| This study has two objectives. First, to uncover the artifactual elements and the organizational values of three Saudi public corporations--Sarah, Norah and Azzah (pseudonyms). It is assumed that the depth of an organization's culture has a significant impact on employees' behavior, practices and ultimately their job performance. A "deep" organizational culture is more widely shared, and more clearly ordered. A "shallow" culture, however, is less widely shared, and less clearly ordered. This study identified major cultural configurations of these corporations and the depth of their organizational cultures. Observation, interviews, and document and record analysis, were the utilized qualitative methods. Second, it used a questionnaire to measure employee performance based on their commitment to the organizational goals, their communication skills, their group-cohesiveness, and their attitudes towards growth and development.The qualitative findings show that Sarah has the deepest organizational culture, followed by Norah. Azzah ranks last with a very shallow organizational culture. The quantitative findings demonstrate that the deeper the organizational culture, the more committed, cohesive, and communicative the employees are but they are less adaptive. The results of this research study support the hypothesis that organizations with deep organizational cultures are more successful and productive than those with shallow cultures.Finally, this study identified key characteristics of the native societal culture (i.e., group consensus and conformity, social integration and harmony, loyalty to leadership, and leadership-fellowship based on respect). They influence and shape the organizational culture of Saudi organizations at all levels. Therefore, organizational cultures must be studied and analyzed if we want to understand Saudi public corporations, their inspirations, and their problems. |
