CHANGING ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE OF UNIVERSITY IN A
LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRY
R. Niraula1), S. Kusayanagi2) and H. Shima3)1), 2), 3)

Kochi University of Technology, Japan

Abstract: This study based on competing values model provides organizational culture in the Institute ofTechnology of Cambodia, Cambodia. The clan culture is dominant in the current situation however moreinnovative, stability and control have been preferred. The underlying activities in the current culture were
investigated through interview with faculties from civil engineering department. In order to transform to thepreferred culture AIA (A- external Adaptation, I- internal Integration and A- Adoption) model has been
proposed.
Keywords: Organizational culture, human resources, technology.
university has made the faculties to bear low

1. Introduction:

responsibility in fulfilling the industrial needs for
Organization culture is a pattern of shared basic

human resources and technology. As a result, leastassumptions that the group learned as it solved its

developed countries are suffering from the acuteproblems of external adaptation and internal

shortage

integration that has worked well enough to beappropriate technology.

consideredvalid(Schein,1992).

ofqualifiedhumanresourcesandMoreover,organization culture encompasses values, underlying

Many researchers have studied the organizational

assumptions, expectations, collective memories andculture issues and the concept of organizational

definitions present in an organization. People areculture in higher education especially as it relates tounaware of their culture unless it is challenged, until

ways of perceiving the governance of the colleges

they experience a new culture, or until it is madeand universities. However, this study aims at

overt and explicit (Cameron and Quinn, 1999).

investigating the cultures and actual practices inside
university culture which influence the performancethanof university in least developed countries. The

satisfying the industrial demands for appropriate

Institute of Technology of Cambodia, Cambodia washuman resources and technology has been still thechosen for the study to represent one of least

norms in universities in least developed countries

developed countries in the Asia. The organizational

like Nepal and Cambodia. Faculties have been

culture assessment instrument (OCAI) by Cameronengaged in delivering the minimum contents, which

and Quinn, 1999 was used for the measurement ofare usually updated at the interval of 10 years, fixedorganization culture. The interviews with facultyby the curriculum management and in satisfying themembers were done to investigate the actual

fragmented needs. The individual competence

practices inside the culture. This paper further

remained fragmented and has been deployed for

discusses the issues in civil engineering education

satisfying the individual needs. Such culture ofand the construction industry based on Cambodian

Theoreticalknowledge

impartingrather1

university culture and practices, and provides a
Flexibility and Discretion

practical way to change university culture in ordertechnology for domestic infrastructure development.
2. The Competing Values Framework of
Organizational Culture
The competing values model (Quinn and Rohrbaugh,1983) was developed to explain differences in thevaluesunderlying

organizational

CLAN

ADHOCRACYHIERARCHY

MARKET

External focus and Differentiation

Internal focus and Integration

to fulfill the demands for human resources andeffectivenessmodel. Quinn and Rohrbaugh found that models of

Stability and Control

organizational effectiveness could be distinguished

Figure 2.1: The Competing Values Framework(Adapted from Cameron and Quinn 2006)

on the three dimensions that define the competing
values framework: i) differing organizational focus(emphasis on people vs. the organization), ii)

driver. The hierarchy culture is similar to clandiffering preferences about structure (stability andculture in terms of internal emphasis, a short-term

control vs. change and flexibility), and iii) differingoriented and an emphasis on smoothing activities,

foci of important organizational process andbut differ in their emphasis on stability, control andoutcomes (means and ends) (Zammuto, F.R. et al

predictability. The dominant leadership style in1991). The four cultural types and their predictedhierarchy culture is that of the coordinator or

relationships in two dimensional forms are shown inorganizer, rules and policies are the primary bonding

figure 2.1.

mechanism (Smart, J.C. 1996).

