Power Asymmetries: An Analysis of Gaps between Hierarchical Levels and Organizational Culture
Keywords:
Retail industry, Organizational culture, Denison model, Power, Hierarchical level
Abstract
Workers are calling for a new psychological contract in which power differences are less asymmetrical and underrepresented voices are heard. In this context, the present study identifies the gaps between the three organizational hierarchical levels (strategic, executive and operational) with a focus on power asymmetries. Employing the case studies methodology, Denison’s (1990) instrument is applied to measure the four dimensions (Adaptability, Involvement, Mission and Consistency) of organizational culture at a supermarket located in northern Chile that is part of a leading chain regionally and nationally. Information was collected through 163 surveys and analyzed using nonparametric statistics. The results reveal a high correlation between hierarchal levels and the dimensions of organizational culture. However, in four particular sub-dimensions (empowerment, capability development, core values, and agreement), the operational level feels that the higher hierarchal levels impose their power. As well as affecting their motivation and commitment, this compels the lower-level workers to take actions--in which informal power plays a key role--to reduce asymmetries. In sum, the relationship explored in this study between organizational culture, hierarchal levels and power is one that future research should examine in greater depth.Downloads
View per year:
Download data is not yet available.
References
Abal Medina, P. (2007). El destierro de la alteridad: El caso Wal Mart Argentina. Revista mexicana de sociología, 69(4), 683-727.
Allaire, Y., & Firsirotu, M. E. (1984). Theories of organizational culture. Organization studies, 5(3), 193-226.
Anderson, C., & Brown, C. E. (2010). The functions and dysfunctions of hierarchy. Research in organizational behavior, 30, 55-89.
Awadh, A. M., & Alyahya, M. S. (2013). Impact of organizational culture on employee performance. International Review of Management and Business Research, 2(1), 168.
Bonavia, T., Prado, V. G., & Barberá, D. T. (2009). Spanish adaptation and factor structure of the Denison Organizational Culture Survey. Psicothema, 21(4), 633-638.
Bolton, S. C. (2007). Dimensions of dignity at work, London: Butterworth Heineman
Calderón Moncloa, L. F., & Viardot, E. (2009). El impacto de los valores Latinoamericanos en la gerencia del cambio organizacional. Oikos: Revista de la Escuela de Administración y Economía(27), 13-30.
Cameron, K. S., & Quinn, R. E. (2011). Diagnosing and changing organizational culture: Based on the competing values framework: John Wiley & Sons.
Carrillo, A. P. (2013). Medición de la cultura organizacional. Ciencias Administrativas, 4(8), 61-73.
Choo, C. W. (2013). Information culture and organizational effectiveness. International Journal of Information Management, 33(5), 775-779.
Clark, F. A. (2010). Power and confidence in professions: Lessons for occupational therapy. Revue canadienne d’ergothérapie, 77(5), 264-269.
Contreras Torres, F. V., & Castro Ríos, G. A. (2013). Liderazgo, poder y movilización organizacional. Estudios gerenciales, 29(126), 72-76.
Cruz Feria, G. A. (2005). Actitud del Trabajador Antecedentes de Involucramiento y Compromiso y Sus Efectos en el Desempeño: Estudio Correlacional en la Industria de las Telecomunicaciones y Tecnologías de Información-Edición Única. (Master), Tecnológico de Monterrey.
Cújar Vertel, A. d. C., Ramos Paternina, C. D., Hernández Riaño, H. E., & López Pereira, J. M. (2013). Cultura organizacional: evolución en la medición. Estudios gerenciales, 29(128), 350-355.
Dagnino, J. (2014). Comparaciones múltiples. Revista Chilena de Anastesia, 43(1), 311-312.
Denison, D. (1990). Corporate culture and organizational effectiveness: John Wiley & Sons.
Denison, D., & Mishra, A. (1995). Toward a theory of organizational culture and effectiveness. Organization science, 6(2), 204-223.
Denison, D., & Neale, W. (1996). Denison organizational culture survey. Ann Arbor, MI: Aviat.
