Diagnosing culture of public organization utilizing competing values framework: A mixed methods approach

Rukh, Hina; Qadeer, Faisal Article Diagnosing culture of public organization utilizing competing values framework: A mixed methods approach Pakistan Journal of Commerce and Social Sciences (PJCSS) Provided in Cooperation with: Johar Education Society, Pakistan (JESPK) Suggested Citation: Rukh, Hina; Qadeer, Faisal (2018) : Diagnosing culture of public organization utilizing competing values framework: A mixed methods approach, Pakistan Journal of Commerce and Social Sciences (PJCSS), ISSN 2309-8619, Johar Education Society, Pakistan (JESPK), Lahore, Vol. 12, Iss. 1, pp. 398-418 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/188351 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. 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If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Pakistan Journal of Commerce and Social Sciences 2018, Vol. 12 (1), 398-418 Pak J Commer Soc Sci Diagnosing Culture of Public Organization Utilizing Competing Values Framework: A Mixed Methods Approach Email: hinaru[email protected]m Faisal Qadeer Lahore Business School, The University of Lahore, Pakistan Email: faisal.qadee[email protected].edu.pk Abstract Diagnosis of culture is extremely important and in great demand in literature particularly when it comes to public organizations which operate in complex and compelling social, political and economic environment. Scholars and practitioners also affirm that examining the culture of public organizations is a very complex and challenging task. It is well-known that any organizational development initiatives through a change of culture failed dramatically because the culture diagnosis is either ignored or not understood. Incidentally, in the public sector, empirical findings of the cultural diagnosis are either non-existent or sketchy. Therefore, we comprehensively diagnose the culture of a public organization by utilizing the most widely used competing values framework through sequential explanatory mixed method approach (a survey, observations and in-depth interviews). This ambitious research approach is undoubtedly very rare in diagnosing public sector organizational culture. This study accepts this challenge to make a meaningful contribution and analyses the culture concerning the competing values of flexibility/stability and internal/external relationship. Results indicated that a reliance on the hierarchy culture did exist, while managers want to depart from this bureaucratic culture and adopt the characteristics of the clan culture. Keywords: diagnosis of culture, types of culture, competing values framework, public organization. 1. Introduction Many authors and practitioners argue that diagnosis of culture is essential to achieve organizational change and the long-term effectiveness successfully. Denison (1990) claims that organizational culture is an important factor in achieving high organizational performance. The study of organizational culture began in the 1980s, and understanding organizational culture has become an essential approach to implement strategic management and achieve high performance in the organization (Sasaki et al., 2017). Diagnosing and changing existing organizational culture is a challenging and problematic area of research. Hina Rukh (Corresponding author) National College of Business Administration & Economics, Lahore, Pakistan Rukh & Qadeer 399 In literature, the transformation of the bureaucratic inertia, high formalization, rigid departmentalization and centralization of government requires a thorough examination of the culture of public organizations. The culture of public sector organizations is complex, especially where corruption, red tape, poor governance, political and individual influences, resources scarcity, discrimination, favoritism, low protection of public rights are prevailing causes. Researchers, commentators on the global upheaval also agree that to survive and thrive in today’s highly volatile, competitive and dynamic business environment; organizations need to be sensitive to the need of diagnosing of its culture. Organizations must have clear and deep understandings of their present and future requirements to respond to them on a priority basis (Cummings & Worley, 2009). Cultural diagnosis is an un-ignorable factor before implementation of any organization development and change initiatives. Moreover, where ignored, the result comes in the failure of change programs (Cameron & Quinn, 2011). Hisrich and Al-Dabbagh (2013) also enforced that planned efforts will only be implemented successfully in the public organization like private sector when the diagnosis of culture is right. Rousseau (1990) suggested that it is imperative for the individuals to study or understand the organizational culture so that they become able to measure key dimensions of culture, develop a strategy for changing it, and begin an implementation process. Therefore, there is an acute need for diagnosis of culture in the public organizations to bring in change and transform them rapidly. A variety of private organizations have been practicing examining culture since long before implementing organization development (OD) and change initiatives (Cummings & Worley, 2015). Incidentally, in the public sector, cultural diagnosis before organization development is regarded as very limited that demands the establishment of literature on specific public organization development (POD). OD scholars and practitioners