Organisational Culture & Commitment

The International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 20, No.
3, March 2009, 654675
Organisational culture and commitment: a study of an Indian software organisation

Jossy Mathewa and Emmanuel Ogbonnab*
a
Middlesex Business School, Middlesex University, London, UK; bCardiff Business School, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK Although it has been suggested that both organisational culture and organisational commitment are important topics of contemporary organisational signicance, there has been little attempt to explore the dynamics of these two concepts by scholars. The study reported in this paper adopts a three perspective framework (Martin 1992, 2002) to explore the impact of organisational culture on organisational commitment in a context (software sector in India) that is renowned to be dynamic and people-centred. The study adopts ethnographic methods including in-depth interviews, observation and document analysis. The ndings lead to the development of a range of insights into the integrated, differentiated and fragmented nature of organisational culture and the impact of these on the perception of linkages with organisational commitment. The paper argues that adopting all three perspectives of culture in the study of culture-commitment linkages in a single organisation reveals signicant insights into the perceived associations, while at the same time highlighting the problematic nature of such relationships. The paper concludes with a series of implications for theory and practice. Keywords: Indian software sector; information technology professionals; organisational commitment; organisational culture; organisational subcultures; three perspective framework
Introduction In recent years, researchers have argued that the changing nature of employment relationships has heightened the importance of understanding the dynamics of commitment in organisations (see Hislop 2003; Dick, Becker and Mayer 2006). For example, scholars have increasingly suggested that commitment is a necessary variable that drives individual action (see Cooper-Hakim and Viswesvaran 2005; Herrbach 2006). It is also commonly theorised that the level of commitment is a major determinant of organisational level outcomes such as organisational citizenship behaviour (CoyleShapiro and Kessler 2000); performance (Meyer, Paunonen, Gellatly, Gofn and Jackson 1989; DeCotiis and Summers 1987); controllable absenteeism (Meyer and Allen 1997); and psychological contract (Guest and Conway 1997). Interestingly, although it has been argued that the nature of organisational culture is important for understanding the level of commitment in an organisation (for example, Siehl and Martin 1990; Bergman 2006), very few studies have explored the impact that culture might have on commitment or vice versa. Similarly, the few studies that have been conducted in this area tend to have a number of limitations. Principally, some studies have explored psychological or organisational climate or used climate as a proxy for culture.
*Corresponding author. Email: Ogbonna@Cardiff.ac.uk