2.1 The four major Culture Types

3. Assessment of Organizational Culture in
Institute of Technology of Cambodia (ITC),

The clan culture is characterized as having highCambodia

flexibility, individuality, and spontaneity as well as
The organizational culture assessment instrument ininternal emphasis. The primary leadership style isthat of a mentor or facilitator. The adhocracy culture, the form of questionnaire recommended by Quinn
flexibility,

was used to measure the organizational culture inindividuality, and spontaneity, but unlike the clan

ITC. Only 4 among 5 regular faculties from theculture, it is characterized by an emphasis on

department of civil engineering could be contacted

external positioning, a long term time frame, andand interviewed although 20 questionnaires wereachievement-oriented

thedistributed to various departments of ITC. Thus themarket culture shares an emphasis on externalfollowing profiles do not necessarily represent thepositioning, long-term frames, and achievement-

whole departments of ITC. However, the underlying

oriented activities with adhocracy culture but differs

practices observed in various departments during thein its valuing of stability, control and predictability.

interviews as discussed later indicates that

The leadership style is that of the producer or hard-

culture of civil engineering department can help

like

the

clan

culture,emphasizes

activities.

Similarly,2

thepredict the cultures of other departments too.
Respondents were asked to score the extent to which

The Clan culture was seen as a dominant culture in

their institutions evidenced attributes associated with

the Civil Engineering department of ITC. The

four ideal culture types along four dimensions:necessity of sharing of time and resources among theinstitutional

leadership,

faculties to fulfill the official duty at ITC and to do

institutional cohesion and institutional emphases.

private business outside as discussed below has

The score for each respondent on each of the four

formed the clan culture. However, the representative

cultures was obtained by averaging their rating forfaculties preferred other cultures to be dominant at

each culture type across the four dimensions. The

the ITC and are discussed in subsequent chapters

current

below.

character,and

preferredinstitutional

cultures

in

the

civil

engineering department of ITC are shown in figure
3.1-3.4. As cited by Zammuto, R.Z. et al 1991, “no3.1 Underlying Practices in the Current Culturesorganization is likely to reflect only one culture” thecombinations of various cultures in dominant

The Institute of Technology of Cambodia (ITC),

characteristics, institutional leadership, institutional

Cambodia was transformed from the then “Institut

cohesion and strategic emphases were found in theTechnique Superier de I’Amitie Khmero-SovietiqueITC.

(ITSAKAS) established in 1963. The institute was

Clan

Adhocracy

Hierarchy

MarketFigure 3.1: Profile- Dominant Characteristics

Clan

Adhocracy

Hierarchy

MarketFigure 3.2: Profile- Institutional Leadership: Current: Preferred: Current: Preferred

Clan

Adhocracy

Clan

Adhocracy

Hierarchy

MarketHierarchy

Figure 3.3: Profile- Institutional Cohesion: Current

MarketFigure 3.4: Profile- Strategic Emphases: Preferred: Current

3: Preferreduniversities was created by the private universities

initially supported by cooperation between the

Cambodian government and the former Soviet Union. which are business oriented.

The faculties were

The former USSR supported the ITC until 1991

used not for the new capacity but to deliver the same

excluding the political unrest and war period. Thenlectures as in the public institutions. Thus there was

the UNDP and UNESCO extended support to makeno production of any special human resources fromthe ITC to run until 1994. The Agence Universitaire

the private institutions rather than providing

de la Francophone (AUF) has been supporting thedepartmental store type education for large number

ITC since 1994. The major management functions ofof pupils at higher cost. The private institutions are

the institute have been controlled by the donors. The

exploiting public resources indirectly. The faculties

influence of the donors’ management system was

are thus involved in delivering same knowledge atalso seen in the language of instruction and lecture

various institutions rather than advancing theirhours for a course. For example, the Russian was theknowledge and doing researches. The faculties

teaching language until 1994 and since then theconsidered these activities are natural because of theFrench has become the medium of instruction in the

incentive from one organization is not sufficient toinstitute as the AUF started to support. Further, thesustain their families’ life. This has created low

instruction hour for French language occupies the

feeling of responsibility and liability to the parent

largest among any other engineering and socialorganization. Thus the quality of education remained

science subjects.

unimproved and researches in universities are non-Thus, the ITC has been

existent.

experiencing the controlled environment which has
made the institute unable to grow and expand her
services especially in civil engineering field in order

Industry practitioners in Cambodia believe that theto fulfill the demands for human resources and

ITC has been producing better quality graduates thantechnology required for the development of thefrom private institutions. However, some of thenation.

respondents told that the graduates from ITC weresuperior to those from private civil engineering