also believe that through focusing on the social and human aspects of organizations, the ability of public organizations for adapting and solving problems must be improved. “OD is not a step-by-step procedure to solve a specific problem but a planned process of fundamental change in an organization’s culture through utilization of behavioral science knowledge and techniques” (Burke, 1982). Traditionally, however, the existing literature on OD has focused more on the private sector, and further research on OD initiatives relevant to the public sector is the urgent need to make them efficient, entrepreneurial and effective. Mostly, OD interventions failed to implement successfully in organizations because of the reason to ignore the importance of diagnosis of the culture. Therefore, without a diagnosis of culture initially, the success of any attempt to change public organization’s culture is not possible. Museus (2007) described that quantitative tools are insufficient for uncovering an in-depth understanding of how or why organizational culture properties shape group actions and experiences. The use of the quantitative techniques for cultural diagnosis is extensive in private sector, and its empirical findings are limited in public sector. Employing the quantitative as well as qualitative methods for diagnosis is very rare in literature. By using Diagnosing Culture of Public Organization Utilizing Competing Values Framework 400 mixed methods, the validity of the results not only strengthens but also produce more robust results than could be accomplished by using a single method. The purpose of the study is to investigate the culture in public sector context through mixed-method techniques by utilizing competing values framework. This way it attempts to address the complicity and peculiar nature of culture effectively. It offers the opportunity to go more in depth of an essential aspect of organizational culture and to authenticate the quantitative results of the diagnosis of culture. Sequential explanatory mixed method technique combines the specificity and accuracy of the quantitative data with the complex perceptions and interpretation of idiosyncrasies provided by qualitative data. An underlying value framework is used to determine the most important key cultural dimensions. Of course, no framework is comprehensive enough to be treated as either right or wrong. According to Cameron and Quinn, (2011), the most appropriate frameworks should base on empirical evidence, should capture accurately the reality it describes and should be able to integrate and organize most of the dimensions it proposes. That is the purpose of using the competing values framework that provides a means for an organization to understand and analyze key aspects that generate strategies to change the culture and improve performance. No doubt, along with advancing the organization development and change literature, this study will help scholars and practitioners to scrutinize the intensified need of public organizations from the viewpoint of transforming them into, to a great extent, private sector entities. Also to necessitate overhauling of public sector organizations at their root level to reshape their culture to facilitate a successful transformation. Further, it aims to comprehensively examine the existing and preferred cultural requirements of the public managers that will give direction to transform the public organizations successfully. Moreover, it will observe the extent to which the results showed similarities and differences in the prevailing and preferred culture diagnosis from the previous research. Based on Bradley and Parker (2006), Camron and Quinn (2011) and Harrison and Baird (2015), the existing culture of the public organization is hierarchical, and employees have prevailing values of internal focus and stability and control orientation. This study will expect the same about the existing culture, but there has been a paucity of the literature to investigate the preferences of the employees for different types of the culture. 2. Literature Review The literature on OD applications focusses more on the private sector than the public sector (Hood, 1991). Public organizations are operating in the same highly volatile political and economic environment as of the private sector. They are facing the same pressures of increasing competition, globalization, technological developments, and managerial growth (Lovell, 1995; Stewart & Kimber, 1996). Since the 1970s, public organizations are often criticized as they are getting more corrupt, inefficient, rigid, corrupt, unaccountable, non-friendly and unsuitable for the public that requires more dynamic approaches to make them more citizens focused and business-like organizations (Hughes, 1998). This criticism paved the way for surfacing of different, appropriate and new techniques and interventions under the field of public organization development (POD). The evolution of POD will help to define new concepts and tools to Rukh & Qadeer 401 tackle even tougher problems of organizational dynamics and change facing to the government in an increasingly global and diverse world. Unfortunately, most attempts at change public sector presume that the challenge is to manage better rather than to govern differently. Attempts to transform public sector without examining the causes of the crises and how external factors are changing. The role of government ends up treating symptoms rather than the causes of the crises (Osborne & Gaebler, 1992). Because of