Organizational Culture
A basic definition of organizational culture is necessary to provide a point of departure in the quest for an understanding of the phenomenon Martins and Martins (2003) state the general definition of organizational culture as a system of shared meaning held by members, distinguishing the organization from other organizations. In relation to the above definition, Arnold (2005) indicates that organizational culture is the distinctive norms, beliefs, principles and ways of behaving that combine to give each organization its distinct character. These two definitions suggest that organizational culture distinguishes one organization from another organization. Therefore, organizational culture is to an organization what personality is to an individual. Linking up with the above definitions, Schein (1985) also defines organizational culture as a pattern of basic assumptions invented, discovered, or developed by a given group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration that has worked well enough to be considered valid, and therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems. This description highlights that organizational culture is created assumptions, which are accepted as a way of doing things and are passed on to new members of an organization.
According to Denison and Neale (2011) organizational culture refers to the underlying value,
beliefs and principles that serve as a foundation for an organization management system, as well as the set of management practices and behavior that reinforces those principles. Other researcher can also be defined organizational culture as the system of shared values, beliefs, assumptions, or norms that have long been in force, agreed upon and followed by the members of an organization as a code of conduct and solving problems of the organization.
The first use of the terminology, organizational culture, was utilized by Andrew Pettigrew (1979). A basic definition of organizational culture is necessary to provide a point of departure in the quest for an understanding of the phenomenon Martins and Martins (2003) state the general definition of organizational culture as a system of shared meaning held by members, distinguishing the organization from other organizations. In relation to the above definition, Arnold (2005) indicates that organizational culture is the distinctive norms, beliefs, principles and ways of behaving that combine to give each organization its distinct character. These two definitions suggest that organizational culture distinguishes one organization from another organization. Therefore, organizational culture is to an organization what personality is to an individual (Johnson, 1990). Linking up with the above definitions, Schein (1985) also defines organizational culture as a pattern of basic assumptions invented, discovered, or developed by a given group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration that has worked well enough to be considered valid, and therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems. This description highlights that organizational culture is created assumptions, which are accepted as a way of doing things and are passed on to new members of an organization. For new employees this would mean adaptive behavior within the organization that leads to new belief systems. This new and adaptive behavior instilled through organizational values and beliefs are associated with rituals, myths and symbols to reinforce the core assumptions of organizational culture (Hofstede, 1991). In relation to the above definition, Brown (1998) defines organizational culture as the pattern of beliefs, values and learned ways of coping with experience that have developed during the course of an organization’s history, and which tend to be manifested in its material arrangements and in the behaviors of its members. This suggests that organizational culture is articulated in the organization, in order to shape the way in which organizational members should behave. However, this pattern of values, norms, beliefs, attitudes, principles and assumptions may be unwritten or non-verbalized behavior that describes the way in which things get done; to give the organization its unique character (Brown, 1998).
Dimensions of organizational culture
Various studies and literatures defined organizational culture traits in different dimension.
Robbins and Judge (2013) listed the seven primary characteristics of organizational culture these are; innovation and risk taking, attention to detail, outcome orientation, people orientation, team orientation, aggressiveness and stability. Another approach of defining organizational culture is based on traits: involvement, consistency, mission, and adaptability, developed by Denison (2000). The first two types of organizational culture reflect the internal integration and the two remaining show the external adaptation.
Gordon and Christensen (1993) divided organizational culture into 8 dimensions, which correspond to cultural values: planning orientation, innovation, action orientation, people orientation, team orientation, communication, results orientation, Confrontation.
According to House et al., (2004), organizational culture is defined in 9 dimensions such as uncertainty avoidance, power distance, institutional collectivism, in group collectivism, gender, egalitarianism, assertiveness, future orientation, performance orientation, and human orientation. Another approach in organizational culture assessment by nine dimensions: network structure, generalized roles, quality enhancement, collectivism, performance orientation, emphasis on feeling, environmental concerns, long-term employment, and long-term perception was developed by Swierczek and Rodsuth (2002).
From these different dimensions of organizational culture, this study was used Harrison’s four cultural dimensions, these are: power-oriented culture; role- oriented culture; achievement oriented culture; and support-oriented culture (Harrison, 1993). The four dimensions of culture orientation are measured within two modes of operation, which are formalization and centralization (Harrison, 1993). Both modes of operation can be measured on a scale of low or high levels.
