Organizational culture influence on service delivery: A mixed methods design in a child welfare setting

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Abstract

Despite the growing acknowledgement that mixed methods can be useful to better understand complex organizational cultures, there are few examples of studies, which demonstrate how organizational culture studies combine quantitative and qualitative methods in a single study within the child welfare setting. The purpose of the article is to illustrate how a concurrent triangulation was accomplished in a single organizational culture study in a child welfare agency. A sample of 92 employees was selected from a Midwestern private, non-profit, faith-based child welfare agency. Four distinct methods were used to measure organizational culture and its influence on service delivery which allowed for greater validity by collecting different data bearing on the same organizational culture phenomena. Strengths and implications are discussed.

Research highlights

► Convergence of data provides a clear illustration of the cultural behavior norms. ► It supported the various cultural styles found. ► Provided explanation and clarification where differences occurred in the findings. ► Convergence brought validity to the life of the organization's identified culture.

Introduction

Child welfare organizations expect administrators and practitioners to become better change agents for both their clients and their organization (Hardcastle et al., 1997, Mary, 2005). Organizational culture assessment is one efficient means to better understand complex organizational culture and its impact on service delivery, and to direct and implement organizational changes for better service delivery structures (Jaskyte & Dressler, 2005). Valid assessment of organizational culture is of particular value because individuals and groups constitute and interpret their organizational culture on a daily interaction basis (Schwartzman, 1993). The increasing demand for knowledge and skills of organizational culture assessment has raised questions in the child welfare arena: Why and when should mixed methods be used to measure organizational cultures? What quantitative and qualitative methods are appropriate for the assessment and understanding of current organizational culture? How to integrate mixed methods in a single assessment study? How to analyze and interpret results from mixed methods organizational culture studies? (Bryman, 2006, Bryman, 2007, Teddlie and Tashakkori, 2003).

Despite the growing acknowledgement that mixed methods can be useful to better assess and understand complex organizational culture (Hofstede et al., 1990, Jick, 1979); there are few examples of studies which demonstrate how organizational culture studies combine quantitative and qualitative methods in a single study within the child welfare organizational setting. The purpose of this article is to explain why a concurrent triangulation (Campbell and Fiske, 1959, Creswell, 2003, Denzin, 1989) was demanded by the nature of the research objective and the set of research questions, how valid data were collected and interpreted from different data sources in a child welfare agency, and how the concurrent triangulation was accomplished in the different research stages in a single organizational culture study (Bryman, 2006, Christ, 2007, Collins et al., 2007, Sandelowski, 2000, Tashakkori and Creswell, 2007).

This organizational culture study was conducted in a Midwestern private, non-profit faith-based child welfare agency with a purposive sample of 92 employees in four work units within the agency. Key evidence in prior organizational culture literature regarding mixed methods research is reviewed. The literature review is followed by the theoretical framework and research questions used to assess organizational culture and its linked to service delivery in a child welfare agency. The next section indicates why the structured survey instrument, focus groups, documental review, and ethnography were needed to answer research questions and how these distinct methods were chosen to collect data with the same focus on the organizational culture profile and its relationship to effective service delivery. Finally, research questions are tested and convergent results analyzed and discussed. The findings suggest that the convergence strengthened the knowledge claims of the study by confirming and cross-validating its internal consistency and reliability.

Since Campbell and Fiske (1959) articulated the use of multi-methods for the purpose of validation in 1959, the social and health literature have developed broader and deeper understanding of the functions of mixed methods research to avoid or eliminate the bias of particular data sources and methods, and to enhance validation of results (Campbell and Fiske, 1959, Dellinger and Leech, 2007). For instance, organizational culture studies have used mixed methods to obtain more accurate and valid pictures of organizational culture (Hofstede et al., 1990, Paul, 1996, Van Maanen, 1979a, Vitale et al., 2008). Few literatures have illustrated why and how mixed methods, including triangulation of between-methods and within-methods (Denzin, 1978; Hofstede et al., 1990, Jick, 1979, Vitale et al., 2008) were used in single organizational culture studies.