which the magnitude of the failure of the most planned organizational initiatives to change has been colossal. For example, organizations have experimented their reengineering, pursued total quality management (TQM) and strategic planning besides some extraordinary steps like downsizing without achievement of any tangible results. Rather such initiatives created problems and even threatened the survival of the organizations (Cameron & Quinn, 2011). In various studies done to trace factors responsible for such failures, the organizational negligence to critically look at culture from re-organization and management’s perspective was the fundamental factor. Such negligence, besides being a sole cause for the failure, even dampened other initiatives of organizational changes (Kotter & Heskett, 1992). This established that unless addressing culture with an in-depth diagnosis, any meaningful and productive change in organizations through any other initiatives could not be attained. Empirical research also provides support for this fact that organizational culture influences individual’s behavior and its importance as a stimulant for organization performance cannot be ignored (Naranjo-Valencia et al., 2016). This void has provided an opportunity to the organizational leaders, managers, and academic researchers to understand and examine the criticality and significance of organizational culture that could be used as an effective tool to transform rather less effective organizations to cost-effective and efficient ones. This increased interest is justifiably visible. While specific reasons for this professional tilt may be considered as quite different, but the primary reason for the growing interest is embedded in recognition of an organizational culture that is an important factor in organizational effectiveness (Denison, 1990). As organizations are continuously evolving and reinventing their structure, the understanding and implications of culture become more important and essential (Sinha & Sheorey, 2016). Its diagnosis, therefore, has become more important to see through an organization’s history of cultural evolution and the key aspects that helped in shaping its identity (Trice & Beyer, 1993). Focusing on the importance of the public sector and its culture, existing literature on public organizational development and change is very limited. An in-depth vision of culture within an organization can surely provide the requisite wisdom to leaders, managers, and researchers about its fundamental prevailing characteristics (Schein, 1990) and then to propose strategic reformatory measures. Understanding of organizational culture will, in turn, help both the private as well as public organizations in managing or changing the culture to their sole advantage, i.e., enhanced efficiency, effectiveness, productivity, harmony, congeniality and so forth, which factors play a crucial role in the survival and growth of such organizations. Diagnosing Culture of Public Organization Utilizing Competing Values Framework 402 In recent years, the public sector has required changes dramatically, with an emphasis on accountability, transparency, and efficiency that can only be achieved by changing the culture of public sector organizations (Boyne & Meier, 2009). Before changing the culture, its diagnosis is crucial to find out existing and preferred culture. The use of the Organizational culture assessment instrument (OCAI) is extensive in private sector, and its empirical findings are limited in public sector. Figure 1 illustrates the Cameron and Quinn (2011) competing values framework labeling each quadrant to encapsulate best the most notable characteristics of the values that the cluster represents. The four labels are Clan (upper left quadrant), Adhocracy (upper right quadrant), Hierarchy (lower left quadrant), and Market (lower right quadrant). These labels help illustrate how the organizational values of the clusters also closely align with the organizational form most often implemented by organizations that feature the values of a particular quadrant. Cameron and Quinn (2011) argue that the dimensions, and the quadrants they shape, are robust and rich enough to be considered a cultural type. Figure 1: The Competing Values Framework The four culture types of the competing values framework – Hierarchy, Market, Clan, and Adhocracy – are each rooted in a model of organizational theory research. Each theoretical foundation provides the organizational environment for the values and characteristics of each culture to take root and become prominently expressed. The six sub-dimensions – dominant characteristics, organizational leadership, management of employees, organization glue, strategic emphasis, and criteria for success – serve to describe the fundamental manifestations of culture within an organization. While not completely comprehensive, the six sub-dimensions do cover the major components of the culture. The dominant characteristics and organizational glue sub-dimensions address the basic assumptions within the organization. Next, the organizational leadership and management of employees’ sub-dimensions address interaction patterns within the organization. Finally, the strategic emphases and criteria of success sub-dimensions address organizational direction. Each sub-dimension serves as a lens to view a slice of the culture within the Rukh & Qadeer 403 organization. When compiled together, they create a comprehensive culture profile of the whole organization as intended by the OCAI assessment. The