PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY AND ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE IN A MASS TRANSIT COMPANY

Abstract

The current research considers the association between production technology and organizational culture in a large stated owned mass transit system. This study suggests that the demands of a highly mechanized, highly capital intensive, and high precision production system does not dominate the organizational culture as might be expected. Rather, it appears to generate subcultural tensions between units that are responsible for the day to day operation of the system and those which mediate between the organization and its political and economic environment. These tensions in turn generate greater variance in perceptions of the organization’s culture than would be found in organizations that do not have to simultaneously address the demands of a high precision production technology and tensions inherent in public organizations. Our work breaks new theoretical ground by considering technology as an independent variable in a field which has traditionally seen organizational culture as the independent variable and technological activity as dependent.

Keywords
Production technology; Organizational culture; Public transportation