Investigating the influence of organisational culture on reliability performance in a selected South African chemical organisation

Abstract

The study aims to assess the influence of the prevailing organisational culture on the plant reliability performance of the selected chemical industry in South Africa. The organisation under study aspire to be world-class with reliable and stable operation. A thorough literature assessment was conducted to investigate the conceptual foundation that served as the basis for achieving the study objectives. The research was guided by the positivistic philosophy design, which supports the quantitative method. A self-administered set of questionnaires was employed to gather the data. The OCAI from CVF was used as a measuring instrument developed by Cameron and Quinn (2011). Due to time constraints and cost, the cross-sectional time horizon was followed. The primary data was collected from 651 operations leaders, and the secondary data was historical FY18-FY21 OEE reliability data. The 43% response rate was achieved from the sample. The descriptive and inferential statistics data were analysed utilising SPSS software. The descriptive mean, standard deviation, reliability, and confirmatory factor analysis were interpreted. The findings showed that the hierarchy culture was supported, and moderate positive correlation between the clan and adhocracy culture type. The secondary data were analysed and compared to the world-class recommended OEE target of 85%. The findings showed that the OEE performance is below the recommended target. It was concluded that the dominant hierarchy culture influences plant reliability performance. It was further recommended that the executive leadership explore the current culture gaps together with the possibility of combining the clan and adhocracy culture as a winning strategy to improve the plant’s reliability and achieve world-class performance.