Organisational Culture at Schlumberger, Has it Affected ...gsblibrary.uct.ac.za/researchreports/2009/Clark.pdf · Organisational Culture at Schlumberger, ... A division of Schlumberger

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Organisational Culture at Schlumberger,

Has it Affected Employee Motivational Levels?

A Research Report

Presented to

The Graduate School of Business

University of Cape Town

In partial fulfilment

Of the requirements for the

Masters of Business Administration Degree

by

Evan Paul Clark

December 2009

Supervisor: Dr Linda Ronnie

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Organisational Culture and its effects on Motivation at SLB

Page ii

Acknowledgements

My journey leading to this point has been a long and interesting one and I would like to thank all

those that have been part of it.

Especially my late father Brian who directed and guided me to be the man I am today. My mother

Maud for the abundance of unconditional love she has always showered on me. My brother Craig,

for supporting me through thick and thin.

To Linda Ronnie my supervisor, thank you so much for your patience, kindness and constant

willingness to help. I could not have asked for a better supervisor and will forever be grateful to

you.

Thank you to management and employees at Schlumberger for taking time out of your hectic

schedules to fill in my surveys and answer questions during interviews. I know time is money in the

truest sense as far as your job is concerned so guess I am in your debt.

Finally I would like to thank the staff at the GSB for making the year all it has been.

I certify this work is my own and all references have been reported. The report is not confidential

and may be freely used by the GSB.

Signed

Evan Clark

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Page iii

Abstract

The research is explorative in nature and investigates the current situation of low retention rates at

Schlumberger by looking at the organisational culture and how it affects motivational levels. The

approach taken has been qualitative with questionnaires and interviews used to gather data.

The study focuses on field engineers and managers, analysing their alignment in perceptions of the

organisational culture and the importance of selected motivational factors. The findings revealed

motivation issues did not arise directly from the culture present at Schlumberger but rather a

misalignment between management and employees.

Key words: Motivational factors, organisational culture, Handy’s Typology

Paper type: Research paper

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Table of Contents

1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................. 5

1.1 AREA OF STUDY ...................................................................................................................................................... 5

1.2 BACKGROUND OF COMPANY ..................................................................................................................................... 5

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH ................................................................................................................................ 8

1.4 SCOPE .................................................................................................................................................................... 9

1.5 RELEVANCE OF THE RESEARCH ................................................................................................................................. 9

1.6 LAYOUT OF THE REPORT ........................................................................................................................................ 11

2. LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................................ 13

2.1 ORGANANISATIONAL CULTURE DEFINED ................................................................................................................... 14

2.2 HANDY’S TAKE ON ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE ......................................................................................................... 14

2.3 ALTERNATE VIEWS ON ORGANISATIONAL CULTURES ................................................................................................. 17

2.4 FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE ............................................................................................. 20

2.5 MOTIVATION .......................................................................................................................................................... 23

2.6 CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................................................... 25

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................... 26

3.1 TYPE OF RESEARCH ............................................................................................................................................... 26

3.2 OVERVIEW OF PRIMARY DATA COLLECTION METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................... 29

3.3 THE QUESTIONNAIRE ............................................................................................................................................. 30

3.4 THE INTERVIEWS ................................................................................................................................................... 36

3.5 BIAS AND VALIDITY ................................................................................................................................................. 38

3.6 ETHICS ................................................................................................................................................................. 39

3.7 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY .................................................................................................................................... 40

4. RESEARCH FINDINGS ................................................................................................................................. 41

4.1 DEMOGRAPHICS OF POPULATION ............................................................................................................................. 42

4.2 ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE RESULTS ...................................................................................................................... 45

4.3 CULTURE IMPACT ON MOTIVATION ........................................................................................................................... 51

5. DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................................................... 55

5.1 ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE AT SLB ......................................................................................................................... 55

5.2 MOTIVATION LEVELS AT SLB .................................................................................................................................. 60

6. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................................................... 65

7. BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................................ 67

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December 2009 Page 2

List of Figures

Figure 1: Market share breakdown of service companies (Schlumberger, 2009) ................................................................ 6

Figure 2: Geographic breakdown of areas Schlumberger operates (Schlumberger, 2009)................................................. 6

Figure 3: Divisional makeup at Schlumberger (Schlumberger, 2009) ................................................................................. 7

Figure 4: Wireline division Organogram (Schlumberger, 2009) ........................................................................................... 8

Figure 5: Activity and culture match .................................................................................................................................. 20

Figure 6: List of organisational culture influencing factors (Denson, 1992: p. 12) ............................................................. 21

Figure 7: Veldsman’s Model of Factors (2002: p. 67) ........................................................................................................ 22

Figure 8: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Maslow, 1954)..................................................................................................... 24

Figure 9: Structure of questions used in survey ................................................................................................................ 31

Figure 10: Flow of information presented in findings section ............................................................................................. 41

Figure 11: Gender distribution as a percentage ................................................................................................... 43

Figure 12: Culture most present at SLB .............................................................................................................. 46

Figure 13: Culture least present at SLB .....................................................................................................................46

Figure 14: Managements perception of culture ................................................................................................... 50

Figure 15: Employees perception of culture ......................................................................................................50

Figure 16: Are employees motivated ............................................................................................................... 51

Figure 17: How does work environment affect motivation ..............................................................................................51

Figure 18: Perception of top management contact .......................................................................................................... 53

Figure 19: Perception of top management support ........................................................................................................53

Figure 20: Perception of career development ...................................................................................................... 54

Figure 21: Perception challenging meaningful work...........................................................................................................54

Figure 22: Task culture ...................................................................................................................................................... 56

Figure 23: Role culture ...................................................................................................................................................... 57

Figure 24: Power culture ................................................................................................................................................... 57

Figure 25: Summary of culture results............................................................................................................................... 59

Figure 26: Motivation cycle ................................................................................................................................................ 63

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List of Tables

Table 1: Relationship between supervisor’s behaviour and attitudes of subordinates (Likert R. , 1961) ........................... 25

Table 2: Motivational Factors ............................................................................................................................................ 31

Table 3: Example of a question tallied............................................................................................................................... 35

Table 4: Power culture summed ........................................................................................................................................ 35

Table 5: Base locations of employees in survey ............................................................................................................... 42

Table 6: Gender distribution as a number ........................................................................................................................43

Table 7: Breakdown of managers and employees ............................................................................................................ 43

Table 8: Breakdown of participant used in the interviews .................................................................................................. 44

Table 9: Summary of all culture responses ....................................................................................................................... 45

Table 10: Summary of questionnaire results ..................................................................................................................... 47

Table 11: Ranking of motivational factors and managements effectiveness toward them. ............................................... 52

Table 12: Rating of management on addressing motivational factors ............................................................................... 54

Table 13: Management’s perception of culture ................................................................................ 60

Table 14: Employees’ perception of culture ......................................................................................................................60

Table 15: Motivational factors ranked and management’s effectiveness at dealing with them .......................................... 61

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A leaders prayer

Dear Lord, help me to become the kind of leader my management would like to have me be.

