Individual and organizational essentials of organizational subcultures: Research on an industrial firm

Subcultures are defined by the sharing of specific values and norms or understandings among the employees of the organization only by a certain group and internalising among themselves. Organizational subcultures more deeply influence experiences, perceptions, expectations, attitudes and behaviors of the employees than the cultural elements of the organization. If organizational subcultures are not properly managed, they carry the potential to cause serious problems within the organization. In order to manage organizational subcultures properly, it is necessary to understand them and in order to understand them it is necessary to determine which factors within the organization shape them. For this reason, in this study it is aimed to determine the factors which form organizational subcultures in a firm in Turkey. In this research, it has been examined how subcultures that can be formed in an industrial company differ in terms of individual, organizational and social bases. The data used for the research is collected by conducting a survey from 469 white and blue collar employees of a large industry company in Osmaniye. As a result of the analyzes, 4 cultural dimensions were determined as rationality tendency, hierarchy tendency, clan tendency and support tendency. These dimensions were subjected to clustering analysis and it was found that there are three different subcultures within the organization, namely rationality, hierarchy and passive. In this context, the findings support the view that that organizational subcultures are likely to be associated with the societal-level cultural differentiation in Turkey. The organiational subcultures determined in the analysis results are generally shaped around the leadership style of the manager. It indicates that organizational subcultures are shaped and spread around individuals' interactions. Keywords: Organizational subcultures, subcultures, leadership, Turkey cultural differentiation