ISSN 0958-5192 print/ISSN 1466-4399 online q 2009 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/09585190802707433 http://www.informaworld.com
The International Journal of Human Resource Management
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However, such research ignores the conceptual difculties in presenting climate and culture as interchangeable concepts (for example Wimbush and Shepard 1994; Jones 1995; Ruppel and Harrington 2000). Indeed, although it has been argued that culture is a deeper concept than climate (see Denison 1996; Schwartz and Davis 1981), it is surprising that researchers have generally neglected the evaluation of the impact of organisational culture on commitment. Similarly, the few studies which incorporate culture in their analyses of commitment frequently adopt quantitative methods (for example Lok and Crawford 1999, 2001 and 2004). The relevance of this approach to understanding culture is strongly contested in the literature (for example Pettigrew 1979; Smircich 1983; Schein 1985; Alvesson 2002; Martin, Frost and ONeill 2006). Of particular concern is that such studies tend to analyse culture from a largely integrationist perspective (and occasionally from a differentiation perspective) with no study adopting a fragmentation approach, which is recognised as an important analytic perspective of culture (see Alvesson 2002; Martin 2002). Finally, no study in the area of culture and commitment has explored contexts wherein sophisticated cultural and commitment practices are likely to be prevalent, for instance the software sector (see Paul and Anantharaman 2004). Indeed, it is likely that the peculiar nature of work in the software sector (for example, sophisticated intellectual work organised around teams which are formed and disbanded according to project requirements) would give rise to different patterns of socialisation, thereby impacting on culture and commitment in a variety of ways. The aim of this paper is to document, explore and analyse the impact of organisational culture on organisational commitment in the context of a sector (software) that is renowned to be dynamic and people-centred. It is useful to point out at this stage that it is not the objective of this study to explore the impact of the associations between culture and commitment on organisational performance. Rather, the study is restricted to exploring how various conceptions of organisational culture give rise to different understanding of the impact of culture on commitment. The choice of the Indian software sector as the empirical setting for this study is motivated by a variety of reasons. First, there is a dearth of research on human resource management issues in India (see Budhwar and Sparrow 2002; Budhwar, Luther and Bhatnagar 2006a). Second, the software sector in India is important and is increasingly growing in its national and international signicance. Indeed, the importance of this sector to world business operations in recent years has been such that several leading multinational corporations now see India as a major base for outsourcing, to the extent that India has been referred to as the electronic housekeeper of the world (see Budhwar, Varma, Singh and Dhar 2006b). However, although this sector is increasing in economic signicance, it continues to be neglected in research settings. It is for these reasons that this study provides one of the few empirically-driven evaluations of human resource management in the Indian software sector. This paper is organised in three parts. First, a brief review of the literature is presented which locates existing studies incorporating organisational culture and commitment. Second, the context of the study and the methods adopted are detailed, leading to the presentation of the ndings of the study. The study concludes with a discussion of the ndings and an evaluation of the contributions and implications that these ndings may have for theory and practice. Literature review It is beyond the remit of this paper to provide a detailed review of the individual concepts of organisational culture and commitment. Instead, the aim is to focus on the
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intersection of the two concepts in research and theorising. This said, it is useful to provide a brief overview of the concept of commitment. Mowday, Steers and Porter (1979, p. 226), dened commitment as the relative strength of an individuals identication with, and involvement in a particular organisation. Although many denitions of commitment have been presented since the seminal work of Mowday et al. (1979), it is the conception of Meyer and Allen (1991), which identies three distinctive dimensions affective, normative, and continuance that has been the cornerstone of extant theorising in the area of commitment (see Herrbach 2006). The three dimensions highlight commitment from the perspectives of attachment, obligation, and necessity respectively. Research on commitment has generally focused on either the antecedents or the consequences of commitment. Early studies of commitment explored the antecedents of commitment and found four general antecedents, namely: personal characteristics, job characteristics, work experiences, and role-related characteristics (see Mathieu and Hamel 1989; Mowday, Porter and Steers 1982). Some of the earlier studies also explored the role played by demographic variables on commitment. The demographic variables found to have inuence on commitment are: age (Mathieu and Zajac 1990), organisational tenure (Mathieu and Hamel 1989), position tenure (Gregersen and Black 1992), and education (DeCotiis and Summers 1987). Furthermore, Glisson and Durick (1988) identied skill variety and role ambiguity as predictors of satisfaction and leadership, and the age of the organisation as predictor of commitment. The impact of commitment on organisational level outcomes has also been explored in a number of studies. However, it is the consequence of affective commitment which is more often studied in the literature. This is because high levels of affective commitment are shown to be related to a number of positive behavioural level outcomes and job attitudes (see Hislop 2003; Cooper-Hakim and Viswesvaran 2005). Although the study of commitment has been advanced from a range of theoretical perspectives, it is interesting to note that very few attempts have been made by researchers to incorporate culture, which is one of the most dominant contemporary analytic organisational frameworks, in evaluations of organisational commitment. The belief that an understanding of the relationship between culture and commitment is necessary is highlighted in the contributions of a number of prominent culture scholars. Of particular pertinence is the nding of Siehl and Martin (1990) that organisational culture has the potential to enhance job satisfaction and commitment of employees signicantly. They argue that any linkage found between organisational culture and performance is likely to be a result of increased commitment, satisfaction, productivity, and quality, all of which are conceptually related to organisational culture. However, despite such strong arguments in the academic literature, it is mostly organisational climate, rather than organisational culture, that is studied and linked to commitment. Consequently, it is useful briey to review the studies linking climate and commitment since it is clear that culture and climate are sometimes used interchangeably (see Denison 1996). In this regard, it has been argued that a favourable organisational climate could help in developing trust, which would, in turn, lead to commitment. Jones (1995) and Wimbush and Shepard (1994) argue that various organisational practices help in building an ethical climate which, in turn, generates trust. Hosmer (1994) takes this forward by arguing that organisational climate creates trust and that trust leads to innovation. Hosmer, therefore, stresses the need on the part of managers to uphold high standards of morality to be able to create trust. This argument is supported by Ruppel and Harringtons (2000) nding that an ethical work climate creates the
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perceptions of trust and that such perceptions are signicantly related to commitment. Thus, the overall conclusion of these studies is that the appropriate climate generates trust and that trust is related to commitment. Glisson and James (2002) explore how climate and culture affect the commitment and satisfaction of employees and nd that aspects of organisational culture (like behavioural norms and expectations) resulted in greater satisfaction and commitment. Glisson and James (2002) and Glisson and Durick (1988) argue that workers are likely to be satised and committed to the goals of an organisation where the organisational climate is perceived to be positive. It has also been argued that the inuence of culture goes much deeper than merely studying the commitment and satisfaction of employees in human service organisations. For example, Martin, Peters and Glisson (1998) argue that rather than the actual needs of the clients, it is the organisational norms (read culture), that explain the custodial decisions of child welfare workers. Hemmelgarn, Glisson and James (2006) take this forward and argue that the social context of organisations has a bearing even on the adoption, implementation, sustenance, and effectiveness of new core technologies. However, the studies which examine organisational climate as a proxy for the deeper levels of organisational life (culture) are subject to serious limitations. Indeed, the differences between the concepts of organisational climate and culture are evident in the academic literature and culture is argued to represent the deeper and more fundamental aspects of organisational life (Schein 1996). However, with the exception of a few studies, these differences have not been recognised, and culture has not been subjected to serious analysis in the extant literature on commitment. Indeed, Lok and Crawford (2001) argue that culture is more or less absent in studies of commitment, although some aspects of culture, such as values and beliefs, are examined in some studies (for example McCaul, Hinz and McCaul 1995; Mueller, Wallace and Price 1992). In this regard, it is useful to review the few studies of commitment that have incorporated organisational culture. In a recent review article, Bergman (2006) argues that organisational cultures which emphasise strong norms for obligation are likely to create high normative commitment. Similarly, Bergman