Introduction

Organizational culture is the set of operating principles that determine how people behave within the context of the company. Underlying the observable behaviours of people are the beliefs, values, and assumptions that dictate their actions. Having a positive and aligned culture benefits the organization in many ways. One important benefit is a high level of productivity. The destructive influence of recruiting someone who does not share the same set of values, goals and commitment espoused by the organization will weaken a strong chain of links and bonds. An employee’s performance depends on what is and what is not proper among his or her peers, which in turn affects that individual’s behaviour and motivation to participate and contribute within the organizational framework.

Creating an environment where people enjoy and value their work is crucial for success. To do this effectively, leaders must be sure to match the employee with his or her behavioural preferences. Individuals should be given assignments that are consistent with their strengths and interests, and opportunities for continued learning and growth to reinforce those strengths and interests should be provided as well.

The bottom line for managers who want to create a culture of success is to start with creating a positive environment. They need to bring in people whose values are in line with the organization’s culture, and continue to acknowledge success and involve the whole organization in maintaining an environment that allows people to enjoy working hard to meet the company’s goals. Managers also need an accurate understanding of the organization’s culture in order to direct activities in a productive way and to avoid the destructive influence of having employees who are not committed to the company’s goals.

Being aware of an organization’s culture at all levels is important because the culture defines appropriate and inappropriate behaviour. In some cultures, for example, creativity is stressed. In others, attention to detail is valued. Some cultures are more socially oriented, while others are task-oriented, ‘business only’ environments. In some company’s teamwork is key. In others, individual achievement is encouraged and valued.

Some organizational cultures can be very counterproductive for business effectiveness and profits, as well as for the ability to attract and retain the most suitable employees. Understanding one's own organizational culture and the impact of that culture on the motivation and actions of others, be they customers, suppliers or employees, is essential for effective business interactions.

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An overview ofBRAC

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What BRAC is

BRAC, an international development organization based in Bangladesh, is the largest non-governmental development organization in the world, in terms of number of employees as of June 2015. Established by Sir Fazle Hasan Abed in 1972 after the independence of Bangladesh, BRAC is present in all 64 districts of Bangladesh as well as other countries in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. BRAC employs over 100,000 people, roughly 70 percent of whom are women, reaching more than 126 million people. The organization is 70-80% self-funded through a number of commercial enterprises that include a dairy and food project and a chain of retail handicraft stores called Aarong. BRAC maintains offices in 14 countries throughout the world, including BRAC USA and BRAC UK.

BRAC considers itself to have a unique philosophy towards eradicating poverty. As one author has said, “BRAC’s idea was simple yet radical: bring together the poorest people in the poorest countries and teach them to read, think for themselves, pool their resources, and start their own businesses” (Barber). BRAC has mobilized to organize what it calls "the isolated poor" or the "ultra poor". Women and girls have also been a strong focus of BRAC’s anti-poverty approach.

Known formerly as the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee and then as the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (currently, BRAC does not represent an acronym), BRAC was initiated in 1972 by Sir Fazlé Hasan Abed at Shallah Upazillah in the district of Sunamganj as a small-scale relief and rehabilitation project to help returning war refugees after the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971.

Countries where BRAC operates:

Asia: Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Philippines.

Africa: Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, Liberia, Sierra Leone.

Caribbean: Haiti.

BRAC provides technical assistance to organisations in Haiti, Sudan, and Indonesia.

BRAC has affiliate organisations in the United Kingdom and United States.

BRAC Awards

Gates Award for Global Health (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation), 2004 CGAP Financial Transparency Award, 2005 & 2006 Independence Award (Shadhinata Puroshkar), 2007 The Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize, 2008 Devex Top 40 Development Innovator, 2011 #1 Nonprofit in International Microfinance (2012) #1 in Top 100 Best NGOs in 2013 (2013) World Toilet Organization "Hall of Fame" Award 2014

