Organisational Culture and Operational Excellence of Agrochemical Firms in Nairobi
Abstract
Organisational culture can significantly affect operational excellence in firms. Culture
continues to define who we are, what we do and how we do it, irrespective of the type
of culture, influenced by information. Culture is therefore prescriptive in nature. These
influences from culture, have been manifested in the work place to evolve into an
organisational culture. Operational excellence within firms on the other hand, is part of
the response to a dynamic environment in pursuit of customer satisfaction, quality
system deployment among other strategic goals. The study of organisational culture
and operational excellence of agrochemical firms in Nairobi is an attempt to establish
the types of culture in these organisations. The study also sought to establish the effect
of organisational culture on operational excellence within these same firms. The
agrochemical association of Kenya membership list of 2017 provided a sample
population for this study. To understand the relationship, statistical analytical technique
and questionnaire was used. Regression analysis was used to test the operational
excellence score against the six cultural dimensions. The competing value framework
is the overarching theoretical basis for this research and the prescribed cultural
typologies prescribed feature prominently. The organisational culture assessment
instrument was used to measure culture within these firms and the results plotted on a
Radar Chart. To check for operational excellence, the operational excellence audit sheet
was adopted. The five operational excellence measure were customer satisfaction,
health, safety and environment, teamwork, skill level and motivation, manufacturing,
planning and control system and quality system deployment. The results bear evidence
to a positive correlation between organisational culture and operational excellence at
very significant values though dominant characteristics and criteria of success are the
two most significant cultural dimensions that predict operational excellence. The
agrochemical firms in Nairobi were found to be dominant in the market and clan culture
types not only now but also in the immediate future as well. However, a limitation to
the study was the fact that the respondents relied on their subjective perceptions of the
different cultural types and the levels of operational excellence. There is evidence to
show that a focus on the cultural dimensions can have an effect on operational
excellence, it is a part of the organisational set up and as such should not be ignored.
An analytical model based on statistics for illustrating the correlation between
organisational culture and operational excellence within agrochemical firms in Nairobi
was developed in this study. At this point, there is need for more research on other
factors that have an effect on operational excellence within the agrochemical firms in
Nairobi.
Keywords Organisational Culture, Operational Excellence, Cultural Dimensions
Publisher
university of nairobi
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States
Usage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/
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