argues that organisational cultures which have strong norms for internalisation and identication are likely to generate high levels of affective commitment. Although Bergmans (2006) contribution is conceptual rather than empirical, considerable insights have been offered in studies which have tested some of these propositions. For example, in a quantitative study of hospital settings, Lok and Crawford (1999) explore the relationship between organisational culture, subculture and commitment; with culture theorised as having three dimensions: innovative, supportive, and bureaucratic. They nd that organisational culture and subculture are correlated with commitment; however, they present subculture as showing a stronger relationship with commitment. The supportive and innovative ward culture (subculture in this case) shows the highest correlation with commitment. The bureaucratic aspect of subculture is shown to lead to lower levels of commitment. In another quantitative study in hospital settings, Lok and Crawford (2001) conrm their earlier nding that it is subculture (rather than the wider organisational culture) which has a more signicant inuence on commitment. Among the different aspects of subculture, it is the innovative ward culture which is shown to have more inuence on commitment. The study shows that supportive ward culture and the broader innovative and supportive hospital culture do not inuence commitment. A bureaucratic ward culture had a negative inuence on commitment, as was found in their previous study. Although the study demonstrates the relationship between organisational culture and commitment,
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Lok and Crawford (2001) hold the view that the ndings of their study might not be applicable outside the context of Australia due to the differences in national culture. This context-specicity argument is supported by Chen and Francescos (2000) nding that age, gender, education, and tenure show no relationship with organisational commitment in the context of China, in contrast to the studies in the United States. Another limitation pointed out by Lok and Crawford (2001) is that their research was conducted in hospital settings where the nurses studied were conned to their wards for their work. Hence, the ndings of the study might not be applicable in contexts where employee mobility is high or where the environment is uid and dynamic. Another study among the Australian and Hong Kong managers by Lok and Crawford (2004) found that innovative and supportive organisational culture had a positive impact on commitment (contrary to the ndings of their 2001 study). The impact is more profound with the Australian managers than with Hong Kong managers. Lok and Crawford admit that many of the ndings of this study are unexplained. However, an interesting nding of the study is that national culture would moderate the impact culture has on commitment and they suggest that future studies should explore this aspect. The present study takes this suggestion forward and explores the impact of organisational culture on commitment in the context of the software sector in India. Overall, although a few studies have been conducted on organisational culture and commitment, many are limited in their conceptualisation and in the methods of enquiry. In particular, extant conceptualisations are frequently integrative and commonly equate climate to culture or treat culture and climate as similar, interchangeable constructs (see Denison 1996 for a critique). Finally, the approach adopted in many of these studies tends to be quantitative, which is inconsistent with the preferred method of analysis suggested by leading scholars in the eld of organisational culture (for example, Schein 1996; Alvesson 2002; Martin et al. 2006). It is for these reasons that this study provides a qualitative evaluation of the impact of organisational culture on organisational commitment in the dynamic context of the software sector in India. In this regard, it is useful to provide a brief overview of the organisational culture framework that is adopted in the study. To achieve the objective of documenting and analysing organisational culture which reects the richness of work organisations and amplies the ambiguities of organisational life, the three perspective framework of culture (Martin 1992, 2002; Martin et al. 2006) is adopted in this study. The three perspective framework simultaneously captures the unifying aspects of culture, the subcultural themes, as well as the contradictions in organisational life. The integration perspective covers the consistent and mutually reinforcing elements of culture whereas the differentiation perspective seeks to address the inconsistent interpretations of cultural manifestations existing within subcultural boundaries, capturing the clashes between formal and informal norms, and between stated attitudes and actual behaviour. The fragmentation perspective focuses on ambiguity and conceives ambiguity as embracing the complexities which the opposites of twodimensional thinking fail to capture. In the fragmentation perspective, alienation, apathy, confusion, and satisfaction are all portrayed without necessarily suggesting a solution (Martin et al. 2006). For example, Meyersons (1991) description of the work of social workers, where objectives were not clear, the means for achieving the objectives were unspecied, and success was not dened, highlights the nature of ambiguity that may characterise organisational life. The three perspectives framework emphasises the different aspects of the same phenomenon (Martin 2002) and the simultaneous study of the different aspects offers a
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wider range of insights. On the critical side, it might be viewed as an attempt to dominate the other approaches and hence it can also be viewed as a totalitarian attempt aimed at giving all-encompassing worldviews, silencing diversity (Gagliardi 1991). However, it is more appropriate to focus on the analytic merits of using multiple lenses to view the same phenomenon. This approach provides an excellent framework for analysing organisational culture in this study. This is because of the key criticism that extant studies of culture and commitment tend to adopt narrow approaches in attempting to understand these complex organisational phenomena. Prior to a presentation of the methods employed for the study, it is useful to provide a discussion of the applicability of the western concepts in the Indian context. There is now widespread evidence to suggest that the uncritical application of western management concepts in the context of the developing countries such as India is fraught with difculties (for example, Sinha and Kao 1988; Kanungo and Jaeger 1990; Budhwar and Debrah 2001). Such difculties are generally attributed to socio-political factors as well as to the differences on various dimensions of national culture (see Hofstede 1984; Budhwar and Sparrow 2002). In this regard, it has been argued that India ranks relatively low on individualism and masculinity and high on uncertainty avoidance and power distance (Hofstede 1984). Such national cultural attributes are theorised to generate beliefs and behavioural manifestations which make the application of concepts developed in the western context difcult (see Hofstede 1984; Kanungo and Jaeger 1990). This suggests that any analysis of management concepts in a country like India should adopt a particularly idiosyncratic approach and one which considers the multiple particularities of the context (see Parikh and Garg 1990). The exploratory nature of this study and the choice of qualitative research methods help to ensure that the study is localised and that the ndings accurately reect the perspectives of natives on the issues under investigation. What follows is a discussion of the methods adopted for this study. Research design and methods This study was designed to document, explore and analyse the impact that organisational culture might have on organisational commitment in the context of an industry (software sector) that is renowned to be dynamic and people-centred. The focus is to develop a culturally informed analysis of organisational life through applying the three perspective framework in understanding organisational commitment in a software organisation operating in an emerging economy. Data for this study were collected through an ethnographic, qualitative approach. This method was adopted for a variety of reasons. For example, organisational culture literature makes a strong case for ethnography as an approach for developing rich insights into the understanding of lived organisational life. More importantly, qualitative methods (for example, case studies) are powerful ways of going beyond the artefacts and capturing the values, beliefs, and assumptions underlying organisational life (Smircich 1983; Schein 1985, 1996; Martin 1992). The absence of studies of organisational culture and commitment in the software sector in general and in the context of India in particular was another reason for adopting this approach to data gathering. The need for depth and understanding motivated the choice of a single case study as a way of organising and reporting the ndings of this study. In this regard, the study follows the suggestion of Dyer and Wilkins (1991) that single deep case studies are more effective than multiple cases in providing insights into organisational issues.
