American Journal of Industrial and Business Management
Vol.07 No.10(2017), Article ID:79483,9 pages
10.4236/ajibm.2017.710079

The Effect of IT Employees Demographic Profile on Sensitivity of Organizational Culture: A Study of Selected IT Companies in State Capital Region

Ramya Patlolla1, Mallikarjuna Reddy Doodipala2, Jaya Sri Managalagiri1

1Hyderabad Business School, GITAM University, Hyderabad Campus, India

2Department of Mathematics, GITAM University, Hyderabad Campus, India

Copyright © 2017 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0).

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Received: June 14, 2017; Accepted: September 27, 2017; Published: September 30, 2017

ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on demographic outline of IT employees from selected IT companies. The research was conducted in a state capital region of Hyderabad, Telangana, India. In span of this study, a questionnaire was designed and applied to selected IT employees. The data collected through the mailed questionnaire survey were analyzed by using SPSS software tool, and the relationship between factors, which creates the organizational culture and demographic profile of employees such as gender, age, education level, nativity, work experience etc. in the IT sector, was examined. From the hypothesis developed, it was observed that while differences exist between organizational culture perception and gender, age and education level, there are differences between organizational culture perception and duration of experience in selected IT companies in capital region.

Keywords:

Organization Culture, Demographic Characteristics, IT Sector, Organizational Performance

1. Introduction

Globalization, technology advancement and desire of IT employees to perform as best in the field have increased competitiveness and resultant stress. It has become critical and difficult to control human behavior and channelizing it into correct direction. It is a general ongoing application practiced by employees to modify organizational structure, utilize motivational theories, and use varied leadership styles to facilitate positive working environment, which will lead to the formation of strong organizational culture, employee satisfaction and organizational performance and growth. Due to scientific advancement, managing human resources is more challenging. It has been identified that every individual (employees) wants to live a well-balanced life, which consists moving towards next higher level life style. The social obligations have multiplied; individuals look for increased purchasing power. The individuals (employees) expect all their wishes to be fulfilled by their employment. This situation has led to designing an appropriate organizational culture and environment of managing human behavior in varying conditions. There is no specific study for this purpose in the IT industry. Several research studies have demonstrated a constructive influence of organizational culture on employees. Organizational culture has been a focus of exploration for researchers since a long time [1] . Various dimensions of organizational culture such as communication, training and development, rewards and recognition, risk taking, creativity and innovation, team and people orientation, result orientation, etc. have been explored in relation to several different organizational outcomes. However, no studies have been undertaken to explore the demographic profile of IT employees on the perception of organizational culture of the IT companies sector in Hyderabad, Telangana region. Perhaps, this study aims to evaluate the service sector employee’s perception of organizational culture from the demographic profile perspective in IT sector. Leveled equations, graphics, and tables are not prescribed, although the various table text styles are provided. The formatter will need to create these components, incorporating the applicable criteria that follow.

