Abstract
M.Comm.
The primary purpose of the present study was to identify whether the organisational culture of the Transmission Division of Eskom is aligned to its stated values. In seeking to reach this objective, it was necessary to assess the gap between espoused and practised organisational values. The study also sought to identify the Transmission Division’s organisational culture. A correlation between the stated values and identified organisational culture was calculated and this was used to infer whether the values that the organisation espouses are aligned to the current organisational culture.
The study made use a self-administered questionnaire sent via email to all the Transmission Division employees (N=1793) of whom 182 responded. The questionnaire comprised sections covering biographical aspects, organisational values as well as questions on organisational culture. In the questionnaire, biographical aspects were provided by the Transmission Division’s human resources department and those for organisational values were derived from both literature and Eskom’s value statement. Questions on organisational culture were taken from Cameron and Quinn’s (2006) Organisational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI). Data on organisational values was subjected to quantitative analysis whilst data relating to organisational culture was interpreted by following Cameron and Quinn’s (2006) Competing Values Framework (CVF).
The present study found that there is a gap between observed and espoused or stated organisational values. By using the Cameron and Quinn (2006) framework of organisational culture, which identifies hierarchy, ‘adhocracy’, market and clan’ as the ‘four distinct organisational culture types, the study found that respondents experience the current Transmission Division’s organisational culture to be predominantly hierarchical.
A general inference drawn in this study is that the current hierarchical organisational culture is misaligned to the espoused organisational values of ‘integrity’, ‘customer satisfaction’, ‘innovation’ and ‘excellence’. The study makes recommendations to the Transmission Division about how to address this misalignment and areas that require further investigation are suggested.