MANAGER'S ASSESSMENT OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

This paper analyzes the dimension of organizational culture assessment by managers, in order to diagnose the results of the research directions of changes in management that contributed to the successful functioning of the organization. The research encompassed 168 managers within 8 companies of different structure and ownership type. A Pareek questionnaire was used to measure the dimensions of corporate culture. The managers have expressed their opinions on different corporate culture dimensions on a 4-level scale. In particular, the following were considered: openness, confrontation, trust, authenticity, proactivity, autonomy, cooperation and attitude towards experimenting. Determining dominant corporate culture dimensions has primarily a purpose of identifying: the current state of value dimensions of culture, differences between opinions of managers in public sector versus those in production companies, differences between opinions pertinent to different managerial levels, and opinions about possible impact of certain dimensions of corporate culture on behavior of employees within the companies encompassed in the study. Survey results indicate a clear difference in the assessment of organizational culture in relation to the level of managers, types of organizations (manufacturing or service) and ownership status of the organization (public or private). Higher levels of management rate higher the majority of dimensions of organizational culture as compared to the lower levels of management. Managers of manufacturing industrial systems rate higher the dimensions of organizational culture in comparison with the managers of the service sector.
Managers, as bearers of the culture, can contribute to establishment of desired cultural values that will promote the development of organization. In the long turbulent transition period that Serbia has been going through – and which has a negative impact on business performance of the companies – it is vital to determine the difference between the existing values and those desired that would contribute to the fastest development of the companies.