Give me the mysterious something which will enable me at all times satisfactorily to explain

policies, rules, regulations and procedures to my workers even when they have never been

explained to me.

Help me to teach and to train the uninterested and dim witted without ever losing my

patience or my temper.

Give me that love for my fellow men which passeth all understanding so that I may lead the

recalcitrant, obstinate, no good worker into the paths of righteousness by my own example,

and by soft persuading remonstrance, instead of busting him on the nose.

Instil into my inner-being tranquillity and peace of mind which that no longer will I wake

from my restless sleep in the middle of the night crying out ‘What has my boss got that I

haven’t got and how did he get it?’

Teach me to smile if it kills me.

Make me a better leader of men by helping develop larger and greater qualities of

understanding, tolerance, sympathy, wisdom, perspective, equanimity, mind-reading and

second sight.

And when, Dear Lord, Thou has helped me to achieve the high pinnacle my management

has prescribed for me and when I shall have become the paragon of all supervisory virtues

in the earthly world, Dear Lord, move over. Amen.

Charles Handy (1976)

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1. Introduction

1.1 Area of Study

The role of organisational culture is starting to be better understood in today’s modern business

world. Managers are recognising its impact not only on team spirit, but also on bottom line figures.

An example of this was the turnaround of the Australian New Zealand Bank (ANZ) following

several years of poor performance. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), John McFarlane, decided

to approach the problem by implementing a change in the company’s culture and with this, ANZ

started reporting net profits after tax that almost quadrupled over a 10 year span (ANZ, 2004).

McFarland attributed this success largely to the new culture of the organisation.

Leadership’s role in developing an organisations culture is vital. Richard Barrett (2008) attributes

corporate culture to leadership past and leadership present. This study will look at a fast paced, high

pressured service company operating within the petroleum industry and how this environment has

affected the culture and motivation of its employees. A division of Schlumberger Limited (SLB),

Wireline, will be used in this project.

1.2 Background of the Company

The petroleum industry operates in a segmented fashion where parent companies obtain the rights

from governments to explore and develop oil fields. They however do none of the physical

operations, but rather hire service companies’ with the technical knowhow. The risk involved in

financing an exploration well is high with projects often failing. British Petroleum (BP) reports a

70% success rate, a figure considered high compared to the industry norms (TNK-BP, 2009).

Millions of dollars are commonly sunk into projects with no returns, forcing investors to look for

ways to minimise risk. To help overcome some of the associated risk, parent companies share it.

These companies own very little of the infrastructure required to extract crude oil but instead hire

service companies that do, meaning they share both the profits and risk. Familiar parent companies

are BP, Exon Mobil and Shell, otherwise known as the “three wicked witches” within the industry

and prominent service companies are Schlumberger (SLB), Halliburton and Baker Huges. Figure 1

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provides a breakdown of the market share in the oil industry’s service company sector showing

Schlumberger’s current dominance.

Figure 1: Market share breakdown of service companies (Schlumberger, 2009)

SLB is a large multinational company with an operating profit of US$27.16 billion for the year

2008. It employs 87000 people from 140 nationalities and operates in 80 different countries

(Schlumberger, 2009). Figure 2 displays locations SLB operates in and how they are internally

clustered.

Figure 2: Geographic breakdown of areas Schlumberger operates (Schlumberger, 2009)

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December 2009

Structures within SLB are segmented with

each other. There is very little co

formed. Figure 3 shows the different divisions

be focused on in the report.

Figure 3: Divisional makeup at Schlumberger (Schlumberger, 2009)

The Wireline division is the largest

conditions its employees are expected to

ascertain, after drilling has been completed, whether a well is worth completing or not

completion stage of producing a well is the most expensive

Practically what the Wireline division

them to determine the amount and quality of oil downhole.

Figure 4 shows the Organogram within the Wireline division.

field engineers are classified as employees

field engineers have not been included in the research due to them being exposed to different

conditions, with most operating out of the base and not in the field.

1 Reference to employees from this point on

IPM Drilling & Measurements

Directional

Drilling

MWD & LWD

Culture and its effects on Motivation at SLB

segmented with 14 divisions functioning almost entirely independent

here is very little co-operation or communication resulting in internal

shows the different divisions at SLB and highlights Wireline, the division that will

(Schlumberger, 2009)

the largest division in SLB, and is renowned for the long hours and harsh

conditions its employees are expected to work under. The Wireline division’s function

g has been completed, whether a well is worth completing or not

completion stage of producing a well is the most expensive aspect making this decision a vital one.

ivision does is lower specially designed tools into the

the amount and quality of oil downhole.

Organogram within the Wireline division. For the purpose of this study only

employees 1and anyone higher as management. Employees below

field engineers have not been included in the research due to them being exposed to different

with most operating out of the base and not in the field. Taking these different

this point on will only take into account field engineers

SCHLUMBERGER

Testing

ServicesWell Services

Cementing

Coiled Tubing

Stimulation

Wireline

Cased Hole

Open Hole

Page 7

almost entirely independent of

internal silos being

Wireline, the division that will

is renowned for the long hours and harsh

function is to help

g has been completed, whether a well is worth completing or not. The

making this decision a vital one.

into the well and uses

For the purpose of this study only

Employees below

field engineers have not been included in the research due to them being exposed to different work

Taking these different

Others

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conditions into account would have been too time consuming and beyond what the research is

trying to achieve which is to identify reasons for low retention rates of field engineers.

Figure 4: Wireline division Organogram (Schlumberger, 2009)

1.3 Objectives of the Research

Schlumberger currently experiences low employee retention rates and in certain locations poor

morale (Kayo, 2009). The objective of the report is to understand why this is and how it can be

changed by investigating three areas:

1. The current organisational culture in the Wireline division

2. Whether management and employees perceptions of the organisational culture is aligned

3. And if there is a relationship between the organisational culture and motivational levels of

employees.

