The Implementation of Goffee and Jones’s Types of Organizational Culture in a Greek State-Owned Organization that Introduced New Technologies

Abstract

Organizational culture plays a significant role in corporations. The introduction of new technologies creates significant changes and requires the contribution of an efficient organizational culture to produce positive results. The use of the various typologies of organizational culture can assist managers to identify the type of culture that is present in the organization and can provide useful guidelines on how to adapt to or change the existing culture, in order to make it more effective, particularly when introducing new technologies. Goffee and Jones (1996, 2003), based on the concepts of sociability and solidarity, proposed four types of culture: (a) networked, (b) mercenary, (c) communal, and (d) fragmented. This paper examines the development of these concepts and types of culture in a state-owned organization in Greece, following the organization’s decision to introduce significant new technologies. This organization had a unique blend of characteristics. Quantitative research was conducted using a questionnaire compiled specifically for this case. Factor analysis was used for statistical analysis of the data. While the introduction of new technologies was successfully completed, the findings of this study highlight certain features of sociability and solidarity and the types of culture that contain them, which have contributed to the successful introduction and adoption of new technologies.

Keywords

• new technologies introduction
• goffee and jones types of organizational culture
• public organization with specific characteristics