The salary and other incentives for the employees inuniversity not because of the faculties but due to thethe public sector in Cambodia are very low. As astudents themselves as better students prefer to enter

result many public employees are involved in private

ITC. Since nearly all faculties from the department

business to earn livable income for his/her family. Inof civil engineering use to teach in private university

addition, there are a few doctorate degree holders inwhich indicates that quality of faculties throughout

university, and most of the faculties are one degree-

the universities are almost the same.

graduate. Almost all faculties from ITC use to teachin private universities in parallel. Senior faculties

3.2 Preferred Cultures and their Relevancy to theusually show little presence in the university. The

Cambodian Construction Industry

substitute teaching is a common practice in the
public as well as private institutions. Private

The preferred cultures have indicated that the Civil

universities have attracted senior teachers fromengineering department needs transformation of

public universities/institution and industry people byexisting cultures to more on adhocracy, market andoffering the program in the morning and/or evening.

hierarchy as well. Many of the faculties were aware

Thus, the demand of the teachers from the publicof the lacking of technological and management4

innovation in the Cambodian construction industry

integrating their individual ability to improve theand some of them were willing to contribute to theinstitutional competence in quality human resource

industry meaningfully. For this, the institutional

andleadership needs to be more innovative which could

leadership in the departments because of the pastvisualize the needs and development of thelegacy has not acquired the confidence to integrate

Cambodian construction industry. For instance,

the individual ability for organizational competence

approximately 50 percent of the total numbers ofenhancement.

technology

development.

Moreover,thebridges in Cambodia are in need of immediate
rehabilitation. The Cambodian construction industry

A considerable body of knowledge suggests

has been dependent to foreign companies onprocedural way for changing organizational cultures.

technology and technical manpower for major bridge

However, many of the researches have notconstruction and rehabilitation. Had the local

considered the resource and capacity constraints inuniversities and construction industry involved in

educational institutions as the authors the mostresearch and developed appropriate technology forimportant issue in some least developed countries

bridge rehabilitation there would not be such a large

including Cambodia to enhance the institutional

number of bridges remained to be rehabilitated, andperformance through organizational culture change.

local construction industry would not be dependent

In order to enhance the organizational competence ofon foreign human resources for its domestic

educational organization the authors has developed ainfrastructure development. In addition, there weremodel on integrated system for human resources andmany other basic infrastructures remained either toinfrastructure development (ISHID) in developing

be built or rehabilitated for the socioeconomic

countries(Niraula,R,development. However, neither university nor theincorporates

three

major

construction industry was involved in research and

Adaptation (A), internal Integration (I) and Adoption

technology development, and therefore current(A). Collaboration provides university opportunity tosituation was obvious. The organizational cultures inenhance their capacity in researches and external

the universities therefore need to be changed in orderadaptation. Similarly, integration helps to integrate

to address the technological needs of least developed

the individual abilities in to the organizational2005).

The

ISHID

activities:

externalcountries.
external

Adaptation

4. A Practical Way of Changing Organizational
Cultures in University
internal

Strong adhocracy cultures, as well as strong clan

Integration

cultures are among the most effective in terms of

Adoption

student academic development, student educational
satisfaction, and system openness and community

Enhanced Capacity for Human Resources(HR) and Technology Development

interaction (Smart, J.C. et al 1996). However, theclan culture seen in the ITC is only for easing the

Figure 4.1: Conceptual Model for HR and
Technology Development in Developing
Countries

work of faculties in order to officially fulfill the duty
and to involve in private business rather than5competence. The opportunity for deployment of thewhich is nonexistent at present in many developing

services and technology from the university will help

countries like Nepal, Cambodia, and Mongolia.

in adoption of the technology in the industry. The
andThe ISHID model has been used in order to improve

technology development in developing countries isthe capacity of ITC, Cambodia. Kochi University ofshown in figure 4.1.