Pettigrew (1979) introduced organizational cultures as a sequence of social dramas longitudinally, which provided a given group at a given time a general sense of orientation. Because this concept of organizational cultures required a longitudinal research design and analysis, Pettigrew administered two sets of interviews and questionnaires in 1973 and 1974, and combined the cross-sectional analyses and a retrospective analysis of the birth and evolution of the studied British boarding school from 1934 to 1972. This study indicated that the chosen mixed methods allowed the researcher to describe the creation of organizational culture through the amalgam of symbol, language, ideology, beliefs, ritual, and myth in the studied school.

Jick (1979) claimed that triangulation was a strategy to improve the accuracy of data by using multiple reference points. Three functions of triangulation were addressed in the study: to allow researchers to be more confident of their results; to help to uncover the deviant or off-quadrant dimension of a phenomenon; and to lead to an integration of theories to bear on a common concern. Jick illustrated how triangulation was actually performed in an organizational study on the effects of a merger on employees' job anxiety. Triangulation was chosen due to high demand characteristics of anxiety and the potential pitfalls in each of five potential methods. Self-report survey, interviews, coworker observations, and archival sources produced largely consistent and convergent results that indicated a relation between high turnover rates and job anxiety (Jick, 1979).

In a classic cross-national organizational culture study, Hofstede et al. (1990). used in-depth interviews and a survey questionnaire to measure organizational cultures across 20 organizational units from 10 organizations in Denmark and Netherlands. In this study, the overarching research question was a single integrated research question that was generated from both qualitative and quantitative questions (Tashakkori & Creswell, 2007): “Can organizational cultures be measured quantitatively, on the basis of answers of organizational members to written questions, or can they only be described qualitatively?” Both interviews and the questionnaire were aimed at collecting information on the same four types of manifestations of culture, symbols, heroes, rituals, and values. Integration of qualitative and quantitative data not only enabled the researchers to assess the relative weight of similarities and differences in organizational cultures, but also provided evidence that shared perceptions of daily practices rather than shared values were the core of an organization's culture (Hofstede et al., 1990).

Paul (1996) argued that analysis of complex organizational systems demanded requisite in data collection and interpretation methodologies. In the illustrative study in the pharmacy field, he proposed between-method triangulation to synthesize the results from interviews, systematic observation, observer-as-participant observation, and archival data into a coherent and valid interpretation. Paul's study demonstrated that between-method triangulation could provide organizational culture researchers a compelling opportunity to leverage the strengths of different methods while mitigating their weaknesses.

In order to comprehend the reality of an organization accurately with minimum bias and error, Vitale et al. (2008) explored the possible contextual effects of within-method triangulation in a single mixed questionnaire administered in a small for-profit firm. Vitale et al. conducted a randomized posttest-only control group experiment and compared the experimental group who received a mixed questionnaire with the control group who received open-ended questions. They found that, while the mixed questionnaire was associated with the employee-perceived strengths of the organization, the experimental group had a lower response rate and fewer comments than the control group.

In summary, the organizational culture literature demonstrates a commonly shared concern with the possibility of a single method to assess the complex and dynamic organizational culture at a particular time and over time. Efforts have been made to mix appropriate qualitative and quantitative methods to minimize the limitations and biases of a single method and to capture comprehensive, accurate, and valid information on the current organizational cultures studied (Bryman, 2006, Campbell and Fiske, 1959, Collins et al., 2007 Dellinger & Leech, 2007). Although mixed methods are always accomplished within the context of a particular research setting (Downey & Ireland, 1979), this methodological tradition in organizational culture literature provided evidence that mixed methods could help researchers and members in the organization to better understand and capture studied organizational cultures as a necessary step toward intervention and change (Vitale et al., 2008).

