An Exploration of Espoused Culture in Australian Organizations (with a closer look at the banking sector)

We describe organizations' espoused cultures by using content analysis to identify the values they expressed in annual reports, mission statements and internal magazines during the years 1986–90. The frequencies of ten value themes— Authority, Leadership, Rewards, Performance, Participation, Commitment, Affiliation, Teamwork, Equity and Normative control—are measured in 88 large Australian organizations from thepublic and private sectors. Organizations' value profiles are used to cluster them into one of four culture types each of which has a distinct, value profile—the Elite, Leadership Focused, Meritocratic and Collegial. We then demonstrate a more fine‐grained application of our methodology by examining the espoused cultures of the six banks in the sample (Advance, ANZ, Commonwealth, National, State Bank of NSW, and Westpac). We describe changes in the banks' value profiles over the period and consider their potential management implications. The research demonstrates both the advantages and the underlying assumptions of a content‐analytic approach to the study of organizational culture.