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BRAC's priorities

Focus on women - BRAC places special emphasis on the social and financial empowerment of women. The vast majority of its microloans go to women, while a gender justice programme addresses discrimination and exploitation.Grassroots Empowerment - BRAC’s legal rights, community empowerment and advocacy programmes organize the poor at the grassroots level, with ‘barefoot lawyers’ delivering legal services to the doorsteps of the poor.  Health and Education - BRAC provides healthcare and education to millions. Our 97,000 community health workers offer doorstep deliveries of vital medicines and health services to their neighbors. BRAC also runs the world’s largest private, secular education system, with 38,000 schools worldwide.Empowering farmers - Operating in eight countries, BRAC’s agriculture programmes work with the governments to achieve and sustain food security. This is ensured by producing, distributing and marketing quality seeds at fair prices, conducting research to develop better varieties, offering credit support to poor farmers and using environmentally sustainable practices.Inclusive Financial Services - BRAC attempts to alleviate poverty by providing the services of its community empowerment programme and targeting the ultra poor programme. BRAC's cumulative disbursement is of almost 10 billion dollars in microloans annually, augmenting microfinance with additional services like livelihood and financial literacy training. Farmers get access to seasonal loans, high quality seeds and technical assistance. Millions now have the freedom to take control of their lives.

Self-Sustaining Solutions - BRAC’s enterprises and investments generate a financial surplus that is reinvested in various development programmes subjected to poverty alleviation.

The BRAC Family Today

97,000 community health promoters are providing essential healthcare worldwide, with maternal, neonatal and child health services covering 24.5 million in Bangladesh alone.1.14 million children are currently enrolled in BRAC’s 38,000 primary and pre-primary schools, and 9.51 million have graduated. BRAC's youth empowerment clubs provide life skills training to more than 260,000 teens from disadvantaged backgrounds.5.54 million micro-borrowers with a cumulative loan disbursement of USD 9.73 billion.25 million people have access to clean toilets thanks to BRAC’s sanitation entrepreneurs.More than 600,000 rural poor women being organised through 11,234 Polli Shomaj and 1,217 Union Shomaj; BRAC's 376 popular theatre teams – in Bangladesh only – have reached nearly 4.3 million people.

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Vision, Mission, and values of BRAC

Vision

A world free from all forms of exploitation and discrimination where everyone has the

opportunity to realize their potential.  

Mission

BRAC’s mission is to empower people and communities in situations of poverty, illiteracy,

disease and social injustice. Our interventions aim to achieve large scale, positive changes

through economic and social programmes that enable men and women to realize their

potential.

Values

Innovation:BRAC has been an innovator in the creation of opportunities for the poor to lift

themselves out of poverty. We value creativity in programme design and strive to display

global leadership in ground-breaking development initiatives.

Integrity: BRAC’s value transparency and accountability in all our professional work, with

clear policies and procedures, while displaying the utmost level of honesty in our financial

dealings. We hold these to be the most essential elements of our work ethic.

Inclusiveness: BRAC’s are committed to engaging, supporting and recognising the value of

all members of society, regardless of race, religion, gender, nationality, ethnicity, age,

physical or mental ability, socioeconomic status and geography.

Effectiveness: BRAC’s value efficiency and excellence in all our work, constantly

challenging ourselves to perform better, to meet and exceed programme targets, and to

improve and deepen the impact of our interventions.

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Different welfares That BRAC does

BRAC believes that poverty is a system and its underlying causes are manifold and interlinked. Some of these linkages are obvious, for example, a day’s wage forgone because of illness or resources lost to a natural disaster. Others play a more indirect role in perpetuating poverty, such as lack of awareness about laws and rights can lead not only to outright exploitation, but also encourage a lack of accountability on the part of the state to cater to its most vulnerable citizens.

Economic development

BRAC’s Economic Development programme includes microcredit. It provides collateral-free credit using a solidarity lending methodology, as well as obligatory savings schemes through its Village Organizations. In addition to microfinance, BRAC provides enterprise training and support to its member borrowers in poultry and livestock, fisheries, social forestry, agriculture and sericulture. BRAC also has a number of commercial programmes that contribute to the sustainability of BRAC’s development programmes since returns from the commercial programmes are channeled back into BRAC’s development activities. These programmes include Aarong, a retail handicraft chain, BRAC Dairy and Food Project, and BRAC Salt. BRAC founded its retail outlet, Aarong (Bengali for "village fair") in 1978 to market and distribute products made by indigenous peoples. Aarong services about 65,000 artisans, and sells gold and silver jewelry, handloom, leather crafts, etc.