The primary purpose of this study was to assess the current organizational culture and its impact on service delivery to children and families receiving services through foster care programs. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the context of the particular research setting and its societal and organizational culture, symbolism organizational culture theory and ethnomethodology were integrated into this in-depth study. This theoretical framework was viewed as being beneficial to our understanding of organizational culture in a child welfare agency and its impact on worker performance and quality services. That, in turn, may be beneficial to a child receiving services from the research site.

There has been a symbolism tradition in organizational culture research (Cooke and Szumal, 2000, Hofstede et al., 1990, Kroeber and Kluckhohn, 1960, Pettigrew, 1979 Robbins, Chatterjee, & Canda, 1998; Van Maanen, 1979a, Van Maanen, 1979b). Kroeber and Kluckhohn (1960) defined culture by six categories: (1) descriptive—broad definitions based on E.B. Tylor; (2) historical—emphasizes social heritage or tradition; (3) normative—emphasizes rules, ideals, and values; (4) psychological—emphasizes adjustment, learning, and habits; (5) structural—emphasizes the patterning or organization of culture; and (6) genetics—emphasizes culture as a product or artifact, ideas, and symbols. Pettigrew (1979) interpreted symbol, language, ideology, belief, ritual, and myth as publicly and collectively accepted meanings in a particular organizational culture. Symbols that are inherent within an organization tend to embody and express how an organization's patterns of beliefs, values, practices and artifacts that define who its members are and how they are to do things (Bolman and Deal, 1997, Pettigrew, 1979, Rafaeli and Worline, 2000). From this perspective, symbols become an umbrella concept of fairy tales and stories, myths, rituals, and ceremonies that narratives express insightful explanations, reconcile contradictions, and reconcile dilemmas within and outside of the organizational settings (Cohen, 1969).

Symbolism organizational culture draws a distinction between presentation culture and operational culture (Cooke and Szumal, 2000, Van Maanen, 1979b). Presentation cultures respond to formal bureaucratic structures (Germain & Bloom, 1999), serve the purposes of presentation and control (Alvesson, 1993, Alvesson, 2002, Pettigrew, 1979, Van Maanen, 1979b), and usually present in the form of written documents. Mission, vision and values statement, strategy plan, and annual report are typical examples of presentation culture. Operational culture responds to stressors and challenges of everyday organizational life in the informal interpersonal structure (Germain & Bloom, 1999). Because operational culture details the interaction between formal structures and employees' attitudes, motivations, personal goals, and professional commitments, it contributes greatly to this study through employees' understanding and interpretation of the mission as they relate to providing services to children and families in foster care.

Symbolism addresses organizational culture as a creation of context, history, leadership, employees, and customers. It puts training in a different light: presentation culture and operational culture are taught to the new workers through rules, regulations, norms, values, belief systems and symbols (Bolman & Deal, 1997). By stressing how symbols, social interactions, and stories and rituals are interwoven, symbolism organizational culture theory acknowledges employees' capacity to make informal decisions and reshape organizational culture.

Ethnomethodology is the study of common everyday methods of practical action and reasoning (Livingston, 1987), which explicates the ways that members collectively create and maintain a sense of order and intelligibility in social life (Have, 2002). It refers to the investigation of the rational properties of indexical expressions and other practical actions as contingent, ongoing accomplishments of organized artful practices of everyday life (Garfinkel, 1967). More importantly, ethnomethodolgy is an approach that is concerned with the procedures members use to go about knowing what should be done or what is expected of them in a given situation (Benson & Hughes, 1983). In an organizational setting, these actions and expressions include the attitudes, values, beliefs and symbols that all play a role in creating the culture of an organization. Ethnomethodology is important for understanding the dynamics of culture within an organizational setting. In this study, it was used to reflect worker's ability to be a part of the decision-making process and the support that they receive to do this in the context of the organization. Furthermore, it illustrates the mechanisms utilized by workers to have a voice in the agency.

In order to understand, collect, and interpret members' practical action and meaning, ethnomethodology requires the researchers' immersion in the studied situation, usually with a long-term timeframe. With this epistemological stance, local and situated action and meaning are appreciated and the importance of membership, reflexivity, and indexicality is highlighted throughout the entire inquiry (Garfinkel et al., 1981, Garfinkel and Sacks, 1986, Sacks, 1995).