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1.4 Scope

Due to the size and complexity of Schlumberger, answering the research questions for the entire

organisation would be beyond the resources available to the researcher. Firstly, the sample required

to represent 87 000 employees based in over 80 countries would be too costly and time consuming

to obtain. Secondly, due to the segmented nature of SLB a uniform culture may not exist

throughout the organisation and mixing data across divisions could distort results.

For these and other reasons discussed in section 3.6, only a division of SLB, Wireline, will be used

in the research. Wireline is the largest division in SLB making it the most representative of the

organisation. The job description of its employees is also standardised worldwide, allowing for data

to be compared across a large spectrum of over 80 countries.

1.5 Relevance of the Research

The low retention rate of employees, field engineers in particular, has become a growing concern

for Schlumberger2 management (Kayo, 2009). The research hopes to shed light on whether this is a

culture problem, motivational problem or a combination of the two. In a business where the most

important assets really are the people, maintaining quality employees and retaining experience is

critical (Kayo, 2009). Associated with low retention are high wasted costs with engineer training in

Wireline division being comparable to that of pilots (Kayo, 2009). Due to confidentially issues, this

report will not investigate retention directly but rather assumes its link to motivation.

To put the issues faced by a Wireline engineer in context, a day in their lives follows:

11:00pm – You are at home and get a call from your manager; BP has an open hole job you have

to get to urgently. You have to get your crew together and go to the base immediately to prepare the

tools required to send them offshore.

11:30pm – You arrive at base and your crew is not there yet. You try calling your foreman but his

phone is off. Your junior assistant arrives and you continue with preparations, just the two of you!

This is dangerous and against company policy, tools are heavy and at least three people are needed 2 For the remainder of the report reference to SLB will be pertaining only to the Wireline division.

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to handle them. This is not an excuse the client will look favourably on, so you continue and go

against company regulations.

3:00am – Your foreman arrives. At this stage getting mad will not help, you need his help to get the

job ready so you simply get him involved. Pressure is mounting to get done as you and your crew

have been booked on a chopper that leaves for the rig at 7am. Your preparation is however critical

as once you leave there is no coming back for things you may have forgotten. The job is 300km off

the west coast of Africa and time is money.

7:00am – You are still not ready. An irate client is calling to find out why you are not at the

heliport. After being reprimanded for 5 minutes, you manage to arrange an alternate chopper that

leaves at 9:00am. You have to make this one as your job is literally on the line. This is not the first

client where you’ve missed a chopper deadline, and you are on your final warning. If the client

takes it up with the SLB management again you will definitely be fired. Come 8:30am you leave and

send your equipment offshore. You really have no choice and just pray you have not forgotten

anything.

9:00am – The chopper leaves on time and the next 60 minutes could be the last chance you get to

have some sleep for the next few days.

10:00 am – Arrive on the oilrig. The entire operation has come to a standstill waiting for you. More

than 60 workers are idle as there is nothing they can do until you have arrived. A rig costing half a

million dollars a day to operate has technically lost a day’s production waiting for you. The

bonuses of the entire rig crew are tied to the efficiency of operations and in their eyes you have

made them less efficient, meaning less bonus. Let’s just say you not the most popular guy on deck.

11:00am – You haven’t slept for 24hours and the job hasn’t even begun...

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What has just been described is a typical scenario for an engineer working on an offshore oilrig in

Schlumberger and other similar service companies. The pace is fast and the pressure immense. As a

service provider the client is always right, and in most cases will insist on it.

As previously discussed this study focuses on the type of organisational culture that has developed

at SLB and how it has impacted on motivation levels of the employees.

1.6 Layout of the Report

The report covers six areas detailed below:

1. The introduction

This section looks at the area of study, the background of the company to be studied the objective,

scope and relevance of the study and finally the report layout.

2. Literature review

This section gives an overview of existing literature on the topic to be studied. The three main areas

looked at in this section are: the different types of organisational cultures that exist, the factors that

influence them and motivation.

3. Research methodology

This section looks at the type of research to be conducted, namely explorative in nature with a

qualitative, inductive approach using a cross sectional research design. It also gives an overview on

the primary data collection methods used and covers how the surveys and semi-structured

interviews were designed and conducted.

4. Findings

This section looks at the main findings from both the surveys and the interviews conducted. It

merely presents a summary of the findings to be used in the discussion.

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5. Discussion

This section of the report critically looks at the findings, comparing it to the literature reviewed

looking for differences, similarities and implications to SLB.

6. Conclusion and recommendations

This section concludes and summarises the entire project and provided recommendations.

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2. Literature Review

“Until well into the seventeenth century, surgery was performed not by doctors but by barbers

who, untaught and unlettered applied whatever tortures they had picked up during their

apprenticeship. Doctors, observing a literal interpretation of their oath not to inflict bodily

harm, were too ‘ethical’ to cut and were not even suppose to watch. But the operation, if

performed according to the rules, was presided over by a learned doctor who sat on a dais well

above the struggle and read what the barber was suppose to be doing aloud from a Latin

classic (which the barber, of course, did not understand). Needless to say, it was always the

barbers fault if the patient died, and always the doctor’s achievement if he survived. And the

doctor got the bigger fee in either event.”

(Drucker, 1954, p. 54)

So with this in mind let us be aware that not all the answers are in books, but some in the doing.

The objective of the study is to determine the type of organisational culture that has developed in a

division of Schlumberger and how it has effected employee motivation. In order to measure or

determine the organisational culture that exists at SLB, one needs to have an understanding of the

different culture types that have previously been investigated, what factors influenced the formation

of them and how they have impacted on motivation levels. For this reason the literature review will

focus on the following areas:

1. Types of organisational cultures that exist (Looking first at Handy’s typology and then at

alternate views).

2. Factors that influence and shape organisational culture.

3. The effect of organisational culture on the motivation of employees.

However before looking at the different types of organisation cultures or what influences them, it is

important to define what organisation culture means in the context of the research.

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2.1 Organanisational Culture Defined

Literature found on organisational culture is often contradictory. Definitions on the topic vary from,

“…the shared beliefs top managers in a company have about how they should manage themselves

and other employees, and how they conduct their business” (Lorsch, 1986: p. 85) to, “corporate

culture is the implicit, intrinsic and informal consciousness of the organisation which guides the

behaviour of the individuals and which shapes itself out of their behaviour” (Scholz, 1987: p. 80).

A significant difference between the two definitions is the fact that organisation culture is attributed

to either employee behaviour or management decision making. Schein defines the culture of a

group as,

“a pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems of

external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be consider valid

and , therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in

relation to those problems” (1992: p. 12).

Schein’ definition will be used as the basis for understanding organisational culture in the study.