Hierarchy culture, characterized by stability and an internal focus, is made up of a formally structured chain of command and control that emphasizes constancy, predictability, and efficiency. The Hierarchy culture type is one of the earliest and most widely adopted organizational culture types, particularly in government entities. The Market culture, characterized by stability and an external focus, produces a competitive organization that emphasizes results and achieving goals. The organization functions similar to a market focused on outward transactions with external communities that interact with the organization, such as “suppliers, customers, licensees, unions, and regulators” (Cameron & Quinn, 2011). The Clan culture, characterized by a flexible and internal focus, is a collaborative culture having values of an extended family with a strong commitment of people for human resource development and organizational success. Employees often work in semiautonomous teams and are rewarded based on production and goals achieved as a team, not as individuals. Employees are encouraged to actively participate in the development of the organization by providing their thoughts and input on how to improve production. Managers focus on empowering employees and help them develop their skills. Facilitating this employee cultivation is designed to build commitment and loyalty from employees to have a more effective overall organization. Finally, the Adhocracy culture, characterized by a flexible and internal focus, makes up a creative culture that promotes entrepreneurship, innovation, and unique ways to meet challenges and stay on the leading edge. This culture occurs from the open-system theory that focuses on an organization’s interaction and interdependence with its external environment. 3. Methods and Analysis A mixed method research design consisting of two distinct phases was selected to achieve the challenging aim of diagnosis of public organizational culture. In the first phase, quantitative data was collected using Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) to diagnose the existing and preferred culture in the public organization. In the second phase, qualitative data was collected through an ethnography comprising in-depth interviews, participant observation, analysis of archival data and official documentation to authenticate the diagnosis of the culture further. The research site was the large size public organizations responsible for metropolitan planning and development in the major cities of Pakistan. 3.1 Quantitative Phase-OCAI To identify the characteristics of organizational culture, the latest version of OCAI (Cameron & Quinn, 2011), based on competing values framework was used as this theoretical framework is one of the most influential and extensively used models in the area of organizational culture research (Yu,2009). Easy English language self-administered instrument/questionnaire was comprised of seven sections, mentioning the aims of the Diagnosing Culture of Public Organization Utilizing Competing Values Framework 404 study, instructions to fill the questionnaire and giving the assurance of confidentiality to the respondents. First six sections were arranged to cover the six dimensions consisting of four descriptive items each addressing the four culture types of the competing values framework, namely Clan, Adhocracy, Hierarchy, and Market. The six dimensions include: “1) The dominant characteristics of the organization, or what the overall organization is like; 2) The leadership style and approach that permeate the organization; 3) The management of employees or the style that characterizes how employees are treated and what the working environment is like; 4) The organizational glue or bonding mechanisms that hold the organization together; 5) The strategic emphases that define what areas of emphasis drive the organizations strategy; and 6) The criteria of success that determine how victory is defined and what gets rewarded and celebrated” (Cameron & Quinn, 2011). The seventh section was to collect demographics/personal information of respondents about their gender, marital status, age, education level, job designation, department, nature of the job, job experience in the current organization and total job experience. The OCAI is the most frequently used instrument for assessing organizational culture in the world today. It is a framework that was empirically derived, has been found to have both face and empirical validity, and helps integrate many of the dimensions various authors have proposed. In the past twenty years, it has been used extensively in scholarly research and thousands of organizations. OCAI has been found not only to give an accurate assessment of organizational culture, but significant relationships have also been found between culture and a variety of indicators of organizational effectiveness. Cameron and Quinn (2011) revealed that the review of scholarly publications in just the past ten years, for example, investigated that mostly doctoral dissertations have explored the relationship between organizational culture and a variety of outcomes using the OCAI. This instrument has been used in a variety of industry sectors representing both developed and developing countries in these studies. That is the purpose of using the Competing Values Framework that provides a means for an organization to understand and analyze key aspects that generate strategies to change the culture and improve performance. 