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Organisational culture in Indian organisations: an empirical study

Article  in  International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management · January 2010

DOI: 10.1504/IJICBM.2010.029529

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68 Int. J. Indian Culture and Business Management, Vol. 3, No. 1, 2010

Organisational culture in Indian organisations:

an empirical study

Rakesh Kumar Agrawal*

Institute of Management Technology,
Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
E-mail: rkagrawal@imt.edu
E-mail: rakeshagrawal.dr@gmail.com
*Corresponding author

Archana Tyagi
University of Business and International Studies Geneva,
6 Place Chevelu, Geneva CH-1201, Switzerland
E-mail: archana.tyagi@gmail.com
Abstract: This paper explores the nature of organisational ethos prevalent in
different sectors of Indian economy using the OCTAPACE profile. Analysis of
data collected from employees of 16 different organisations belonging to
consulting, manufacturing, services and IT/ITES sectors indicate that
significant differences exist in the cultures of organisations in the different
sectors. Authenticity and autonomy are more valued in consulting as compared
to the manufacturing and services industries. Openness and confrontation are
higher in the IT/ITES sectors, while collaboration is higher in the
manufacturing sector. Private sectors have an open and a trusting culture as
compared to the public sector. Results also reveal that employees who are
professionally qualified rate confrontation, authenticity and autonomy higher
than those who are not professionally qualified. However, no significant
difference exists between males and females in their evaluation of
organisational culture.
Keywords: organisational culture; India; sector-wise; OCTAPACE.
Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Agrawal, R.K. and
Tyagi, A. (2010) ‘Organisational culture in Indian organisations: an empirical
study’, Int. J. Indian Culture and Business Management, Vol. 3, No. 1,
pp.68–87.
Biographical notes: Rakesh Kumar Agrawal is an Associate Professor of
OB&HR at the Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad, India. He
obtained his PhD from IIT Roorkee after completing his MTech in Behavioural
and Social Sciences from IIT Delhi and BTech from IIT Bombay. His primary
research interest is in the area of humanistic principles of management and
related issues. He has a number of publications to his credit.
Archana Tyagi is a PhD in Psychology, DM&SP (Clinical Psychologist) from
CIP Kanke, Ranchi and MA from BHU, Varanasi, India. She has experience of
nearly 15 years in the areas of teaching, research and executive education. She
has been a Professor of OB/HR at IMT, Ghaziabad and has worked as Area
Chair – OB/HR and Chairperson – PGDBM (HR) in IMT. She is a qualified
trainer of MBTI and DISC. Her research focuses primarily on
personality, work-life balance and organisational culture. Currently, she is
based in Geneva and is associated with UBIS-Switzerland as an adjunct faculty.

Copyright © 2010 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

 Organisational culture in Indian organisations 69

1 Introduction

An organisation’s culture, which is its soul, comprises the collective values of the
individuals that make up the organisation. Each individual has his/her beliefs that
translate into personal values which, expressed collectively, shape an organisation’s
culture (Haines, 2000). Culture also operates as a ‘social control system’ (O’Reilly,
1989). It communicates how things ought to be and defines the “unwritten rules of the
game” (Scott-Morgan, 1994). Culture can be felt in the implicit rules and expectations of
behaviour wherein employees know what is expected of them, even in the absence of
written rules (Saxena and Shah, 2008).
A clear understanding of organisational culture is important for all organisational
managers and leaders because it influences the way their organisations react to the
changing demands of the business environment. At any given time, the culture of an
organisation is strongly influenced by the past successes and past learnings about how to
adapt and survive. As the business environment changes, leaders must constantly
anticipate the necessary changes and actively monitor the relationship between the
demands of the environment and the capabilities of the organisation. However, most
successful changes also require changes in mindset, in values and in behaviours of
organisation members. Without creating these changes, changes in basic capabilities of
the organisation are impossible. Many organisations are discovering that successful
change requires careful attention to the ‘soft’ side of organisations – the values and
beliefs that are the ‘heart of the company’, the policies and practices that put those values
into action, and the importance of teaching organisational members an understanding of
how they create value for their customers (Denison and Neale, 1996, pp.1–4).
Organisational culture has been perceived to have a great impact on a range of
organisationally and individually desired outcomes (Mc Naughton, 2003). When
organisation members identify with the culture, the work environment tends to be more
enjoyable, boosting morale. This leads to increased levels of team work, sharing of
information and openness to new ideas (Goffee and Jones, 1996). Organisational culture
also affects the way in which people consciously and subconsciously think, make
decisions and ultimately the way in which they perceive, feel and act (Hansen and
Wernerfelt, 1989; Schein, 1990). Koh and Boo (2001) found that three measures of
organisational culture (top management support, ethical behaviour and career success)
are positively associated with commitment of employees. Similarly, Chusmir and Koberg
(1988) found that employees’ personal belief in organisational culture had a direct effect
on commitment with increased empowerment. In a recent study of R&D professionals in
India, Saxena and Shah (2008) found that organisational culture had a significant role in
creating or removing learned helplessness.
In the light of the importance of organisational culture to managers and leaders in a
changing business context and its possible impact on organisational outcomes, this study
empirically examines the organisational ethos of Indian organisations in various sectors,
an area which, although quite significant, is still under researched. The rest of this paper
is organised as follows: The next section reviews the literature on organisational culture,
especially in the Indian context. This is followed by a development of the objectives and
the methodology of the study. The results and discussions are described next, while the
final section gives the conclusions emanating from the study.
70 R.K. Agrawal and A. Tyagi