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Data sources Data for the study were gathered from Firstware (all names and places used are pseudonyms), an Indian software organisation based in the northern part of India, employing over 2000 people and having a turnover of US$ 70 million. The researchers initially gathered information on the organisation that was in the public domain, including coverage in magazines, newspapers, and journals related to the software sector. Furthermore, the researchers studied the information available at the intranet of the organisation wherever this was permitted. The researchers secured permission for the study from the Head of Human Resources of the organisation and spent ve months in the organisation from March 2005 to July 2005. Initially, the researchers spent time with senior executives in the organisation to develop an understanding of the organisations strategic direction and to elicit the views of decision-makers on the espoused organisational culture and policies that were developed to achieve commitment. Consequently, interviews were held with people in the different bands of the organisation. A total of 68 informants were interviewed, including 9 Software Engineers, 9 Senior Software Engineers, 1 Design Engineer, 1 Senior Hardware Engineer, 13 Project Leaders, 2 Module Leaders, 4 Technical Leaders, 4 Programme Managers, 1 Technical Manager, 4 Executives, 9 Functional (departmental) Managers, 2 Departmental Heads, 2 Vice-Presidents, 1 Senior Vice-President, 2 Functional (departmental) Directors, and 4 IT Support Ofcers. The interviews were open-ended and the themes explored revolved around the perception of participants on a range of issues linked to organisational culture and commitment. Emphasis was placed on delineating the similarities, differences, and contradictions in the perception of employees, both among individuals, within single groups, and across the different groups in the organisation. Each interview lasted approximately one hour and in some cases extended to two hours. All interviews were transcribed verbatim. Many of the key informants were interviewed for a second time to clarify issues which were unclear or those which emerged as other informants were interviewed. The researchers were present in the organisations for ve months and generated signicant ethnographic data during this period. In addition to the structured interviews, the researchers had informal meetings with about 50 people in the food court, in company ` premises including the gymnasium, the creche and in the main reception area. The researchers adopted an approach which involved arriving early in the organisation and frequently staying late to talk to the employees and to observe them in their work. In some cases, the researchers were invited to external social gathering with the informants. In this regard, observation represented an important source of data gathering for this study. Data gathered from this source were recorded in research note books as soon as possible and this helped in developing an understanding of the various aspects of the culture of Firstware. Data analysis All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim and this resulted in over 1050 pages of transcribed data. Over 500 pages of archival information including annual reports, policy and training manuals, and newspaper cuttings were also collected. The data were coded into theoretically derived categories in terms of the different types of commitment and the links to critical aspects of culture, subculture and areas of fragmentation, especially the ironies, contradictions, perceived dichotomies in behaviour, and incongruence between espoused and actual behaviours. Special attention was paid to the assumptions, beliefs, value undertones in the data, and the ways in which people
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perceived associations between their denitions of core aspects of culture and commitment. Drawing from the grounded theory approach (Strauss and Corbin 1990), the codes identied were categorised into major themes, linkages and associations and the categories were further subdivided into theoretically coherent groups. This helped to illuminate insights into commitment which related to each of the three perspectives of culture: integration, differentiation, and fragmentation. This was done by the researchers in the rst place and then shared with two experienced academics in the area of organisational behaviour familiar with the Indian context. This was further discussed with a select set of three key informants in the organisation, with an average tenure of three years in the organisation and who were interested in the study to ensure internal and external credibility particularly in relation to factual accuracies (Price, Arnould and Curasi 2000). The feedback received was reectively considered and suitable amendments, notably to factual information, were made where necessary. Finally, the authors recognise that a key limitation of this study is that it is based on a single case study. However, the objective was not to seek generalisability. Instead, the aim was to embrace all the richness and complexity of organisational life. It is anticipated that the wealth of contextual details and insights provided will form the foundation for additional research into these important issues of organisational functioning. Firstware Technology: Company background Firstware Technology was established in the late 1980s in one of the biggest cities in northern India. It was started by ve visionary professionals who had the objective of making it the number one software company in India. This vision is particularly reected in the human resource management policies, systems, and practices of Firstware and has been the driving force behind its business strategies, organisational structure, and organisational culture. Although Firstware was started as a private limited company, it is now a public limited company. The company has had an unwavering focus on software products in the telecommunications sector since its inception. The product range of Firstware includes wireless and wire line communication products in the form of integrated solutions such as complete phone software solutions. The organisation has successfully patented six products in the telecom domain. It has a global presence, with ofces in USA, UK, Germany, France, Mexico, Japan and China. The revenues of the organisation have been steadily increasing and in the nancial year 200506, the revenues totalled $US 70 million. The year 2000 marked a new beginning in the history of Firstware as the organisation expanded its area of operation to include software service in the telecom sector in addition to the software products it had previously specialised in. The new service business covers software support service for wireless networks and terminals, installation and commissioning of wireless networks, and chip and software design services. Firstware serves a range of world-class customers, including Nortel, Texas Instruments, Motorola, Lucent, Panasonic, and NEC. Firstware has what the company describes as a at organisational structure of ve bands (from one to ve). Band one has only the CEO at the top and band ve B has the software engineers. Band two has 14 senior executives and band three has 25 managers. The rest of the employees are spread between bands four and ve. Firstware pursues a number of interesting HR practices. For example, skip level meeting is prominent where HR takes feedback on a reporting ofcer from his or her subordinates in his or her absence and shares the feedback with the concerned person.
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There are touch meetings, where every employee is met at least once a year by the respective HR person and the persons feedback is taken on a wide range of issues regarding work. There is hot chair, where a reporting ofcer sits with his or her subordinates and gives them direct feedback. An employee satisfaction survey is conducted once every two years. The CEO meets every employee in small groups of four or ve at least once a year. Although Firstware was previously a private limited company and was not required to publish its nancial information, the company has traditionally shared nancial information with the employees on a quarterly, half-yearly, and yearly basis. The CEO typically announces the nancial results in a meeting of all the employees in the head ofce and this is broadcast live to employees in other parts of India and across the world. Firstware prides itself as a single status organisation wherein all employees are treated equally. For example, all staff travel economy class (except in a business exigency). Similarly, limited facilities and benets are given on a rst come rst served basis and all the employees have similar sized ofces. The head of HR claims:
One thing that we were very clear on when we started this organisation was that we wanted our people to be free from fear of position. Our values are derived from this. Fear is absent, and we are not rigid about anything. We feel that procedural justice is equally important and without procedural justice, you cannot have distributive justice. That is why we follow single status. Performance is the only differentiator here. (Senior Vice President, HR, aged 48 years, with Firstware for 11 years)
What follows is the presentation of the ndings. First, we present an analysis of culture and commitment from an integration perspective. This is followed by an illustration of the ndings from a differentiation perspective. Finally, data analysis from a fragmentation perspective is presented prior to the discussion of implication of the ndings for theory and practice.
Organisational culture and commitment: An integrationist viewpoint The evolution and maintenance of organisational values which many employees described as widely shared in Firstware owe a great deal to the business strategy of the organisation and the way Firstware grew over time. The small size of the organisation in the early years, the focus on products, and the policy of people rst played a signicant role in shaping and developing organisational life in Firstware. The policies pursued by the organisation are consistent with those that are commonly attributed to companies wishing to manage their organisational culture (see Ogbonna 1993). For example in the initial days, it recruited graduates from only the top technical institutes in India and the selection process was very rigorous. This resulted in a great deal of homogeneity in the outlook of employees towards work and organisational life. Many of these people have stayed with the organisation for a considerable length of time and have experienced the authenticity of the people rst policy especially when the organisation faced external challenges. The researchers captured many stories which appeared widely shared in the organisation and which seemed to play a major role in perpetuating the culture of Firstware. One example is the story of how the company managed the difculties presented by the downturn in the telecom sector in 2001 without compulsory redundancies. Instead, employees apparently volunteered to take a 20 per cent cut in their salaries and this helped to see the company through this period. Another story which suggested concern for employees is that when the SARS epidemic struck South East Asia in 2002/2003, Firstware withdrew its people from the affected areas, risking dissatisfaction from some customers. The importance of such