Organizational Commitment
Organizational commitment is an important aspect in human resource management literature. According to Robbins and Judge (2013) organizational commitment is an employee identifies with a particular organization and its goals and wishes to remain member. It refers to the state in which employees sense loyalty with their respective organization and align themselves with organizational goals and objectives (Lambert, et al., 2007). Porter, Steers, Mowday and Boulian (1974) defined commitment as the relative strength of an individual’s identification with and involvement in a particular organization. They indicated that commitment has three components namely: an employee’s belief in and acceptance of organizational goals and values; his/her willingness to work towards accomplishing the organization’s goals; his/her strong desire to continue as organization member.
Allen and Meyer (1990) defined organizational commitment as a behavior that supports employees' decision to be permanent member of the organization. That behavior is shaped by the relationship of employees with organization. Meyer and Allen (1991) proposed a three-component model, which describes three factors of attitudes and behaviors that are relevant to the characterization of organizational commitment. They are: acceptance of and a belief in the values and goals of the organization (affective commitment); desire to maintain organizational membership (continuance commitment); and a willingness to contribute to the organization (normative commitment).
Meyer and Allen, (1990) assert that these components of commitment are not mutually exclusive: an employee can simultaneously be committed to the organization in an affective, normative, and continuance sense, at varying levels of intensity. The net sum of person’s commitment to the organization, therefore, reflects each of these separable psychological states. Organizational commitment is the employees’ state of being committed to assist in the achievement of the organization’s goals, and involves the employees’ levels of identification, involvement, and loyalty.
The relation between Organizational Culture and Employee Commitment
The relation between organizational culture and employee’s commitment has been studied by different researchers. In this study the researcher explained some of the findings obtained by different researchers. Based on Chen (2012), the research on the relationship between organizational culture and commitment, the result of the analysis showed that the hypothesis of a significant positive relation between organizational culture and commitment, this means that if there is a high level of organizational culture, there will increase the commitment among employees and between management and staff then it has been develop to enhance organizational commitment. According to Rachid, Syedand and James (2011) Correlation analysis revealed that perceived effectiveness of communication between management and employees’ commitment & pride in working for the company and trust were significantly interrelated. On the other hand, they said that the relationship between commitment and communication was relatively weaker than the relation between trust and commitment.
Alvi, Hanif , Adil, Ahmed and Vveinhardt, (2014) conducted to investigate the impact of organizational culture on job satisfaction and employee commitment in Chemical Sector of Karachi. The finding show that supportive and bureaucratic culture have significant effect on employee commitment and job satisfaction, whereas innovative culture has a insignificant effect on employee’s commitment and job satisfaction.
Inanlou and Ahn, (2017) carried out a study to examine the effect of organizational culture defined as communication, trust, and innovative production on employees’ organizational commitment. Furthermore, they explored the possibility the role of human resource development activities in mediating the aforementioned relationship. Using the national employer survey data conducted by Korean government in 2011, the results find that organizational culture defined as better communication among superiors and subordinates, trust and appreciation of innovation from superiors, is positively related to organizational commitment. In addition, firm’s investment in human resource development or employee participation in human resource development would play a mediating role in influencing the relationship between organizational culture and organizational commitment. Therefore, organizational culture is a critical factor to increase workers’ motivation through the participation in human resource development training program, thereby increasing worker’s commitment.
Rastegar and Aghayan (2012) investigates that the relationships between organizational commitment and organizational culture in a sample of Training and Education organization in a city of Iran. The results show that demographic variables including Education, Marriage, and Job experience don’t have significant impact on organizational commitment. The main result of this study is that supportive and innovative organizational cultures are positively correlated with organizational commitment but the correlation between bureaucratic organizational culture and organizational commitment is low.
The results of the study indicated the direct positive and significant impact of extent of exposure on job stress although direct negative, significant association with commitment. Job stress also observed having direct negative impact on commitment and organizational response to COVID-19 affects perceived job security and enhances managers' organizational commitment (Zandi et al., 2020).
Conceptual Framework
Conceptual framework is a theoretical structure of assumptions, principles, and rules that holds together the ideas comprising a broad concept. The study conceptualized that organizational culture variable as independent variables affect organizational commitment as dependent variable. The conceptual model describes the potential relationship between the independent and dependent variables.
Hypothesis
H1: Bureaucratic culture has a positive significant effect on organizational commitment during covid-19 in the study area
H2: Innovative culture has a positive significant effect on organizational commitment during covid-19 in the study area.
H3: Supportive culture has a positive significant effect on organizational commitment during covid-19 in the study area.