Denison, D., Nieminen, L., & Kotrba, L. (2014). Diagnosing organizational cultures: A conceptual and empirical review of culture effectiveness surveys. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 23(1), 145-161.
Diefenbach, T., & Sillince, J. A. (2011). Formal and informal hierarchy in different types of organization. Organization studies, 32(11), 1515-1537.
Fey, C. F., & Denison, D. R. (2003). Organizational culture and effectiveness: can American theory be applied in Russia? Organization science, 14(6), 686-706.
Foucault, M. (1980). Power/knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings , 1972-1977, in C. Gordon (Ed). New York: Pantheon.
Giraldo Marín, S. B. (2012). El empoderamiento como elemento generador de compromiso organizacional en los empleados de las empresas aseguradoras de la ciudad de Manizales (Magíster en Administración), Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Manizales, Colombia.
Glisson, C. (2015). The role of organizational culture and climate in innovation and effectiveness. Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance, 39(4), 245-250.
Gómez Roldán, I., & Ricardo Bray, R. G. (2012). Cultura organizacional: aproximación sectorial en Bogotá. Revista Facultad de Ciencias Económicas: Investigación y Reflexión, 20(2), 19-41.
Hair Jr, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C., & Sarstedt, M. (2016). A primer on partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM): Sage Publications.
Halevy, N., Chou, E. Y., Galinsky, A. D., & Murnighan, J. K. (2012). When hierarchy wins: Evidence from the national basketball association. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 3(4), 398-406.
Hernandez Sampiere, R., Fernandez Colladi, C., & Baptista, M. d. (2014). Metodología de la investigación (Sexta Edición ed.). México, México.
Hofstede, G. (1998). Identifying organizational subcultures: An empirical approach. Journal of management studies, 35(1), 1-12.
Hofstede, G. (2011). Dimensionalizing cultures: The Hofstede model in context. Online readings in psychology and culture, 2(1), 8.
Horton, K. E., McClelland, C. R., & Griffin, M. A. (2014). Defined by our hierarchy? How hierarchical positions shape our identifications and well-being at work. human relations, 67(10), 1167-1188.
Hüther, O., & Krücken, G. (2013). Hierarchy and power: A conceptual analysis with particular reference to new public management reforms in German universities. European Journal of Higher Education, 3(4), 307-323.
International Labor Organizatión (ILO) (2016). Non-standard employment around the world: Understanding challenges, shaping prospects. International Labour Office – Geneva.
Jahn, J. L., & Black, A. E. (2017). A model of communicative and hierarchical foundations of high reliability organizing in wildland firefighting teams. Management Communication Quarterly, 31(3), 356-379.
James, L. R., James, L. A., & Ashe, D. K. (1990). The meaning of organizations: The role of cognition and values. Organizational climate and culture, 40, 84.
Janićijević, N. (2013). The mutual impact of organizational culture and structure. Economic annals, 58(198), 35-60.
Jofré, E. (2002). Modelo de diseño y ejecución de estrategias de negocio. Serie gestión.(35), 1-43.
Kokina, I., & Ostrovska, I. (2014). The Analysis of Organizational Culture with the Denison Model (the Case Study of Latvian Municipality). European Scientific Journal, ESJ, 9(10).
Krywkow, J., & Hare, M. (2008). Participatory process management.
Kwon, B., Farndale, E., & Park, J. G. (2016). Employee voice and work engagement: Macro, meso, and micro-level drivers of convergence? Human Resource Management Review, 26(4), 327-337.
Marín, D. (2012). Estructura organizacional y sus parámetros de diseño: Análisis descriptivo en pymes industriales de Bogotá, Estudios Gerenciales, 28(123), 43-64.
Mariño-Arévalo, A. (2009). Las relaciones de poder y la comunicación en las organizaciones: Una fuente de cambio, AD-minister, (24), 119-141.
Martínez-León, I. M., Olmedo-Cifuentes, I., & Ramón-Llorens, M. C. (2018). Work, personal and cultural factors in engineers’ management of their career satisfaction. Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, 47, 22-36.
