The nature of school organisational cultures of well-performing previously disadvantaged secondary schools

Abstract

The culture of an organisation influences the behaviour and the performance of the entire organisation. This qualitative phenomenological study aimed to investigate the nature of organisational culture in previously disadvantaged, well performing secondary schools in the Metsimaholo Municipality. The study focused on three questions regarding organisational cultures of these schools, namely, what the nature of organisational culture is; what the nature of organisational cultures of previously disadvantaged, well performing, secondary schools is in the Metsimaholo Municipality is; and what lessons can be derived from the school organisational cultures of previously disadvantaged, well performing secondary schools. The literature reviewed revealed main aspects of organisational culture as being tangible and intangible manifestation and indicated four types of organisational cultures prevalent in organisations such as schools. To this end, the findings of the study indicated that the schools’ organisational cultures were driven by intangible aspects manifested in philosophic convictions, values and their deeply held beliefs. These aspects shaped the schools’ members’ organisational behaviours and were all geared towards good performance and learner development into useful members of their communities. Moreover, the intangible aspects were also manifested in tangible aspects such as the visual, behavioural and verbal manifestations, which resonates which literature on organisational culture. It was also found that the schools displayed two dominant types of organisational cultures, namely, the clan and the market cultures. The former was found to pertain to collegial behaviours characterised by cooperation and team work while the latter was found to be a function of principals’ exercise of democratic and autocratic leadership styles as dictated by the different situations. This was evidence of the pivotal role of school principals in shaping the organisational cultures of their schools.

Lessons derived from the organisational cultures of the schools in the study were mainly the importance of schools having a strategy within structures that promoted behavioural patterns of behaviours that promote good performance.