Diagnosing the Organizational Culture of Higher Institution of Learning Using the Competing Values Framework

The Competing Values Framework is a tool that can be used for many purposes, including identifying the organizational culture of an organization. According to this framework, there are four main cultures, namely, Clan, Adhocracy, Market and Hierarchy. Knowledge of the organizational culture of an institution is very important if the managers of such institution are to succeed. The purpose of the research was therefore to identify the existing dominant organizational culture of Kumasi Polytechnic as perceived by its staff as well as the preferred organizational culture of members of staff. The members of staff of Kumasi Polytechnic were grouped into; senior members, senior staff and junior staff. Members of staff who had attained a minimum of one year of service with the Polytechnic were randomly sampled to answer the organizational culture assessment instrument. Based on the analysis, the existing dominant organizational culture of Kumasi Polytechnic is Hierarchy. However, the study revealed that the preferred organizational culture is Market. The implication is that for managers of the Polytechnic to be effective and successful, their leadership style should be that of a coordinator or organizer or rule-reinforcer. Also, their management style should be characterized by security of employment, conformity and stability in relationships.