2.2 Handy’s take on Organisational Culture

Charles Handy is recognised as a leader in the field of organisational cultures. Handy (1976)

maintains that there is no best culture, merely ones that suit different organisations better. In order

to better understand the dynamics of different cultures Handy grouped then into four types: power,

role, task and person. Each culture type was given features he found through his research to be

commonly displayed, highlighting both their strengths and weaknesses. The researcher felt these

features could provide a structured approach to follow in trying to classify the organisational

culture at SLB. Features given by Handy (1976) to the different organisation culture types are:

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In a power culture, leadership rules and decisions are made by a central power source. This central

power could be in the form of an owner or director. Trust and communication are important with

bureaucracy at a minimum. Decisions are taken based on influence rather than procedure or logic.

Staff functions with few rules or protocol. Strength of this culture is that fast decisions are made

allowing for quick changes when threats are faced. The power culture is however not good when

detailed work is required. In a power culture organisation the strength of management is of

paramount importance as the quality of their decisions determine the quality of the organisation.

Handy draws a comparison between the power culture and a spider web saying a web without a

spider has no strength.

According to Handy, “generally power culture organisations encounter problems if they grow too

big” (1979: p. 189). This is due to difficulties maintaining the discipline and trust required to

command and control the type of environment needed in a power culture. To overcome this

problem some organisations choose to break up into smaller companies, giving maximum

independence to the heads of the various units.

The atmosphere in these companies tends to be very competitive with little regard for means and

more for the end. They are often tough and abrasive resulting in a high staff turnover and low

morale.

According to Handy, “The role culture is at times also known as the bureaucratic culture where

logic and rationale govern proceedings” (1979: p. 189). Handy describes the role culture as having

different pillars that hold the organisation together, comparing it to a Greek temple. It is one where

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divisions and functions are departmentalised and its strength is drawn from the pillars and the fact

that different units have separated functions or specialities. In these organisations the role or job

description is often more important than the individual who performs it. Performance over and

above the job description is not expected and can actually be disruptive. Co-ordination between the

different pillars is done by a small team of top management with rules and procedures. Each pillar

has a function and if all perform their own duties correctly the organisational will thrive. Efficiency

of this culture depends on how well work and responsibility is allocated rather than on individual

performances.

An organisation with a role culture will succeed in a stable environment. A change in conditions

however means the organisation’s rules and procedures are no longer applicable. Job descriptions

are well defined and advancement is predictable. Role cultures are frustrating for ambitious

individuals more concerned about results than method. Role cultures generally tend to develop in

organisations operating in a seller’s market or with very little competition where focus can be on

product reliability and not cost or innovation.

In a task culture groups are gathered to deal with specific jobs and therefore develop a job or

project mentality. Emphasis is placed on results and not method, resulting in people with the

required skills gathering to do a specific job.

Influence or rank is based on knowledge rather than position and is more widely dispersed than

some of the other cultures. A prominent feature according to Handy of a task culture is, “team

work, using the dynamics of the group to improve efficiency with the final project outcome

normally valued more than individual gains” (1979: p. 187).

Task cultures are extremely adaptable, quickly forming or disbanding teams as the need arises.

Task cultures normally develop in a market where competition is strong, product life is short and

speed of reaction is critical. Task culture organisations find it hard to operate on a large scale or

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where specialist and great depth of expertise is required. Control is difficult to maintain and is done

by the way management moves its people around. Day to day activities are not overseen by

management who only take care of resource allocation, recruitment and placement decisions.

However when resources become limited, money and people need to be rationed leading to internal

competition. Employees become disgruntled and in order to get the job done, management has to

start implementing rules and procedures. Eventually over time the task culture converts into a role

or power one. Task cultures are difficult to control and are inherently unstable.

A person culture is uncommon in organisations and is found more in the values of some of the

employees. In a person culture, individuals are the central point and the organisation is there just to

serve the needs of the members. Handy likens this culture to a cluster or galaxy of individual stars

and gives an “architecture firm where members come together purely to reduce office and

administration costs” (1979: p. 190) as an example. Individual objectives and needs are put above

the organisation or group.

A person culture organisation is normally difficult to manage and with time eventually shifts to one

of the other three cultures. Normally only the originators benefit from its success and as the

organisation begins to develop their identity; it gets imposed on those that join later, reshaping it as

a power or role culture.

2.3 Alternate Views on Organisational Cultures

2.3.1 Formal and informal

Harris (1976) provides an interesting view on how organisational culture manifests itself. He looks

at it as having a divide where a formal organisational culture and informal organisational culture

co-exist. The formal organisational culture is determined by rules and conditions management puts

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in place and the informal organisational culture is a reaction by the employees to these rules. If

employees don’t agree with the rules there will be a large divide between these two cultures.

According to Harris, “the informal organisation exists to fulfil specific needs of the group and its

members…for example; the group may bind itself together to resist a dangerous autocratic boss or

to fight an unacceptable performance” (1976, p. 69). Harris takes the view that an organisation’s

culture can be determined as much by employees in resistance to management as by the

management themselves in trying to implement policies and structures (Harris, 1976). This

difference is described as the beliefs the organisation espouses and those which its employees enact

(Argyris & Schon, 1978). By having a difference between the two a gap emerges between

management and employees as psychological contracts are broken.

2.3.2 Inner and outer context

Veldsman (2202) looks at culture slightly differently as he uses what he refers to as the inner and

outer contexts of organisational culture. The inner context is concerned with business specific

issues such as the values of management and the types of employees who are generally hired. Outer

context is wider in scope and considers the industry; the country and the broader world in which the

firm operates. An example of this is whether the organisation is based in a developing or

developed; eastern or western country (Veldsman, 2002). The inner and outer contexts of

organisations influence each other and together make up the organisational culture. Management

style is an example of this is. What might be considered good management in Europe might be

thought of as poor in Africa. The combination of inner and outer context together will determine

how the organisation reacts and what culture is developed.

2.3.3 Sub-cultures

Organisations containing a single culture are extremely rare. Most organisations have what are

known as sub cultures. According to Brown (1995) these subcultures can compete with the

dominant culture. Some of the contributing factors to the development of sub-cultures are:

1. The structural hierarchy of the firm,

2. Separation of departments and

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3. Different age, race or gender groups.

This further complicates the issue of trying to measure an organisations culture as all these different

groups can give conflicting views. A dominant culture will exist but depending on how divided the

organisation is, could be threatened by sub cultures.

Martin and Siehl (1983) have grouped sub cultures into three areas; the enhancing subcultures,

orthogonal subcultures and counter cultures.