Martínez Avella, M. E. (2010). Relaciones entre cultura y desempeño organizacional en una muestra de empresas colombianas: reflexiones sobre la utilización del modelo de Denison. cuadernos de administración, 23(40).
Moskovich, Y., & Achouch, Y. (2017). Family home culture and management-employee relationships: Comparing two kibbutz factories. Journal of Co-operative Organization and Management, 5(2), 95-107.
Naranjo-Valencia, J. C., Jiménez-Jiménez, D., & Sanz-Valle, R. (2016). Studying the links between organizational culture, innovation, and performance in Spanish companies. Revista Latinoamericana de Psicología, 48(1), 30-41.
Nielsen, N. V. (2015). 6 tendencias del retail en América Latina: Qué está pasando en el retail y cuáles son las tendencias que lo fortalecen para el futuro. The Nielsen Company.
OECD. (2016). Regulatory policy in Chile: Government capacity to ensure high-quality regulation The macoeconomic context in Chile. Paris, France: OECD Publishing.
Parida, A., & Kumar, U. (2009). Maintenance productivity and performance measurement Handbook of maintenance management and engineering (pp. 17-41): Springer.
Pfeffer, J. (2013). You're still the same: Why theories of power hold over time and across contexts. Academy of Management Perspectives, 27(4), 269-280.
Robbins, S., Judge, T., & Enríquez Brito, J. (2013). Comportamiento organizacional: Pearson México DF.
Ronay, R., Greenaway, K., Anicich, E. M., & Galinsky, A. D. (2012). The path to glory is paved with hierarchy: When hierarchical differentiation increases group effectiveness. Psychological science, 23(6), 669-677.
Sackmann, S. A. (2011). Culture and performance. The handbook of organizational culture and climate, 2, 188-224.
Sanavi, F. S., Robati, F., & Sanavi, F. S. (2016). The Relationship between Organizational Culture and Knowledge Management Components of Lawson. TURKISH ONLINE JOURNAL OF DESIGN ART AND COMMUNICATION, 6, 2036-2042.
Schein, E. H. (2010). Organizational culture and leadership (Vol. 2): John Wiley & Sons.
Shahzad, F., Luqman, R. A., Khan, A. R., & Shabbir, L. (2012). Impact of organizational culture on organizational performance: An overview. Interdisciplinary journal of contemporary research in business, 3(9), 975-985.
Sidanius, J., Pratto, F., Van Laar, C., & Levin, S. (2004). Social dominance theory: Its agenda and method. Political Psychology, 25(6), 845-880.
Sigler, T. H., & Pearson, C. M. (2000). Creating an empowering culture: examining the relationship between organizational culture and perceptions of empowerment. Journal of quality management, 5(1), 27-52.
Spreitzer, G. M. (1995). Psychological Empowerment in the Workplace: Dimensions, Measurement, and Validation. The Academy of Management Journal, 38(5), 1442-1465.
Terán Varela, O. E., & Lorenzo Irlanda, J. (2011). Influencia de la cultura organizacional en el desempeño laboral y la productividad de los trabajadores administrativos en instituciones de educación superior. Omnia, 17(1).
Tjosvold, D., & Sun, H. (2006). Effects of power concepts and employee performance on managers' empowering. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 27(3), 217-234.
Vărzaru, M., & Jolivet, E. (2011). Towards a Model of Designing an Organizational Structure in a Knowledge Based Society. Amfiteatru Economic Journal, 13(30), 620-631.
Venegas, M. (2019). Poder y valor del compromiso en la arquitectura de la ética organizacional, Multiciencias, 9(1), 54-61.
Weaver, K., Morales, V., Dunn, S., Godde, K., & Weaver, P. (2017). An Introduction to Statistical Analysis in Research: with Applications in the Biological and Life Sciences: John Wiley & Sons, New York.
Yin, R. (2017). Case study research and applications: Design and methods: Sage publications.
Zeitlin, M. (1974). Corporate ownership and control: The large corporation and the capitalist class. American journal of Sociology, 79(5), 1073-1119.
