scholarly journals The relationship between organisational culture and financial performance: Some South African evidence

1998 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Z. Van Der Post ◽  
T. J. De Coning ◽  
E. V.D.M. Smit

Although statistical evidence seems to be lacking. it is at present widely acknowledged that organisational culture has the potential of having a significant effect on organisational performance. An analysis of sustained superior financial performance of certain American organisations has attributed their success to the culture that each of them had developed. It has been proposed that these organisations are characterised by a strong set of core managerial values that define the ways in which they conduct business. how they treat employees, customers, suppliers and others. Culture is to the organisation what personality is to the individual. It is a hidden but unifying force that provides meaning and direction and has been defined as the prevailing background fabric of prescriptions and proscriptions for behaviour, the system of beliefs and values and the technology and task of the organisation together with the accepted approaches to these. Recent studies have indicated that corporate culture has an impact on a firm's long-term financial performance: that corporate culture will probably be an even more important factor in determining the success or failure of firms in the next decade; that corporate cultures that inhibit long-term financial performance are not rare and that they develop easily. even in firms that are staffed by reasonable and intelligent people; and that corporate cultures, although difficult to change, can be made more performance enhancing. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to establish the statistical relationship between organisational culture and financial performance.

1997 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 147-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Z. Van Der Post ◽  
T. J. De Coning ◽  
E. V.D.M. Smit

Although statistical evidence seems to be lacking, it is at present widely acknowledged that organizational culture has the potential of having a significant effect on organizational performance. An analysis of sustained superior financial performance of certain American organizations has attributed their success to the culture that each of them had developed. It has been proposed that these organizations are characterized by a strong set of core managerial values that define the ways in which they conduct business, how they treat employees, customers, suppliers and others. Culture is to the organization what personality is to the individual. It is a hidden but unifying force that provides meaning and direction and has been defined as the prevailing background fabric of prescriptions and proscriptions for behaviour, the system of beliefs and values and the technology and task of the organization together with the accepted approaches to these. From the literature, a vast number of dimensions of organizational culture were observed. These dimensions were synthetized and 15 constructs of culture emerged. By means of conventional item construction, item analysis and factor analysis, a questionnaire with acceptable reliability and construct validity was developed to measure organizational culture.


2002 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. W. Struwig ◽  
E. E. Smith

In this article the relationship between organisational culture and strategy formulation in South African firms is investigated. The intention is to analyse whether South African firms with specific organisational culture types formulate strategies in the same manner. Literature available on the individual concepts of organisational culture and strategy formulation is extensive, but the relationship between the two concepts is generally ignored. During the empirical survey a self-administered questionnaire was send to 3000 firms. The culture type exhibited by firms was compared to the manner in which these firms formulate strategies. The findings confirm statistical significant relationships between firms with different organisational culture types and how strategies are formulated. Firms should therefore increase their emphasis on aligning culture and strategy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Prevan Moodley ◽  
Francois Rabie

Many gay couples engage in nonmonogamous relationships. Ideas about nonmonogamy have historically been theorised as individual pathology and indicating relational distress. Unlike mixed-sex couples, boundaries for gay couples are often not determined by sexual exclusivity. These relationships are built along a continuum of open and closed, and sexual exclusivity agreements are not restricted to binaries, thus requiring innovation and re-evaluation. Three white South African gay couples were each jointly interviewed about their open relationship, specifically about how this is negotiated. In contrast to research that uses the individual to investigate this topic, this study recruited dyads. The couples recalled the initial endorsement of heteronormative romantic constructions, after which they shifted to psychological restructuring. The dyad, domesticated through the stock image of a white picket fence, moved to a renewed arrangement, protected by “rules” and imperatives. Abbreviated grounded theory strategies led to a core category, “co-creating porous boundaries”, and two themes. First, the couple jointly made heteronormative ideals porous and, second, they reconfigured the relationship through dyadic protection. The overall relationship ideology associated with the white picket fence remained intact despite the micro-innovations through which the original heteronormative patterning was reconfigured.


