1.

Background of the Study

The 1992 Constitution empowers District Assemblies as the highest political, legislating,
budgeting and planning authority at the local level. Thus, they are mandated to implement the
best strategies to manage their resources successfully within the administrative and political
system in which they operate. However, many district assemblies in Ghana including the Ga
East Municipal Assembly are facing key challenges emanating from the effect of their
individual organizational culture on employee job satisfaction. Hence, organizational culture
is seen as a critical factor in the attainment of organizational goals and objectives.

Organizational culture has attracted significant attention due to its effect on employee job
satisfaction (Lund, 2003). Organizational values, along with beliefs, assumptions,
expectations, attitudes, philosophies, and norms, form the basis of organizational culture
which forms an integral component to every organization. Yet, perceptions of the enacted
organizational culture are not uniform among employees, as every individual has a unique
understanding and explanation of his/her working conditions, based on his/her own
characteristics, preferences and personality (Johnson and Johnson, 2002). In the
organizational setting, these values and beliefs interact with an organizations people,
organizational structures and control systems to produce behavioral norms which eventually
affect productivity.

Corporate culture can be viewed as the unique pattern of shared values, attitudes, rituals,
beliefs, norms, expectations, socialization, and assumptions of employees in the organization
(Hellriegel, Slocum and Woodman, 2004). Fassina (2001) also considered organizational
culture as a system of knowledge and standards that an employee acquires in order to

perceive and evaluate the organizational environment. Corporate culture thus glues
employees together making them cooperate towards the achievement of organizational goals.

In any organizational setting, values and beliefs interact with the organizations people,
organizational structures and control systems to produce behavioural norms which eventually
affect job satisfaction (Green, 2005). By developing a common way of thinking and
understanding, the enacted culture influences the interpretation of the organizational reality,
and hence formulates employee attitude and behaviour (Cameron and Quinn, 1999) which
leads to satisfied employees. Culture helps guide daily activities of workers to meet certain
goals. It enables organizations respond rapidly to customers need or the moves of a
competitor. Hellriegel, Slocum and Woodman (2004) defined corporate culture as the
specific collection of values and norms that are shared by people and groups in an
organization and that control the way they interact with each other and with stakeholders
outside the organization.

The main source of competitive advantage for every organisation is derived from an
organisations human resources hence job satisfaction plays a pivotal role in organisational
performance. Thus, a major concern of every organization is how well its employees fit into it
because a great deal of time, money, and effort are invested in preparing employees for their
jobs. Job satisfaction of a worker could be best described as the pleasurable or positive
emotional state that results from the evaluation of ones job (Moyes et al. 2006). Lund (2003)
notes that, job satisfaction reflects an individuals general attitude towards the job, stemming
from the gratification of needs and wants (Lund, 2003), while Hirschfeld (2000) referred to
an expression of ones feelings about his/her job. It appears, however, that individuals tend to
experience greater levels of job satisfaction when their abilities, values and experiences can

be utilized in the working environment and when their expectations are met (Buitendach and
De Witte, 2005).

Corporate culture exerts an influence on the working environment. As Verplanken (2004)

indicates, values are important ingredients of individuals psychology of their working
environment, determining their perception of organizational features. By developing a
common way of thinking and understanding, the enacted culture influences the interpretation
of the organizational reality, and hence formulates employee attitude and behavior (Cameron
and Quinn, 1999). This study therefore investigates the relationship between a firms
organizational culture and job satisfaction of its employees. This study will therefore assist
government, local government functionaries and practitioners to appreciate the influence of
organizational culture on employee job satisfaction which in the long run will enhance
decision-making and attainment of developmental goals.

1.2

Problem Statement

The Ga East Municipal Assembly has the mandate of planning and enforcing the physical
development within their jurisdiction. Thus, the assembly is responsible for the overall
development of the district by formulating and executing plans, programmes (for the
development of basic infrastructure) and strategies for the effective mobilisation of resources
necessary for the overall development of the district. Furthermore, within the legislative
framework guiding local government function, the Municipal Assembly has the mandate to
provide executive and technical support services to articulate the views and aspirations of
local communities for development at the district level. However, critical appraisal of all
these functions have revealed that the assembly is facing challenges in achieving set

performance goals and targets every year. Thus, one major challenge facing the assembly
relates to the effect of organizational culture on employee job satisfaction.

Coping with individual employee cultures and trying to understand why and how culture
influences behaviour is one of the most crucial issues facing every organization including the
Ga East Municipal Assembly. The impact of culture on employees is thus becoming
increasingly important since each person has a unique perspective on organistional culture
which is a function of their individual personality and preferences (Buitendach and De Witte,
2005). Thus perceptions of organizational culture will not be uniform among employees.
Some cultures will be desirable and value congruent with some individuals, while the same
culture may have the opposite effect on others. Roos and Eeden (2005) contends that without
considering the impact of organizational culture on employee job satisfaction, organizational
practices such as performance management could be counterproductive because the two are
interdependent and change in one will impact the other.