Education

BRAC’s Non-Formal Primary Education programme provides five-year primary education course in four years to poor, rural, disadvantaged children and drop-outs who cannot access formal schooling. These one-room schools are for children between eight and fourteen years of age. Each school typically consists of 33 students and one teacher. Core subjects include Mathematics, Social Studies and English. The schools also offer extracurricular activities. As of June 2008, 37,500 Primary Schools and 24,750 Pre-Primary schools have been established by BRAC enrolling nearly 3 million children, 65% of whom are girls. The schools have a drop-out rate of less than 5%. BRAC has set up centres for adolescents called Kishori Kendra that provide reading material and serve as a gathering place for adolescents where they are educated about issues sensitive to the Bangladeshi society like reproductive health, early marriage, women’s legal rights etc. BRAC has also set up community libraries 185 out of 964 of which are equipped with computers.

Public health

BRAC started providing public healthcare in 1972 with an initial focus on curative care through paramedics and a self-financing health insurance scheme. The programme went on to offer integrated health care services, its key achievements including the reduction of child mortality rates through campaign for oral rehydration. .BRAC currently provides a range of

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services that reach an estimated 31 million rural poor and include services for mothers in reproductive health care and infants. In Bangladesh, 78% of births occur in the home. BRAC has implemented a program in which midwives are trained to work in the homes of women to ensure that births are as risk-free as possible. As of December 2007, 70,000 community health volunteers and 18,000 health workers have been trained and mobilized by BRAC to deliver door-to-door health care services to the rural poor.

Social development

The Social Development component focuses on building human and socio-political assets of the poor – especially women – through institution building, awareness raising, training and collective social mobilization. The Human Rights and Legal Services component seeks to empower the poor by increasing their awareness of their rights (legal, human and social) and entitlements through participation in activities like the Popular Theatre and through Human Rights and Legal Education (HRLE) classes arranged by BRAC for its Village Organisation members. BRAC also offers external services such as access to lawyers or the police either through legal aid clinics, by helping women report cases at the local police station or when seeking medical care in the case of acid victims. At the end of June 2006, 124,748 HRLE classes were held and 1,332 acid victim cases and 1,735 rape victim cases were reported.

Disaster relief

BRAC conducted one of the largest NGO responses to Cyclone Sidr which hit vast areas of the south-western coast in Bangladesh in mid-November 2007. BRAC distributed emergency relief materials, including food and clothing, to over 900,000 survivors, provided medical care to over 60,000 victims and secured safe supplies of drinking water. BRAC is now focusing on long-term rehabilitation, which will include agriculture support, infrastructure reconstruction and livelihood regeneration.

Strengths of BRAC

Thinking local, acting global – Besides Bangladesh, BRAC spreads antipoverty solutions to

10 other developing countries, which are Uganda, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, South Sudan,

Liberia, Haiti, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Philippines. Unprecedented scale and

reach - Today, BRAC reaches an estimated 135 million people with over 100,000 employees

worldwide.

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Theoretical Aspects

Organizational culture

Generally, organizational culture is the pattern of shared values, beliefs, and assumptions considered to be the appropriate way to think and act within an organization.

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Culture is shared. Culture helps members solve problems. Culture is taught to newcomers. Culture strongly influences behavior.

Organizational culture is a macro phenomenon which refers to the values, patterns of beliefs, assumptions, goals, and system based on which an organization functions, and also behaviour patterns reflecting commonality in people working together. Organizational culture is the identity of an organization, and because of that, in some ways it becomes an identity of those who work there as well. In an organization the employees are constantly surrounded by culture. It forms the background (often invisible) of their work lives shaping everything in an organization. Since organizational culture is a powerful mechanism for controlling behaviour by influencing employees’ personal views and thoughts, it eventually makes a positive impact on their performance. Organizational culture continues to pass over to new employees which gradually become established as a part of an organization's core identity.

People in an organization influence its culture as much as culture influences them. Although value is one of the phenomena that organizational culture embodies, it is central to all other phenomena as those are shaped by the values that the organization upholds, i.e., the conscious and affective desires or wants of people that guide their behaviour.

Organizational values are abstract ideas that guide organizational thinking and actions. It represents the foundation on which the organization is formed. Defining an organization’s unique values is the first and most critical step in its formation and development. Values are the embodiment of what an organization stands for and should be the basis for the behaviour of its members. Organizational values shape the general standards for employees as to how to behave in the organization.

