Name: M.Ozgur Temiz

Project title: Supporting the performance of the RGU Aberdeen Business School through an appropriate organisational culture

A description of the problem or topic to be examined:

The effect of organisational culture on the business performance has been a popular subject for many researchers. According to G. Hofstede*, although nobody has found -or is likely to find- a simple one-to-one relationship of any aspect of organisational culture with organisational performance, there is little doubt that organisational culture affects performance; in the long run, it may be the one decisive influence for the survival or fall of the organisation -although this is difficult to prove, if only because the necessary longitudinal analyses are hardly feasible. Whilst there are a significant number of studies which attempt to explore the perceived link between organisational culture and performance very few specifically refer to either higher education in general or specifically business schools. Considering the rapidly growing UK business school market, the appropriate organisational culture for the efficient use of resources and recognition of opportunities, and consequently for a positive effect on the business performance would appear to be an important consideration for business schools and particularly for Aberdeen Business School (ABS). Internationalisation of business education, the need for the improvement of business school-business linkages and increasing competition in the market may force not only the ABS management but also other business schools to consider the introduction of new practices and new ways of doing things. Therefore understanding the dimensions of an appropriate organisational culture for ABS, which might assist in increasing its performance in such a business environment, could be of value.

* Hofstede, G. (1998), Attitudes, Values & Organisational Culture: Disentangling the concepts, Organization Studies, 19/3, 477-492

The rationale for the choice of this topic:

I became familiar with the subject while studying on organisational culture and managing change throughout the 1^st and 2^nd semester. The idea of focusing on the case of business schools appeared after talking to my personal supervisor in recognising that I may come up with a valuable study, considering the key business issues for ABS such as internationalisation and business relations.

The contribution it will make to the development of personnel management practice:

Updated information on organisational culture and performance link through a detailed literature review will be one of the outcomes of this research. Focusing on the business school may assist them in achieving their business objectives. Focusing on the organisational culture and interventions for increasing performance may also provide a methodology and a framework of personnel management practices, which assist in the development of an appropriate performance enhancing culture.

A brief indication of research already undertaken in this area:

I have already found some research papers on the relation between organisational culture and performance (Kotter, J.P. & Heskett, J.L. (1992), Corporate Culture and Performance, New York: The Free Press, Dennison, D. (1990), Corporate Culture and Orgaanisational Effectiveness, New York: John Wiley, Lawler, E.E. (1992), The ultimate advantage: creating the high involvement organisation, San Francisco, Jossey Bass, Hofstede, G. (1998), Attitudes, Values & Organisational Culture: Disentangling the concepts, Organization Studies, 19/3, Christensen, E.W. & Gordon, G.G. (1999), An exploration of Industry, Culture and Revenue Growth, Organization Studies, 20/3, Appiah-Adu, K. & Singh, S. (1999), Marketing Culture and Performance in UK Service Firms, The Service Industries Journal, 19/1). The studies on business schools and the organisational culture of business schools are appear to be relatively few when compared to the other industries or sectors. Currently it has not been possible to discover any studies on organisational culture of business schools in relation with their performance. Therefore the literature review will be concluded with a consideration of the applicability of the methodologies explored in the commercial sector studies to the business school case.

A statement of research objectives:

· To examine the theoretical relation between organisational culture and performance.

· To examine the business environment in which UK business schools operate and the practices they employed as a response to the changing environment.

· To compare and contrast the global issues for business schools with the key issues identified for ABS.

· To identify the dimensions of an appropriate organisational culture for the ABS in relation to the theoretical framework and the challenges and key issues in the market place.

· To identify the existing organisational culture and climate of ABS in comparison with the identified appropriate organisational culture.

· To reach to a conclusion on which the recommendations will be based for closing the gap between the existing and appropriate organisational culture and climate of ABS with connecting the theory to the practice.

The proposed subject population/sample:

All ABS academic and management staff.

Access required for this sample or other data:

Permission required from the head of ABS.

Ethical considerations:

Ensuring confidentiality is a major ethical issue for the kind of data that will be collected.

The proposed method of data collection:

Interviews, questionnaire, ABS documents, databases in the Internet and related magazines.

The proposed techniques to be employed for data analysis:

Both qualitative and quantitative techniques are planned to be used in this research such as case study and correlation analysis.

Anticipated problems:

Availability of academic staff during the summer period.

Honesty of responses to the questionnaire.

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