Cultural Analysis of Organizational Development Units: A Comprehensive Approach based on the Competing Values Framework
Erhardt, Richard
Citations
Abstract
In analysis of organizational culture much is accomplished at the parent organization level. While there is agreement that culture plays a significant role there is little on analysis and comparison of internal units. Against that backdrop, this research asks how US Air Force units can analyze variations in organizational culture as a basis for considering unit mergers. Specifically, I investigate culture across two organizational development units based on the Competing Values Framework (CVF) to inform understanding of internal cultural variation. Although there are well-established approaches available for CVF analysis based on surveys and documents, there are no approaches that complement these with personal interviews. As a result, this research develops a triangulated CVF analysis approach that seeks to address the gaps and inconsistencies from survey- and document-based analyses with interviews. While the research focuses on contributing a comprehensive understanding of variations in culture across two specific organizational development units within the United States Air Force, the experiences from the analyses and the developed triangulation approach may also generalize to similar units in other organizations.
