The Influence of Organizational Culture on the Performance of Catholic Relief Service in South Sudan

Abstract

In the previous studies, organizational culture has been recognized as an essential influential factor in analyzing organizations in various contexts. Its importance to establish competitive advantages impact on organizational performance. Many scholars underscored that the success of organizations is not only determined by specific external conditions, for example, barriers to market entry, rivalry in the industry, and supplier and buyer power, but also by culture related factors. This increased interest in organizational culture by scholars had led to the development of different theories/models/frameworks, of which some have formed a base of literature of this present study, aiming at explaining organizational culture. It‘s also stressed that organizational behavior literature has recognized the importance of culture in this search, and identified it as a key resource for motivating and optimizing the productivity of the human capital. More than any other factor, culture defines the character of an entity and it influences managerial decision-making, strategy choices and the pursuit of market opportunities in a way that marks one organization from another. Despite more emphasis having been put on the concept of organizational culture by many scholars, and more precisely by conducting numerous studies and discussions on the influence of organizational culture on the performance within organizational theory and management, organizational culture seemed to have received far less attention within non-governmental sector research and wider development studies, and more so in the context of South Sudan.It is on this background that this study was undertaken.This study was aimed at expanding the base of knowledge and examine the relationship between organizational culture and performance of Catholic Relief Service (CRS) with South Sudan as a context of study. The research specific objective of this study was to determine how organizational culture influences the organization performance of Catholic Relief Service in South Sudan. The study adopted the exploratory research approach to explore the association of the two main variables. In this study, primary data was collected through interviews of about 21 employees; both national and international staff, at CRS South Sudan in both Juba and Bor offices. At some point, the researcher also used observation in collecting the primary data. The sample consists of both male and female, and it was cross-cutting along the organizations hierarchical levels. The content analysis method was used in analyzing the collected data. The results from the content analysis indicated that organizational culture, with all its dimensions, is highly associated with organizational performance and more precisely indicated positive correlation. The results highlighted the following factors/strategies: Operational excellence, strong mission and vision, accountability, staff development, partnership and cross-sectoral integration, global brand management and strategic leadership, as the main determinants in developing a strong organizational culture by CRS South Sudan. The finding, however comprehensive it was, may not necessarily be the case for other INGOs operating in South Sudan because the then study indicated that organization culture could have both positive and negative impact on the organizational performances contingent on how organization build around its culture. Therefore, the study recommended that further research be carried out on the effect of organizational culture on the performance of more than one INGOs in South Sudan. The study also recommended that further research be conducted with the research sample not only being drawn from the employees of the organization under investigation, but as well from partners‘ institutions and from the beneficiaries