Ga East Municipal Assembly in Ghana just like many entities has not paid sufficient attention
to the importance of organizational culture on employee job satisfaction. This is because the
assembly is yet to embrace the role organizational culture plays in affecting job satisfaction
which ultimately leads to poor employee performance. This study will therefore shed light on
the direction that the Municipal Assembly can adopt in order to improve employee job
satisfaction.

1.3

Objectives of the Study

The main objective of this study is to assess the effect of organisational culture on employee
job satisfaction at Ga East Municipal Assembly. In line with the above primary objective, the
secondary objectives include:

i.

To assess from employees perspective the organizational culture of Ga east

Municipal Assembly.

ii.

To examine job satisfaction level of employees at the Assembly.

iii. To

investigate

whether

organizational

cultural

dimensions

(organisational

supportiveness, reward, innovation, communication and performance) affect

employee job satisfaction at the Ga East Municipal Assembly and
iv. To recommend strategies, aimed at improving employee job satisfaction at the
Assembly.

1.4
i.

Research Questions
How do employees perceive the organizational culture of Ga East Municipal
Assembly?

ii.

What are the job satisfaction levels of employees of Ga East Municipal Assembly?

iii.

How does an organizational cultural dimensions of organisational supportiveness,

reward, innovation, communication and performance affect employee job satisfaction
at the Ga East Municipal Assembly?

iv.

How can job satisfaction and performance be improved through the organizations
culture?

v.

What are the strategies if when implemented would improve employee job satisfaction
at the Assembly?

1.5

Significance of the Study

The study is significant for a rapidly developing country such as Ghana as there is great need
to understand how organizational culture influences employee job satisfaction. Findings of
the study would form the basis for future comparative study with other Assemblies. This
could lead to improvements in local governance by making employees more committed to
their jobs. The study would help managerial decision making especially, change management
both in the Assembly under study and those to be compared later giving the dynamics.

The study will also inform policy makers, human resource managers and other management
members to develop organizational culture along localized circumstances to help improve
organizational job satisfaction as a product of good employee performance. It will also add to
the scanty literature available in the Ghanaian context as regards organizational culture and
job satisfaction at the Municipal Assembly level.

1.6

Scope and limitations of the Study

One of the major constraints to this study will be the scarcity of standardized tools to measure
organizational cultural types, dimensions and their effects on performance that poses
challenges to the study. The study assessed five dimensions of organisational culture namely
organisational supportiveness, reward, innovation, communication and performance. Also,
possible inadequate furnishing of information by respondents being typical of the Ghanaian
public servant may however, affect the findings of the study. The in-depth study of Ga East
Municipal Assembly makes it difficult to generalize the findings to other assemblies. This is

because culture is dynamic as well as its dimensions in organizations and making it difficult
to generalize across regions.

In a study of this nature, a considerable amount of time and funding is required. In view of
this, the study will only sample one municipal assembly in Ghana that is the Ga East
Municipal Assembly. Hence implications from the study cannot be generalized to other
municipal assemblies in Ghana even though they could be basis for comparative study.

1.8

Research Methodology

This section provides a discussion of the methodology to be used to achieve the objectives of
the study. The methodology of a research is very significant in presenting the processes
through which the study will be carried out. In order to achieve the objectives of the study,
the research methodology involves the research design, research strategy, study area, sources
of data, the sample population, sampling technique and the instruments for data collection.
This section also presents the primary and secondary sources of data, ethical consideration,
pre-testing and data management/analysis.

1.8.1

Research Approach

There exists two research approaches namely quantitative and qualitative research.
Qualitative research involves analysing and interpreting texts and interviews in order to
discover meaningful patterns descriptive of a particular phenomenon (Auerbach and
Silverstein, 2003). On the other hand, quantitative approach has been described as entailing
the collection of numerical data; exhibiting a view of the relationship between theory and
research that is often deductive (Bryman 2004). Quantitative research methodology attempts
to establish formal relationships between related variables (Denzin and Lincoln, 2005). This

study will employ the quantitative research approach. Quantitative data for the study will be
collected through semi-structured questionnaires which will be distributed to employees of
Ga East Municipal Assembly in Ghana.
In order to analyze the research questions of this study a case study approach will be used. A
case study is an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its
real-life context, especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not
clearly evident (Fisher, 2007). With a case study, one can get a more holistic account of the
subject and it can help the researcher figure out the interrelationships between factors.

1.8.2

Research Design and Strategy

According to Aaker et al (2004), research design is the detailed blue print used to guide the
implementation of a research study towards the realisation of its objectives. There exist four
research designs namely exploratory, descriptive, explanatory and experimental (Sekaran
2003; Saunders et al. 2009). This study will use the descriptive research approach to examine
and analyse the effect of organisational culture on employee job satisfaction.

