Organizational culture and effectiveness: A study of values, attitudes, and organizational outcomes

a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f o Organizational culture is defined as a set of beliefs, values, and assumptions that are shared by members of an organization (Schein, 1985). These underlying values have an influence on the behavior of organizational members, as people rely on these values to guide their decisions and behaviors (Schein, 1985). Extrapolating from the influence culture has on the behavior of organizational members, much has been written about the impact of culture on an organization's effectiveness (e.g., Schein, 1985, Quinn, 1988. While the extant research is promising, more empirical evidence of the manner in which organizational culture impacts effectiveness is warranted. Previous research has explored the direct relationships between specific culture domains and specific effectiveness measures (e.g., Quinn and Spreitzer, 1991; Cameron and Freeman, 1991; Denison and Mishra, 1995; Denison, 1990). The purpose of this research is to delve deeper into the relationship between organizational culture and organizational effectiveness by exploring both direct and indirect effects. Siehl and Martin (1990) suggested that culture influences employee attitudes and that those attitudes, in turn, impact organizational effectiveness. We offer an empirical examination of this assertion by testing the mediating effect of employee satisfaction on the culture-effectiveness relationship. Frazier et al. (2004) describe mediating variables as constructs that "establish 'how' or 'why' one variable predicts or causes and outcome variable" (p. 116). Although the relationship between culture and effectiveness is relatively well established in the literature, "how" and "why" this relationship exists has not been adequately addressed. This manuscript attempts to begin to fill that void by exploring employee attitudes as one possible explanatory mechanism through which an organization's culture comes to impact its performance

Vehicle localization by lidar point correlation improved by change detection

LiDAR sensors are proven sensors for accurate vehicle localization. Instead of detecting and matching features in the LiDAR data, we want to use the entire information provided by the scanners. As dynamic objects, like cars, pedestrians or even construction sites could lead to wrong localization results, we use a change detection algorithm to detect these objects in the reference data. If an object occurs in a certain number of measurements at the same position, we mark it and every containing point as static. In the next step, we merge the data of the single measurement epochs to one reference dataset, whereby we only use static points. Further, we also use a classification algorithm to detect trees. For the online localization of the vehicle, we use simulated data of a vertical aligned automotive LiDAR sensor. As we only want to use static objects in this case as well, we use a random forest classifier to detect dynamic scan points online. Since the automotive data is derived from the LiDAR Mobile Mapping System, we are able to use the labelled objects from the reference data generation step to create the training data and further to detect dynamic objects online. The localization then can be done by a point to image correlation method using only static objects. We achieved a localization standard deviation of about 5 cm (position) and 0.06° (heading), and were able to successfully localize the vehicle in about 93 % of the cases along a trajectory of 13 km in Hannover, Germany

Pléiades project: Assessment of georeferencing accuracy, image quality, pansharpening performence and DSM/DTM quality

Pléiades 1A and 1B are twin optical satellites of Optical and Radar Federated Earth Observation (ORFEO) program jointly running by France and Italy. They are the first satellites of Europe with sub-meter resolution. Airbus DS (formerly Astrium Geo) runs a MyGIC (formerly Pléiades Users Group) program to validate Pléiades images worldwide for various application purposes. The authors conduct three projects, one is within this program, the second is supported by BEU Scientific Research Project Program, and the third is supported by TÜBİTAK. Assessment of georeferencing accuracy, image quality, pansharpening performance and Digital Surface Model/Digital Terrain Model (DSM/DTM) quality subjects are investigated in these projects. For these purposes, triplet panchromatic (50 cm Ground Sampling Distance (GSD)) and VNIR (2 m GSD) Pléiades 1A images were investigated over Zonguldak test site (Turkey) which is urbanised, mountainous and covered by dense forest. The georeferencing accuracy was estimated with a standard deviation in X and Y (SX, SY) in the range of 0.45m by bias corrected Rational Polynomial Coefficient (RPC) orientation, using ~170 Ground Control Points (GCPs). 3D standard deviation of ±0.44m in X, ±0.51m in Y, and ±1.82m in Z directions have been reached in spite of the very narrow angle of convergence by bias corrected RPC orientation. The image quality was also investigated with respect to effective resolution, Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) and blur coefficient. The effective resolution was estimated with factor slightly below 1.0, meaning that the image quality corresponds to the nominal resolution of 50cm. The blur coefficients were achieved between 0.39-0.46 for triplet panchromatic images, indicating a satisfying image quality. SNR is in the range of other comparable space borne images which may be caused by de-noising of Pléiades images. The pansharpened images were generated by various methods, and are validated by most common statistical metrics and also visual interpretation. The generated DSM and DTM were achieved with ±1.6m standard deviation in Z (SZ) in relation to a reference DTM.Airbus Defence and SpaceBEU/2014-47912266-01TÜBİTAK/114Y38