2 Literature review

Culture is a complex and vague term not easy to define (Mohe, 2008). More than
50 years ago Kroeber and Kluckhohn (1952) compiled a list of 164 different definitions
of culture. The origin of the concept of culture lies in the ethnographic studies of
anthropology, where specific tribes or societies are observed, and a set of observations
about their norms, rituals, language, physical structures, stories, etc. are noted (Geertz,
1973). Thus culture denotes a set of common theories and behaviours or mental programs
that are shared by a group of individuals (Earley and Erez, 1997). A commonly used
definition of organisational culture is ‘the way we see and do things around here’
(Saxena and Shah, 2008, p.29). An organisation’s culture encapsulates what it has been
good at and what has worked in the past. Since culture is a complex phenomenon – its
elements ranging from underlying beliefs and assumptions to visible structures and
practices- some observers question whether culture can actually be ‘measured’ in a
comparative sense (Fey and Denison, 2003). However, it should be noted that
organisational culture facilitates the acceptable solutions to known problems as members
learn, feel and set the principles, expectations, behaviour, patterns and norms that
promote high level of achievements (Marcoulides and Heck, 1993; Schein, 1992).
In the literature, culture as a construct has been studied at different levels. Kluckhohn
and Strodtbeck (1961) put forth the concept of national value orientations and their
influence on organisational systems. National culture has the potentiality to influence the
relation between the organisational culture and the individual outcomes (Agarwal et al.,
1999; Chow, 2000; Lee and Mathur, 1998). Trompenaars (1993) conceptualises culture
as the way people solve problems, particularly in connection with relationships, time and
external environment. Hofstede (1980) has conceptualised national culture as the
‘collective programming’ of the mind that distinguishes inhabitants of one nation from
another. He initially proposed four dimensions of national culture: power distance,
uncertainty avoidance, individualism-collectivism and masculinity–feminity; and later
added a fifth dimension, viz., long-term orientation versus short-term orientation.
However, other researchers question the homogeneity present in national cultures
(e.g. Meek, 1988; Singh et al., 2008). Culture cannot be analysed in terms of a
universally unitary concept (Meek, 1988). Culture is embedded in the context and cannot
be understood fully without taking that context into consideration. Mohe (2008) proposes
a four-level cultural framework for bridging the cultural gap in management consulting
research: micro-culture-based consulting research focusing on the individual consulting
firm or client firm; meso-culture-based consulting research focusing on relationships
between consultants and clients; macro-culture-based consulting research focusing on
role of consulting within their particular social or national setting and inter-culture-based
consulting research focusing on the role of consulting across countries or societies.
Culture plays an important role in every individual firm as, self-evidently, each firm
has its own culture (Mohe, 2008). Deal and Kennedy (1982) and Peters and Waterman
(1982) suggest that organisational culture can exert considerable influence in
organisations particularly in areas such as performance and commitment. A high degree
of organisation performance is related to a strong culture, that is, a culture with well
integrated and effective set of values, beliefs and behaviours (Cameron and Quinn, 1999;
Deal and Kennedy 1982; Denison, 1990; Juechter and Fisher, 1998; Kotter and Heskett,
1992). Several other empirical studies support the positive link between culture and
 Organisational culture in Indian organisations 71

performance (Calori and Sarnin, 1991; Chatman and Jehn, 1994; Denison and Mishra,
1995; Gordon and DiTomaso, 1992; Kotter and Heskett, 1992).
Organisational culture has also been linked to knowledge management (KM) in
organisations. Kyriakidou (2004) has stressed that one of the key drives to a successful
KM strategy is ensuring that an organisation embeds a rich cultural environment into its
vision and mission. KM can be used to developing an innovative culture. Srinivasan
(2004) has found that approaching new cultural and community focused domains yielded
new, satisfying techniques towards the management of knowledge. Zhu (2004) has
explored the cross-cultural concept in KM and finds heterogeneity among KM styles
would continue because of differences in histories, cultures and institutional forces.