1. An enhancing subculture normally comprises the radicals in the organisation. They adhere

to the values and principles of the dominant culture more intensely than the rest of the

organisation.

2. In an orthogonal subculture individuals buy into both the dominant culture and a non-

conflicting sub-culture at the same time. An example could be a department separate from

the organisation with its own identity yet still following and adhering to the dominant

culture. The research and development department for example is traditionally the creative

arm of an organization, yet it can still buy into and align itself with the rest of the

organisation, regardless of its creativity levels.

3. A counter culture goes against the dominant culture. Here members’ don’t buy into the

dominant culture, leading to an uncomfortable symbiotic relationship. These are normally

developed when unfriendly takeovers occur (Brown, 1995).

Handy states that there are four principle activities that most organisations have to deal with;

“steady state, innovation, crisis and policy” (1979, p.201). Some departments in an organisation

may fall neatly into one, but most have a mixture. This mixture of activities leads to a mixture in

cultures. Figure 5 displays which of the four cultures explained in section 2.2 are dominant and

which subcultures for the different activities. An innovative firm will have a dominant task culture

with power and role typically as subcultures.

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Figure 5: Activity and culture match

2.4 Factors that Influence Organisational Culture

In order to understand the direction a culture may be going in or why it may be conflicting with

employees, one needs to understand the factors that shape it. Brown (1995) claims that broadly

speaking there are three main areas that influence organisational culture:

1. The national culture within which an organisation is physically situated.

2. The vision, management style and personality of an organisation’s founder or other

dominant leaders.

3. The type of business an organisation conducts and the nature of its business environment.

David Dennison (1992) has taken these three areas and broken them down into greater detail. He

lists them as twelve sub areas, as shown in figure 6.

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Figure 6: List of organisational culture influencing factors (Denson, 1992: p. 12)

Veldsman (2002) views the organisational culture influencing factors differently, terming then as

“the building blocks of an organisations culture” (p. 220). He defines these building blocks as the

assumptions, beliefs, values, norms and attitudes of the organisation. This definition is in line with

that of Schein’s who stated culture is, “a pattern of shared assumptions that the group learnt as it

solves its problems...and is taught to new members” (1992: p.12).

Veldsman (2002) explains the five building blocks as follows:

1. Assumptions are premises taken for granted. An example could be assuming people work

best under minimum, externally imposed controls.

2. A belief is an, “accepted truth about entities, events, outcomes and their interrelationship”.

An example could be, “People are inherently lazy, lack initiative and cannot be trusted”

(p.220).

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3. Values are, “relative worth ascribed to entities, events or outcomes in general” (p. 220). An

example of a value could be “the customer is always right” or “people are our most

important asset.” Values are described as an organisations philosophy.

4. Norms are, “accepted and/or expected standards of acting towards entities, events or

outcomes. A norm could be; “Wear formal attire to work”, “Show respect to your superiors

at all times” and “Don’t make waves”. Norms form the boundaries and rules of the

organisation.

5. Attitude is a, “learned predisposition to respond in a consistent manner whether positively or

negatively…” (p. 221). Examples of attitude are “Our unions are destructive” or

“Management in our organisation is autocratic.” (Veldsman, 2002: p. 220)

Figure 7 shows how the 5 building blocks interact with each other and the emotions that develop

them.

Figure 7: Veldsman’s Model of Factors (2002: p. 67)

Handy on the other hand felt the factors that influence organisational culture were, “the history and

ownership of the organisation, size, technology, goals and objectives, environment and the people”

(1976, p. 192).

Examples of how Handy felt culture is influenced by history of ownership and size are:

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1. The age, ownership and history of the company would determine how power is distributed;

therefore family businesses with centralised ownership normally lead to a power culture.

2. The size of an organisation dictates how it is run. Larger organisations are normally more

formalised to help with coordination and managements. This leads to developing a role

culture.

Dennison, Schein, Veldsman and Handy all define organisational culture influencing factors that

can be linked back to the three given by Brown (1995): National culture, leadership style and

business environment. These three factors are the basis for developing organisational culture with

other sub factors that depend on the organisation and its operating environment.

2.5 Motivation

“All men seek one goal, success or happiness. The only way to achieve true success is to express

yourself completely in service to society. First, have a definite, clear, practical ideal – a goal, an

object. Second, have the necessary means to achieve your ends – wisdom, money, material and

methods. Third, adjust your means to the end.”

Aristotle, 384 – 322 BC

Maslow argued that needs are only motivators when not met. As our lower order needs are

satisfied, our expectations increase and our motivation variables move to a higher level. According

to Maslow, “even if all our needs are satisfied, we may still often expect that a new discontent and

restlessness will soon develop, unless the individual is doing what he is fitted for” (1954: p. 57).

This highlights the importance of matching employees with their functions in order to achieve

sustainable motivation. Figure 8 shows Maslow’s pyramid of needs detailing which factors take

preference at the different levels.

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Figure 8: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Maslow, 1954)

The researcher sees morale as the link between culture and motivation. A good culture produces

high morale which in turn motivates employees. Morale has been given a number of meanings,

mostly corresponding to concepts of satisfaction and attitude. Likert and Willits defined it as a

persons, “mental attitude toward all features of his work and toward all of the people with whom he

works” (1940, p. 27). Guion referred to morale as, “the extent to which the individual’s needs are

satisfied and the extent to which the individual perceives that satisfaction as stemming from his

total job situation” (1958, p.62).

To investigate factors which effected employee morale and motivation, Likert (1961) conducted a

study on a public utility company. From the study Likert concluded that one of the major

determinants of job satisfaction was the relationship between employer and employee. The

percentage of employees in work groups with favourable attitudes who reported that their

supervisors engage in activities that took their wellbeing into account was consistently higher than

employees with unfavourable attitudes who felt the same way. Table 1 exhibits the factors used

and how employees rated them.

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Table 1: Relationship between supervisor’s behaviour and attitudes of subordinates (Likert R. , 1961)

Horwitz et al (2003) designed a more comprehensive list of factors he felt affected motivation. His

points covered more than just management interaction but also employee’s personal goals and

desires. Horwitz et al listed the following factors:

Challenges, Meaningful fulfilling work, Highly competetive pay package, Performance

incentives/bonuses/share options, Freedom to plan work and work independently, Career

development and learning opportunities, Top management support, Access to leading edge

technology, Regular contact with top management, Opportunities for promotion, Fun work

environment and team work

2.6 Conclusion

The literature review has shown how difficult it is to define culture, let alone measure it. Handy’s

typology (1976) summarises culture into four possible types, Veldsman (2002) looks at it in terms

of inner and outer context and Martin and Siehl (1983) introduce subcultures. All relate to each

other on a certain level but how they fit into Schlumberger’s context and relate to the motivation of

employees can only be determined once the findings have been analysed.