For any organization to be successful, the values on which the organization is built must be appropriate for time, place, and environment in which it operates. Since values offer the basis for judgments about what is important for the organization to ensure its sustainable existence in the long run; it is crucial to retain the right values within the organization as well as among the employees at every stage of routine work.

Characteristics of Organizational Culture

1. Innovation and risk taking: The degree to which employees are encouraged to be

innovative and take risks.

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2. Attention to detail: The degree to which employees are expected to exhibit

precision, analysis, and attention to detail.

3. Outcome orientation: The degree to which management focuses on results or

outcomes rather than on the techniques and processes used to achieve them.

4. People orientation: The degree to which management decisions take into

consideration the effect of outcomes on people within the organization.

5. Team orientation: The degree to which work activities are organized around teams

rather than individuals.

6. Aggressiveness: The degree to which people are aggressive and  competitive rather

than easygoing.

7. Stability: The degree to which organizational activities emphasize maintaining the

status quo in contrast to growth.

Each of these characteristics exists on a continuum from low to high. Appraising the organization on them, then, gives a composite picture of its culture and a basis for the shared understanding members have about the organization, how things are done in it, and the way they are supposed to behave.

How Employees Learn Culture

Stories: Anchor the present into the past and provide explanations and legitimacy for

current practices.

Rituals: Repetitive sequences of activities that express and reinforce the key values of

the organization.

Material Symbols: Acceptable attire, office size, opulence of the office furnishings,

and executive perks that convey to employees who is important in the organization.

Language: Jargon and special ways of expressing one’s self to indicate membership

in the organization.

How Organizational Cultures Form

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Creating an Ethical Organizational Culture

The organizational culture most likely to shape high ethical standards among its members is high in risk tolerance, low to moderate in aggressiveness, and focused on means as well as outcomes. What can managers do to create a more ethical culture? They can adhere to the following principles:

1. Be a visible role model: Employees will look to the actions of top management as a benchmark for appropriate behaviour. Send a positive message.

2. Communicate ethical expectations: Minimize ethical ambiguities by sharing an organizational code of ethics that states the organization’s primary values and ethical rules employees must follow.

3. Provide ethical training: Set up seminars, workshops, and training programs to reinforce the organization’s standards of conduct, clarify what practices are permissible, and address potential ethical dilemmas.

4. Visibly reward ethical acts and punish unethical ones: Appraise managers on how their decisions measure up against the organization’s code of ethics. Review the means as well as the ends. Visibly reward those who act ethically and conspicuously punish those who don’t.

5. Provide protective mechanisms: Provide formal mechanisms so employees can discuss ethical dilemmas and report unethical behaviour without fear of reprimand. These might include ethical counsellors, ombudsmen, or ethical officers.

Culture’s Functions

1. Defines the boundary between one organization and others.

2. Conveys a sense of identity for its members.

3. Facilitates the generation of commitment to something larger than self-interest.

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4. Enhances the stability of the social system.

5. Serves as a sense-making and control mechanism for fitting employees in the

organization.

Culture as a Liability

Culture can enhance organizational commitment and increase the consistency of employee behaviour, clearly benefits to an organization. Culture is valuable to employees too, because it spells out how things are done and what’s important. But we shouldn’t ignore the potentially dysfunctional aspects of culture, especially a strong one, on an organization’s effectiveness.

Institutionalization When an organization undergoes institutionalization and becomes institutionalized —that is, it is valued for itself and not for the goods or services it produces—it takes on a life of its own, apart from its founders or members. It doesn’t go out of business even if its original goals are no longer relevant. Acceptable modes of behaviour become largely self-evident to members, and although this isn’t entirely negative, it does mean behaviors and habits that should be questioned and analyzed become taken for granted, which can stifle innovation and make maintaining the organization’s culture an end in itself.

Barriers to Change Culture is a liability when the shared values don’t agree with those that further the organization’s effectiveness. This is most likely when an organization’s environment is undergoing rapid change, and its entrenched culture may no longer be appropriate. Consistency of behaviour, an asset in a stable environment, may then burden the organization and make it difficult to respond to changes.