2.1 Organisational culture in the Indian context

India is one of the fast growing economies in Asia. Several organisations outside India
have been evincing interest in the country but not much research has been done so far to
throw light on effective management practices in the Indian context (Singh and Krishnan,
2007). Indian work culture indicates that high-power distance, collectivism and affective
reciprocity are major cultural values of Indian managers (Chhokar, 2000). Singh and
Krishnan’s (2007) study suggests that transformational leadership does not manifest in
the same set of behaviours in the Indian cultural context as it does in the Western world.
In addition, a criticism against Hofstede (1980) is that he treated large nations like India
as single units. Authors on Indian culture have noted the diverse elements that are part of
the culture, but have highlighted an underlying unity behind that diversity (Gupta, 2002;
Sinha, 2000). Pearson and Chatterjee (1999) have commented that “Within the context of
organizations, Indian employees can embrace global work values while retaining deep
connection to their societal culture”. Sinha and Kanungo (1997) tried to provide a
sociological explanation and the coexistence of the ‘global’ and ‘local’ in Indian’s
organisational behaviour on the basis of what they call ‘context sensitivity’ and
‘balancing’. Context sensitivity is basically a thinking principle or a mind-set that is
cognitive in nature and it determines the adaptive nature of an idea or behaviour in
context. Balancing is a behavioural disposition to avoid extremes and to integrate or
accommodate diverse considerations. Context sensitivity mindset and balancing
disposition in Indian culture suggests that Indian managers have the potential to integrate,
blend and accommodate traditional values and western management practices in order to
render their organisations effective in the face of global competition (Sinha and Kanungo,
1997, p.96 and 103).
Singh and Kedar (1991) have studied organisational culture in terms of achievement,
extension, control and dependency. Pillania (2006) has studied the state of organisational
culture for KM in the Indian industry. His study of software, pharmaceuticals and
petroleum marketing companies reveals that there is a lack of organisational culture for
knowledge creation, sharing and dissemination which could affect the competitiveness of
these firms, the industry and the country as a whole. Saxena and Shah (2008), based on
data collected from 332 R&D professionals from India, have concluded that the
dimensions of organisational culture are negatively related to learned helplessness. Singh
et al. (2008) question the homogeneous conception of Indian national culture and look at
national culture from a multidisciplinary perspective by exploring the antecedents of
culture formation. Using social, historical, institutional, economic and geographic variables,
they suggest 10 different clusters of Indian states that manifest different cultures.
72 R.K. Agrawal and A. Tyagi

3 Objectives and methodology

3.1 Objectives
The current decade has witnessed a surge in interest in examining the concept of
organisational culture as managers become increasingly aware of the ways by which an
organisation’s culture can affect employees and organisations (Saxena and Shah, 2008).
Culture becomes important in understanding an organisation, and by extension, groups of
organisations, as organisations in the same sector might be facing similar challenges and
problems from the external environment and might develop similar internal response
mechanisms. Pillania’s (2006) study on the state of KM in Indian industry has revealed
that cultural barriers in KM differ across the software, pharmaceuticals and petroleum
marketing sectors. Yet, while increasing space is being devoted in literature in examining
organisational culture, there are hardly any recent studies that empirically examine the
organisational culture in the different sectors of Indian economy. The current research
intends to fill the gap by examining the organisational culture in different sectors in India.
In addition, research on organisational culture indicates that culture is central to the
change process and to the attainment of strategic objectives (Bluedorn and Lundgren,
1993). In the organisational change process, it is imperative for managers to understand
current organisational culture. This enables change management strategies to be
developed that are appropriate for the organisational context (Kanter et al., 1992, p.202).
While suggesting a model for cultural change, Pareek (2004, p.50) opines that “cultural
change must be built into the system so that the new culture becomes a part of the
organization”. Public sector organisations are expected to be in a state of flux as they
shift away from traditional models of public administration under the influence of
prescriptions of effective management derived from the experience of private sector
organisations (Hughes, 1994). Many public sector companies in India are still undergoing
transformations to compete with those in the private sector ever since the opening up of
the Indian economy in early 1990s. They can be expected to increasingly model their
private sector counterparts and even the multinational corporations as they strive to
compete in the marketplace. This can be conceptualised as a process of organisational
isomorphism in which public sector organisations are moulded to match or mimic the
best practices of private sector organisations (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983; Metcalfe and
Richards, 1992; Osborne and Gaeber, 1992; Rhodes, 1991). Thus this paper also explores
the organisational ethos of public and private sector organisations in the Indian context.
Finally, an understanding of the culture will enable managers to understand the
distinctive psychological dynamics and develop greater awareness about the underlying
assumptions, beliefs and values of the employees. It will also be useful in designing and
implementing change processes if required.
In the light of the discussions above, this study is formulated with the following
objectives in mind:
1 to conduct an exploratory study of organisational culture of Indian organisations in
different sectors
2 to explore the differences in the cultures of public sector and private sector
organisations, if any
 Organisational culture in Indian organisations 73

3 to evaluate and discuss the gender-wise differences in the perceptions about

organisation culture, if any
4 to explore whether employees with professional qualifications (PQs) have different
perceptions about culture than those without PQs.

3.2 Methodology
3.2.1 Sample
Employees of 16 different organisations belonging to different sectors in India were
administered the OCTAPACE questionnaire. However, only those organisations which
allowed access to employees for data collection were studied. For organisations whose
offices were present in the National Capital Region of India (NCR) (i.e. in and around
Delhi), the questionnaires were administered personally to the respondents and collected
after about a week. For a few organisations located outside the NCR region, the
questionnaires were sent as email attachments. Those who had not responded were
reminded again and a second attempt for collecting the filled in questionnaires was made
after two weeks. Out of the 640 respondents initially targeted, only 260 questionnaires
were returned completed. Out of these, six response sheets could not be used due to a
large number of incomplete responses. Thus, the final sample consisted of 254 responses
from 16 different organisations, yielding a response rate of 39.7%. These respondents
belong to 16 different organisations in 4 different sectors of Indian industry – services,
manufacturing, IT/ITES and consulting. In the final analysis, 3 organisations (37
respondents – 14.6%) belonged to the services sector, 6 organisations (92 employees –
36.2%) to the manufacturing sector, 4 (72 employees – 28.3%) to the IT/ITES sector and
3 (53 employees – 20.9%) to the consulting sector.
Of the 254 respondents considered for the final analysis, 186 (73.2%) were males and
138 (54.3%) were married. The average age of the respondents was 28.11 years
(SD = 5.25). On an average, they had a total work experience of 5.17 years (SD = 4.92),
out of which 3.53 years were spent on an average in the current organisation. About
51.2% (130) of all the respondents had received professional education, while the rest did
not have a professional qualification (PQ).