A theoretical framework integrating symbolism organizational culture and ethnomethodology is important in terms of methodological decision making because it provides a backdrop for understanding “culture” in the studied child welfare foster care agency setting. For the most part, in an organizational setting, culture is conceived as a building block in organizational design—a subsystem, well demarcated from other parts of the organization (Alvesson, 1993, Alvesson, 2002). In some organizational culture literature, the norms are the core of the culture that guide the behavior and attitudes of the workers in the agency (Cooke and Szumal, 2000, Hofstede et al., 1990, Kilmann, 1985). Hofstede et al., 1990, Cooke and Szumal, 2000 distinguished behavior norms from shared values. Cooke and Szumal (2000) further proposed a notion of the operating cultures of organizations, which consist of behavior norms and expectations. This notion of the operating cultures in the organizations is pivotal to determine what and how to measure the organizational culture in the studied agency. In order to gather accurate and valid data on the organizational culture for the purposes of assessment and organizational change, it is crucial to first understand the culture disconnect between current operational culture and presentation culture in the studied agency. This type of synthesis is required for a research design that measure behavior norms, daily interactions, organizational archival, and workers' perception of the current organizational culture.

Four research questions were raised in line with the observed data of organizational ethnography and the theoretical framework:

  • 1.

    What are the mission, vision, and core values in the agency? How are they interpreted and utilized by agency administrators, supervisors and line workers?

  • 2.

    What is the identified organizational culture of the agency? Does it match with the mission, vision, and core values?

  • 3.

    How does the operational organizational culture affect effective services?

  • 4.

    What are the identified gaps between the current operational organizational culture and the ideal culture needed for a positive change to more effective services?

Section snippets

Method

The purpose of the study was to assess the current organizational culture and its impact on service delivery to children and families receiving services through foster care programs. The study included a purposive sample of four work units that represents 92 foster care workers and administrators in a faith-based child welfare agency. A widely accepted standard organizational culture survey instrument, four focus groups, documental review, and an overarching organizational ethnographic method

Analysis overview

The OCI was scored based on the directions of its creators and placed on a circumplex that was explained alongside the themes identified through the analysis of the qualitative data. Careful attention was given to items that had missing responses to ensure that the circumplex was an adequate depiction of the organization's culture. In fact, three of the 92 respondents were missing scale item responses to a few of the questions on the OCI. For the purpose of data analysis, a form of mean item

Unit A organizational culture profile

Unit A (N = 47) identified Constructive Styles as being the most prominent cultural styles in the agency, followed by the Passive/Defensive Styles and then the Aggressive/Defensive Styles. Within the Constructive Styles, the Humanistic-Encouraging Culture ranked the highest within the 51st to 74th percentile, with Achievement culture fairly close within the same realm in this percentile. Self-Actualizing and Affiliative were fairly low within the 51st to 74th percentile at almost the same level

Organizational culture influence on effective services

Both quantitative and qualitative measures suggested that all members from the four units have identified their agency as being a people-oriented agency where members' higher-order needs are met. An agency with those predominant cultures allows members to establish and set realistic goals, and encourages them to pursue these goals with a high degree of enthusiasm. Furthermore, members are expected to develop and grow as employees within the organization because they receive a certain degree of

Conclusion

In this article, a demonstration of how a mixed method paradigm can be utilized in an organizational culture study was illustrated. A concurrent triangulation occurred when results from quantitative and qualitative data analyses and interpretation were confirmed and cross-validated each other in this organizational culture study within the child welfare setting (Creswell, 2003, Denzin, 1989). In this study, the OCI, focus groups, documental review, and organizational ethnography were

Acknowledgement

The author wishes to acknowledge that this research was conducted with partial support from a grant from the United States Department of Health and Human Service Administration for Children and Families on recruitment and retention of child welfare workers (Grant no. 09CT0113).

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