexts. Findings – Six guiding principles were identified: align vision and action; make incremental changes within a comprehensive transformation strategy; foster distributed leadership; promote staff engagement; create collaborative relationships; and continuously assess and learn from change. These principles interact with contextual elements such as local power distributions, pre-existing values and beliefs and readiness to engage. Mechanisms influencing how these principles sustain cultural change include activation of a shared sense of urgency and fostering flexible levels of engagement. Practical implications – The principles identified in this review, along with the contexts and mechanisms that influence their effectiveness, are useful domains for policy and practice leaders to explore when grappling with cultural change. These principles are sufficiently broad to allow local flexibilities in adoption and application. Originality/value – This is the first study to adopt a realist approach for understanding how changes in organizational culture may be sustained. Through doing so, this review highlights the broad principles by which organizational action may be organized within enabling contextual settings.


2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 741-754 ◽  
Author(s):  
Llandis Barratt-Pugh ◽  
Susanne Bahn

AbstractThis paper explores the role played by a Human Resources (HR) department orchestrating culture change during the merger of two large State departments with dissimilar cultures. A 2-year case study determined what HR strategies were having the greatest impact on embedding new organisational values to produce a more flexible culture and how these practices could be accelerated. This paper indicates how a more strategic approach by HR departments can support and develop relational managing capability that accelerates cultures change towards a more flexible work environment.This paper describes the context of the change process, the relevant literature, and outlines the research process. The findings from the phases of the data collection are summarised revealing the traumatic perceptions of the change process, but also the instrumental actions of some managers, working creatively with their teams to tackle new tasks and projects. The evidence suggests that these informal practices of task allocation were at the core of change agency in this case study and put the new flexible organisational values into action. The findings illustrate how the organisation moves from valuing managers for their technical competence to valuing managers for their relational competence.The paper then discusses what strategic HR actions were accelerating this process and illuminates the critical role of building managers as change agents. The paper concludes by confirming the need for a strategic approach by HR during organisational change. Building manager capability and supporting informal change agency practices is presented as a core focus for HR during such organisational cultural change programmes.


Author(s):  
Cari R. Bryant ◽  
Matt Bohm ◽  
Robert B. Stone ◽  
Daniel A. McAdams

This paper builds on previous concept generation techniques explored at the University of Missouri - Rolla and presents an interactive concept generation tool aimed specifically at the early concept generation phase of the design process. Research into automated concept generation design theories led to the creation of two distinct design tools: an automated morphological search that presents a designer with a static matrix of solutions that solve the desired input functionality and a computational concept generation algorithm that presents a designer with a static list of compatible component chains that solve the desired input functionality. The merger of both the automated morphological matrix and concept generation algorithm yields an interactive concept generator that allows the user to select specific solution components while receiving instantaneous feedback on component compatibility. The research presented evaluates the conceptual results from the hybrid morphological matrix approach and compares interactively constructed solutions to those returned by the non-interactive automated morphological matrix generator using a dog food sample packet counter as a case study.


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