3.2.2 Measures
The current research utilises Pareek’s OCTAPACE profile instrument (Pareek, 2003).
This is a 40-item instrument that profiles organisational ethos along eight dimensions –
openness, confrontation, trust, authenticity, proaction, autonomy, collaboration and
experimentation. In addition to being an acronym for these values, OCTAPACE is a
meaningful term, indicating eight (octa) steps (pace) to create functional ethos (Pareek,
2003). Pareek (1994) strongly recommends that organisations should make an attempt to
develop OCTAPACE culture or culture of mutuality and value orientations in
organisations. Empirical studies conducted by eminent scholars indicate that the culture
of OCTAPACE values is imbibed in the culture of many organisations to a good or
moderate degree (Alphonsa, 2000; Bhardwaj and Mishra, 2002; Kumar, 1997; Kumar
and Patnaik, 2002; Mishra et al., 1999; Rao and Abraham, 1999). These values help in
fostering a climate of continuous development of human resources (Mufeed and
Rafai, 2007).
74 R.K. Agrawal and A. Tyagi

In the OCTAPACE instrument, each item is measured through five items. In the first
part of the questionnaire, 24 items (three items for each dimension) representing values
that are valued in the organisation are required to be answered on a 4-point scale. The
second part contains 16 statements (two for each dimension) on beliefs. The respondent
checks (on a 4-point scale) how widely each of them is shared in the organisation.
The meaning and indicators of the various value dimensions covered in the
OCTAPACE profile are elaborated further in Exhibit 1. In our study, the reliability of the
scales for each of the dimensions varied between 0.703 and 0.755. These are shown in
Table 1 along the diagonal.
Apart from the 40 items in the OCTAPACE questionnaire, the questionnaire also
contained items seeking information about various background variables like age, gender,
experience, educational qualifications, etc.
Exhibit 1 The eight value dimensions of OCTAPACE profile

Openness: a spontaneous expression of feelings and thoughts, and sharing of these without
defensiveness. Openness is in both directions – receiving and giving. Both these may relate to ideas
(including suggestions), feedback (including criticism) and feelings. Openness may also mean
spatial openness, in terms of accessibility. Offices without walls are another symbolic arrangement
promoting openness in the organisations.
Confrontation: facing rather than shying away from problems. It also implies deeper analysis of
interpersonal problems. Confrontation has been linked with exploration – facing a problem and
working jointly with others to find a solution to the problem. The outcome of confrontation is better
role clarity, improved problem solving and willingness to deal with problems and with difficult
employees and customers. There is also a willingness in teams to discuss and resolve sensitive
issues.
Trust: trust is defined as maintaining confidentiality of information shared by others and not
misusing it; a sense of assurance that others will help when needed and will honour mutual
obligations and commitments. The outcome of trust includes higher empathy, timely support,
reduced stress and reduction and simplification of forms and procedures.
Authenticity: the congruence between what one feels, says and does. It is reflected in owning up
one’s mistakes and in unreserved sharing of feelings. The ultimate outcome of authenticity in an
organisation is reduced distortion in communication.
Proaction: taking the initiative, preplanning and taking preventive action, and calculating the
payoffs of an alternative course before taking action. Proactivity gives initiative to the person to
start a new process or set a new pattern of behaviour.
Autonomy: using and giving freedom to plan and act in one’s own sphere. It develops mutual
respect and is likely to result in willingness to take on responsibility, individual initiative and better
succession planning. The main indicator of autonomy is effective delegation in organisation and
reduction in references made to senior people for approval of planned actions.
Collaboration: giving help to and asking for help from others, working together (individuals and
groups) to solve problems and a team spirit. The outcome of collaboration includes timely help,
team work and improved resource sharing. The indicators can be productivity reports, more
meetings, involvement of staff, more joint decisions, better resource utilisation and higher quality
of meetings.
Experimentation: using and encouraging innovative approaches to solve problems, using feedback
for improving, taking a fresh look at things and encouraging creativity. Creativity is reflected in
new suggestions generated by employees, attempts at improving upon previous ways of working,
trying out a new idea to which one has been exposed, innovating new methods and thinking about
a problem while ignoring so called constraints.
Source: Pareek (2003); http://www.citehr.com.
c
a

b
Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
a
1 Gender 0.73 0.44
Table 1

2 Professional 0.51 0.50 0.014

Yes = 1, No = 0.
educb

**p < 0.01, *p < 0.05.

Male = 1, female = 0.

Private = 1, public = 0.
3 Public/privatec 0.70 0.46 0.06 0.024

4 Openness 14.18 2.84 0.049 0.018 0.535** (0.714)

5 Confrontation 14.21 2.36 0.066 0.185** 0.015 0.159* (0.715)

6 Trust 13.89 3.05 0.022 0.043 0.203** 0.225** 0.325** (0.744)

7 Authencity 12.17 2.53 0.008 0.151* 0.098 0.205** 0.049 0.033 (0.703)
Organisational culture in Indian organisations

Note: Alpha reliabilities are given in brackets along the diagonal.

