Identifying organizational culture and subcultures within Greek public hospitals
Journal of Health Organization and Management
ISSN: 1477-7266
Article publication date: 5 September 2008
Abstract
Purpose
Since organizational culture is undoubtedly critical in a highly competitive era, the purpose of this paper is to identify the core culture dimensions that exist within Greek public hospitals and examine inherent subcultures, based on employee characteristics.
Design/methodology/approach
The study took place in 20 Greek public hospitals, randomly selected in eight major cities, and provided 749 usable responses from front‐line employees. Statistical analyses used include descriptive statistics, t‐tests, and analysis of variance.
Findings
Surprisingly, employees in Greek public hospitals were found consider attention to detail, outcome and team orientation to be the least prevalent cultural characteristics of their employing organizations. After checking for potential variations in the way that employees view the operating organizational culture, significant differences were revealed based on age, job position and tenure in position. Nevertheless, gender, occupation and type of employment relationship do not seem to affect employee perceptions of culture.
Practical implications
Developing a culture which fosters service quality is a prerequisite when trying to achieve maximum patient satisfaction. It is a prerequisite, however, that organizational agents hold a clear view of subcultures inherent in the main culture, in order to effectively manage employees and achieve long‐term organizational survival and success.
Originality/value
This research fills the gap in the area of organizational culture and subcultures in Greek public hospitals.
Keywords
Citation
Bellou, V. (2008), "Identifying organizational culture and subcultures within Greek public hospitals", Journal of Health Organization and Management, Vol. 22 No. 5, pp. 496-509. https://doi.org/10.1108/14777260810898714
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2008, Emerald Group Publishing Limited