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3. Research Methodology

“Research is to see what everyone else has seen, and to think what nobody else has though.”

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

The research methodology section looks at the approach taken by the researcher to gather and

interpret data. It will look at the methods used for data collection, namely the questionnaire and

semi-structured interviews, as well as their limitations and implications. Other areas addressed are

the selection of the sample group, data analysis and reliability and validity.

The research objectives are to:

4. Measure and evaluate the current organisational culture in the Wireline division of SLB

5. Investigate if management and the worker’s perception of the organisation’s culture are

congruent and

6. Determine whether there is a relationship between the organisational culture and motivation

levels of employees.

3.1 Type of Research

The type of research conducted in the study is explorative in nature. It has taken a qualitative

inductive approach with a cross sectional research design. Each element will now be looked at in

closer detail.

3.1.1 Explorative

Neuman defines explorative research as “research into an area that has not been studied and in

which a researcher wants to develop initial ideas and a more focussed research question” (2000: p.

510). While there is a rich background of literature on organisational culture and motivation, no

similar research could be found to help inform the question of how organisational culture impacts

on motivation of knowledge workers at SLB. Literature can be used as a guide for the researcher

but an explorative approach is necessary to develop an understanding of this relationship at SLB.

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Types of explorative research methods are:

the study of secondary sources of information3

an analysis of selected cases

a survey of individuals who are likely to have opinions on the subject under investigation

(Struwig & Stead, 2001)

The first two methods were not applicable as no similar case studies could be found. No secondary

data was found linking organisational culture and motivation in a similar space as SLB’s

operations. The third method however applied as questionnaires and interviews were used for data

gathering purposes.

3.1.2 Inductive

The three main types of research used are deductive, inductive and grounded theory. All have their

advantages and disadvantages and depending on the nature of the research, the most suited will be

selected. For this study an inductive approach will be used. Inductive research looks at the findings

and from there develops theory and conclusions. According to Bryman and Bell, “with an inductive

stance, theory is the outcome of research” (2007: p. 14). Inductive research is the most appropriate

for the study. As previously mentioned no similar studies of other companies operating in the same

space as SLB could be found. There have also been no prior investigations regarding the

relationship between the organisational culture and motivation of SLB employees. Developing

theory and conclusions out of the findings was the only viable route to take.

3.1.3 Qualitative approach

Leedy and Ormrod suggest that there are two things that are common to all variations of qualitative

research, “firstly a focus on phenomena that occur in natural settings...and...secondly, studying

those phenomena in all their complexity” (2005: p. 133). They go further to explain that in

qualitative research there is not necessarily a single truth but multiple perceptions to be discovered

(Leedy & Ormrod, 2005). Perceptions of culture (sub-cultures are discussed in the literature 3 Primary data is direct from the source. Secondary data is derived from the primary data (Leedy & Ormrod, 2005)

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review) and the impact on motivation will vary between groups. A qualitative approach allows the

richness of these different opinions to be captured and made relevant in the conclusions drawn.

Features of a qualitative research project, given by Leedy and Ormrod (2005), are:

To describe, explain, explore, interpret and build theory

Have flexible guidelines, unknown variables and the use of personal views

Be informative with a small sample and use loosely structured observation and interviews

Inductive

Have findings mostly in words, narratives and individual quotes.

Looking at these features each fits neatly with the study being conducted. A qualitative approach

was therefore well suited for the research.

3.1.4 Research design: cross sectional

The five main methods used in research design are: experimental, cross sectional, longitudinal, case

study and comparative. Cross sectional design lent itself best to the study being conducted.

Cross sectional studies seek to, “describe the incident of a phenomenon or to compare factors in

different organisations” (Saunders, Lewis, & Thorhill, 2000: p. 96). This is exactly what the study

is trying to achieve, to describe the relationship (phenomenon) between organisational culture and

motivation. The purpose of the study is not to determine causality, but merely that a relationship

exists between organisational culture and the levels of motivation at SLB.

Cross sectional design also involves the collection of data on more than one case/participant at a

single point in time in connection with two or more variables to detect patterns. The collection of

data at a single point in time means that changes aren’t being observed but rather the focus is on the

present situation. For these reasons cross sectional research design suited the project (Bryman &

Bell, 2007).

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3.2 Overview of Primary Data Collection Methodology

A series of data collection steps were required to help investigate the research questions; what type

of organisational culture exists at SLB and how does it affect the motivation of employees? An

overview of the steps taken follows:

Step1: Design a questionnaire – The areas the questionnaire had to cover were that of

organisational culture, management and employee alignment on culture and motivation levels. The

literature read was used to help direct how the researcher would classify culture and which factors

would be looked at as important to motivation.

Step2: Pilot the questionnaire – Once the questions had been set; they needed to be tested on

participants with similar experiences to the intended sample group. Changes were then made taking

into account feedback received from pilot group.

Step 3: Select sample and administer – A sample group needed to be decided on that would be

representative of the organisation. Three areas were decided on as important; gender, location and

position within the organisation.

Step 4: Analysis of data – Data was superficially analysed at this stage to help inform the questions

to be used in the interviews.

Step 5: Create interview questions – As mentioned, data gathered from the surveys was used to

help decide on questions to be used in the interviews. Any areas that needed confirmation or

clarification were covered here.

Step 6: Pilot interview questions – The same group used to pilot the survey questions was used to

pilot the interview. Once again feedback was useful and a few changes were made.

1. Design Survey Question

2. Pilot Survey Questions

3. Select Sample and Administer 4. Analyse Data

5. Create Interview Questions

6. Pilot Interview Questions

7. Select Sample and Interview

8. Analyse all Data

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Step 7: Select sample group and interview – The sample group used in the interviews had to be

representative of the sample used for the surveys. This was important in order to make meaningful

comparisons between the data gathered by these different methods.

Step 8: Analysis of all data – All the data (both survey and interviews) was analysed.