Technology, Japan after investigating the actual

Collaboration here is in between universities fromsituation of the School of Civil Engineering ofdeveloped countries with university in developing

Institutecountries. The collaboration is done in order toCambodian infrastructure development environment

enhance the capacity of faculties as well as facilities

had offered collaboration with ITC and provided

in local university in developing countries to enable

opportunities for 2 faculties from the ITC to study inthem able to produce qualified graduates and to

doctoral program on concrete technology anddevelop appropriate technology which are required

management. The ITC is now able to offer advanced

for their domestic infrastructure development. The

degree, training and to conduct researches on

university from developed country provides faculties

construction materials and concrete technology.

from developing countries for advanced studies and

KUT-ITC collaboration based on authors’ model has

researches. The integration in the model is tomade a significant achievement by developing

enhancebytechnology on high strength concrete and highintegrating the individual ability. This is done bystrength PC girder using self compacting concrete inestablishing a Center of Excellence (COE), non

Cambodia to facilitate bridge rehabilitation. The

profit making entity in the university which is

Ministry of Public Works and Transport, Cambodia

managed and operated by the qualified faculties

which is responsible for roads and transport

including the trained persons through university

infrastructure development in the kingdom ofcollaboration. The activities of the COE are to

Cambodia has shown interest to deploy the highdevelop advanced technology and materials throughstrength PC girder for rehabilitating short span

research & development and to provide training

bridges. ITC in cooperation with KUT has organized

opportunities for local industry practitioners. And,

severalthe deployment of the human resources, technology

forums on the high strength concrete technology inand products of the COE in development works

Cambodia, and is now cooperating with the Ministry

provide the technology and product to internalize inof Public Works and Transport, Cambodia for thethe industry. The human resources development

standardization of the high strength PC girder for

activities and deployment of human resources,

short span bridge rehabilitation. This has shown atechnology and product from university generate

great prospect of deployment of a new technology inopportunity and resources for the educational

Cambodianinstitutions to utilize full capacity of faculties and toencouraged faculties from ITC to transform theirdevelop quality human resources and appropriate

teaching/learning environment from delivering more

technology. These three activities are integrated toon same to advancing knowledge by involving ineach other and continuous feedback mechanism fromresearch and development works.

conceptual

model

the

for

human

organizational

resources

competenceindustry to education system would be established6ofTechnology

ofCambodia

anddiscussion/presentation/demonstration

environment

which

has

furtherdevelopment

5. Discussion and Conclusions

componentofJapan’s

Official

Development Assistance can be integrated andconducted through university collaboration.

Least developed countries like Cambodia, Nepal
usually have low expenditure on higher education as
major portion of national budget is required for basic

Finally, this study has shown that capacity of

infrastructure development. The quality problem ofuniversity in least developed country can be

education is left unaddressed and investments on

improved, appropriate technology can be developed

researches are insignificant. The developed countries

and culture can be transformed provided thehave been supporting developing countries foropportunities for capacity enhancement, integrationsocioeconomic development, for instance about 80

and deployment of university’s services.

percent of the infrastructure development cost in
Cambodia has been financed from foreign loans and6. References:

grants. However, there was no evident investment
from official development assistance (ODA) on

1. Cameron and Quinn, 1999: Diagnosing andresearch and development works in the universities.

Changing Organizational Culture, JosseyBass
2. Niraula,

The theoretical knowledge imparting in university of

R.,

2005:

Developmentof

least developed countries has been remained

Integrated System for Human Resources andunchanged due to lower capacity of faculties andInfrastructure Development in Developing

lack of resources. The existing culture in university

Countries, A dissertation submitted to Kochi

education therefore is unlikely to be changed unless

University of Technology, Japan.
3. Schein, E. H., 1992: Organizational

there are enough opportunities and resources for

Culture and Leadership.

faculties to enhance capacity and to involve inresearch and development works. The KUT-ITC

4.

Smart, J.C. et al, 1996: Organizational

collaboration could be an example to enhance

Culturecapacity and to develop appropriate technology by

Education: A Test of the “Culture Type” andchanging cultures in university in least developed“Strong Culture” Hypothesis, Educationalcountries and the model can be used in other

Evaluation and Policy Analysis.

universities and in other countries as well. However,donors’contributionsareessential

for

5.

the

and

EffectivenessinHigherZammuto, F.R. et al, 1991: Quantitative andQuantitative

StudiesofOrganizationalsustainability of the universities collaboration system

Culture, Research in Organizational Change

in order to continuously improve the quality ofand Development, Volume 5.

human resources and to develop appropriatetechnology in least developed countries throughcapacity improvement and cultural change. A certain
amount of ODA should be invested in university
collaboration in developing countries for capacity
improvement

and

to

conduct

research&development works in university. For instance, someresources

andactivities

on

human

resource7