The Role of Organizational Culture on a Subculture of Feedback

Hysong, Sylvia J.

The Role of Organizational Culture on a Subculture of Feedback

Hysong, Sylvia J.

Organizational culture has long been studied in relationship to organizational performance, though this relationship has not been established consistently. Martin (2002) suggested the simultaneous existence of a general culture, and multiple, context-specific subcultures in an organization. Are subcultures simply context-specific reflections of the larger organizational culture? Or do they serve as potential moderators of the relationship between the larger organizational culture and organizational performance? To explore this question, we employed ATLAS.ti 6.2 to conduct a content analysis of organizational culture at four United States Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Centers (VAMCs). Sites were selected purposely based on their performance on 15 clinical measures. At each facility we conducted one-hour telephone interviews of the facility director, the director of primary care, and one full-time primary care physician and nurse. Participants answered questions about the types of clinical performance information they receive, and seek out, the utility of such data, and how they use said information. Each site’s culture was highly distinct. However, despite these differences across sites, the mirror relationship between organizational culture and feedback subculture was present in all four sites, suggesting the subculture is a reflection of the parent culture.

ATLAS.ti Audit and feedback Organizational culture Primary health care Qualitative methods