Organizational culture and business strategy: Culture as a source of competitive advantage

This study tested a theoretical framework linking the types of strategies and operating cultures of organizations to their effectiveness at the individual, unit, and organizational levels of analysis. The framework focused first on the relationship between the type of strategy adopted by organizations and their operating cultures, based on contingency or “fit” theories proposing that different cultures are appropriate for different types of strategies. In addition to strategy type, other factors potentially shaping the cultures of organizations were considered, including their structures, technologies, and human resource management systems. The theoretical framework also focused on the relationship between organizational culture and effectiveness. This relationship was considered in terms of both “adaptive” theories of cultures—which propose that certain types of cultures promote effectiveness regardless of environmental and strategic factors—and contingency theories—which propose that such strategic factors moderate the relationship between culture and effectiveness.; The results of this research suggest that cultural norms appear to have a fairly consistent impact on quality, regardless of the strategy adopted by the organization. The results indicate that the type of strategy is not a factor in explaining the relationship between culture and quality. Constructive norms appear to be positively related to quality and defensive norms negatively related to quality, regardless of organizational strategy.