3.1.1 Target Population Considering the complexity of the OCAI, its language, and also benchmarking most of the other studies, it was the best to survey managers only. Managers having at least six months of work experience in public organization were the target population. Managers were 325 (Male 273 and 52 Female) working in different departments. The studied organization has total 2274 (Male 1973 and 301 female) permanent employees working under basic pay scale 01-20. The questionnaire was sent to all managers having work experience of at least six months in the studied organization so that they are much familiar with the beliefs and values of the organization. Of the 325 managers, only 160 managers filled in the survey that shows the response rate of 49 %. 3.1.2 Measurements The four types of organizational culture are measured under six culture dimensions, i.e., dominant characteristics, leadership style, management of employees, organizational glue, strategic emphases and criteria of success. The 24 items in the instrument were arranged Rukh & Qadeer 405 in a group of 4. Each set of four items had a common introductory piece and then each of the four items that followed corresponded to one of the four culture types. Sample items for clan culture in the two-dimension dominant characteristics and management of employees are, “the organization is a very personal place. It is like an extended family. People seem to share a lot of themselves”, “the management style in the organization is characterized by teamwork, consensus, and participation.” In the same two dimensions, the sample items for adhocracy culture includes, “the organization is a dynamic and entrepreneurial. People are willing to take risks while doing innovative and creative work”, “the management style in the organization is characterized by individual risk-taking, innovation, freedom, and uniqueness.” Similarly, the sample items for market culture includes, “the organization is very result oriented. A major concern is with getting the job done. People are not very personally involved”, “the management style in the organization is characterized by intense competitiveness, high demands, and achievement.” Finally, for hierarchy culture includes, “the organization is a very formalized and structured. Formal procedures generally govern what people do”, “the management style in the organization is characterized by security of employment, predictability, and stability in relationships” (Cameron & Quinn, 2011). To find out the respondents’ response for “Now” and “Preferred” culture, four items under each dimension were asked to select a single item. “Now” refers to the culture, as it existed currently in the organization. “Preferred” refers to the culture, as it would like to look in next five years. The selected items were coded by using nominal scale 0 for No and 1 for Yes. The responses were counted to determine the scores for each culture type. Items that are the most similar and the most preferred to the organization would receive higher scores and items that are the least similar and the least preferred received fewer scores. The scores regarding percentages were plotted on a radar-style graph for each dimension, which provided a visual representation of the organization’s culture profile. The mapping depicted the current and preferred culture. High percentage represented the dominant existed and preferred culture type and low percentage represent the less existed and desired culture type. Current and preferred organizational culture types have shown in solid lines and dotted lines in each quadrant respectively. Responses to personal information were coded by using nominal scale 1 to 2 for gender, marital status and workplace and ordinal scale of 1 to 3 for age, education level, managerial level, nature of the job, job tenure and total experience. 3.2 Quantitative Cultural Assessment The survey fetched 160 useable questionnaires from the managers of a large public organization. The response rate was 49 % for the target populations of 325 managers. Of the 160 managers, 78% were male; 59% were unmarried; 91% fall in the age bracket of 18 to 35 years. They represent all managerial level, 66%, 24%, and 10% from lower, middle and upper level respectively. The managers are highly qualified with 97% of them are at least master degree holders. These respondents have sufficient job tenure in the current organization, 42% have four Diagnosing Culture of Public Organization Utilizing Competing Values Framework 412 the themes of existing and preferred culture emerging from the interviews of the participants. The analyses were also done to identify the various major problems faced towards attaining efficiency and effectiveness. Following the interviews, participants were given an opportunity to review their transcripts so that no ambiguity arose from the interpretations of the qualitative statements. Evidence from the qualitative data revealed the following participants’ responses: Presently, in the organization, there is no trend of information sharing. We just came to the job, perform the tasks and went home, didn’t communicate with anybody and did not question anything that came from the top down. (Transcript # 1) The implementation order is straightforward, here’s what they are, must do it whether you have an acceptance or not, could not show any moment of mourning, there’s no sort of, it is you will do this. (Transcript # 2) So we did not have some discussion on it as these are the standards and we have to follow them and began implementing