8 Proaction 14.49 2.83 0.028 0.046 0.169** 0.126* 0.366** 0.445** 0.239** (0.756)

9 Autonomy 12.83 2.43 0.057 0.146* 0.204** 0.209** 0.059 0.122 0.137* 0.051 (0.706)
Means, SDs and intercorrelations among the study variables (N = 254)

10 Collaboration 14.74 2.44 0.112 0.075 0.109 0.176** 0.327** 0.145* 0.169** 0.079 0.139* (0.775)

11 Experimentation 13.62 2.61 0.027 0.053 0.309** 0.284** 0.057 0.072 0.206** 0.021 0.231** 0.396** (0.764)
75
76 R.K. Agrawal and A. Tyagi

3.2.3 Data analysis

Data analyses were carried out using SPSS software (version 15.0). Independent samples
‘t’ tests were used to test the differences in perceptions about organisational culture
between two sets of respondents (male–female, public sector–private sector,
professionally qualified– not PQ). One-way analysis of variance, along with Duncan test,
was used to study the differences in culture across the sectors.
The next section gives the results and discussions flowing from the analysis.

4 Results and discussions

Table 1 lists the means, standard deviations and intercorrelations among the study
variables. It is seen from the table that gender is not correlated significantly with any
OCTAPACE values, while professional education has significant and positive
correlations with confrontation (r = 0.185, p < 0.01), authenticity (r = 0.151, p < 0.05)
and autonomy (r = 0.146, p < 0.05). It seems that employees who are professionally
qualified exercise greater autonomy and are willing to confront problems directly. It is
also seen from the table that public–private sector has significant positive correlations
with openness (r = 0.535, p < 0.01), trust (r = 0.203, p < 0.01), autonomy(r = 0.204,
p < 0.01) and experimentation (r = 0.309, p < 0.01) dimensions of OCTAPACE. Private
sector organisations thus seem to have a more open, trusting, autonomous and
experimenting culture than the public sector organisations. Openness is also positively
and significantly related to trust (r = 0.225, p < 0.01), autonomy (r = 0.209, p < 0.01),
collaboration (r = 0.176, p < 0.01) and experimentation (r = 0.284, p < 0.01); proaction is
positively correlated with confrontation (r = 0.366, p < 0.01), trust (r = 0.445, p < 0.01)
and authenticity (r = 0.239, p < 0.01); while experimentation has a positive and
significant correlation with authenticity (r = 0.206, p < 0.01), autonomy (r = 0.231,
p < 0.01), collaboration (r = 0.396, p < 0.01) and openness (r = 0.284, p < 0.01). These
results seem to validate Ahmed (1998) – that empowerment in the presence of open
cultures that guide actions and behaviours produces both energy and enthusiasm for
working towards an innovative goal.

4.1 Gender and culture

The gender-wise differences on OCTAPACE dimensions are shown in Table 2. Gender
refers to the set of culturally expected personality, behaviour and attitude attributes
associated with being one sex or another in any given society and is perpetuated through
institutionalised gender symbolism and gender structures; categories for gender in many
societies are ‘feminine’ and ‘masculine’ (Hawkesworth, 1997). The mean age for the
female respondents in our sample was 26.51 years, while it was 28.69 for males. About
50% of the female respondents and 51.6% of male respondents were professionally
qualified.
 Organisational culture in Indian organisations 77

Table 2 Gender-wise differences on OCTAPACE dimensions

Gender Mean t-Value Sig (two-tailed)

Openness Female 14.41 0.782 0.435
Male 14.10
Confrontation Female 13.96 1.048 0.296
Male 14.31
Trust Female 14.00 0.348 0.728
Male 13.85
Authenticity Female 12.13 0.126 0.900
Male 12.18
Proaction Female 14.62 0.441 0.660
Male 14.44
Autonomy Female 12.60 0.904 0.367
Male 12.91
Collaboration Female 14.29 1.782 0.076
Male 14.91
Experimentation Female 13.74 0.432 0.666
Male 13.58
Note: n1 = 68 for females; n2 = 186 for males.
t tests reveal that there is no significant difference about the perceptions of organisational
culture among the males and females (p > 0.05). The results are in line with the findings
of Niranjana and Pattanayak (2005) who also could not find any difference in the
perception of organisational ethos with respect to gender. This indicates that
organisations have a unified work culture. In addition, women’s occupational aspirations
have been found to be similar to those of men (Powell and Butterfield, 2003). Over the
years, a pronounced shift in job attributes and aspirations has taken place in relation to
the career prospects of the women. In India too, with increasing education, changing
social norms and growing aspirations among women, recent years have seen a surge of
working women in India, many of them in professional roles (Bhatnagar, 2008). Women
aspiring to managerial careers placed more importance on the opportunity for challenging
work and the opportunity to utilise their education than did their male counterparts
(Bigoness, 1988). Women in higher occupations were even more concerned with job
content than were men (Hofsted, 1980). The changing aspirations of Indian women has
been highlighted in the words of Padaki (2008, pp.118–124): ‘The resulting ‘progress’ in
the status of urban women is very noticeable. Highly qualified women have made a mark
in practically every field. They have broken their traditional boundaries, competing with
their male counterparts at every stage of their careers.’ It is this progress in the social,
economic and career status of females that gets reflected in the similarity of perceptions
about organisational ethos.
78 R.K. Agrawal and A. Tyagi

