| Abstract [eng] |
99 pages, 21 charts, 18 pictures, 97 references Purpose of this master thesis is to determine what kind of impact does the type of organizational culture have on the continuous improvement application and continuous improvement application success – organizational performance results. The work is composed of three main sections – systemic literature analysis on organizational culture – namely the definition of organizational culture, typology, dimensions and culture assessment instruments; systemic literature analysis on continuous improvement and its success measures as well as the relationship with organizational culture; lastly, empirical research methodology, rationale behind it and research results, which illustrate the statistically significant cause and effect relationships between specific organizational culture types and certain continuous improvement application aspects and organizational performance (which elements impact which ones). Literature analysis revealed that organizational culture definition includes both explicit and implicit elements, hence it is a difficult task to grasp it. Assessing the organizational culture can support better understanding of relationships between organizational performance and member behavior and activities. Continuous improvement can be characterized by continuous problem identification and problem solving, using standardized methods, engaging all employees into improvement activities (from identifying issues to generating and implementing solutions), setting improvement targets, process orientation and continuous incremental changes towards better performance. Success of continuous improvement often manifests through organizational performance results, namely the positive change of the results. Organizational culture largely impacts the success of continuous improvement since the foundation of continuous improvement is employee engagement and specific behaviors. The methods applied to conduct the research: systemic literature analysis, to gather quantitative data – survey questionnaire, Likert scale for assessing the statements within the questionnaire, for building the questionnaire – OCAI – preexisting instrument to identify culture types, new questionnaire design to evaluate the application of continuous improvement and organizational performance, questionnaire testing – expert unstructured survey, statistical analysis – linear regression, mediation analysis, reliability testing, descriptive statistics. Empirical research proved that organizational culture type does indeed impact continuous improvement aspects (engagement, intensity), as well as together with continuous improvement application it does impact the organizational performance results (overall, customer and employee perspective). The key research hypothesis about continuous improvement having a mediator effect on organizational culture type impact on performance results was denied, however it was concluded that organizational culture affects the performance results together with continuous improvement rather than independently. Significant culture types in this relationship are clan, hierarchy and market types. It is important to note, that research shows not only positive impact of culture types (clan, market), but also negative (hierarchy). Understanding which culture types influence continuous improvement and its success can support managers and leaders in choosing correct change management and implementation strategies, communicate, demonstrate and encourage relevant values in order to secure successful continuous improvement application and positive change in performance results. Keywords: organizational culture, continuous improvement, organizational performance results. |