them. (Transcript # 3) ...the culture is not supportive of the employees. They are not satisfied with their job except it is a source of earning for them. (Transcript # 4) The results of in-depth interviews and field observations confirmed that the results of the OCAI survey were very accurate about the preferred culture required in future. Not a single respondent deviate about the most strongly preferred Clan culture. Participants felt organization-wide gaps on clan scale measures related to three items: (1) the organization emphasizes human development, high trust, openness, and participation, (2) the leadership in the organization is generally considered to exemplify facilitating, mentoring, and nurturing and (3) the organization defines success in terms of employee commitment, teamwork and concern for people. Current practices do not facilitate human resource development in the public organization. 3.5 Overall Organizational Culture Assessment In this study, sequential explanatory mixed method research approach was used to get the deeper understanding of the culture. Both quantitative and qualitative forms of inquiry revealed the same results. Qualitative findings strengthen the quantitative findings and vice versa (Creswell &Clark, 2011). Specifically, this section described that how the qualitative data helps to explain the quantitative findings. Qualitative data was collected through ethnography, i.e., observations, interviews, documents, etc. that elements reflect the characteristics of different types of organizational culture described in the Competing Values Framework (Cameron & Quinn, 2011). A combined analysis of quantitative and qualitative findings that are identified across both phases of the study, allowed to draw meta-inferences. The following results are drawn when qualitative findings added to the understanding of quantitative results.  The OCAI survey analysis identified the Hierarchy culture as leading culture type in the public organization. The second most dominant culture was the Market culture. The third and fourth most dominant responses were for the Clan culture and Adhocracy culture respectively. Based on the descriptive illustration outlined by Rukh & Qadeer 413 Cameron and Quinn (2011), significant evidence of the Hierarchy culture identified in the analysis of ethnography. Cameron and Quinn (2011) described Hierarchy culture as controlled, formal and structured culture and leadership style in this culture as rule enforcers. Following descriptions of the participants showed the dominance of Hierarchy culture: Everything decided by management is decidedly important and necessary to implement, we are bound to comply their orders whether we like it or not. (Transcript # 1). Even the head of the organization follows the direction of the politically selected CEO (Chief Minister), he/she has no concern for the interest of employees and organization. They have only interest in the completion of their tasks. (Transcript # 2)  The OCAI survey analyzed that preferred leading culture identified for the studied public organization is the clan culture. Second preferred culture is Adhocracy culture, and third preferred culture is market culture. The least preferred culture is Hierarchy culture. Cameron and Quinn (2011) characterized clan culture as a family-like with a competing value of teamwork and employee involvement. Leadership in a clan culture is described as supportive mentors. Following participants’ description revealed the clear existence of clan culture: We really concerned and liked the employees’ input as part of the culture and that will certainly give a feel to us like it is a family that is a great thing that we want to say about our workplace. (Transcript # 3) The work environment in the organization should be very much warm welcoming where employees feel happy and satisfied to work with a family. Employees feel secure, comfortable and contented. (Transcript # 4) Evidence of the Hierarchy as existing culture and Clan as preferred culture is shown from the analysis of qualitative data that supports the findings of the quantitative phase of the study. Same culture types were identified as the existing primary culture, i.e., Hierarchy culture and preferred culture, i.e., Clan culture that was in the OCAI survey.  Evaluation of the OCAI survey responses revealed that competing values of internal focus is more required than external focus. Participants desired more the clan culture which has the same values of internal focus as of the hierarchy culture. There is no significant difference found in existed and preferred culture concerning competing values of internal focus and external focus. Internal focus describes as “personoriented with an emphasis on unity and integration within the organization,” and external focus describes “on interacting or competing with others outside their boundaries” (Cameron and Quinn, 2011). The existence of a strong internal focus showed from the following participants’ descriptions: I think we do efforts to make the mission happen. (Transcript # 5) We really do work for the betterment of organization as collective interest is more important than individual interest. (Transcript # 6) Diagnosing Culture of Public Organization Utilizing Competing Values Framework 414 It talks about quality service many times at each level, for improving the customer service and providing relief to the general public. (Transcript # 7) The competing values of internal focus were evident in the qualitative findings that support the results of the quantitative data. This inference provides a clear understanding to develop and implement the change interventions aligning with cultural inclinations.  