2. Organization Culture, Demographics Profile and Their Association

Over the last 30 years, organizational culture has been a topic of significant interest in the organizational studies literature. In a sense culture of an organization is formed by artifacts, espoused values and basic assumptions and is unique 7. Organizational culture describes how things get done in an organization in terms of the values, behavior and assumptions which dictate the way people approach their work. This culture is deeply embedded and is distinct from climate. Also culture affects performance, profit and even survival. This is because each organization is formed by different people. Added to this in an organization, perceptions of the enacted organizational culture are not uniform among employees, as every individual has a unique understanding and explanation of his/her working conditions, based on his/her own characteristics, preferences and personality [2] [3] [4] . Demographic characteristics of employees are one of the factors which play an important role in employees’ organizational culture perception. In the literature, there has been studies indicating that employees’ perception of organizational culture differs according to their demographic characteristics such as gender, age, education level, work experience For example, who claim that the shared perceptions of daily practices are the core of organizational culture, declare that the values of employees change depending on the nationality, age and education [5] [6] . On the other hand, in a study conducted in different branches of a hospital group as a service enterprise that the background of employees and sectored work experience affect the organizational culture more than the experience acquired in work place [7] [8] . The same study also indicates that there are significant differences between the cultural perception and age groups in particular, gender and ethnic background, there is not much difference between the duration of work experience in the organization and organizational culture perception and there is no relationship between the department of employees and organizational culture perception [9] - [15] . Who conducted a research on organizational culture as a determinant of job satisfaction emphasizes that age and gender are determining factor in perception of organizational culture values. In this context, the study tries to find an answer to the following question; does the perception of organizational culture differ according to employees’ demographic characteristics in service enterprises? Hypotheses were developed to answer the basic research question and in development of these research hypotheses, study was taken as a reference study [4] . The ways male and female employees fulfill their work and communicate are different in an organization. Similarly, decision making and leadership styles indicate differences between male and female employees and managers. Therefore, organizational culture perception difference is expected depending on employees’ gender. After analysis of wide literature, it is found that organizational culture has deep impact on the variety of organizations process, employees and its performance [16] [17] . This also describes the different dimensions of the culture [18] [19] [20] [21] . Research shows that if employees are committed by having the same norms and values, can increase the performance towards achieving the overall organization goals. More research can be done in this area to understand the nature and ability of the culture in manipulating performance of the organization [22] [23] [24] [25] . Managers and leaders are recommended to develop the strong culture in the organization to improve the overall performance of the employees and organization.

2.1. Objectives of the Study

The main objective is to investigate the impact of demographic variables on organizational culture and employee motivation in selected IT companies in state capital region. The first step in the research process was to confirm the reliability of the data and next step is to study the effect of IT employee’s demographic profile on sensitivity of organizational culture.

2.2. Hypothesis

H1. Employees’ perception of organizational culture may vary according to gender in IT sector.

H2. Employees’ perception of organizational culture may vary according to age groups in IT sector.

H3. Employees’ perception of organizational culture may vary according to level of education in IT sector.

H4. Employees’ perception of organizational culture may vary according to their duration of work experience in the organization in IT sector.

3. Design of the Study

Research was carried out in IT sector which was located at Hyderabad in Telangana region geographically. It is one of the largest IT sector in the said region since 1990. The IT sector provides services to its customers on the service base and operates all around. In fact the IT sector provides services with thousands of employees during a period. In this case the examination and interviews are considered as qualitative methods [16] which are widely accepted and preferred research tools by researchers in measuring the organizational culture and understanding the artifacts of culture. However, it may be possible that employees may behave differently and reply the questions used in these methods in the way that the observer expects or the observer may exhibit biased behavior in his/her observations. On the other hand, quantitative methods provide instantaneous, explanatory and descriptive benefits for organizational research and large scale studies. As we know that the Quantitative methods allow culture researchers to examine culture in different departments and conduct comparative studies [17] . In this context, a questionnaire was used as a data collection tool to find out employees organization culture perceptions. In the study, organizational culture questionnaire which was developed and its validity and reliability were tested [2] in the study. The questionnaire includes three parts in which part one demographic profile of employee’s variables such as gender, age, education level, nativity, work experience etc each contains questions describing themselves. A five-point Likert-scale has been considered in the study. Questions include 1 = Strongly disagree (SD); 2 = Disagree (D); 3 = Neither disagree nor agree (NDA); 4 = Agree (A) and 5 = Strongly agree (SA). Options. Employees’ demographic characteristics consist of gender, age, education level, duration of sector experience and duration work experience at the IT sector. Questionnaire was administered at the beginning of December 2016 and end by March 2017. 300 questionnaires were distributed to the employees and 250 questionnaires were returned. The data obtained through the questionnaire was analyzed by using SPSS 20.0 statistics package software. The entire statistical analysis was done using descriptive measures and Non parametric chi-square test statistics.

4. Data Analysis and Findings of the Study

The results were interpreted on the basis of analysis of the total sample and its demographic segments based on type of the firm, gender and education level, as well as total experience, age and seniority etc. The Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient was used to calculate the reliability of both the parts. To determine whether there were any statistically significant differences in terms of demographic variables, the frequency analysis and cross tabulation analysis by chi square test was performed to know the goodness of demographic variables, namely gender, seniority, age, education and work experience. The significance levels (p-value) of 0.05 and 0.01 were used.

