The influence of national culture on organizational culture: A comparative study between 10 countries

Abstract

Abstract Organizational culture of industrial organizations was studied in 10 European countries using the FOCUS-instrument, based on the Quinn model (Quinn, 1988) to measure organizational culture. We classified most countries on the basis of the power distance index and the uncertainty avoidance index (Hofstede, 1991). We expected a value preference for the rules orientation (the so-called “pyramid” model) in some countries and a value preference for the innovation orientation (the “village-market” model) in others. Some of the results were in line with these expectations. One possible explanation for our findings is that not only the national preference influences the values within an organization, but the values of its founders and important leaders of its sector are also influential.