Evaluation of the participants’ interviews and OCAI survey responses revealed a significant difference between the competing values of flexibility versus stability. Results indicate the preference of flexibility and discretion on stability and control. The organizational culture of the studied public organization exhibited a competing value of flexibility and discretion that describe as “being organic, innovation as compared to the organizations displaying stability and control as being predictable, mechanistic and durable” (Cameron and Quinn, 2011). Participants’ statements revealed the preferences of flexibility and discretion in the public organization: We have no more required traditional rigid early stages practices in the organizations. The need to embed the employee and customer oriented practices in the organization (Transcript # 6). The prevailing values do not allow any innovative and employee friendly activities in the organization; culture should be based on new human resource practices. (Transcript # 7) Evidence of preference for flexibility and discretion was detected in the qualitative data and quantitative data as well. Ethnography supports the findings obtained during the quantitative phase of the study. The key aspects that were found out during both phases provided an in-depth understanding of the culture in the studied public organization. No doubt, combining the quantitative and qualitative methods in a complementary way produces more authentic, valid and robust results than to employ only a single method (Yauch & Steudel, 2003). 4. Discussion In pursuance of the aims of the study, the analysis of the survey data obtained from organizational culture assessment instrument (OCAI) and observational data, interviews, archives and official documents, recognized the results of Cameron and Quinn (2011) in the organization. All four culture types were identified, with the Hierarchy culture being the most dominant existing culture. Results support the Parker and Bradley’s (2000) and Bradley and Parker’s (2006) empirical findings that public sector organizational culture remains reflective of the Hierarchy culture of bureaucracy and internal process, with emphasis on regulations, rules, conformity and attention to technical detail. Concerning preferred culture for a public organization, the results of the study have shown no change from that described by Baird (2007), Harrison and Baird (2015). The organizational culture of public sector reflected the emphasis of being family like, achievement-oriented, competitive, having high performance, action and result oriented, and innovative with its components of risk-taking, quick to take advantage of opportunities, not being constrained by many rules (Osborne & Gaebler, 1992). Schein (2010) stated that managers perceive the existing culture and change the culture of Rukh & Qadeer 415 the organization in a way that the organization can survive in the changing environment. Moving from one culture type to another does not mean that aspects of other culture types should be ignored or disregarded. Instead, it means that there should be a particular emphasis, or de-emphasis, made on certain cultural characteristics to manipulate the organizational culture to best move from the status quo to the preferred cultural makeup. The overall results of the study illustrated that managers showed the more desire for the Clan and Adhocracy culture and less desire for the Hierarchy and Market culture. Clan and Adhocracy culture encompasses collaboration, employee empowerment, entrepreneurship, innovation, unique ways to meet challenges and a strong commitment to fostering the development of people within the organization. These findings involve higher levels of trust in an employee’s ability to accomplish tasks successfully with less supervision and oversight. Overall, an increased emphasis on the Clan and Adhocracy culture means a more open environment where the freedom of an employee to self-manage, innovate is important. Correspondingly, it does not mean organization sacrifices discipline and gives employees independence only looking out for their interests and ignoring coordinations with others. Results indicated that the old top-down bureaucratic culture in the public organizations is not effective. To become the successful government, public organizations should generate cost-effective new ways of thinking and do activities and enforce corruption free practice. Public sector organizations in Pakistan need to become more like the private sector and to have more concern on the human resource development and entrepreneurship as like other South Asian Countries. These new demands will likely necessitate changes in the culture of the public organization. Combining with those of prior studies to describe that change in public organizational culture remains challenging and problematic and challenging. Denison (1990) claims that “existing cultures have tremendous inertia.” 