ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE, DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS, AND USER CHARACTERISTICS

Organizational cultures are complex phenomena of organizational life which have varied impact and influence on behaviors in the work environment. Some contend that cultures contribute to a firm\u27s success. How these cultures emerge in the behaviors of individual workers has not been explored. The concept holds great potential for adding insight into the improvement of task design when human behavior is the determining factor for success such as that of a computerized decision support system. Computerized decision support systems are a relatively new change introduced into the work environment. Their design has focused primarily upon the task and the individual decision but has not addressed the influence of socio-political forces. This study develops knowledge related to the interaction between the culture of an organization and the use of computerized decision aids. The empirical study conducted in six large midwestern companies indicates that top executives and other DSS users have similar cultural perceptions. Culture is analyzed on the aggregate level and at the organizational level. Three distinct subcultures were found using inverted factor analysis. However, the logical interpretation of those groups could not be established. At the organizational level, however, commonalities and shared meanings could be interpreted. DSS user satisfaction, usage rates, classification, and type of DSS were the decision support system measures. No significant relationships were found at either the aggregate level or at the organizational level. While this study found support for the use of a quantitative/qualitative technique for analyzing culture, the lack of identifiable relationships at the aggregate level suggests that organizational culture would be more appropriately studied at the level of the organization. When dimensions of the culture were analyzed, attitude toward company policy was significantly correlated with the type of DSS. Specific dimensions of culture were found to be associated with demographic/situational variables: department, experience with the company, and experience using the computer