The relationship between organisational culture and the deployment of systems development methodologies

Abstract

This paper analyses the relationship between organisational culture and the perceptions of use, support and impact of systems development methodologies (SDMs) interpreting organisational culture in terms of the competing values model. The results show that organisations with different culture differ in their perceptions concerning the support provided by SDMs and in their perceptions concerning the impact of SDMs on the quality of developed systems and the quality and productivity of the systems development process. The results depend, however, on the respondent groups (developers vs. managers). The findings also suggest that the deployment of SDMs is primarily associated with the hierarchical culture which is oriented toward security, order and routinisation. Also managers’ criticality towards the deployment of SDMs in organisation with high rational culture (focusing on productivity, efficiency and goal achievement) is noteworthy.