The relationship between baseline Organizational Readiness to Change Assessment subscale scores and implementation of hepatitis prevention services in substance use disorders treatment clinics: a case study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Organizational Readiness to Change Assessment (ORCA) is a measure of organizational readiness for implementing practice change in healthcare settings that is organized based on the core elements and sub-elements of the Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services (PARIHS) framework. General support for the reliability and factor structure of the ORCA has been reported. However, no published study has examined the utility of the ORCA in a clinical setting. The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between baseline ORCA scores and implementation of hepatitis prevention services in substance use disorders (SUD) clinics.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Nine clinic teams from Veterans Health Administration SUD clinics across the United States participated in a six-month training program to promote evidence-based practices for hepatitis prevention. A representative from each team completed the ORCA evidence and context subscales at baseline.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Eight of nine clinics reported implementation of at least one new hepatitis prevention practice after completing the six-month training program. Clinic teams were categorized by level of implementation-high (n = 4) versus low (n = 5)-based on how many hepatitis prevention practices were integrated into their clinics after completing the training program. High implementation teams had significantly higher scores on the patient experience and leadership culture subscales of the ORCA compared to low implementation teams. While not reaching significance in this small sample, high implementation clinics also had higher scores on the research, clinical experience, staff culture, leadership behavior, and measurement subscales as compared to low implementation clinics.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The results of this study suggest that the ORCA was able to measure differences in organizational factors at baseline between clinics that reported high and low implementation of practice recommendations at follow-up. This supports the use of the ORCA to describe factors related to implementing practice recommendations in clinical settings. Future research utilizing larger sample sizes will be essential to support these preliminary findings.</p

Orientation of oblique airborne image sets - Experiences from the ISPRS/Eurosdr benchmark on multi-platform photogrammetry

During the last decade the use of airborne multi camera systems increased significantly. The development in digital camera technology allows mounting several mid- or small-format cameras efficiently onto one platform and thus enables image capture under different angles. Those oblique images turn out to be interesting for a number of applications since lateral parts of elevated objects, like buildings or trees, are visible. However, occlusion or illumination differences might challenge image processing. From an image orientation point of view those multi-camera systems bring the advantage of a better ray intersection geometry compared to nadir-only image blocks. On the other hand, varying scale, occlusion and atmospheric influences which are difficult to model impose problems to the image matching and bundle adjustment tasks. In order to understand current limitations of image orientation approaches and the influence of different parameters such as image overlap or GCP distribution, a commonly available dataset was released. The originally captured data comprises of a state-of-the-art image block with very high overlap, but in the first stage of the so-called ISPRS/EUROSDR benchmark on multi-platform photogrammetry only a reduced set of images was released. In this paper some first results obtained with this dataset are presented. They refer to different aspects like tie point matching across the viewing directions, influence of the oblique images onto the bundle adjustment, the role of image overlap and GCP distribution. As far as the tie point matching is concerned we observed that matching of overlapping images pointing to the same cardinal direction, or between nadir and oblique views in general is quite successful. Due to the quite different perspective between images of different viewing directions the standard tie point matching, for instance based on interest points does not work well. How to address occlusion and ambiguities due to different views onto objects is clearly a non-solved research problem so far. In our experiments we also confirm that the obtainable height accuracy is better when all images are used in bundle block adjustment. This was also shown in other research before and is confirmed here. Not surprisingly, the large overlap of 80/80% provides much better object space accuracy – random errors seem to be about 2-3fold smaller compared to the 60/60% overlap. A comparison of different software approaches shows that newly emerged commercial packages, initially intended to work with small frame image blocks, do perform very well

Assessing organisational readiness for change:Use of diagnostic analysis prior to the implementation of a multidisciplinary assessment for acute stroke care

