Evaluataing the effects of culture on organizational competitiveness in the banking industry. A case of commercial banks in Narok County

Abstract

The empirical evidences emerging from various studies about the effect of culture on performance have so far yielded mixed results that are inconclusive and contradictory .The focus of this study was to determine the effects of culture in enhancing organizational competitiveness of commercial banks. The objectives of the study are to; To examine whether organizational norms influences organizational competitiveness of the commercial banks, to assess whether employee behavior influences organizational competitiveness of the commercial banks, to establish whether organizational values influences the competitiveness of the commercial banks and to evaluate the effectiveness of the financial control systems in influencing the competitiveness of the commercial banks. The study adopted descriptive survey design. The target population was drawn from the five major commercial banks that have operated in within Narok town for a period of 3 years and above. The total employee population is 150. The sample of the study consist of 45(30%) employees working in different management levels and selected using the both stratified and proportionate random sampling method. The study used the questionnaire as the main instrument of data collection. The questionnaire will be pretested to establish its reliability and validity. The researcher will seek authority to collect data from the managers at the commercial banks in the town. The data was analyzed descriptively by establishing the frequencies and percentage response. The findings of the study revealed that the corporate culture has an effect on the organizational competitiveness. It was noted that organizational norms affect the way employees do their work and this helps the banking institutions to be competitive. Employee behaviour was also noted as an important measure of corporate culture which defines the attitudes and perceptions of the employees and how it affects their performance hence corporate competitiveness. t was therefore concluded that for commercial banks to be competitive in their operations they have to embrace an effective corporate culture which must be well defined and it must also bring about effectiveness in the performance of the organization. It recommended that the commercial banks should be in a position to define their norms clearly for the employees, it is important to nature an effective behaviour among the employees so that team work is created to ensure competitiveness. The study recommends that a more comprehensive study should be conducted to cover a wider area so that comparison can be made. The study findings will be beneficial to the management of commercial banks in Kenya and other institutions in Kenya.