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stories for the maintenance of values and the role they play in the acculturation of new employees is commonly emphasised in the literature (see Wilkins 1983). These stories tend to suggest a belief that there is a harmonious relationship between employees and their managers. A senior executive described the nature of the relationship with the employees:
I think we have always been an employee rst company. That itself changed a lot of things here; you have a lot of trust in the employee and in return he has ownership. There is an automatic attachment to the company and to the product that he makes. Tomorrow, if we lose him due to some unfortunate circumstances, we still have the freedom to call him anytime, and he would be attached to the product . . . he is emotionally attached. To a great extent, we identify ourselves with Firstware. Denitely, I think all of us do. Commitment levels of the people here are very high. (Vice President aged 50, with Firstware for ve years)
The researchers observed a number of instances where the top managers appeared to exhibit genuine concern for employees. For example, the researchers witnessed a fainting episode at the head ofce reception one evening. The employee concerned was a trainee who had just joined the company. She was promptly rushed to hospital. Upon her return to work the next week, she told one of the researchers that she was deeply touched that one of the senior managers visited her at the hospital and that the organisation showed a genuine concern for her during the time of her illness, with the HR department telling her that she should take as much time as she needed to recover. Many of the interviewees suggest that Firstware employees have a great deal of faith in the senior managers and there appears to be a general belief that the interests of the top managers and those of other employees are fully aligned. Such value alignment is commonly perceived to be a source of commitment in Firstware. In the words of a manager:
I can take a decision on behalf of the company, knowing fully well that if I am able to justify my decisions people are there to stand by me. There are people in this organisation in the top management who supported me strongly. I was doing a review of all travel related issues and found that there were many areas in which we end up using attorneys, lawyers etc. I personally felt that we could do without them in some areas and we were spending signicant amount of money each year on these people. I was not sure whether I could actually succeed with what I was thinking, but I saw a possibility for eliminating this. It was just a stamp that we got from the lawyer stating that our documentation is ok. So I took a call and said let me try one issue without going to a lawyer. I just had to tell my immediate boss and he gave the go ahead. In one year, we ended up saving something like US$ 100,000 on lawyer fees. The fact remains that, maybe, in another organisation, I would not stick my neck out to try this. (Head Travel Services & Outsourcing, aged 36, with Firstware for three years)
The research team also identied many rituals and celebrations of organisational life that appeared to be widely shared and appreciated in the organisation. In this regard, there were examples of both symbolic and action consistency (Martin 1992) in this organisation and the rituals and celebrations of organisational life appeared to play a subtle but signicant role in inuencing employee commitment. Indeed, at the initial stages of the study, the researchers witnessed an interesting and relaxed approach to work wherein employees at all levels went to the in-house gymnasium at any time of their choosing during ofce hours rather than at designated hours. Other aspects of relaxed informality of work included an in-house movie show on Friday evenings (extended from the practice of all employees going for a movie monthly when Firstware was small). The company also encouraged communal celebrations of Indian festivals. Such expressions of symbolic consistency also led to action consistency in that employees from a wide section of the company appeared to participate in these events. One employee narrated a story where an overseas customer
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visited the company on the day of Holi (the Indian festival of colours where people apply and sprinkle colours on one another) and was amazed to see people from the CEO to the security staff play-acting in the spirit of Holi. This visitor was said to have found the spontaneity and enthusiasm of staff so contagious that he joined in the rituals. One of the software engineers explained how these festivities increased the satisfaction and commitment of the employees:
I am excited about these festivities and thoroughly enjoy them. It is not all work and no play. I enjoy dancing and singing and, in Firstware, I get opportunities for these . . . . This makes me think that I am still in my old college. . . . Denitely it makes my mind fresh and I feel a sense of bonding to this place and I am happy to put in my best. Many friends who studied with me at the college draw much higher salaries, but I see them coming home downcast at night. Denitely I enjoy working in this place. (Software Engineer aged 24, with Firstware for one year)
A signicant aspect of organisational culture of Firstware claimed to be prevalent across the organisation is the extent of empowerment and professional freedom employees enjoy. This emerged in different ways during the interviews but was commonly captured by the example of the absence of micro management and freedom to take decisions. In this regard, the person responsible for recruitment (called Resourcing in Firstware) showed the researchers documents said to be cases of many candidates who were recommended for employment by senior managers and (in some cases Directors) but who were subsequently unsuccessful because the interviewing managers believed that other candidates were better. Such examples are rare in a country like India where the national culture promotes nepotism (see Lawler, Jain, Venkata Ratnam and Atmiyanandana 1995; Sparrow and Budhwar 1997; Budhwar 2001a). However, many employees viewed this as leading to a high level of ownership and commitment. For example:
Here, basically what I feel is that the amount of freedom you get to do what we want to do, without any orders or without much of bureaucracy or things like that, is remarkable. Therefore, you have a lot of freedom to work the way you want to work. One good thing about Firstware is that we identify ourselves with its products. We concentrate on the output and we have the freedom and innovativeness to bring out the best. Nobody tells you that this is the work or this is to be done. Its basically left to you. So you can innovate, you can stretch the boundary and people do that. (Project Leader, aged 30, with Firstware for two years)
Interestingly, even those who disagreed with the companys approach on the management of human resources did not feel inhibited to express their views. For example, as the researchers assured one interviewee (who had very been very critical of some of the aspects of company policy) of total anonymity, the interviewee responded: you can play this tape to the CEO, I have told him most of these things. This suggests that the communication channels incorporating different mechanisms such as skip levels and escalation to HR, encourage employees to voice issues openly for managers to deal with. One manager, who joined Firstware after a long employment in the public sector, explained his initial surprise at this style of working:
Those were my early days in Firstware. I was quite used to the unquestioned respect for the top management views characteristic of Indian organisations. This was a quality audit. I was shell shocked to hear someone criticising the CEO where an external auditor was also present. Nothing happened to him. He also got his dues like any other person. (Head of Engineering aged 50, with Firstware for ve years)
Viewed from an integration perspective, the data revealed a number of organisation-wide consistencies on various aspects of organisational life. Such aspects are characterised by action, symbolic and content consistencies described by Martin (1992). The data also
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revealed implicit and explicit assertions that the organisational culture promotes enhanced levels of commitment, which some believed accounted for the superior performance of the organisation. Organisational culture and commitment: A differentiation view point The differentiation perspective is characterised by inconsistency, subcultural consensus, and exclusion of ambiguity (Martin 1992, 2002). In the case of Firstware, in spite of the semblance of cohesion, organisation-wide consensus, high claims of integrity, and people rst, there were many aspects of culture that were differentiated and frequently incompatible with such claims. These emerged from the people in supervisory and managerial positions in the service business and the functional departments such as HR, as well as from contract employees. This can be better understood in the light of the developments in the company before and after year 2000. Prior to 2000, the company focused exclusively on the manufacturing and marketing of telecommunications software products. In 2000, a new service business was introduced and this had a number of implications. In this regard, it should be noted that the service business is almost opposite to the product business in that in products the emphasis is on rigorous research with a longterm focus, whereas the service business emphasises fullling client requirements, often with a short-term focus. Unlike the small numbers of people required in the product business, the service business requires people in very large numbers. Archival data shows that Firstware employed 481 people on 1st January 2000 and this number grew to 903 by 31st December 2000 and was over 2000 in 2005. Against the background of similar growth in the IT sector in India at that time, it became relatively difcult to get the required number of people possessing the right skills from the technical campuses Firstware traditionally recruited from. Many managers (especially those who staffed the new service business) were recruited from other organisations where the cultural orientations were understandably different and where, for example, business orientations typically had precedence over people. Indeed, throughout the organisation, the researchers observed that the managers recruited in this way were often referred to as laterals or outsiders. It was also noticeable