Efficient Cultures: Exploring the Relationship Between Culture and Organizational Performance

TLDR

The study was funded by grants from the Office of Naval Research, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, IBM, GE Foundation, AMP, Westinghouse, and Sperry. The authors argue that distinct local organizational cultures are uncommon at the organizational level, challenging prevailing views. The study shows that particular local cultural traits are more critical to performance than others, that their importance varies across organization types, and that cultures are more adaptable than assumed.

Abstract

We gratefully acknowledge the helpful comments of our colleagues, Kerry Patterson and Keith Warner, as well as the thoughtful comments of the editors of this special issue. This research was supported through grants from the Office of Naval Research, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, IBM, The General Electric Foundation, AMP, Inc., Westinghouse Corporation, and the Sperry Corporation. Contrary to currently popular notions of organizational culture, we claim that the existence of local organizational cultures that are distinct from more generally shared background cultures occurs relatively infrequently atthe level of the whole organization. We also argue that, with respect to organizational performance, particular properties of local organizational culture are more important than others and that local organizational culture will be more critical to performance in one range of organizations than in others. We conclude by applying our point of viewto the problem of changing organizational cultures and argue that they are more adaptive than is currently thought.