4.1. Contribution of the Study This study will play a significant role extending to the relatively limited literature of OD in the public sector. In addition, it advances the research of culture change in other public organizations. The culture in the public organization empirically examined with survey and an ethnographic data. In an organizational change process, this study provides help for the managers to develop and evaluate appropriate strategies for achieving improved performance and outcome in the public sector by understanding its culture. From the management perspective, culture change in a public organization is of central concern because management techniques and OD interventions associated with the new public management techniques should not conflict with the attitudes, values, and behaviors within public sector organization. From the policy perspective, a clearer understanding of nature of the public organization provides a basis for both explaining and assessing the appropriateness and outcomes of public sector culture change interventions. 4.2. Implications Understanding the organizational culture types as well as the values and beliefs associated with those cultures is of significant importance in studying public organization to attempt extensive change initiatives in response to broad change environmental demands. Diagnosing Culture of Public Organization Utilizing Competing Values Framework 416 Additionally, this understanding of culture provides leaders/managers with insight into the behaviors and values of the organization’s members. The Hierarchy culture, diagnosed in the public organization, is characterized as being very formalized and structured. It maintains an internal focus with an emphasis on stability and control. Cameron and Quinn (2011) identified that when working within a Hierarchy culture, leaders should clarify individual expectations, foster coordination within the organization and monitor processes and performance. Ethnography supported these comments. Participants readily expressed their need for transparent communication and clear explanations. The clan culture, diagnosed as a preferred culture in public organization, is characterized as having an internal focus and flexibility. It emphasizes loyalty, tradition, and concern for people. Cameron and Quinn (2011) identified that when working within a clan culture, leaders should facilitate cohesive teamwork, create opportunities for supportive feedback and help individuals improve their performance with development opportunities. Focus group participants expressed the need for an organization to achieve flexibility, respect for employees and leaders should be facilitators, not dictators. The findings of the study reveal the substantial effect that a leader of the change effort can have in moving an organization away from the status quo and toward an intended goal. The implementation of new culture change standards and initiatives require leaders to think differently about goals and accomplishments as well as behave differently regarding human development. Having a role model demonstrate new attitudes and behaviors provides participants with a vision of expectations and often serves as a more powerful motivation tool than formal training mechanisms. Managers must realize that while developing policies and process, human elements need to be considered. Without understanding human resource values, beliefs, no intervention will be succeeded. Findings further implied that diagnosis of culture contributed to improving the performance of public organizations and helped to achieve flexibility, innovation, and effectiveness. 4.3 Limitation and Future Directions Diagnosis of culture in the organization represents research concerns that should be conducted on an increasingly larger scale both at the level of researchers and practitioners. This study considers that a complete picture of the organizational culture will be portrayed when the behavior of all the employees working in higher scale to lower scale will be observed. Future research will be done longitudinally, and information will get from multiple informants to increase the validity of the research. OD research is always done in individual cases. The knowledge of culture is deeply contextual, and it cannot be transferred from one organization to another, and therefore generalization and comparison of research results are not possible. Researcher realized that some participants experienced difficulty with the survey and, as a result, either elected not to participate or to end the survey before its completion. Therefore, the questionnaire needs to be translated into the simple national language to get more precise and accurate cultural diagnosis. From the research, it is suggested that the field of public organization development should be established more and studies must be conducted to diagnose and change the culture for Rukh & Qadeer 417 making public sector effective and efficient. The transformation of existing culture of public organizations towards preferred culture needs to be deeply required (Daft, 2010). 4.4 Conclusion The research has concluded with this finding that public employees perceived the existing culture of the public organization, similar to a traditional bureaucratic culture, with high emphasis on the centralized, controlled and non-responsive environment. Managers as well as lower level employees both desire the development of entrepreneurial human relation model. Employees showed hatred towards bureaucratic culture in public organizations of Pakistan. They demanded to modernize government as in Asian Countries, i.e., Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, etc. that focus on cutting red-tape and corruption, reducing discrimination and favoritism, empowering employees for better results and putting customers first. No doubt, changing the culture is a long-term endeavor. 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