2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 23-29
Author(s):  
John Oliver

Purpose CEO turnover and chronic corporate underperformance are examined through the lens of Transgenerational Response. Design/methodology/approach The criteria for investigating Transgenerational Response in corporations consisted of identifying a Critical Corporate Incident, the number of corporate generations and the resultant corporate financial performance. Findings The evidence presented in the case studies illustrates how a Critical Corporate Incident has produced the consequential effect of chronic financial performance in the years following the incident. Research limitations/implications These case studies have not presented the “actual” adaptive responses, inherited attitudes and behaviours that have subsequently embedded themselves in a new corporate culture, post the Critical Corporate Incident, to the detriment of the long-term health and performance of each firm. Practical implications Examining CEO turnover and chronic corporate underperformance through the lens of Transgenerational Response means that business leaders can identify how a historic event has affected the performance of their firm in subsequent generations. With this knowledge in hand, they will be able to examine the inherited attitudes and behaviours, organizational policies, strategy and adaptive cultural routines that have combined to consolidate the firms chronic under performance. Originality/value This is a highly original, evidence based, idea that has the potential to reshape our current understanding of CEO turnover and underperforming firms. It will help business leaders identify how a historic event has affected the performance of a firm in subsequent generations.


Author(s):  
Nopadol Rompho

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between levels of human capital and financial performance of firms that use two distinct human resource management (HRM) strategies. Design/methodology/approach A survey of 128 HRM managers was conducted to assess differences in human capital between firms using different HRM strategies. A multiple regression analysis was used to investigate the relationship between firms’ human capital and financial performance. Findings The results show that companies employing a make-organic strategy have a higher level of human capital than companies employing a buy-bureaucratic strategy. There was no relationship between the level of human capital and long term financial performance of firms with both make-organic and buy-bureaucratic strategies. Research limitations/implications This research contributes toward understanding the effect of HRM strategy and facilitates an optimal strategy choice depending on the organization. However, this study did not consider the lead time between changes in human capital and the effect on financial performance. Practical implications The research encourages firm managers to understand the value of human capital, preparing them for changes in the future. Originality/value This study is among the first to investigate the relationship between human capital and financial performance considering different HRM strategies.


2001 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-117
Author(s):  
N. S. Terblanche ◽  
C. Boshoff

Although attempts have been made to identify some of the dimensions of retail shopping experience, these have been largely fragmented and uncoordinated. No attempt has yet been made to combine the efforts of many retailing students into a comprehensive model that accurately describes the total retailing experience. Also, very little is known about the relationship between the individual dimensions of retail shopping and customer satisfaction. This study attempts to reduce this gap in South African retailing literature by, first modelling the total retailing experience and, then, assessing the influence of selected individual retailing dimensions on customer satisfaction. It also investigates whether the impact of these dimensions of the retailing experience differs between fast food restaurants and supermarket retailers. The empirical results suggest a fairly consistent pattern of relationships between fast food restaurants and supermarkets.


2014 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Vera ◽  
Pascale M. Le Blanc ◽  
Toon W. Taris ◽  
Marisa Salanova

Author(s):  
Jonty Tshipa ◽  
Leon M. Brummer ◽  
Hendrik Wolmarans ◽  
Elda Du Toit

Background: Premised on agency, resource dependence and stewardship theories, the study investigates empirically the existence of industry nuances in the relationship between corporate governance and financial performance of companies listed in the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Aims: The main objective of the study is to understand the relationship between internal corporate governance and company performance from the perspective of three distinct economic periods, as well as industry nuances, cognisant of endogeneity issues. Setting: South Africa, as an emerging African market, offers an interesting research context in which the corporate governance and financial performance nexus can be examined empirically. Method: A sample of 90 companies from the five largest South African industries, covering a 13-year period from 2002 to 2014 (1170 firm-year observations) was examined with three estimation approaches. Results: Two key trends emerged from this study. First, the relationship between corporate governance and company performance differed from industry to industry. Second, the association between corporate governance and company performance also changes during steady and non-steady periods, which is an indication that the nexus is driven by the state of the global economy and the type of the industry. Conclusion: Evidence from the study suggests that companies should be allowed to optimise rather than maximise their corporate governance options. This finding questioned the approach of the recently published King IV Code of Good Corporate Governance, which requires Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed companies to ‘apply and explain’ as opposed to ‘apply or explain’ as pronounced by King III Code of Good Corporate Governance.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Selina Teuscher ◽  
Elena Makarova

Research on school dropout suggests that the decision to drop out of school is not a sudden or immediate one, but rather the result of a long-term process of withdrawal from school. While school engagement and truancy are among the most prominent constructs to be associated as precursors of school dropout, the relationship between these two constructs needs further analysis. Our study establishes more comprehensive understanding of school engagement and truancy by focusing on students’ individual characteristics and their relationships in school, particularly the student-teacher relationship and relationships with peers. It demonstrates that among the individual characteristics the migration background is crucial for school engagement, while the student age is important for truancy. Furthermore, peer-relationships are positively related to students’ school engagement, but not to their truancy. Furthermore, a good student-teacher relationship not only has positive impacts on students’ school engagement, but is also negatively associated with truancy, while school engagement mediates this path.


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