Barriers to Diversity Hiring new employees who differ from the majority in race, age, gender, disability, or other characteristics creates a paradox: management wants to demonstrate support for the differences these employees bring to the workplace, but newcomers who wish to fit in must accept the organization’s core cultural values. Because diverse behaviors and unique strengths are likely to diminish as people attempt to assimilate, strong cultures can become liabilities when they effectively eliminate these advantages.

Barriers to Acquisitions and Mergers Historically, when management looked at acquisition or merger decisions, the key factors were financial advantage and product synergy. In recent years, cultural compatibility has become the primary concern. All things being equal, whether the acquisition actually works seems to have more to do with how well the two organizations’ cultures match up.

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Organizational Culture of

BRAC

Organizational culture of BRAC at a glance

BRAC, the largest non-governmental development organization in the world working in

Bangladesh and abroad. The organization endeavours to empower people in situations of

poverty, illiteracy, disease, and social injustice. In performing these activities, the

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organization also aims to achieve large scale positive changes through economic and social

programmes that enable women and men to realize their potentials. BRAC in fact uphold

some values - innovation, integrity, inclusiveness, and effectiveness to achieve its missions.

BRAC intends to work for its missions through different development programmes, to name

some, microfinance, improvement of health, providing education to disadvantaged children,

sensitizing villagers for gender equality, etc. In general the programmes are directed towards

socioeconomic development of its clients who are disadvantaged in the community.

Organization culture as shaped by values plays an important role in improving the

performance of an organization. Working in terms of organizational missions, thus, achieve

organizational objectives brings up the obvious questions, can values be engineered to

develop desired organizational culture? For this reason, Brac find out some of the basic issues

regarding their organizational culture. They are-

Changes in the level of knowledge

2. Changes in the level of skill

3. Changes in attitude

4. Change in behaviour

5. Change in the organization

They find the following structure for developing their culture of the organization with proper values.

Knowledge ------- Attitude ------- Behavior -------- Organization

Skill

Organizational Culture and its goal of BRAC

Fosters a harmonious, steady-paced, supportive environment which accommodates the personal needs of individuals and places strong emphasis on the emotional and physical welfare of others.

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Welcomes change and adapts easily and quickly to new situations. Good at networking and establishing positive relationships with those both inside and outside the organisation.

Requires employees to adhere to strict rules, regulations or working practices to ensure that products or services are provided to a very high standard. Places strong emphasis on attention to detail and professional ethics.

Willing to try out new ideas, encourages creativity and innovation and provides employees with the flexibility and freedom to generate radical and original ways of solving.

Makes good use of the skills and experience of people at all levels by involving them in the decision making processes and seeking consensus. Delegates responsibility effectively throughout the organisation.

Requires people to take a determined, self-reliant approach to work and expects individuals to be independent, self-motivated and single-minded in setting and pursuing tough business and personal goals.

Benchmark regarding Culture among employees in BRAC

Work Priorit

y

Top Management Managers' Perception Non managers' Perception

1 Accommodating, supportive and caring - Supporting

Consensus-seeking and delegating - Coordinating

Innovative, creative and informal - Innovating

2 Persuasive, motivating and adaptable - Initiating

Innovative, creative and informal - Innovating

Forceful, tough and entrepreneurial - Focusing

3 Thorough and attentive to detail - Finishing

Accommodating, supportive and caring - Supporting

Accommodating, supportive and caring - Supporting

4 Innovative, creative and informal - Innovating

Thorough and attentive to detail - Finishing

Persuasive, motivating and adaptable - Initiating

5 Consensus-seeking and delegating - Coordinating

Persuasive, motivating and adaptable - Initiating

Single-minded, self-reliant and practical - Delivering

Assessing organizational culture of BRAC

Culture oriented:

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Update and organise display board.

Scope for introducing new ideas at work.

Cleanliness Extra-curricular activity .

Flatter higher authority.

Maintain honesty of transportation cost .

Documentation and submission of office report .

Register movement during office hour .

Give importance to staff at higher level .

Enjoy extra-benefit because of nepotism .

Discrimination of guests based on levels.

Provide special meal to head office staff during their field visit .

Frugality/economy in uses official utility and property .

Economy in use of electricity .

Blame staff .

Train staff to increase their skill .

Proper use of mobile phone.

Have access to official circular .

Lengthy process in taking leave.

Take care of higher authority during he/she visits to area office.

Values oriented:

Protest illegal activity of supervisor.

Engage cook in personal activity.

