The Perceived Role of Computer-Mediated Communication in the Emergence of an Organizational Culture: A Case Study of the Bureau of Internal Revenue-Information Systems Group (BIR-ISG)

Abstract

Every organization has an organizational culture. Organizational culture consists of the commonly held values, beliefs, attitudes and behavior of organizational members. It is manifested in their unique language, created symbols, shared narratives, and organizational practices. Cultures vary across organizations and they are formed, maintained and altered through the process of communication. Recent developments in Information Technology (IT) had paved the way for networked computers. These enable users not only to exchange information, but also to engage in meaningful communication. This led to the advent of Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC). Companies and organizations who recognize the advantages of networked communication had adopted these CMC technologies in their day-to-day activities. It is recognized that byaltering the way people communicate in an organization, the organization's culture changes as well. Foreign studies on this matter, however, analyzed CMC and culture in the public level only, that is, the Internet. Local empirical studies on CMC, on the other hand, have so far been limited to its effects on worker efficiency, public relations and sales. Hence, there is gap in knowledge as to the link between CMC-use in the organization, and organizational culture. Given the above context, this study therefore aimed to answer this general problem: “Whatis the perceived role of Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) in the emergence of the existing organizational culture in Bureau of Internal Revenue-Information Systems Group (BIR-ISG)?” It likewise aimed to provide answers to the following specific problems: 1)Whatis the organizational profile of BIR ~ ISG?; 2) What CMC tools are currently used in BIR-ISG?; 3) How do the employees of BIR-ISG use these CMC tools?; 4) What is the present organizational culture of BIR-ISG?; 5) What was BIR-ISG’s organizational culture prior to the introduction of CMC in the workplace?; 6) Is there a significant difference between the present and the past organizational culture of BIR-ISG?; 7) What is the perceived role of CMC-use in the emergence of the existing organizational culture in BIRISG? This study aimed to fulfill this general objective: To discover the perceived role of Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) in the emergence of the existing organizational culture in Bureau of Internal Revenue-Information Systems Group (BIR-ISG). In particular, it aimed to fulfill the following specific objectives: 1) To describe the organizational profile of BIR-ISG; 2) To identify the CMC technologies that are currently used in BIR-ISG; 3) To describe how the employees of BIR-ISG use these CMC tools; 4) To find out what is the present organizational culture of BIR-ISG; 5) To find out what was the organizational culture of BIR-ISG prior to the introduction of CMC in the workplace; 6) To find out if there is a significant difference between the present and the past organizational culture of BIR-ISG and; 7) To investigate what is the perceived role of CMC-use in the emergence of the existing organizational culture in BIR-ISG. This research tried to shed light into the issues regarding CMC in the workplace and its relation to organizational culture. Organizational culture is significant to companies as it provides a sense of identity, belongingness and commitment for employees. CMC, on the other hand has potential for a variety of consequences for the organization, some of which anticipated, some not. An understanding of what its role is in the emergence of an organization’s culture is essential to yield a better understanding of how an organizations CMC tools shape and maintain organization members’ most prized commonality, which is their organizational culture. The study utilized the exploratory-descriptive research design in answering the problem. In particular, a case study was followed in characterizing only one organization, the Bureau of Internal Revenue-Information Systems Group (BIR-ISG). The employees of BIR-ISG served as the subjects for the research. For the qualitative data, five (5) BIR-ISG key persons were purposively picked and interviewed. This group includes an ISOS Senior Network Administrator, an IPQS Division Chief, an ISDS Division Chief, an ISDS Cell head, and a Senior Information Technology Officer. They have been employed in BIR-ISG for a range of eight to ten years and their ages range from thirty two (32) to thirty eight (38) years. For the quantitative data, the target was a census of all CMC users who have been employed at least a year prior to the installation of LAN and other CMC tools in the workplace. Out of the five hundred (500) CMC users in BIR-ISG, only seventy-eight (78) were qualified in this category. A questionnaire was distributed to all of them but only sixty five (65) or eighty three percent (83%) have been filled out and returned. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages and ranking. Inferential statistics such as the weighted mean and chi square (x?) were further applied to determine whether there is a significant difference between the perceived existing culture and perceived past culture of the organization. The results of the study showed that BIR-ISG is the Revenue Group responsible for the Bureau’s Information Technology systems. Its functions include information systems development, information systems operations and information systems planning and quality service. BIR-ISG has a Local Area Network that enables the LAN, e-mail, e-group, Winpop and the Unix Groupware to run in the workplace. Among the CMC tools available, E-mail is the most frequently used by everybody in communicating to their superiors, subordinates and peers. The Unix Groupware on the other hand, is what basically enables them to collaborate on authoring and editing documents, which is part of their daily routine. Among the many topics available for communication, organizational information and task information are always on top of their priority to communicate with people in the organization. This is followed by problem solving, conflict-resolution and motivation. It was also revealed that relational information such as employee satisfaction, personal information and grapevine information are the least frequently exchanged messages through CMC. From an analysis of the qualitative data, it appears that the culture of BIR-ISG is characterized by its organizational members’ commonly shared positive attitudes towards work that are guided by their values such as honesty, integrity, commitment to work, respect and camaraderie. They believe that their desire to serve the country through efficient delivery of duties is their ultimate motivation to work. Their norms for behavior are simply doing what is expected of them and being tactful when talking about a co-worker. Their organizational culture is further manifested in their organizational logo; office lay-out such as equal cubicle space for employees and larger office space for superiors; jargons such as “database,” “support” and “deliverables; shared narratives about employees who rose from the ranks and corrupt examiners who have been expelled from office; and organizational practices such as “team building.” However from the analysis of the quantitative data, it seems that the culture of BIRISG is characterized by being “moderate” in the three cultural dimensions namely power distance (specifically the outsiders’ distinction of managers from employees, unequal treatment of organization towards bosses and employees, employees level of discouragement from questioning authority, and level of employee slavery); uncertainty avoidance (specifically the management’s level of entrusting employees with access to information, management's preference for predictability to risk-taking and flexibility, and level of employees’ restriction to rigid organizational rules and structures); and individualism (specifically the management’s preference for individual performance to group collaboration, level of employees’ motivation from personal concerns, level of employee collaboration, and management’s impersonal treatment of employees); but “low” in masculinity (specifically the kind of values rewarded in the organization, qualification of women in the workplace, extent to which management interferes with employees’ private lives, and differentiation of sex roles). From a comparison of the quantitative data dealing with the before and after dimensions of culture, it appears that the introduction of CMC did not affect the levels of power distance and uncertainty avoidance which remained moderate, and masculinity which remained low. The individualism dimension however seemed to have changed due to CMC in that it moved from low to moderate. When the three dimensions were further analyzed, it appears that there are decreasing trends within the moderate level range of power distance and uncertainty avoidance, but an increasing trend within the low level range of masculinity femininity dimension. How these changes came about may be further explained by the roles that CMC played in the organization. It appears that CMC has been associated with the level of centralization, formalization, and upward communication in the organization, the extent of employees’ mutual trust, collaboration with one another or isolation of members from the group, flexibility in task delegation, as well as the extent of equality of their male and female members.