1.8.3

Studying Area

The Municipal Assembly was established in 2004 by an Act of Parliament (Legislative

Instrument 1589). It was elevated to a municipality in 2008 by LI 1864 hence has legislative
and executive powers. The Municipality consists of nineteen (19) electoral areas and
represented in the general Assembly by elected and appointed Assembly members (Ga East
Municipal Assembly 2012). The composition of the Assembly is made up of 19 elected
members, 9 appointed members, two members of parliament representing Abokobi-Madina
and Dome-Kwabenya constituencies respectively and the Municipal Chief Executive (Ga
East Municipal Assembly 2012). Thus the General Assembly is made up of 28 members.

The Ga East Municipal Assembly is located at the northern part of Greater Accra Region and
covers a Land Area of 166 sq km (Ga East Municipal Assembly 2012). It is boarded on the
west by the Ga West Municipal Assembly (GWMA), on the east by the Adentan Municipal
Assembly (AdMA), the south by Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) and the north by the
Akwapim South District Assembly. The projected population for the year 2012 is therefore
255,215 (Ga East Municipal Assembly 2012).

1.8.4

Target Population

The population of this study covers all local government employees of the Ga East Municipal
Assembly of Ghana. This includes the District Coordinating Director, Deputy Coordinating
Director, District Finance Officer, District Planning Officer and Deputy Planning Officer.
Hence as such, they constituted the target population. In addition, the target population
consists of middle and lower level staff of the Assembly.

1.8.5

Sources of Data

Both primary and secondary data sources would be used for the study. Primary data is the
data collected by the researcher with the intention to be used directly in the actual study.
Secondary data which refers to existing data produced by previous researchers will be
considered in this study. Data for this study will be gathered mainly from primary sources
with limited secondary data. Primary data pertaining to the relationships between dimensions
of organizational culture and job satisfaction will be collected through semi-structured
questionnaires. Secondary sources of data will be based on journals, publications from the
internet and reports from the Ga east Municipal Assembly.

1.8.6

Sample Size

The sample size for the study consists of key informants including District Coordinating
Director (1), Deputy Coordinating Director (1), District Finance Officer (1), District Planning
Officer (1) and Deputy Planning Officer (1). In addition, the study will sample ten (10)
middle and twenty (20) lower level staff. So in all thirty five (35) employees will be selected
to constitute the final sample size for this study.

1.8.7

Sampling Technique(s)

For the purpose of the study a non-probability sampling design in the form of a purposive and
simple random sampling technique is adopted and considered to be appropriate to gather the
data. The rationale for using these sampling methods is due to respondents being easily
accessible, their availability, as well as it being less time consuming and less expensive to
gather the research information. Purposive sampling will be used to select the District
Coordinating Director, Deputy Coordinating Director, District Finance Officer, District
Planning Officer and Deputy Planning Officer. Simple random sampling will then be used in
selecting middle and lower level staff.

1.8.8

Data Collection Instrument

The study will employ semi-structured questionnaires. Unstructured or open-ended questions

will be included to allow for eliciting opinions, views, beliefs and other key information from
employees on organizational and individual cultural effect on employee job satisfaction.

1.8.9

Pre-testing

Pre-testing of research instruments will be conducted to test the suitability of the questions
and their ability to elicit the required data needed to arrive at the research studys primary

10

conclusions. This will allow for changes to certain parts of the questionnaire to standardize it
before running the real process of data collection.

1.8.10 Ethical Consideration

Permission (institutional approval) to administer the questionnaires will be sought from the
Management of Ga East Municipal Assembly. The study will also ensure that all respondents
are well-briefed about the purpose of the study before the questionnaires will be
administered. A covering letter will be attached to the questionnaire to highlight the purpose
of the study. In administering the questionnaire, various ethical considerations such as the
participants right to anonymity, confidentiality, privacy or non-participation, informed
consent and protection from discomfort, harm and victimization will be followed.

1.8.11 Data Management and Analysis

Data analysis involves reducing the raw data into a manageable size, developing summaries
and applying statistical inference. Data gathered will be analyzed quantitatively with the aid
of Statistical Package for Social Scientist (SPSS) software. Descriptive statistics will then be
used to summarize and present the information in the form of frequency tables, pie charts and
bar charts.

1.9

Organisation of the Study

Chapter 1: Overview of the study: The first chapter introduces the whole work and gives
background information to the research and states the research problem under study. The
objectives of the study and research questions will be presented, followed by the significance
of the study. The chapter further gives the significance of the study, scope as well as the
limitations of the study.

11

Chapter 2: Literature review: This chapter reviewed the body of knowledge relating to the
area of study. The literature review will conclude with a conceptual framework that will guide
the study.
Chapter 3: Methodology: This chapter discusses the methodology for the study and gives the
justification for the methods to be used. The data collection procedure will be presented,
followed by data analysis.
Chapter 4: Analysis Presentations/Discussions: This is where the research findings, including
a description of the study and data gathered will be presented and discussed.
Chapter 5: Summary/conclusion and recommendations: The final chapter presents the
conclusions, summary of the research and recommendations for future research.

12

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