4.2 Does professional qualification matter?

Table 1 revealed that there was a strong relationship between three dimensions of
OCTAPACE instrument – confrontation, authenticity and autonomy – in relation to
professional and non-PQs. The data are further subjected to ‘t’ tests to find out if there
are differences in perceptions about organisational ethos between those who have a PQ
versus those who do not possess a professional qualification (NPQ). The results are
shown is Table 3 and confirms that perceptions among the two groups differ along the
dimensions of confrontation, authenticity and autonomy. The means are higher for PQ for
confrontation (PQ = 14.64, NPQ = 13.77, ‘t’-value = 2.989, p < 0.01), authenticity
(PQ = 12.54, NPQ = 11.77, ‘t’-value = 2.432, p < 0.05) and autonomy (PQ = 13.18,
NPQ = 12.47, ‘t’-value = 2.349, p < 0.05). It appears from our results that having a PQ
makes one feel independent and confident about one’s work. The result is that the
individual prefers to confront problems directly. He/she plans and takes responsibility for
his/her own work. The interactions are based on mutual respect and the person is bold
enough to walk his talk, to own up mistakes. All these get reflected in the perceptions
about organisational ethos along these dimensions. Thus, organisations that have a
philosophy and a work design based on empowerment would do well to employ a greater
number of professionally qualified people. The high level of autonomy or empowerment
encourages those who are professionally qualified to take decisions and exercise freedom
to plan and act in their own spheres.
Table 3 Perceptual differences on OCTAPACE dimensions based on professional
(non-professional) qualifications

Prof_educ Mean SD t'-Value Sig. (two-tailed)

Openness No 14.13 2.90 0.285 0.776
Yes 14.23 2.79
Confrontation** No 13.77 2.46 2.989 0.003
Yes 14.64 2.19
Trust No 14.02 2.99 0.685 0.494
Yes 13.76 3.11
Authenticity* No 11.77 2.58 2.432 0.016
Yes 12.54 2.43
Proaction No 14.35 2.79 0.734 0.464
Yes 14.62 2.87
Autonomy* No 12.47 2.42 2.349 0.020
Yes 13.18 2.39
Collaboration No 14.56 2.60 1.196 0.233
Yes 14.92 2.28
Experimentation No 13.48 2.71 0.848 0.397
Yes 13.75 2.51
**p < 0.01, *p < 0.05.
Note: (n3 = 124 for ‘no’, n4 = 130 for ‘yes’).
 Organisational culture in Indian organisations 79

However, it should also be noted that having a PQ does not make an employee view the
organisation culture as more open, trusting and collaborative than those without PQ.
Having an open, trusting and collaborative culture would require an honest give-and-take
relationship amongst the members of an organisation, which may be outside an individual
sphere of empowerment.

4.3 Organisational ethos in public and private sectors

The results of ‘t’ tests revealing the differences in organisational cultures of public and
private sectors is shown in Table 4. Significant differences exist in the cultures of private
and public sector Indian organisations in the organisational values of openness
(‘t’ value = 10.04, p < 0.01), trust (‘t’ value = 2.99, p < 0.01), proaction (‘t’ value = 3.20,
p < 0.01), autonomy (‘t’ value = 2.70, p < 0.01) and experimentation (‘t’ value = 5.16,
p < 0.01). There is no significant difference between public sector and private
organisations along the values of confrontation, authenticity and collaboration (p > 0.05).
The results also show that amongst the significant dimensions, the means of private
sector organisations are higher than the public sector organisations in openness
(private = 15.16, public = 11.84), trust (14.29, public = 12.93), autonomy
(private = 13.15, public = 12.07) and experimentation (private = 14.14, public = 12.37);
while mean is higher in the public sector in proaction (public = 15.23, private = 14.18).
Table 4 Differences on OCTAPACE dimensions between private sector and public sector
employees

pub_pvt Mean t-Value Sig. (two-tailed)

Openness** Private 15.16 10.039 0.000
Public 11.84
Confrontation Private 14.19 0.236 0.814
Public 14.27
Trust** Private 14.29 2.992 0.003
Public 12.93
Authenticity Private 12.01 1.322 0.189
Public 12.55
Proaction** Private 14.18 3.203 0.002
Public 15.23
Autonomy** Private 13.15 2.700 0.008
Public 12.07
Collaboration Private 14.92 1.604 0.111
Public 14.33
Experimentation** Private 14.14 5.163 0.000
Public 12.37
**p < 0.01.
Note: n5 = 179 for private sector; n6 = 75 for public sector.
80 R.K. Agrawal and A. Tyagi

