Methodology and Design - Research Paper Example

Much of the interest in organizational culture can be sourced to studies in early 1980s which claim that the astute management of organizational culture is associated with improved performance (Deal, 1982) (Peter, 1982). Furthermore, managers and academics have recommended that organizational culture should be considered during periods of change such as mergers and acquisitions, growth or downsizing phases in an organizational life-cycle, and periods of conflict or diversification (Schwartz, 1981) Despite a range of thoroughly interesting empirical studies on organizational culture, the systematic evaluation of the relationship between organizational culture and conflict resolution methods is comparatively uncommon and deserves further research.

While on the one hand authors have always devoted special attention to the study of organizational culture, on the other hand they have faced difficulty in studying organizational culture and in establishing a standard method for its study. . ture of organizational culture that makes it particularly difficult to access; thirdly, the political issues involved, for example with power groups having various self-interests in maintaining or changing the culture; and finally, the possible existence of multiple subcultures.

Therefore, the organizational culture is characterized by a diversity of research methods and it would not be an exaggeration to experiment with a new methodology to study organizational culture. Hence, the aim of this paper is to document a creative framework for the research by analyzing the theoretical context in which the present research lies and by critically analyzing the methods, techniques, tools and instruments to be used for the study. THE RESEARCH FRAMEWORKRenowned authors on organizational culture, Fox and Tan (Langan-Fox & Tan, 1997) have set out a methodology to measure organizational culture by implementing a repertory grid technique.

Their study assumes the view point that an objective study offers rigor of research, in its suitability for theoretical testing, in developing universal statements, and in facilitating intra- and inter-unit comparisons. They have set out to test the theory based on past research evidence and hypothesis. Setting out my study on a similar paradigm as laid by Fox and Tan, the hypothesis for this study can be stated as: organizational culture will affect the conflict resolution methods used within the ministry of education in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The organizational culture is an independent variable (IV) and conflict resolution method is a dependent variable (DV). According to this, the aim for the study is to determine the relationship between organizational culture and conflict resolution methods used in Saudi institutions of education. The study