3.3 The Questionnaire

Using questionnaires is a powerful initial source of information as it is quick, cheap, convenient

and does not influence respondents (Bryman & Bell, 2007). Due to the geographical spread of the

population sampled, surveys were a critical means of gathering information. They greatly reduced

cost and time, making a larger sample base possible. Very little time is spent in the office by

Wireline engineers as they are either on the shop floor preparing tools for their next job, doing

standby on an offshore rig or busy with the actual job. Time spent behind a desk is frowned upon

by management and for this reason, employees see it as precious. The time required from engineers

had to be kept to a minimum, making surveys the logical choice. To help further reduce the time

required, all questions in the survey were close ended, meaning the surveys would not require more

than ten minutes. According to Bryman and Bell (2007), this technique not only saves the

participants’ time, making them more willing to seriously participate, it saves the researcher time as

analysis of the data is made much easier.

3.3.1 Questionnaire design

The questionnaire basically consisted of two sections; culture and motivation. Twenty one

questions covered the area of culture and twenty the area of motivation. Exactly how these

questions were designed and the layout of the survey will now be looked at.

Culture is a very fluid concept with various definitions provided in the literature review. The

method used to capture the culture at SLB was based on Handy’s typology (Handy, 1976). In a

nutshell Handy claimed all organisations display four basic culture types; task, role, power and

1. Design Survey

Question

2. Pilot Survey Questions

3. Select Sample and Administer

4. Analyse Data

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person, with various combinations exhibited at different stages of a company’s lifecycle. Handy

provided very precise definitions4 of the characteristics displayed by the different culture types

based on research he conducted and these definitions were used to inform the culture questions.

Questions were all close ended with a four point Likert scale, as shown in figure 9, was used to

determine levels of agreement. No middle response means candidates are forced to have an opinion.

According to Leedy and Ormrod, “a rating scale is more useful when a behaviour, attitude, or other

phenomenon of interest needs to be evaluated” (2005: p. 185), making it well suited to investigating

organisation culture and motivation.

How involved are you in decision making that affects your job?

Figure 9: Structure of questions used in survey

Motivation questions also consisted of a Likert scale, similar to the one used for culture questions,

and a ranking table with nine motivational factors believed to be important to employees

determined in previous research by Horwitz et al (2003). Table 2 lists the motional factors used in

the survey.

Motivational Factors Challenges, meaningful fulfilling work Highly competitive work Performance incentives/bonuses/share options Career development and learning opportunities Top management support Access to leading edge technology Regular contact with top management Oppurtunities for promotion Fun work environment and team work

Table 2: Motivational Factors

Once the motivational factors were ranked, the Likert scale was used to determine how effective

management was at addressing these factors. This was done to allow a comparison between what

management saw as important verses what employees saw as important motivational factors.

4 Handy’s definitions are provided in the literature review.

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3.3.2 Questionnaire piloted

According to Mouton, “one of the most common errors in doing research is not piloting or

pretesting” (2001: p. 13). Piloting the questionnaire proved invaluable in this case as assumptions

the researcher had made regarding English proficiency and understanding of terminology and

concepts were highlighted. Most participants had English as a second and in some cases third

language, making it vitally important that the questions were easily understood.

According to Bryman and Bell (2007) a pilot study should not be carried out on potential

candidates, rather people with similar experiences. This meant the survey would need to be piloted

on SLB employees that did not have English as a first language and did not currently work on the

rigs but had been exposed to its culture. The Cape Town branch proved the perfect source with

expatriates from around the world performing a logistics function. They were not eligible for the

survey but were a similar match to employees that would be. The pilot was conducted in the Cape

Town office at Montague Gardens on the 21st September 2009.

3.3.3 Selection of participants

Sampling criteria

The sample selected was not representative of the entire organisation but focussed on just the

Wireline division. To help with selection, the researcher had a meeting with a senior manager and

together they decided on the factors that would be important when trying to best represent the

Wireline division, coming up with three areas felt to be key: base location, gender and position of

participants within the organisation. This type of selection is known as purposive sampling

Location:

According to Brown (1995), the main factors that influence an organisation’s culture are:

1. The national culture within which an organisation is physically situated.

2. The vision, management style and personality of an organisation’s leaders.

3. The type of business an organisation conducts and the nature of its business environment

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All three of these factors, in SLB’s context, are very location specific. Having an operation that

spans the globe means that within the same division employees are subject to different national

cultures, management styles and business environments which technically means every location

could have a different culture. In order to understand and be representative of the entire division

sampling from as many different locations as possible was necessary.

Gender:

Gender was an important consideration due to the fact that female engineers were seen to be treated

differently. Differences in treatment could result in female engineers having different motivation

levels as well as perceptions of the culture. A difference in culture perception could have

implications on how the culture manifests itself as cited by Martin and Siehl (1983).

According to Eva Prima Dewi (2009), a female engineer based in Angola, the treatment she

receives from both SLB management and the client is different to that of her male counterparts.

Eva feels females get a bit more leeway in the organisation due to the fact that finding females

willing to work on oilrigs is a lot harder. She also felt contrary to popular belief,

“men working on oil rigs aren’t as rough as they are made out to be and are more than

willing to help female engineers where they can. In situations where my male colleagues get

cursed, I normally get a wry smile and asked to try not do it again. I suppose it is like any

other job in the world where women use their natural charm, except under these conditions

you are probably the only woman among 60 men stuck in the middle of the ocean or a

mosquito infested jungle for weeks on end. Guess the feminine charm becomes super

charged...hahahah.”

Due to confidentiality issues it was not possible to get the exact ratio of females to males in the

Wireline division. Management interviewed indicated that the target was 60 percent male 40

percent female. Whether this was an achieved target or not wasn’t clear.

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Position in organisation:

One of the desired outcomes of the research is to understand how aligned management and

employees perceptions of the organisations culture are. To achieve this it was important to get

representation from both groups. Due to management’s schedules, getting participation was an

anticipated challenge that turned quickly into a reality. Initial projections for the number of

managers to be interviewed was 15, however due to managements’ time constraints, only 7

participated.

Sampling size

Due to the size and nature of the organisation being researched, time was a major constraint that

had to be overcome. This was done by limiting certain aspects of the research. According to Bell,

“the number of subjects in your investigation will necessarily depend on the amount of time you

have” (2009: p. 145). Initially a sample group of 30 as a manageable population was planned but

due to a network system that worked very well the survey was closed at 45. Every respondent was

asked to forward the survey to potential candidates they knew, extending the pool beyond just

people the researcher knew.

Sampling method

Saunders et al. (2000) refers to five types of sampling methods; quota, purposive, snowball, self-

selection and convenience. Once again, due to time and cost constraints, a combination of

purposive and convenience sampling was used. Purposive sampling enables you to use judgement

to select cases that will best enable you to answer your research question whereas convenience

entails selecting cases that are easiest to obtain (Saunders, Lewis, & Thorhill, 2000). Locations used

were selected by the researcher. As noted earlier, due to the work load of employees’ enthusiasm

for participation in surveys was not expected (Kayo, 2009).