Help beneficiaries in resolving their problems.

Reproach cook/courier.

Rectify/correct staff’ behaviour.

Threat to terminate.

Friendship between colleagues.

Rebuke staff for mistake.

Gender oriented:

Women’s participation in night field .

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Desk work.

Male and female riding on same motorcycle together .

Drop out of female staff .

Team work oriented:

Work together to solve problems.

Help branch manager by all staff irrespective of programme.

Transactions of money between superordinate and subordinate .

Helplessness of staff with less skill.

Ethical decision making:

Forgive the corrupt.

Collect credit installment during holiday.

Staff entertained by beneficiary .

Force staff being transferred to new location despite illness.

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Practices of BRAC reflecting organizational culture

Practices that BRAC follow for making their organizational culture more effective are given

bellow:

Attend office on time .

Work after office hour .

Threat to terminate or ask to resign.

Use of obscene words by supervisor .

Rebuke cook/courier.

Corruption – one’s instalment deposited in others account.

Scope for giving opinion.

Impose own decision on other.

Ask opinion of all staff in taking decision.

Follow movement register in field visit .

Punctuality in meeting attendance.

Switch off light/fan after use.

Keep up quality work .

Sitting arrangement for beneficiaries at branch office.

Cleanliness of common and guestroom toilets.

Cleanliness of office campus .

Update and organise display board .

Give importance to the opinion of female staff .

Night field by female staff .

Recognise desk work in movement register .

Solve field related problem.

Share office-related information.

Discuss programme-related problems with supervisor.

Give importance to colleagues’ personal problem.

Display commitment done by the trained at the end of the training.

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Training program for developing active organizational culture

Reasons for implementing and not implementing:

Issues Implemented Not implementedAttend office on time Training motivated in

attending office on time.

-------

Work after office hour Increased efficiency To avoid risks in night field.

To achieve given target To avail advantages of night field

Threat to terminate or ask to resign

Influence of training Avoid staff dropout, Staff can complain against such remark.

A method of applying power and get work done.

Use of obscene words by supervisor

Influence of training Avoid dropout of staff Remark demoralizes staff cab complain against such behaviour .

-------

Rebuke cook/courier Establish better work environment as learnt from training Antagonized cook overcharge for meal.

Method of exercising power. Good behaviour would make cook ignore them. Necessary to make cook keep up with time.

Members credit installment deposited in others account

Corruption if identified would embarrassed staff They would lose credibility. Would make it difficult in keeping consistency in the report

Necessary in meeting the target, There was a pressure for the practice in order to prove good performance.

Scope for giving opinion Development of an attitude due to training. Expressing opinion would help in understand each other. Development of confident due to gaining skill and experience.

Believing that passing opinion might backfire. Too many opinions would complicate the decision making process and also make it lengthy.

Ask for the opinions of all staff in taking decision

Training made managers more respectful of subordinates’ opinion.

Subordinates’ opinions were not important .

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Supervisors were convinced that collective decision was better.

Follow movement register in field visits

Would give positive impression to supervisor Staff could easily be located If not followed their levels would not be changed, would be transferred. Training increased the flexibility of work thus facilitated following the schedule.

Difficult to follow register in the health programme as health emergencies could not be predicted.

Punctuality in attending meeting

Helped in getting information from the meeting. Gave a scope in discussing the circular. Gave a good impression to the supervisor. Training developed an urge in attending the meeting .

Work load discouraging in attending. Collecting installment was considered more important than attending meeting.

Switch off light/fan after use Increasingly believed that not turning off means loss for BRAC Desire to save national asset for the future generations.

Not aware of the importance of turning off. It was believed that it was not their duty to do so Busy with work so could not keep track.

Keep up quality work Proper guidance from the supervisor. Increased accountability and transparency of the organization. Less pressure at work. Training made them more particular in maintaining the quality.

Low level of efficiency It was believed that the evaluation process was not neutral so there was no need to keep up with the quality.

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Findings, Conclusion &

Recommendations

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Findings

In the organization represented by the above discussion, the people perceive that the organisation:-

As an NGO, BRAC has a well grooming organizational culture.

Innovation and risk taking ability is good.

People are focuses on individual capacity rather than group work,

Competitiveness among the workers are average.

Strong on important cultural dimensions (to them) of Caring, Results Focus and to a

lesser extent Ethics. These are some things to celebrate.

