Organizational culture: exploring existing and desired organizational culture in health services

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The set of values, beliefs and expectations that are widespread and accepted within an organization compose its organizational culture. The common culture acts as a cohesive link between the members of the health team, increasing both the sense of trust of the participants and the cohesion of the team.

Aim: The main purpose of this study was to investigate the organizational culture of health professionals and the assessment of the identification or differentiation of the existing organizational culture from what members of the team deem as a desired one.

Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted involving 155 health professionals working in public and private health care. The research tool used was the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument - OCAI questionnaire, which quantitatively measures the quality parameters of the culture. It has 24 questions through which the six key dimensions of organizational culture for the present and the future are approached. The answers correspond to four different types of organizational culture with different orientations, assumptions, practices and values. The statistical analysis of the data was done with SPSS v24.

Results: The predominant culture of the organizations of the participants was the Hierarchical Culture (27%) in which the organization focuses on coordination, stability and predictability. The next existing culture was the Market one, where the main characteristics were those of goal-orientation, competitive spirit and a demanding leadership. The culture of Generation (28%) in which the organization is interested in its employees and their personal development has emerged as a desirable culture. Second to that was the Open System culture, which promotes innovation and emphasizes the external environment, change and competitiveness. There was no identification of the existing culture with the desired one.

Conclusion: The investigation and measurement of organizational culture in health services can contribute to the qualitative upgrade of offered health care through the adoption of common standards, perceptions and behaviors.

Keywords: Organizational culture, existing / desired culture, health organizations, health services.