1.4. Research Aims and Objectives
Having considered the broad ‘why’ questions behind this project, this section outlines the ‘what’ and ‘how’, that is the aims and objectives of the study, but still related to the multi-layered rationale behind the research enquiry.
Through the reasoning and approach described in the previous section, the title for this project evolved into:
‘Strategy, Culture and Institutional Logics:
A multi-layered view of Community Investment at a large housing association’
The aim of the study was to explore the changing strategic management and culture at a large housing association by exploring the development of its
Page | 15 Community Investment strategy over a two year period , as a reflection of multi-layered views and sub-cultures within the organisation combined with competing institutional logics.
Tables 1-1 to 1-4 below provide an overview of the multi-layered rationale behind the selection of key themes identified in the early stages of the research process. Without wanting to pre-empt the discussion in the following chapters, an overview of the motivation behind the focus of this research enquiry is useful for the purposes of clarifying the aims and objectives for this project, and demonstrating in particular how the issues are linked to the research cycle described in section 1.3.
Table 1-1 highlights issues around strategic management, organisational culture and community investment that emerged from the sector analysis phase of the research cycle. These were broad, macro-level themes that emerged from the critical analysis of change drivers and organisational responses in the HA sector.
6 Taking together the preliminary scoping period and primary fieldwork period. The third year of the PhD was assigned for data analysis and writing up the thesis.
Page | 16 Table 1-1: Key Themes and a Multi-Layered Rationale: Sector Analysis
Sector Analysis
Strategic
Management Culture Community
Investment
• Rationalisation of the sector
• Large commercial mega – organisations
• Diversification into private markets.
• Responsibility for social/ community services formerly undertaken in the public sector.
• Shift from traditional organisational
• Increasing importance of private lenders as stakeholders results in and role within the housing sector.
• Regulatory debate:
divergence of views on what constitutes non-core activities
• Resentment towards
‘policy passporting’ by the regulator
• National Housing Federation’s 2008 campaign in defence of 3rd sector identity and independence.
Source: The Author (2010)
Page | 17
Methodology
Strategic
Management Culture Community
Investment the sector and new strategic directions at HAX
• Interpretive research position to explain
• Researcher’s access to all management levels and range of stakeholders at HAX:
appropriate to explore subcultures at
different levels of the organisation.
Table 1-2: Key Themes and a Multi-Layered Rationale: Methodology
Source: The Author (2010)
Table 1-2 illustrates the links between methodological approaches to this study and the same key recurring ones. A critical aspect of this link was the multi-layered views the study aimed to capture through a multiple sampling-point strategy across a cross section at HAX7, and the different organisational sub-cultures which would be uncovered as a consequence. Table 1-3 reveals how significant developments at HAX, identified in scoping fieldwork undertaken at the organisation, were related to the same core themes of strategic management, organisational culture and community investment.
7See Chapter 4, Section 4.4.
Page | 18 Table 1-3: Key Themes and a Multi-Layered Rationale: Scoping Fieldwork
HAX - Scoping Fieldwork
Strategic
Management Culture Community
Investment
• Dynamic, post-merger context
• Evident strategy-making process: corporate
planning and strategic objectives
• Impact of sector factors such as a regulatory and economic conditions on the strategic direction of the organisation.
• Strong corporate outlook driven by a business-oriented leadership
• Distinct cultural variations across management hierarchy and geography at HAX
• Perception across that post-merger cultural fit had not been achieved
• Variance across HAX on what constitutes CI
• Community support services often regarded as discretionary
• Acknowledgement of imbalance between strong financial purpose and providing the ‘softer stuff’ like CI
• Proposals for a new centralised CI department
Source: The Author (2010)
Finally in Table 1-4, some theoretical reference points are highlighted in relation to the same key themes.
Following on from the multi-layered rationale behind Strategy, Culture, Institutional Logics and Community Investment as the main themes for the case study, the general aim of this study was expanded to generate some practical research objectives in order to explore these major themes. These objectives were to explore the emergent strategy and key developments in the strategic management of CI at HAX over 2 years as part of overall changes at the organisation, at the same time as identifying the changing sub-cultures across different layers of HAX.
Page | 19 Table 1-4: Key Themes and a Multi-Layered Rationale: Theoretical Reference Points
Theoretical Reference Points
Strategic
Management Culture Community
Investment
• Strategic
management theory
• Established literature relating to strategic
• Opportunities for theoretical
generalisation in the cross-pollination of theory
• Organisational cultural theory as a well developed thread
• Established concept of organisational
• Relevant literature on CSR and social entrepreneurship
• Institutional logics theory (Friedland and Alford, 1991; Scott, 2001) could be used to comment on dominant sub-cultures, to link new strategic directions in
Source: The Author (2010)
These sub-cultures would be uncovered by exploring the multiple identities and co-existent realities of the same organisation from the perspective of a range of participants at HAX. By following key strategic developments at HAX and revealing participants’ views of the core purpose and identity of the organisation (and in particular why and how CI was or should be done) this study would link
Page | 20 each layer of the organisation to a driving institutional logic related to the dominant sub-culture.