Organizational culture in the transition process in Serbia: A comparative analysis of the state administration and the private sector

Abstract

Organizational culture plays a vital role in attaining organization?s economic objectives, with particular impact on the process of initiating and implementing organizational changes. Handy?s typology, that classifies culture into the power culture, the role culture, the task culture, and the person or support culture, was deployed to assess the type of organizational culture in a public and a private organization, mapping both the current culture and one desired by employees. The data were collected based on a questionnaire completed by 100 respondents employed in the private sector and another 100 respondents employed in the state administration. The results reveal statistically significant differences in the organizational culture between the public and the private organization, and that both need to make a positive impact on the state in achieving a more efficient responce to the challenges and difficulties of the transition process. The goal is to move away from the existing role culture dominated by strict rules, procedures and bureaucratization, and reinforce the task culture which values results, initiative and creativity. Considering that employees in the state administration strive to implement a model of organizational culture from the private sector, the public administration sector needs a change in the organizational culture to increase its administrative capacity and become more professional.