The demographic data was interpreted in Table 1 and which indicate that the IT sector has multinational, national level enterprises; clearly 75.2% employees were working for multinational companies and 24.8% were national companies. Most of the employees that are 40.8% of them were with old organizations only. It indicates their consistency of employees in the firms. Regarding the age groups of employees, 56.4% of the employees who participated in the survey are lying in between age 40 to 45 years and 18.8% of employees were restricted over 45 years age. It is observed that 85.6% of employees are male and the remaining 14.4% are female. More than half of the employees employed by the IT sector have graduate level of education (64.4%). The percentage of employees who received doctoral level education was 4.0%. While 84.8% of the employees have more than five years of experience in the same organization, this contributes to this research to obtain reliable data related to the organizational culture and hypothesis. 9.6% of who have been working at this IT sector lie in between three to five years. In spite of above variables; total experiences of employees, nativity, parent occupation, educational qualifications, marital status and spouse occupation have been considered. They showed significance towards organization culture since p value is <0.05. While this data is assessed, it was clearly, observed that in IT sector companies have employed young and by some means middle aged but experienced employees. In addition to this most of the employees are regular employees and have worked for the organization for at least five years. The research method should include the reliability and validity of the data so that it produced meaningful and reliable results since the Reliability = 0.92 which is quite high in case of demographic profile such as type of enterprises, gender, age, duration of work, and work experience in the IT sector.

The employees’ perception of organizational culture variables were cross tabulated and how the positive association with demographic characteristics such as gender, age, level of education and work experience are accordingly analyzed using non parametric chi-square test which was depicted in Table 2. The results of the study reveal that demographic characteristics are significant factors in organizational culture perceptions. The significant differences were found in particular between the perception of organizational culture and gender, age, education level and also with employee work experience in the IT sector in the organization since in most of the cases p- values are significant at 0.05 levels.

5. Conclusions

The results and findings of the study exposed that the demographic characteristics are important factors and can play a vital role in organizational culture perceptions.

Table 1. Data tabulation and analysis of demographic characteristics.

*p-Value significant at 0.05 levels, df: degree of freedom.).

Table 2. Cross tabulation analysis of organizational culture with demographic characteristics.

*p-Value significant at 0.05 levels, df: degree of freedom.

Significant differences were observed in particular between the perception of organizational culture and gender, employee age and their education level. Furthermore the significant differences were appearing between the perception of organizational culture and the work experience of employees in selected IT companies in state capital region.

Ÿ Undoubtedly it is anticipated that employees’ perception of organizational culture at different age groups will indicate differences.

Ÿ Level of education is important factor in development of conceptual perspective. Therefore, it is projected that employees’ perception of organizational culture will indicate differences according to their education level.

Ÿ The experience acquired in the company provides information to managers and employees about how the processes of their work and style of conducting the work should be. From this perspective, it is anticipated that employees’ perception of organizational culture will indicate differences according to their work experience.

Ÿ The existence of organizational culture perception difference between employees who have worked longer in an organization shows an impact. This kind of analysis is useful for quality of service guarantee in organization.

Cite this paper

Patlolla, R., Doodipala, M.R. and Managalagiri, J.S. (2017) The Effect of IT Employees Demographic Profile on Sensitivity of Organizational Culture: A Study of Selected IT Companies in State Capital Region. American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, 7, 1111-1119. https://doi.org/10.4236/ajibm.2017.710079

References

  1. 1. Sanyal, N., Fernandes, T. and Fatima, A. (2016) Personal Effectiveness, Organizational Culture and Work-Related Stress among Teachers. IRA International Journal of Education & Multidisciplinary Studies, 4, 251-270.

  2. 2. Zhu, C. (2015) Organisational Culture and Technology-Enhanced Innovation in Higher Education. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 24, 65-79. https://doi.org/10.1080/1475939X.2013.822414

  3. 3. Fu, Y.-K. and Chan, T.-L. (2014) A Conceptual Evaluation Framework for Organisational Safety Culture: An Empirical Study of Taipei Songshan Airport. Journal of Air Transport Management, 34, 101-108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2013.08.005

  4. 4. Karimi, Y. and Kadir, S.L.S.A. (2012) The Impact of Organizational Culture on the Implementation of TQM: Empirical Study in the Iranian Oil Company. American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, 2, 205-216.

