Ravalier PhD Theis.pdf - Anglia Ruskin Research Online

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*Participating Service and Departments
2a) Organisational Demographics
The organisation in which the present study took place is a public-sector borough council organisation in the
East of England, consisting of approximately 1,045 employees. The organisation is hierarchical in nature (as
evidenced from Figure 7) and consists of six separate ‘Service’ areas, each also consisting of a number of smaller
interrelated teams and departments. The organisation has a clear managerial structure as would be expected in
any hierarchical organisation with an overall chief executive as well as executive directors, each responsible for
two services. The departments within each service area also have their own managers, as well as line managers
and supervisors.
The service in which the present study is taking place is Service 6 on Figure 7, which had 181 employees at
the end of 2011, each of which were eligible to take part in the study. Service 6 is somewhat unique within the
organisation because employees are based throughout a number of working sites punctuating two separate towns,
approximately 20 miles apart. The main 'Hub' of the organisation is based in one town, with a number of 'satellite
sites' based in the second, approximately 20 miles away.
2b) Organisational Structure and Handy’s Conceptualisation
As noted in Chapter IV Section 1a, Charles Handy built upon Harrison’s arguments that there are four
types of organisational culture into which all businesses can be placed. Researchers such as Brown (1998) have