The results validate Bozeman’s (1979) contention that private sector organisations have a
more open culture based on trust and mutual respect that empowers its employees to take
quick individual decisions and is open to experimentation. On the other hand, public
sector organisations are characterised by the presence of a system of rational rules and
procedures, structured hierarchies, formalised decision-making processes and
advancement based on administrative expertise. According to a similar study conducted
by Mathur et al. (1996) to examine the differences between the internal work cultures of
public and the private sector organisations in India, the internal work culture of private
enterprises placed greater emphasis than public sector enterprises on internal locus of
control, future orientation in planning, participation in decision making, and obligation
towards others in the work context.
An appreciation of the cultures of public sector organisations may help explain the
outcomes of the reform process in terms of the fit or absence of fit between the public
sector culture and the strategies and objectives of reform. The results show that in spite of
the reforms initiated by the Government of India in the early 1990s and giving of more
autonomy to the management of public sector companies, significant differences still
exist in the organisational ethos of public and private sector organisations. Stability and
predictability have been central characteristics of the traditional model of management
prevalent in the public sector organisations (Perry and Rainey, 1988). Literature on public
organisations suggests that they have traditionally under-emphasised developmental and
rational aspects of organisational culture because they lacked an orientation towards
adaptability, change and risk taking (developmental culture) and they have lacked an
orientation towards outcomes such as productivity and efficiency (rational culture)
(Parker and Bradley, 2000). It is also possible that public sector activities cannot be easily
equated with productive activities in the private sector because they involve high levels
of inter-organisational coordination, research, communication, and negotiation and
conflict resolution (Considine, 1990). Consequently, Massey (1993) and Pollitt (1990)
have even suggested that the prescriptions of management theory which are drawn from
the experience of successful private sector organisations might be unsuitable for
application to public sector organisations. However, what is intriguing is why the public
sector has a higher mean value than the private sector in the dimension of proaction. This
implies that initiative taking and preplanning are greater in the public sector than in the
private sector. While public sectors lack an orientation towards openness and change, the
results could be indicative of structured and rigid planning culture – a legacy of 5-year
plans undertaken by the Government of India under which many public sector
undertakings were started. Further research is required in this direction before any
definitive conclusions can be drawn.

4.4 A sector-wise analysis

The means and standard deviations of the OCTAPACE variables in different sectors are
shown in Table 5(a), while Table 5(b) shows the results of one-way analysis of variance.
Significant differences are observed in the OCTAPACE variables in the consulting,
manufacturing, services and IT/ITES sector in all the dimensions except the
experimentation variable (p < 0.01 for confrontation, trust, authenticity, autonomy and
collaboration; p < 0.05 for openness, proaction; p > 0.05 for experimentation)
(Table 5(a)). The results of post-hoc tests (Duncan tests) are tabulated in Table 5(c).
 Organisational culture in Indian organisations 81

Table 5a Sector-wise analysis; Sector-wise means and SDs of OCTAPACE dimensions

Sector --> Consulting Manufacturing Services IT/ITES Total

Dimensions (n = 53) (n = 92) (n = 37) (n = 72) (n = 254)
Openness 13.45 (2.90) 13.9 (2.56) 14.43 (2.34) 14.94 (3.21) 14.18 (2.84)
Confrontation 13.11 (1.90) 14.34 (2.54) 14.46 (1.86) 14.74 (2.44) 14.21 (2.36)
Trust 12.21 (2.98) 13.98 (2.94) 13.19 (2.83) 15.38 (2.63) 13.89 (3.05)
Authenticity 13.74 (2.70) 10.96 (2.28) 11.32 (2.24) 12.99 (1.87) 12.17 (2.53)
Proaction 14.15 (2.50) 14.03 (3.65) 14.51 (2.10) 15.31 (1.89) 14.49 (2.83)
Autonomy 13.75 (2.49) 12.18 (2.71) 12.68 (2.19) 13.06 (1.84) 12.83 (2.43)
Collaboration 14.25 (2.06) 15.50 (2.22) 13.11 (2.73) 14.99 (2.39) 14.74 (2.44)
Experimentation 13.28 (1.90) 13.41 (3.15) 13.41 (2.67) 14.24 (2.18) 13.62 (2.61)

Table 5b Sector-wise analysis; Results of one way analysis of variance

Variable SS df MS F Sig.
Openness* Between groups 79.56 3 26.52 3.379 0.019
Within groups 1962.11 250 7.85
Total 2041.67 253
Confrontation** Between groups 87.47 3 29.16 5.509 0.001
Within groups 1323.05 250 5.29
Total 1410.52 253
Trust** Between groups 327.69 3 109.23 13.484 0.000
Within groups 2025.22 250 8.10
Total 2352.91 253
Authenticity** Between groups 339.83 3 113.28 22.173 0.000
Within groups 1277.22 250 5.11
Total 1617.06 253
Proaction* Between groups 73.25 3 24.42 3.133 0.026
Within groups 1948.22 250 7.79
Total 2021.46 253
Autonomy** Between groups 88.16 3 29.39 5.242 0.002
Within groups 1401.56 250 5.61
Total 1489.72 253
Collaboration** Between groups 169.00 3 56.33 10.499 0.000
Within groups 1341.36 250 5.37
Total 1510.37 253
Experimentation Between groups 38.99 3 13.00 1.928 0.125
Within groups 1684.96 250 6.74
Total 1723.96 253
82 R.K. Agrawal and A. Tyagi

Table 5c Sector-wise analysis; Post-hoc multiple comparisons (Duncan testsa)