  5. 5. Bellou, V. (2010) Organizational Culture as a Predictor of Job Satisfaction: The Role of Gender and Age. Career Development Journal, 15, 4-19. https://doi.org/10.1108/13620431011020862

  6. 6. Cho, H.J. (2010) The Validity and Reliability of the Organizational Culture Questionnaire. http://www.denisonculture.com/articles/validity.pdf

  7. 7. Daft, R.L. (2000) Organization Theory and Design. 7th Edition, South-Western Publishing, Ohio.

  8. 8. Helms, M.M. and Stern, R. (2001) Exploring the Factors That Influence Employees’ Perceptions of Their Organization’s Culture. Journal of Management in Medicine, 15, 415-429. https://doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000006502

  9. 9. Hodgetts, R.M. and Luthans, F. (2000) International Management, Culture, Strategy and Behavior. 4th Edition, McGraw-Hill, USA.

  10. 10. Hofstede, G. (1991) Culture and Organizations: The Software of the Mind. McGraw-Hill, London.

  11. 11. Kotter, J.P. and Heskett, J.L. (1992) Corporate Culture and Performance. The Free Press, New York.

  12. 12. Hofstede, G. (1998) Attitudes, Values and Organizational Culture: Disentangling the Concepts. Organization Studies, 19, 477-492. https://doi.org/10.1177/017084069801900305

  13. 13. Hofstede, G., Neuijen, B., Ohayv, D.D. and Sanders, G. (1990) Measuring Organizational Cultures: A Qualitative and Quantitative Study across Twenty Cases. Administrative Science Quarterly, 35, 286-316. https://doi.org/10.2307/2393392

  14. 14. Kilmann, R.H., Saxton, M.J. and Serpa, R. (1986) Issues in Understanding and Changing Culture. California Management Review, 28, 87-94. https://doi.org/10.2307/41165186

  15. 15. Pool, S.W. (2000) Organizational Culture and Its Relationship between Job Tension in Measuring Outcomes among Business Executives. Journal of Management Development, 19, 32-49. https://doi.org/10.1108/02621710010308144

  16. 16. Recardo, R. and Jolly, J. (1997) Organizational Culture and Teams. SAM Advanced Management Journal, 62, 4-7.

  17. 17. Riegle, R.F. (2001) Measuring Organic and Mechanistic Cultures. Engineering Management Journal, 13, 3-8. https://doi.org/10.1080/10429247.2001.11415132

  18. 18. Sadri, G. and Lees, B. (2001) Developing Corporate Culture as a Competitive Advantage. Journal of Management Development, 20, 853-859. https://doi.org/10.1108/02621710110410851

  19. 19. San Fransisco. Simpson, S. and Cacioppe, R. (2001) Unwritten Ground Rules: Transforming Organizations Culture to Achieve Key Business Objectives and Outstanding Customer Service. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 22, 394-401. https://doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000006272

  20. 20. Schein, E.H. (1992) Organizational Culture and Leadership. 2nd Edition, Jossey Bass Publishers, New York.

  21. 21. Schein E.H. (1990) Organisational Culture. American Psychologist, 43, 109-119. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.45.2.109

  22. 22. Smircich, L. (1983) Concepts of Culture and Organizational Analysis. Administrative Science Quarterly, 28, 339-358. https://doi.org/10.2307/2392246

  23. 23. Vanderberghe, C. (1998) Organizational Culture, Person-Culture Fit, and Turnover: A Replication in the Health Care Industry. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 20, 175-184.

  24. 24. Weick, K.E. (1987) Organizational Culture as a Source of High Reliability. California Management Review, 29, 112-127. https://doi.org/10.2307/41165243

  25. 25. Wilkins, A.L. (1983) The Culture Audit: A Tool for Understanding Organizations. Organizational Dynamics, 12, 24-38. https://doi.org/10.1016/0090-2616(83)90031-1