Nonprofit Organizational Assessment

conflicts in cultural practices and values, and to accommodate and adapt themselves to
cultural contexts where people from different national cultural backgrounds work
together over extended time. It also provides a powerful framework which explains how
interactions by individuals in SW-ICCM contexts give rise to emerging hybrid cultural
practices characterized by both stability and change.
One major theoretical contribution of this "multi-carriage train" perspective is its
allowance for the existence of inconsistencies among the three cognitive components in
their mutual conditioning of behavior. This internal inconsistency view is in stark contrast
to the traditional internal consistency assumption explicitly or tacitly held by many
culture scholars. The other major theoretical contribution, which follows logically from
the first one, is to view culture as an overarching entity which is made of a multiplicity of
Values, Expectations, and Ad Hoc Rules. This notion of one (multiplicity) culture to an
organization leads to the classification of culture along its path of emergence into
nascent, adolescent, and mature types, each of which is distinct in terms of the pattern
of the three cognitive components and behavior.
Effects
Research suggests that numerous outcomes have been associated either directly or
indirectly with organizational culture. A healthy and robust organizational culture may
provide various benefits, including the following:
Competitive edge derived from innovation and customer service
Consistent, efficient employee performance
Team cohesiveness
High employee morale
Strong company alignment towards goal achievement
Although little empirical research exists to support the link between organizational
culture and organizational performance, there is little doubt among experts that this
relationship exists. Organizational culture can be a factor in the survival or failure of an
organization – although this is difficult to prove given that the necessary longitudinal
analyses are hardly feasible. The sustained superior performance of firms
like IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Procter & Gamble, and McDonald's may be, at least partly, a
reflection of their organizational cultures.
A 2003 Harvard Business School study reported that culture has a significant effect on
an organization's long-term economic performance. The study examined the
management practices at 160 organizations over ten years and found that culture can
enhance performance or prove detrimental to performance. Organizations with strong
performance-oriented cultures witnessed far better financial growth. Additionally, a 2002
Corporate Leadership Council study found that cultural traits such as risk taking, internal
communications, and flexibility are some of the most important drivers of performance,
and may affect individual performance. Furthermore, innovativeness, productivity
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