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An Exploration of Espoused Culture in Australian Organizations (with a closer look at the banking sector) *
Author(s) -
Kabanoff Boris
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
asia pacific journal of human resources
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.825
H-Index - 33
eISSN - 1744-7941
pISSN - 1038-4111
DOI - 10.1177/103841119403100301
Subject(s) - organizational culture , elite , value (mathematics) , teamwork , public relations , content analysis , normative , meritocracy , sample (material) , accounting , business , sociology , marketing , management , political science , economics , social science , politics , law , chemistry , chromatography , machine learning , computer science
We describe organizations' espoused cultures by using content analysis to identify the values they expressed in annual reports, mission statements and internal magazines during the years 1986–90. The frequencies of ten value themes— Authority, Leadership, Rewards, Performance, Participation, Commitment, Affiliation, Teamwork, Equity and Normative control—are measured in 88 large Australian organizations from thepublic and private sectors. Organizations' value profiles are used to cluster them into one of four culture types each of which has a distinct, value profile—the Elite, Leadership Focused, Meritocratic and Collegial. We then demonstrate a more fine‐grained application of our methodology by examining the espoused cultures of the six banks in the sample (Advance, ANZ, Commonwealth, National, State Bank of NSW, and Westpac). We describe changes in the banks' value profiles over the period and consider their potential management implications. The research demonstrates both the advantages and the underlying assumptions of a content‐analytic approach to the study of organizational culture.