The Organizational Culture of a Major Social Work Institution in Romania: A Sociological Analysis

Florina Luiza Vlaicu, Alexandru Neagoe, Laurențiu Gabriel Țîru and Adrian Otovescu
Additional contact information
Florina Luiza Vlaicu: The Department of Social Work, The West University of Timișoara, Timișoara 300223, Romania
Alexandru Neagoe: The Department of Social Work, The West University of Timișoara, Timișoara 300223, Romania
Laurențiu Gabriel Țîru: The Department of Sociology, The West University of Timișoara, Timișoara 300223, Romania
Adrian Otovescu: The Department of Communication, Journalism and Education Science, The University of Craiova, Craiova 200585, Romania

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 13, 1-18

Abstract: This study aims to document the specific organizational culture existing in the General Directorate for Social Work and Child Protection (DGASPC) in the Gorj county, Romania. This is a major social work institution in Romania, but one which (like most other social work institutions in this country) have rarely been subject to the type of sociological research as the one reported in this article. The present analysis can help leaders in this organization and other similar organizations to assess and improve the cultural aspects that can influence the achievement of objectives, as well as the quality of the social services provided to service users. Our study has included 286 participants that hold various positions at DGASPC Gorj (social workers, psychologists, and educators). The chosen investigative instrument is the organizational culture assessment instrument (OCAI), a questionnaire designed to interpret organizational phenomena, developed by Cameron and Quinn and based on the conceptual framework of the “competing values framework”. The authors have identified four types of culture (clan, adhocracy, hierarchy, and market culture) and the tool allows an analysis of organizational culture based on the employees’ perception of the existing culture as well as also on their preferences regarding the way they would like to change the organizational culture in the future. The results show that the dominant culture is the hierarchy culture, closely followed by elements of clan culture. Other cultural dimensions are also explored and reported (leadership, success criteria, etc.).

Keywords: organizational culture; public organization; social services; social work; competing values framework; real culture; preferred culture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/13/3587/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/13/3587/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:13:p:3587-:d:244148

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().