that the views of the laterals differed from the views of the managers who had grown with the company. However, of more signicance is that the views of the staff in the new service business (predominantly laterals) differed markedly from the views of the people in the traditional product business. The position of the staff from the service business on a range of issues was akin to what Meyerson and Martin (1987) described as counterculture in that many of their views were inconsistent with the views of the top management and the views of managers who grew with Firstware over time. Interestingly, despite the increasing signicance of the service business, decisions on many important issues in Firstware continued to be made by managers in the product business, many of whom had been with the company since its inception. The conict between the established old guard and the new service business was manifested in the exercise of power in a number of respects (Martin 1992, p. 89). For example, the managers in the service business frequently argued that the introduction of a service business in the organisation required a reorientation of the people rst culture at Firstware. They argued that many of the aspects of organisational culture at Firstware were in contrast to the requirements of business in the service model, especially in the context of customer commitments and deadlines. One senior manager in the service business suggested that executives should at least recognise the different requirements of the two business sectors and develop the appropriate strategies to deal with them:
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In a university, at the research level, there might be a few students. You do not make 2000 people do research; you make 2000 people take an undergraduate and or a graduate course and the culture of the researchers has to be different from those doing an undergraduate course. . . . There has to be more control at the graduate level because most of them are not as mature as the research students. HR still continues to harp on what is relevant for research scholars; whereas the culture is to change to be as relevant for undergraduate courses. (Programme Manager aged 36, with Firstware for ve years)
These conicts were apparently subtle, but the probing of the research team shed some light on many aspects of disagreements. Managers in the service business commonly complained that HR and the top management were not receptive to their business concerns. Our observations revealed that conict between the service and product businesses were frequently manifested in political manoeuvring, which had implications for individual and collective perception of justice in the organisation. For example, a senior manager in the service business pointed out that even when they had a strong case for a business proposal, people on the 7th oor (the top management team, which is principally made up of people from the products business, is located on the 7th oor) commonly turned down such proposals particularly if they clashed with their own views of what the company should be doing. The examples cited included issues of employee perks or benets and conditions of overseas work. However, interestingly, another manager in the service business unit indicated that they had found ways of equalising power and that they frequently used their relationship with customers to inuence the decisions of the organisation:
We have found our own way of resolving problems and forcing HR to take action. If we nd that HR does not address our concerns satisfactorily, we ask our customers to write directly to the company indicating that they are the ones who want such policies changed. We have found that an email from a big customer to the CEO quickly changes things. (Programme Manager aged 38, with Firstware for six years)
The researchers also observed many aspects of action inconsistency where there was incongruence between the espoused content themes and managerial actions. One of the expressions of the content themes of people rst in Firstware was claimed to be the policy of no lay offs, even in difcult business conditions. However, as the interviews progressed, the researchers uncovered a number of instances where people were asked to leave in 2001 when there was a downturn in business protability. Such differing interpretations present an interesting insight into the culture of the organisation. Informants pointed out that the people who were considered to be low performers were given time to nd another job and leave Firstware. In the words of a project leader:
I think there were about 30 of them. They were said to be low performers and were asked to leave, but the process was well managed and very few people came to know about it. I have heard that they were given sufcient time and notice. However, this proves that people rst has limitations. . . . This shows that managements commitment to its employees is rather convenient, in spite of the tall claims it makes and that is why employee commitment will always be limited. (Project Leader, aged 28, with Firstware for ve years)
Other aspects of differentiation uncovered during data analysis related to symbolic inconsistency, where stories had conicting interpretations. For example, one of the values claimed to be part of Firstware culture was the unwavering emphasis on people over prots and there were many stories which appear to have helped the preservation of this value. However, there were conicting interpretations of stories around this theme. For instance, one widely shared story is that in the wake of a major fall in its protability in 2001, employees throughout the organisation took a 20% cut in their salaries to avoid lay offs
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and that these were reversed when protability improved in later years. Many employees in the service business unit interpreted this story differently and generally believed that the salary cut was forced on people. In this regard, instead of viewing the story as indicative of togetherness and high commitment to the organisation, it was perceived by some employees as an example of a top management imposed strategy that lacked fairness. In the words of one of the employees who was a software engineer at that time:
We had to take what I can only describe as a compulsory 20% cut in our salaries. I was one year into the organisation at that time. My salary was not high. The senior management should have taken a greater cut. I was the only earning member in my family and I had to support my extended family. I was heart-broken. I lost interest in what I was doing. Honestly, I looked for options to move out. I got offers, but they were in places far away and I had my own compulsions to be in this location. (Senior Software Engineer aged 27, with Firstware for ve years)
Others in the service business unit highlighted action inconsistencies in adherence to values. They questioned meritocracy and fair treatment which were widely claimed to be the natural results of the value congruence between employees and management. They pointed out that there is a huge gap between what is espoused and what is practised and cited a number of instances to support their claims. It was also interesting to note that the contract employees (about 50 of them) in the IT support functions tended to feel that they were excluded from the organisation. Such employees were easily distinguished within the organisation. For example, the researchers observed that they tended to sit together in the food court during lunch and did not integrate with other members of the organisation. When asked to comment on the culture of Firstware, one of them asked a poignant question, Are you asking about their culture [pointing to the main building] or our culture? They were particularly unhappy about what they considered to be the differential practice of the people rst policy at Firstware:
I was selected for Firstware but given appointment in a contract rm. . . everyone in Firstware got their increments two months back and I am still waiting for mine. . . . I have been here for many years, I cannot purchase a house because no bank will give me a loan since I have a temporary contract. You tell me how I will be committed. However, I still work very hard. If there is any problem in my performance rating, they will not renew the contract. (IT Support Ofcer aged 25, with Firstware for four years)
Thus, data analysis shows that many aspects of the culture of Firstware are inconsistent, with examples of differences in orientation and perception among diverse groups in the organisation. These differences impact not only on management of human resources but also on individual and collective perception of their roles and their levels of commitment to the organisation. Organisational culture and commitment: A fragmentation viewpoint Data generated from Firstware suggests that certain elements of the company culture, particularly those that relate to commitment, can be analysed from a fragmentation perspective. The fragmentation perspective captures ambiguity, multiple interpretations of culture, contradictions, and ironies (Martin 1992, 2002). The analysis of the interviews and other data reveal a number of ambiguities, many of which emerged in the form of conict between content and themes. The managers and employees in supervisory positions in the service business unit typically highlighted such issues. Furthermore, although there was evidence of consensus within subcultures, this did not always extend across subcultures. For example, the general dissatisfaction of the
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employees in the service business unit suggested an incomplete realisation of Firstwares people rst policy as well as the desire of the service employees to re-orientate the culture of the company to a business rst approach. The following vignette highlights the belief that the consequences of the people rst policy were frequently unintended and commonly counterproductive for business success:
A delivery date is there and let us say you have tight estimation that you will deliver a product in ve days . . . suddenly, on the third day, an employee applies for leave, now what will you do? Under the people rst policy, you will have to give him leave. Interviewer: Like somebody falls ill? Not only ill . . . some personal reason, not even ill. You cant do anything about it. He needs time off. He says [name] I have to go, at that point of time; you know that if he goes, you cant deliver on time, so we slip . . . Interviewer: Would you still grant them leave in such situations? We still give [it], that is one of the problems we have faced in Firstware, so we always slip. We aim to be high customer centric, but if you ask the Quality people, I think they will have a different story, they will say that there is always some amount of slippage in Firstware. (Project Leader, aged 31, with Firstware for ve years).
