The Korea Local Administration Review

The purpose of this study is to verify the impact relation between Saemaul organizational culture and organizational effectiveness. Although research on organizational cultures in Korea has been actively performed, the scope of that research has not extended beyond the area of governmental and business organizations, leaving study on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) lacking. In regard of this, this study conducted a survey targeting Gyeongsangbuk-do Saemaul leaders to identify types of organizational cultures in the Gyeongsangbuk- do Saemaul organizations by using the competing values framework.
The findings are as follows: First, organizational culture types in the Saemaul organizations are shown in order of “development culture,” “consensus/group culture,” “rational culture,” “hierarchy culture.” Second, for the consensus/group culture, which focuses on participation and stewardship, mean score of female leaders shows less than that of male leaders. Third, organizational culture types, which affect organizational commitment, are shown in order of “development culture (β=0.22),” “hierarchy culture (β=0.21),” and “consensus/ group culture (β=0.16).” Additionally “hierarchy culture” is found as the type that most affected work satisfaction with a value of β=0.30.
The implications for the further development of organizational cultures in the Saemaul organizations are as follows. First, “development culture,” “rational culture” and “hierarchy culture” should be enhanced as their influence is considerable. Second, as “hierarchy culture” shows respectable influence both on organizational commitment and work satisfaction, the merits of Saemaul organizations such as a strict supervision system, well organized organizational norms and friendly relationship with administrative organizations are strongly encouraged.
As a result, this empirical study significantly helped to contribute to the studies of organizational cultures in Saemaul organizations despite limitations of samples to be overcome in the future study.