Abstract
This study sought to explore the perceptions of employees’ regarding the influence organisational culture on work performance. Employees' perceptions are a valid source of information to understand how organisational culture impacts work performance in a support service division that is currently undergoing strategic transformation. Organisational culture is a fundamental factor of organisational behaviour and guides the way people behave in an organisation by functioning from within and shaping assumptions, values, norms, and attitudes. It comprises of the shared basic norms that manifest as employees' behaviours. When employees' ideas are fully established, some of those ideas are transferred to new members who join the organisation, as an appropriate way of pre-empting or combatting organisational problems. Therefore, it is critical to understand which basic assumptions establish employees' perceptions of an organisation's culture and ultimately become the basis of employee work performance.
In this purposeful qualitative study, an interpretive philosophy has been followed to understand people’s perceptions within the context of their work. The researcher used the purposive sampling principles to select participants who possessed postgraduate qualifications with five years (or more) of institutional knowledge. The sample consisted of 20 employees sampled purposefully from the management level, which includes professional specialists.
This study applied the Organisational Culture Model of Denison, Janovics, Young, and Cho (2006) (the Denison Model) by means of a deductive approach to understand the employees’ perceptions. Four main themes categorised in this model emerged with sub-themes indicating a need to align organisational culture with the institution’s strategy for improving employees’ performance.
Keywords: Organisational culture, work performance, employees’ perceptions, The Denison Organisational Culture Model and higher education institutions.