THE LEVEL OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AS A CONSTANT CHALLENGE FOR COMPANY MANAGEMENT – AN EMPIRICAL RESEARCH IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC AND POLAND

Organizational culture (OC) is a concept, which is defined from many different perspectives. For example, Schein defines culture as a pattern of shared fundamental assumptions learned by a group as it overcomes both external adaptation and internal integration obstacles, whereby group member use is efficient enough to be considered valuable and which is taught to new members as the right way of meandering through the equivalent future obstacles. According to Dubkēvič and Barbars OC comprises structured behaviour (especially leadership style), language, rituals, ceremonies, myths, heroes, etc. The aim of this study is to examine the level of organizational culture in the Czech Republic and Poland, i.e. to make a comparison. In the questionnaire survey’s framework, 1,574 questionnaires were received in the Czech Republic, 1,476 questionnaires were processed, 433 questionnaires were received in Poland and 360 questionnaires were included in the evaluation for the same reason as the Czech questionnaires. Since it has been a long-term study in the Czech Republic, more respondents were recruited, in Poland it was the first survey within the co-operation – pilot version. The obtained data was evaluated using Microsoft Excel 2016 and IBM SPSS v. 24. Descriptive statistics tools, correlation and nonparametric Mann-Whitney U-test were used to evaluate the data at significance level p = 0.05. The results show that innovative culture is a better model than bureaucratic or supportive culture. Managers should develop an innovative and supportive culture. There are statistically significant differences in innovative organizational culture index evaluation between the Czech Republic and Poland. Statistically significant difference was observed in the organizational culture index evaluation, mainly depending on the organization’s size and on the respondent’s job position in the Czech Republic. The statistically significant difference in the organizational culture index evaluation in Poland was demonstrated depending on the organization’s size.