The researchers observed several other examples linked to the above issue. One day one researcher was having lunch at the food court, where a senior HR manager was speaking to a senior manager of a service business unit who said: [a major client of the rm] had a serious problem and none of the software engineers were available to resolve it. The project leader was granted leave in the middle of the project and the client was yelling at me. Interviews with service business unit managers also highlighted many instances where employees refused to go to less attractive client locations which did not have the facilities offered at Firstware (for example, employees were eager to go to Europe or US but were very reluctant to go to China). The managers argued that they were unable to exercise managerial authority in such instances because Firstwares culture did not permit managers to compel employees to act against their self interest. Data analysis suggests that employees across the business highlighted many ambiguities arising from Firstware culture. One key ambiguity noticed was that the attempt by senior executives to foster a close and happy work environment was mistakenly interpreted as an indication of senior managers being soft on bad performance. A number of interviewees argued that this was having a negative impact, especially on the commitment of high performing employees. An example of this was claimed to be linked to appraisals, which were often perceived as meaningless as the culture of nonconfrontation (an unintended consequence of people rst policy) was interpreted in such a way that staff were always given high ratings. The researchers were able to inspect some appraisal ratings and found that all 60 appraisal forms selected at random were awarded top rating. The head of HR openly acknowledged this and observed:
We need to strengthen our managers to become competent to handle that which is difcult. They need to do what a doctor does. Doctor cares, but he is not soft, he is not nice. If he believes that your leg has to be cut, he cuts it. He cares for you, that is why he cuts your leg. He says, there is cancer which will kill you, so I have to cut this leg. If he was a soft guy and a nice guy and says, no, no, I dont want to cut your leg, I dont want to give you pain, he kills you. And most of our managers are killing the whole business. Today one of our major problems in this organisation is that most managers are soft on bad performance. This has an impact on good performance and this brings down commitment of people who do well. Procedurally you are being unjust. (Senior Vice President, HR, aged 48, with Firstware for 11 years)
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Other informants pointed out the action ambiguity observed in the policy of exible work times and the absence of attendance monitoring. Indeed, a number of informants raised interesting moral difculties in relation to this. A commonly cited concern was that staff abuse of generous company policies resulted in the customer paying higher prices and there were some who felt uncomfortable with exploiting the customer in this way:
Assume that only 5 per cent misuse this. Who pays the price? It is the customer who will ultimately pay the price. Would that not go against our claims of integrity? (Head of Engineering aged 50, with Firstware for ve years)
Ambiguity in symbols and actions is thus fundamental to the fragmentation of culture at Firstware. Indeed, one software engineer who had recently joined the company recounted the difculty he had in reconciling many aspects of the company culture. He described the culture as pieces of a jigsaw which do not always t together and which do not always support each other. Another experienced employee narrated the potential cost of such fragmented culture to the organisation:
At the top, we always like to believe that we have everything carefully planned but lets be honest: things can get rather chaotic down here. There are times when I feel that right and left hands are not working together. . . . Im sure that we can make 2 3 per cent more prot if we are able to get everyone to sing from the same hymn book. (Technical Leader, aged 31 years, with Firstware for seven years)
The jigsaw analogy is perhaps best illustrated by the anxiety expressed by informants in relation to the turbulence of the external business environment. The interviews revealed that although Firstware is a highly protable organisation, many employees see the external business environment as very uncertain and many revealed their anxieties over their future. Such anxiety and fear prompted employees to believe that the present boom in information and communication technology in India is transient and that they should amass as much wealth as possible for fear that the boom will be over soon. This probably explains the very high rate of attrition in the company and the industry (archival records suggests that attrition is close to 20 per cent in Firstware), in that employees readily accept jobs that are perceived to offer more nancial benets. Thus, the fear of the industry collapsing has had a major impact on the nature of commitment in the organisation. In the words of one manager:
Software is nothing but a tool for a core industry like telecom, aviation or anything like that. So your cycles depend entirely on their cycles. In 2001, we suffered because it was a telecom crash. More than 200,000 people in US alone lost their jobs. Lucent had 135,000 employees (contract people are separate) before that crash; today it is 35,000. Nortel had 105,000; today it is 30,000. 2001 is not very far back; people are deeply worried of what they did last time. When you re people in the UK and USA you have to pay a huge amount of money to them, depending on how long they worked, but instead, they now come and ofoad work to Indian companies who take the risk of hiring these people and ring them tomorrow. People have this in mind at all times and these fundamental aspects of the industry affect commitment and attrition. People are very scared. This is why there is high attrition. We lose close to a quarter of our strength yearly. ( Programme Manager aged 36 years, with Firstware for ve years)
It was also interesting to nd a number of informants who argued that commitment in the case of Firstware was not a function of the organisational culture. They argued that Firstware employs predominantly software engineers and that a vast majority of the employees are young people in their late twenties (the archival data suggests that the average age is 28). They note that such employees equate career success with undertaking challenging projects with leading multinational corporations (MNCs) and such employees argue that the opportunity to work on complex projects and learn from
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these was more important than seeking an ideal work environment. This shows that the intrinsic motivation of these employees is very high. Viewed from this perspective, commitment is not a function of the work environment but rather an expression of the individuals drive to excel. The researchers stayed overnight in the building on three occasions and noticed that a number of people had voluntarily extended their working hours to the next day in their effort to complete various projects. One of the senior software engineers pointed out:
[XYZ], where I was working previously, had micro monitoring. Mind you, it employs over 50,000 people. It is not an employee rst company, of course, but the attrition is not higher than Firstware. There were systems and processes for almost everything. Here, everything is exible and often I do not know what to do with all that exibility. I am working day and night here but then I worked day in and day out on projects at XYZ. Certainly people work with dedication there as they do here despite the differences in culture. Commitment in XYZ is not low by any standard. (Senior Software Engineer aged 27, with Firstware for two years)
Thus, viewed from a fragmentation perspective, the culture of Firstware is characterised by ambiguities, contradictions, ironies, and multiple interpretations of critical issues and events. Overall, the adoption of the three perspective framework in exploring organisational culture and commitment highlights some interesting ndings in relation to the impact of organisational culture on commitment. Data analysis from the integration perspective appear to suggest an unproblematic link, with high commitment viewed as the logical outcome of the pursuit of top management espoused policies of cultural hegemony. In contrast, data analysis from a differentiation perspective suggests the existence of subcultural tensions and conicts, which often resulted in the pursuit of departmental and business unit political positioning and manoeuvring that frequently undermined organisational commitment. Finally, the analysis of the data from a fragmentation perspective suggests that many aspects of the organisations culture were in a state of ux, with policies and practices that were frequently ambiguous and incompatible. These ndings suggest a range of contributions and implications for theory and practice which are discussed below.
Contributions and implications The objective of this study was to explore and analyse the impact of organisational culture on organisational commitment in the context of a sector (software) that is renowned to be dynamic and people-centred. The ndings of an investigation of these organisational processes in an Indian software organisation suggest a range of contributions and implications for theory and practice. The rst contribution of the study is linked to the adoption of the three perspective framework in the study of organisational culture and commitment in a single organisation. Although researchers have called for scholars to adopt a wider range of perspectives in analysing the culture of organisations, and specically to incorporate the three perspective framework in exploring the culture of single organisations (see Martin 1992, 2002; Harris and Ogbonna 1998), few scholars have taken this suggestion forward. The logic of this approach to organisational analysis is derived from the consideration that organisational members are embedded in practices which are constituted in social norms and which are characterised by numerous, sometimes incompatible meanings (Casey 1999; Alvesson 2002). Such multiplicity of meanings suggests that different orders can exist simultaneously both within and across subcultures: a situation which can only adequately be captured through multiple interpretive analytical lenses. The ndings of this study suggest that by adopting the three