Welcomes change and adapts easily and quickly to new situations.

Lack of proper training among the field worker.

All the worker of BRAC give the effort to remain in a good culture in the

organization.

Requires people to take a determined, self-reliant approach to work and expects

individuals to be independent, self-motivated and single-minded in setting and

pursuing tough business and personal goals.

Delegates responsibility effectively throughout the organisation.

They have the better organizational culture plan, but implementation of them is yet

too far.

Weaker on a lesser important dimension (to them) of Innovation (and to a lesser

extent, Teamwork). This is a concern if these cultural dimensions are important to the

organisation.

Weaker on stability of the organization.

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HighWorking well within the organisation's day-to-day operations ModerateBeing inspired about the way in which the organisation operates LowAspects of the organisation's culture most adversely affecting employees

Conclusions

No matter how big or small is an organization, it is supposed to have an objective for its

formation and without it an organization does not sustain. Sometimes, the objective is

implicit in nature and difficult to conceptualize but when well formulated it can be grouped

under missions and vision. In order to achieve the organizational objectives the organization

is supposed to nourish a culture very much supportive to the objective of the organization. On

the other hand, values are the foundation on which the organizational culture stands. Values

are reflected in the normative behaviour which over time culminates into organizational

culture.

So, it is important for an organization to have staff with values supportive to the

organizational objectives. This can be done by staffing the organization with members

embodied with values appropriated for the organization. It is difficult to identify the nature of

values of a person when they are being hired. Secondly, staff can be made to internalize

values as required through training. This is what BRAC intends to do by Organizational

culture and value training to all its staff, and thus develop appropriate values as required. It is

hypothesized that after training the staff would behave in such a way so that the missions of

the organization would be achieved.

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Recommendations

To make a good culture, they should develop an organizational culture related

monitoring cell.

Manage proper training for the workers of BRAC.

Have to find out the barriers regarding weak organizational culture.

As weaker on a lesser important dimension (to them) of Innovation (and to a lesser

extent, Teamwork). This is a concern if these cultural dimensions are important to the

organisation. In this case, there is no felt need to develop these cultural dimensions; so

the organisation first needs to lift the sense of priority and urgency for these before

the people will accept development efforts.

The organisation needs to work either to lower the perception of the importance of

Attitudes, Empowerment and Alignment or work to lift the perception or actual

performance of them.

The senior managers may feel that the staff are empowered more than the staff believe

they are, so a planned communication strategy of what empowerment they already

have might be appropriate.

The senior managers may feel that empowerment is actually an issue that needs to be

developed, so a development plan needs to be enacted .

Characteristics-wise recommendations:

Dimensions Current Status Urgency Importance

Innovation and risk taking Low High High

Attention to detail High low High

Outcome orientation Moderate high medium

People orientation High medium high

Team orientation Low high high

Aggressiveness Low medium medium

Stability Moderate high High

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Global headline figures Of BRAC as of December 2014

Population Reach 138 millionAnnual Expenditure (BRAC) USD 845 millionAnnual Expenditure (BRAC International)

USD 87.4 million

Number of Employees 115,634

 

HEALTH 

 

Community Health Workers 111,272

 

MICROFINANCE 

 

Total Borrowers 4.8 millionCumulative Disbursement

USD 13.4 billion

 

COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT Community Institution (Polli Shomaj) Built

13,802

Shows Staged by Our Popular Theatre Group

192,219

  

 

  

EDUCATION 

 

Number of Schools 45,498Number of Students 1.4

millionGraduated Students 11.2

millionMembers in Community Libraries

1.2 million

GIRLS EMPOWERMENT 

 

Number of Clubs 10,575Number of Club Members

332,292

HUMAN RIGHTS AND LEGAL AID SERVICES 

 

Human Rights and Legal Education Participants

3.9 million

Number of Legal Complains Received

231,464

AGRICULTURE AND LIVESTOCK 

 

Seeds Distributed 22 MMTPoultry Vaccination Provided

59.3 million

5

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TARGETING THE ULTRA POOR Women Received Assets 525,015Women Received Training 1.6 million

WATER, SANITATION AND HYGIENE No. of People Served with Hygienic Latrine

36.9 million

No. of People Served with Safe Drinking Water

2.3 million

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