Zeng, K., & Luo, X. (2013). Impact of ownership type and firm size on organizational culture and on the organizational culture-effectiveness linkage. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 14(sup1), S96-S111.
Zeng, Y., Jin, M., Guo, C., & Zhang, Z. (2015). Research on evaluation of enterprise project culture based on Denison model. Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management, 8(3), 909-927.
Zhou, P., Bundorf, K., Le Chang, J., Huang, J. X., & Xue, D. (2011). Organizational culture and its relationship with hospital performance in public hospitals in China. Health services research, 46(6pt2), 2139-2160.
Allaire, Y., & Firsirotu, M. E. (1984). Theories of organizational culture. Organization studies, 5(3), 193-226.
Anderson, C., & Brown, C. E. (2010). The functions and dysfunctions of hierarchy. Research in organizational behavior, 30, 55-89.
Awadh, A. M., & Alyahya, M. S. (2013). Impact of organizational culture on employee performance. International Review of Management and Business Research, 2(1), 168.
Bonavia, T., Prado, V. G., & Barberá, D. T. (2009). Spanish adaptation and factor structure of the Denison Organizational Culture Survey. Psicothema, 21(4), 633-638.
Bolton, S. C. (2007). Dimensions of dignity at work, London: Butterworth Heineman
Calderón Moncloa, L. F., & Viardot, E. (2009). El impacto de los valores Latinoamericanos en la gerencia del cambio organizacional. Oikos: Revista de la Escuela de Administración y Economía(27), 13-30.
Cameron, K. S., & Quinn, R. E. (2011). Diagnosing and changing organizational culture: Based on the competing values framework: John Wiley & Sons.
Carrillo, A. P. (2013). Medición de la cultura organizacional. Ciencias Administrativas, 4(8), 61-73.
Choo, C. W. (2013). Information culture and organizational effectiveness. International Journal of Information Management, 33(5), 775-779.
Clark, F. A. (2010). Power and confidence in professions: Lessons for occupational therapy. Revue canadienne d’ergothérapie, 77(5), 264-269.
Contreras Torres, F. V., & Castro Ríos, G. A. (2013). Liderazgo, poder y movilización organizacional. Estudios gerenciales, 29(126), 72-76.
Cruz Feria, G. A. (2005). Actitud del Trabajador Antecedentes de Involucramiento y Compromiso y Sus Efectos en el Desempeño: Estudio Correlacional en la Industria de las Telecomunicaciones y Tecnologías de Información-Edición Única. (Master), Tecnológico de Monterrey.
Cújar Vertel, A. d. C., Ramos Paternina, C. D., Hernández Riaño, H. E., & López Pereira, J. M. (2013). Cultura organizacional: evolución en la medición. Estudios gerenciales, 29(128), 350-355.
Dagnino, J. (2014). Comparaciones múltiples. Revista Chilena de Anastesia, 43(1), 311-312.
Denison, D. (1990). Corporate culture and organizational effectiveness: John Wiley & Sons.
Denison, D., & Mishra, A. (1995). Toward a theory of organizational culture and effectiveness. Organization science, 6(2), 204-223.
Denison, D., & Neale, W. (1996). Denison organizational culture survey. Ann Arbor, MI: Aviat.
Denison, D., Nieminen, L., & Kotrba, L. (2014). Diagnosing organizational cultures: A conceptual and empirical review of culture effectiveness surveys. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 23(1), 145-161.
Diefenbach, T., & Sillince, J. A. (2011). Formal and informal hierarchy in different types of organization. Organization studies, 32(11), 1515-1537.
Fey, C. F., & Denison, D. R. (2003). Organizational culture and effectiveness: can American theory be applied in Russia? Organization science, 14(6), 686-706.
Foucault, M. (1980). Power/knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings , 1972-1977, in C. Gordon (Ed). New York: Pantheon.
Giraldo Marín, S. B. (2012). El empoderamiento como elemento generador de compromiso organizacional en los empleados de las empresas aseguradoras de la ciudad de Manizales (Magíster en Administración), Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Manizales, Colombia.
Glisson, C. (2015). The role of organizational culture and climate in innovation and effectiveness. Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance, 39(4), 245-250.