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perspective approach it is possible to identify the multiplicity of meanings that characterise values in a single organisation and to document the existence of shared values, while at the same time uncovering differences and incomplete realisation of values, as well as the contradictions and ambiguities that may characterise cultural values in the same organisation and the potential impact of these on organisational commitment. Thus, this study supports the growing call for research into the organisational culture to adopt multiple perspectives and frameworks (Martin 1992; 2002, Harris and Ogbonna 1998; Alvesson 2002) in analysing the culture of a single organisation. The ndings of this study suggest that this call should be extended to include studies of organisational culture and commitment. A second contribution of the study is the delineation of alternative conceptualisations of the impact of organisational culture on commitment. Previous research into the links between organisational culture and commitment has been sparse, with culture frequently confused with climate in such evaluations (see Denison 1996). Such research commonly points to a positive association between organisational climate and commitment (Jones 1995; Ruppel and Harrington 2000). The few studies that have examined culture more specically reached similar conclusions: that supportive organisational culture can have a positive inuence on organisational commitment (see Lok and Crawford 2001; Bergman 2006). However, while acknowledging that culture can have a pervasive impact on commitment, the current study suggests that this relationship is not as simple or as straightforward as previous researchers have assumed. Viewed from an integration perspective, the ndings of this study lend credence to extant conceptualisations of direct links between culture and commitment, in that culture is presented as having the potential to provide a sense of cohesion and unity, thereby having a strong inuence on commitment, especially affective commitment. In the current case, it can be argued that the company attempted to achieve such commitment by pursuing cultural policies of organisational hegemony including selective recruitment, empowerment, and generous employee benets package. However, an alternative analytical perspective (differentiation or fragmentation perspective) of culture points to varying interpretations and conceptualisations of the impact of culture on commitment. For example, the conict and political manoeuvring between the different business groups and the ways in which some of the policies (for example the people rst policy) were interpreted by various groups in the organisation were seen as impacting negatively on employee commitment. Furthermore, the analysis of the data from a fragmentation perspective reveals ambiguities, dichotomies, ironies, and contradictions that characterise internal and external organisational relations and that make it difcult to develop clear and uncomplicated linkages between organisational culture and commitment. To this extent, rather than present simple and unproblematic associations between culture and commitment, this study suggests that the links between commitment and culture are contested, typically unpredictable, transient, and context-specic. In this regard, given the relative dearth of research linking organisational culture and commitment, these ndings contribute an important step towards theory building in this area. The ndings of this study also suggest some implications for human resource management in India in general and for the Indian software sector in particular. First, the study contributes to calls for more studies of human resource management in India (see Budhwar 2001b; Budhwar and Debrah 2001) by providing an empirical evaluation of key issues within human resource management (organisational culture and commitment). Second, the study supplies one of the few research-driven examinations of the software
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industry in India. In this regard, the study provides insights into the complexities in the perception of organisational culture, thereby presenting particular opportunities and difculties for human resource managers. Third, the study demonstrates the problematic nature of culture commitment linkages and in so doing highlights the signicance of unpredictability and context-specicity in such linkages. This is particularly relevant in the light of the high levels of employee turnover and in the context of workers in developing economies who increasingly place emphasis on extrinsic rewards (see for example, Athreye 2005). All these factors pose signicant challenges to human resource managers in India and elsewhere wishing to improve organisational effectiveness through aligning organisational culture and organisational commitment. The above discussion leads to another contribution of this study which is related to the research methods adopted. Previous studies into organisational commitment and culture have tended to be quantitative, with little understanding of the ways in which these processes are fully played out in organisational settings. The ndings of this study lead to the suggestion that the adoption of qualitative approaches in the study of organisational culture and commitment is more likely to yield signicant insights, in that it would help the researcher to develop an understanding of the organisational context and processes through which individuals and groups ascribe meaning to their working lives. Such an approach is also likely to lead to a better appreciation of how the resulting employee behaviours and norms impact on organisational commitment. Although no causal links can be claimed by studying commitment and culture in this way, this approach is more likely to lead to an understanding of the social context in which expressions of commitment may occur, enabling the researchers to understand how the cultural manipulation of such contexts may inuence the nature and expression of commitment. The above raises the question of whether analyses of culture and commitment should not only be context-specic but should also be sector/industry contingent. The peculiarities of the Indian business environment make this an interesting context for the study of organisational culture and commitment. For example, the impact of the business-friendly legal environment which makes it easy to hire and re employees in the software sector and to maintain permanent labour market exibility cannot be underestimated. As many informants disclosed, employee commitment is sometimes based on instrumentality, and shaped by the availability of alternative employment that matches the peculiarities of individual circumstances (for example, the behaviour of a breadwinner in an extended family system is more likely to be shaped by a desire to remain in employment that offers the greatest nancial reward rather than the one that offers the best opportunity for individual psychological fullment (see Hofstede 1984)). Similarly, evaluations of culture and commitment are likely to be inuenced by the dynamic nature of the software sector. For example, the recent rapid growth and development of this sector has bestowed specialist software professionals with a power capacity which many have exploited to negotiate enhanced packages irrespective of the nature of cultural and commitment practices promoted by their respective organisations (see Ogbonna and Harris 2006). Thus, rather than perceive context-specicity as a limitation in studies of commitment (see Lok and Crawford 2001; Chen and Francesco 2000), this study suggests that a focus on the multiple particularities of individual contexts should help to inform theory building in this interesting area of organisational research. A practical implication of this study is in relation to subcultural conict which may arise when an organisation introduces a new business operation. Managers should note that it may not be desirable or even possible to suppress such conict. Instead, they should seek to recognise the differences in orientation of each subculture, to understand that
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commitment may be derived from and directed to multiple sources (which may or may not include the organisation) and to develop the appropriate support systems to ensure a business focused solution. Such an approach requires an acknowledgement of the co-existence of multiple cultures and multiple commitments in organisations. Thus, rather than seek to encourage commitment and cultural hegemony, managers should aim to identify ways of harnessing specic subcultural characteristics that may be conducive to particular types of commitment required for the success of individual business units.
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The International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 20, No.

3, March 2009, 654675

Organisational culture and commitment: a study of an Indian software organisation

*Corresponding author. Email: Ogbonna@Cardiff.ac.uk

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

J. Mathew and E. Ogbonna

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

J. Mathew and E. Ogbonna

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

J. Mathew and E. Ogbonna

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

J. Mathew and E. Ogbonna

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

J. Mathew and E. Ogbonna

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

J. Mathew and E. Ogbonna

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

J. Mathew and E. Ogbonna

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

J. Mathew and E. Ogbonna

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

J. Mathew and E. Ogbonna

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

J. Mathew and E. Ogbonna

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

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Organisational Culture & Commitment

Organisational Culture & Commitment