Defining culture in government: subcultures within the BC Ministry of Environment

A strong and effective organizational culture is critical for the success of an organization. This project is intended to facilitate and support a cultural transition within the Ministry of Environment towards its goal of becoming a High-Performing, Flexible and Resilient Organization. In order to accomplish this, the existing culture within the organization must be defined. The initial component of the project is a detailed literature review. The literature review is focused on the following three main areas: methods to determine organizational culture, culture in the public service, and organizational sub-cultures. The literature review is intended to support and provide rationale for designing the culture within the Ministry of Environment. Based on information gleaned from the literature review, the project proceeds to define the culture within two work units of the Ministry of Environment. The project also defines the characteristics of a High-Performing, Flexible and Resilient Organization as a cultural assessment is of little value unless it is linked to an organizational problem or issue. The cultural model and assessment methodology chosen to define culture of two work units within the Environmental Protection division of the Ministry of Environment was based on the framework defined by Edgar H. Schein. Schein's cultural model has three levels: artifacts, espoused values, and shared assumptions. Based on the high degree of similarity in the results from the two focus groups, four cultural themes were identified within the Ministry of Environment. These themes are intricately linked through underlying elements such as passion, and communication therefore the themes reflect a cultural continuum as opposed to singular stand alone components. The four cultural themes identified include: Clan Mentality, Bureaucracy and Organizational Goals, Organizational Passion, and Communication. The alignment of the cultural themes between the focus groups precludes the designation of independent geographical sub-cultu