Gómez Roldán, I., & Ricardo Bray, R. G. (2012). Cultura organizacional: aproximación sectorial en Bogotá. Revista Facultad de Ciencias Económicas: Investigación y Reflexión, 20(2), 19-41.
Hair Jr, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C., & Sarstedt, M. (2016). A primer on partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM): Sage Publications.
Halevy, N., Chou, E. Y., Galinsky, A. D., & Murnighan, J. K. (2012). When hierarchy wins: Evidence from the national basketball association. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 3(4), 398-406.
Hernandez Sampiere, R., Fernandez Colladi, C., & Baptista, M. d. (2014). Metodología de la investigación (Sexta Edición ed.). México, México.
Hofstede, G. (1998). Identifying organizational subcultures: An empirical approach. Journal of management studies, 35(1), 1-12.
Hofstede, G. (2011). Dimensionalizing cultures: The Hofstede model in context. Online readings in psychology and culture, 2(1), 8.
Horton, K. E., McClelland, C. R., & Griffin, M. A. (2014). Defined by our hierarchy? How hierarchical positions shape our identifications and well-being at work. human relations, 67(10), 1167-1188.
Hüther, O., & Krücken, G. (2013). Hierarchy and power: A conceptual analysis with particular reference to new public management reforms in German universities. European Journal of Higher Education, 3(4), 307-323.
International Labor Organizatión (ILO) (2016). Non-standard employment around the world: Understanding challenges, shaping prospects. International Labour Office – Geneva.
Jahn, J. L., & Black, A. E. (2017). A model of communicative and hierarchical foundations of high reliability organizing in wildland firefighting teams. Management Communication Quarterly, 31(3), 356-379.
James, L. R., James, L. A., & Ashe, D. K. (1990). The meaning of organizations: The role of cognition and values. Organizational climate and culture, 40, 84.
Janićijević, N. (2013). The mutual impact of organizational culture and structure. Economic annals, 58(198), 35-60.
Jofré, E. (2002). Modelo de diseño y ejecución de estrategias de negocio. Serie gestión.(35), 1-43.
Kokina, I., & Ostrovska, I. (2014). The Analysis of Organizational Culture with the Denison Model (the Case Study of Latvian Municipality). European Scientific Journal, ESJ, 9(10).
Krywkow, J., & Hare, M. (2008). Participatory process management.
Kwon, B., Farndale, E., & Park, J. G. (2016). Employee voice and work engagement: Macro, meso, and micro-level drivers of convergence? Human Resource Management Review, 26(4), 327-337.
Marín, D. (2012). Estructura organizacional y sus parámetros de diseño: Análisis descriptivo en pymes industriales de Bogotá, Estudios Gerenciales, 28(123), 43-64.
Mariño-Arévalo, A. (2009). Las relaciones de poder y la comunicación en las organizaciones: Una fuente de cambio, AD-minister, (24), 119-141.
Martínez-León, I. M., Olmedo-Cifuentes, I., & Ramón-Llorens, M. C. (2018). Work, personal and cultural factors in engineers’ management of their career satisfaction. Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, 47, 22-36.
Martínez Avella, M. E. (2010). Relaciones entre cultura y desempeño organizacional en una muestra de empresas colombianas: reflexiones sobre la utilización del modelo de Denison. cuadernos de administración, 23(40).
Moskovich, Y., & Achouch, Y. (2017). Family home culture and management-employee relationships: Comparing two kibbutz factories. Journal of Co-operative Organization and Management, 5(2), 95-107.
Naranjo-Valencia, J. C., Jiménez-Jiménez, D., & Sanz-Valle, R. (2016). Studying the links between organizational culture, innovation, and performance in Spanish companies. Revista Latinoamericana de Psicología, 48(1), 30-41.
Nielsen, N. V. (2015). 6 tendencias del retail en América Latina: Qué está pasando en el retail y cuáles son las tendencias que lo fortalecen para el futuro. The Nielsen Company.
OECD. (2016). Regulatory policy in Chile: Government capacity to ensure high-quality regulation The macoeconomic context in Chile. Paris, France: OECD Publishing.