OCTAPACE Sector -> Consulting Manufacturing Services IT/ITES

values subsetsb (n7 = 53) (n8 = 92) (n9 = 37) (n10 = 72) Sig.
Openness 1 13.453 13.902 14.432 0.079
2 13.902 14.432 14.944 0.062
Confrontation 1 13.113 1.000
2 14.337 14.460 14.736 0.389
Trust 1 12.208 13.189 0.068
2 13.978 13.189 0.141
3 15.375 1.000
Authenticity 1 10.957 11.324 0.387
2 13.736 12.986 0.079
Proaction 1 14.151 14.033 14.514 0.392
2 14.514 15.306 0.132
Autonomy 1 12.185 12.676 13.056 0.065
2 13.755 13.056 0.117
Collaboration 1 13.108 1.000
2 14.245 14.986 0.090
3 15.500 14.986 0.239
Experimentation 1 13.283 13.413 13.405 14.236 0.075
**p < 0.01, *p < 0.05.
a
Uses harmonic mean sample size = 56.614.
b
For alpha = 0.05.
Note: SDs are given in brackets.
Besides occupying a prominent place in present day economies, the knowledge or
technology-intensive sector consists of a ‘different breed of firms’, which has significant
and fundamental differences with the other sectors of the economy in many important
aspects (Grinstein and Goldman, 2006). Because of the knowledge intensive industry’s
keen investment in building an empowered and innovative culture, economy has
witnessed high levels of growth in developing countries like India. The analysis of the
data suggests that the values of the organisational culture in IT/ITES is significantly
higher along most of the dimensions than the other sectors. In openness and
confrontation, the means for IT/ITES sector is significantly higher than that of consulting,
while in trust, it is higher than in consulting, manufacturing and services sectors. With
India's burgeoning role in the global IT and ITES landscape, people will be the key-value
differentiators that organisations may have to offer to their client. Hence, it becomes
imperative for organisations to attract, retain and motivate the right talent. To achieve the
same, organisations must offer a distinct value proposition to successfully attract talent.
The right mix of culture and HR practices contributes to the above in a big way
(NASSCOM – Hewitt Total Rewards Study, 2007–2008). The analysis of the data
suggests that the empowerment or professional freedom is a significant aspect of
organisational culture. It often enables employees to approach and deal with customers,
 Organisational culture in Indian organisations 83

colleagues and reporting officers freely and informally without the restrictions of
hierarchy and, in turn, in the timely execution and closure of projects (Mathew, 2007).
Authenticity and autonomy values are comparatively higher in consulting as
compared to manufacturing and services. Authenticity as a value is important for the
development of the culture of mutuality. Autonomy can lead to interdependent
collaboration and mutuality, a value necessary for successful project acquisition and
completion so important in the consulting industry. Individuals, instead of working
independently to solve problems, work in teams and develop commitments to their role
and the organisation (Dwivedi, 1995). Since successful completion of projects is the hall
mark of consulting organisations, the importance of values of authenticity and autonomy
is reflected and emphasised once again from our data analysis.
Collaboration is found to be significantly higher in the manufacturing sector than in
the consulting and services sectors. Collaboration is giving help to, and asking for help,
from others. It means working together to solve problems and a team spirit. The outcome
of collaboration includes timely help, team work, sharing of experiences, improved
communication and improved resource sharing. One can expect that the culture of
collaboration would be higher in the consulting, services and IT/ITES sectors than in
manufacturing, as the work is often organised around teams in these sectors. However,
the results indicate that manufacturing organisations have taken to team work in a big
way. This could be manifesting through such reorganisations as building horizontal or
process-based structures, quality circles, etc., as well as cross functional teams to design
and launch new products rapidly into the markets. Fletcher’s (1996, p.114) argument that
current trends indicate that work accomplishment will require ‘understanding oneself as
increasingly connected to others in more complex and sophisticated ways’ appears to be
valid even in the manufacturing sector.
It is to be noted that experimentation is equally valued in all the sectors, viz.,
consulting (13.283), manufacturing (13.413), services (13.405) and IT/ITES (14.236).
Experimentation implies using and encouraging innovative approaches to solve problems,
using feedback for improving and encouraging creativity. Our results show that the
market is very competitive in all the sectors, and organisations in all of these sectors have
developed a culture of innovation and experimentation to remain competitive. To remain
competitive in today’s business world, every firm must make innovation a central pillar
of its strategy for differentiation and growth. In a survey of more than 75 senior
executives across sectors, conducted jointly by Business-Today and Monitor Group, more
than 90% of CEOs said that innovation is ‘very important’ to achieving their
organisations’ goal and is an explicit part of their corporate strategies (Business Today,
2008). Our results validate these contentions. For example, Bharti Airtel (services
industry) has established the future factory – ‘a centre of innovation’ that aims to develop
innovative applications specifically targeted at individual customer segments; Wipro
(IT/ITES) has established an ‘Advisory Board’ and ‘Innovation Council’ to invest in and
manage innovation projects; Tata Motors (manufacturing) has initiated a ‘New Product
Introduction’ process that defines business processes for new products – tackling
everything from understanding customer requirements to commercialisation, and
everything in between.
84 R.K. Agrawal and A. Tyagi

5 Conclusions

This study has mapped out the ethos/values present in the culture of Indian organisations
along eight dimensions. The analyses indicate that the cultures differ along public and
private sectors and amongst services, manufacturing, consulting and IT/ITES sectors. It is
essential for growing companies, especially those in the public sector, to develop and
maintain open and flexible corporate cultures and avoid the bureaucracies typically
associated with larger, more complex organisations. Companies can foster innovative and
empowered cultures by encouraging knowledge sharing and rewarding creativity and risk
taking while focusing on tangible results. Culture can also be a great attracter for talent,
especially those who are professionally qualified, in these competitive times. It is
important to understand the elements that attract, retain and engage employees.
Successful implementation of a positive corporate culture with strong values/ethos can be
a powerful human resource strategy whose importance will be growing continuously.
Future studies can explore whether the findings of this study have generalisability beyond
the Indian context.

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the anonymous reviewers for their valuable
comments and constructive criticisms to improve the quality of this paper.

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