Abstract
Dynamic environments characterized by technological, economic, and political change increasingly requires organizational agility among California’s public organizations. Perhaps a primary indicator of this need is the growing inventory and increased use of management tools like strategic planning, total quality management, and reengineering that assist administrators in creating strategic, long-term, and outcome-oriented approaches to problem solving. While these management tools are useful, and in most circumstances appropriate to effectively manage an agency, administrative management literature points to the importance of organizational culture as a powerful force influencing agency behaviors. Commissioned by Yolo County’s Administrative Officer, the purpose of this conceptual thesis is to identify organizational culture characteristics that are more conducive to institutionalizing strategic-thinking beyond efforts of individual initiative champions or change processes. By conducting an extensive analysis of existing values-based and process-based research, similarities of the characteristics associated with strategic organizations emerge. After reviewing these similarities this thesis identifies six components essential for developing a strategic organizational culture that includes leadership, mission-driven, systems thinking, feedback loop, personnel development, and change champions. This Strategic Culture Framework marries value-based characteristics with change-drivers to create a proactive model administrators can use to reshape the underlying values that govern decision-making processes and influence individual and group ability to develop solutions within organizations. Finally, this thesis concludes with a discussion of momentum building, practical change processes, and potential barriers to change in order to prepare administrators for redirecting existing organizational values towards tenants of the Strategic Culture Framework.