Parida, A., & Kumar, U. (2009). Maintenance productivity and performance measurement Handbook of maintenance management and engineering (pp. 17-41): Springer.
Pfeffer, J. (2013). You're still the same: Why theories of power hold over time and across contexts. Academy of Management Perspectives, 27(4), 269-280.
Robbins, S., Judge, T., & Enríquez Brito, J. (2013). Comportamiento organizacional: Pearson México DF.
Ronay, R., Greenaway, K., Anicich, E. M., & Galinsky, A. D. (2012). The path to glory is paved with hierarchy: When hierarchical differentiation increases group effectiveness. Psychological science, 23(6), 669-677.
Sackmann, S. A. (2011). Culture and performance. The handbook of organizational culture and climate, 2, 188-224.
Sanavi, F. S., Robati, F., & Sanavi, F. S. (2016). The Relationship between Organizational Culture and Knowledge Management Components of Lawson. TURKISH ONLINE JOURNAL OF DESIGN ART AND COMMUNICATION, 6, 2036-2042.
Schein, E. H. (2010). Organizational culture and leadership (Vol. 2): John Wiley & Sons.
Shahzad, F., Luqman, R. A., Khan, A. R., & Shabbir, L. (2012). Impact of organizational culture on organizational performance: An overview. Interdisciplinary journal of contemporary research in business, 3(9), 975-985.
Sidanius, J., Pratto, F., Van Laar, C., & Levin, S. (2004). Social dominance theory: Its agenda and method. Political Psychology, 25(6), 845-880.
Sigler, T. H., & Pearson, C. M. (2000). Creating an empowering culture: examining the relationship between organizational culture and perceptions of empowerment. Journal of quality management, 5(1), 27-52.
Spreitzer, G. M. (1995). Psychological Empowerment in the Workplace: Dimensions, Measurement, and Validation. The Academy of Management Journal, 38(5), 1442-1465.
Terán Varela, O. E., & Lorenzo Irlanda, J. (2011). Influencia de la cultura organizacional en el desempeño laboral y la productividad de los trabajadores administrativos en instituciones de educación superior. Omnia, 17(1).
Tjosvold, D., & Sun, H. (2006). Effects of power concepts and employee performance on managers' empowering. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 27(3), 217-234.
Vărzaru, M., & Jolivet, E. (2011). Towards a Model of Designing an Organizational Structure in a Knowledge Based Society. Amfiteatru Economic Journal, 13(30), 620-631.
Venegas, M. (2019). Poder y valor del compromiso en la arquitectura de la ética organizacional, Multiciencias, 9(1), 54-61.
Weaver, K., Morales, V., Dunn, S., Godde, K., & Weaver, P. (2017). An Introduction to Statistical Analysis in Research: with Applications in the Biological and Life Sciences: John Wiley & Sons, New York.
Yin, R. (2017). Case study research and applications: Design and methods: Sage publications.
Zeitlin, M. (1974). Corporate ownership and control: The large corporation and the capitalist class. American journal of Sociology, 79(5), 1073-1119.
Zeng, K., & Luo, X. (2013). Impact of ownership type and firm size on organizational culture and on the organizational culture-effectiveness linkage. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 14(sup1), S96-S111.
Zeng, Y., Jin, M., Guo, C., & Zhang, Z. (2015). Research on evaluation of enterprise project culture based on Denison model. Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management, 8(3), 909-927.
Zhou, P., Bundorf, K., Le Chang, J., Huang, J. X., & Xue, D. (2011). Organizational culture and its relationship with hospital performance in public hospitals in China. Health services research, 46(6pt2), 2139-2160.
Published
2020-01-13
How to Cite
Molina, C., Heredia Rojas, B., Romaní, G., & Reynaga, R. (2020). Power Asymmetries: An Analysis of Gaps between Hierarchical Levels and Organizational Culture. Journal of Business, Universidad Del Pacífico (Lima, Peru), 11(1), 49-67. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.21678/jb.2019.1245
Section
Articles
.jpg){kind=logo}