BACKGROUND: Achieving evidence-based practice in health care is integral to the drive for quality improvement in the National Health Service in the UK. Encapsulated within this policy agenda are challenges inherent in leading and managing organisational change. Not least of these is the need to change the behaviours of individuals and groups in order to embed new practices. Such changes are set within a context of organisational culture that can present a number of barriers and facilitators to change. Diagnostic analysis has been recommended as a precursor to the implementation of change to enable such barriers and facilitators to be identified and a targeted implementation strategy developed. Although diagnostic analysis is recommended, there is a paucity of advice on appropriate methods to use. This paper addresses the paucity and builds on previous work by recommending a mixed method approach to diagnostic analysis comprising both quantitative and qualitative data. METHODS: Twenty staff members with strategic accountability for stroke care were purposively sampled to take part in semi-structured interviews. Six recently discharged patients were also interviewed. Focus groups were conducted with one group of registered ward-based nurses (n = 5) and three specialist registrars (n = 3) purposively selected for their interest in stroke care. All professional staff on the study wards were sent the Team Climate Inventory questionnaire (n = 206). This elicited a response rate of 72% (n = 148). RESULTS: A number of facilitators for change were identified, including stakeholder support, organisational commitment to education, strong team climate in some teams, exemplars of past successful organisational change, and positive working environments. A number of barriers were also identified, including: unidisciplinary assessment/recording practices, varying in structure and evidence-base; weak team climate in some teams; negative exemplars of organisational change; and uncertainty created by impending organisational merger. CONCLUSION: This study built on previous research by proposing a mixed method approach for diagnostic analysis. The combination of qualitative and quantitative data were able to capture multiple perspectives on barriers and facilitators to change. These data informed the tailoring of the implementation strategy to the specific needs of the Trust

A theory of organizational readiness for change

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Change management experts have emphasized the importance of establishing organizational readiness for change and recommended various strategies for creating it. Although the advice seems reasonable, the scientific basis for it is limited. Unlike individual readiness for change, organizational readiness for change has not been subject to extensive theoretical development or empirical study. In this article, I conceptually define organizational readiness for change and develop a theory of its determinants and outcomes. I focus on the organizational level of analysis because many promising approaches to improving healthcare delivery entail collective behavior change in the form of systems redesign--that is, multiple, simultaneous changes in staffing, work flow, decision making, communication, and reward systems.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>Organizational readiness for change is a multi-level, multi-faceted construct. As an organization-level construct, readiness for change refers to organizational members' shared resolve to implement a change (change commitment) and shared belief in their collective capability to do so (change efficacy). Organizational readiness for change varies as a function of how much organizational members value the change and how favorably they appraise three key determinants of implementation capability: task demands, resource availability, and situational factors. When organizational readiness for change is high, organizational members are more likely to initiate change, exert greater effort, exhibit greater persistence, and display more cooperative behavior. The result is more effective implementation.</p> <p>Summary</p> <p>The theory described in this article treats organizational readiness as a shared psychological state in which organizational members feel committed to implementing an organizational change and confident in their collective abilities to do so. This way of thinking about organizational readiness is best suited for examining organizational changes where collective behavior change is necessary in order to effectively implement the change and, in some instances, for the change to produce anticipated benefits. Testing the theory would require further measurement development and careful sampling decisions. The theory offers a means of reconciling the structural and psychological views of organizational readiness found in the literature. Further, the theory suggests the possibility that the strategies that change management experts recommend are equifinal. That is, there is no 'one best way' to increase organizational readiness for change.</p

Resolution, Relief, And Resignation:A Qualitative Study Of Responses To Misfit At Work

Research has portrayed person–environment (PE) fit as a pleasant condition resulting from people being attracted to and selected into compatible work environments; yet, our study reveals that creating and maintaining a sense of fit frequently involves an effortful, dynamic set of strategies. We used a two-phase, qualitative design to allow employees to report how they become aware of and experience misfit, and what they do in response. To address these questions, we conducted interviews with 81 individuals sampled from diverse industries and occupations. Through their descriptions, we identified three broad responses to the experience of misfit: resolution, relief, and resignation. Within these approaches, we identified distinct strategies for responding to misfit. We present a model of how participants used these strategies, often in combination, and develop propositions regarding their effectiveness at reducing strain associated with misfit. These results expand PE fit theory by providing new insight into how individuals experience and react to misfit—portraying them as active, motivated creators of their own fit experience at work