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3.3.4 Questionnaire analysis

Analysis of the questionnaires was done with the use of MS Excel. Management and employees

responses were separated and ratings of questions relating to the four cultures tallied. Table 3 is an

example of a power culture question with management responses added. Once all the individual

questions relating to a culture have been added they are then summed to represent the culture as a

whole as shown in table 4.

Table 3: Example of a question tallied

Table 4: Power culture summed

The nine motivation factors were automatically ranked according to responses by the survey

software. Comparison between the ranking and how employees rated management’s efforts at

addressing the motivational factors was then possible. Motivational effectiveness was ranked by

taking the average of responses and comparing it against the motivational factors.

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3.4 The Interviews

Two types of interview styles were considered for this study, focus groups and semi-structured

interviews. According to Leedy and Ormrod (2005) focus groups are particularly useful when:

1. Time is limited

2. The candidates would feel more comfortable speaking in groups

3. The reaction and interaction of the group gives information

A major hindrance to the use of focus groups in the research was the varying geographical locations

of the employees. Individual interviews were therefore chosen as the preferred method.

Bailey (1982) defines ten advantages of face to face interviews. The most important listed are;

having flexibility in the type and order of questions you ask, ability to monitor nonverbal

behaviour, respondent alone being able to answer questions removing all possibility of cheating the

interview and finally questions asked can be more complex than those used in surveys. As

mentioned interviews conducted in this study were either done telephonically or via Skype,

resulting in some of the advantages associated to interview studies being lost.

Interviews were conducted with as many candidates as possible. A question was attached to the

survey asking the candidate if they would be willing to conduct a personal interview.

3.4.1 Interview Design

Interview questions were designed following a brief initial analysis of the survey data. The main

function of the interviews were to answer the ‘why part’ of the questionnaires and gather data that

may have been missed. Having open ended questions allows for a richness in answers that was not

possible with surveys (Leedy & Ormrod, 2005). Interviews also further backed any claims or

conclusions that may have been made. The interview followed a similar structure as the

questionnaire in that questions sequentially covered five topics: task culture, power culture, role

5. Create Interview Questions

6. Pilot Interview Questions

7. Select Sample and Interview

8. Analyis all Data

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culture, motivation. Person culture was not covered in the interviews as it was clear from initial

survey analysis it was a minor component of the SLB culture.

The questions used in the interviews can be found in Appendix A.

3.4.2 Selection of participants for interviewing

Due to the fact that two different methods of data collection were used, it was important that there

was consistency between the two sample groups. The population to be interviewed had to represent

the population that was surveyed in order to compare and use data gathered. This being said, the

three areas the surveys took into account when attempting to represent the division were location,

gender and position of employee. The interview population would have to look at the same three

areas not only in terms of the division make up but also the respondents that completed the surveys.

Section 3.3.1 explained why females’ perceptions could be different from their male counterparts

and having them represented in the interviews to the same degree as the survey was important to

ensure consistency between the data collection methods.

A fourth dimension looked at in selection of interview participants was individual culture

inclination shown by the surveys. The researcher didn’t want to bias the interviews by selecting

only candidates that had a particular culture perception but instead looked at candidates from all

four.

The fact that all candidates did exactly the same job made the process easier as categorising job

functions was not necessary.

O’Leary (2004) highlights the unwitting bias that may be introduced by non-random sampling. To

avoid this situation the researcher tried to maintain an element of randomness in the selection of

participants. Based on the ratios of gender, location and position a pool of potential participants was

selected. From this pool interviewees were selected randomly.

3.4.3 Interview analysis

One of the major problems with qualitative analysis is it generates a large base of data that is time

consuming to interpret. According to Bryman and Bell (2007), a clear and well planned system

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needs to be adopted to maintain validity. To analyse the interview data a combination of two

methods was used, content analysis and spiral analysis. Content analysis is a “detailed and

systematic examination of the content...to idetntify patterns and themes” (Leedy and Ormrod, 2005:

p. 142). It takes measures to ensure the process is as objective as possible and was useful for the

study in identifying patterns which informed the type organisational culture present at SLB and its

effects on the motivation of the employees.

The second method was developed by Creswell (1998) and is described as a data analysis spiral. As

the name suggests it involves an iterative approach which goes through the data several times.

Organisational culture is often made up of elements of a number of cultures, creating a mixture that

is as unique as a fingerprint. In order to capture this uniqueness an iterative approach was essential

as it allowed the research to move between answers and develop a holistic opinion. Comments from

similar questions were grouped allowing themes to emerge. The steps followed in the spiral process

are as follows:

1. Organising the data and breaking down large bodies of work into smaller ones with the use

of stories, sentences or even just words.

2. Peruse all the data several times in order to get a holistic view.

3. Group the data into themes or subcategories and classify each piece. At this stage one

should be finding meaning in the data.

4. Synthesis and summarise the data. At this stage one can propose relationships (Leedy &

Ormrod, 2005).

3.5 Bias and Validity

Validity is defined by Mishler as the, “degree to which we can rely on the concepts, methods, and

inferences of a study or tradition of inquiry, as the basis for our own theorizing and empirical

research” (1990: p. 419). The methods used to score and evaluate responses were developed by the

researcher. In order to ensure the validity of the analysis triangulation was used. Triangulation is

the use of various methods to analysis data, “such as observation, quantitative measures, interviews

or documents” (Struwig & Stead, 2001: p 145). Saunders et al. highlights the importance of

gathering information with more than just one method stating, “different data collection methods ...

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ensures that the data are telling you what you think they are telling you” (2000: p. 98). Both surveys

and interviews were used to ensure consistency.

Another aspect of validity cited by Struwig and Stead is that of researcher effects or bias. A

researchers background could “include certain biases and prejudices...that may encourage or

discourage responses from participants” (2001: p.145). The researcher of this study has a

background in the field being studied, having previously worked as a SLB Wireline employee. This

adds both advantages and disadvantages to the study. Having intimate knowledge of conditions will

help inform the questions and how to relate to interviewees. The researcher could however have a

preconceived idea of the culture and motivation factors that could unwillingly steer his questions.

To overcome this, questions were all submitted to the supervisor for approval before being piloted.

Reliability is dependent on whether alternative interviewers would reveal similar information. Due

to the nature and complexity of topics being researched, reliability was not a focal point. Marshall

and Rossman’s response to reliability in non-standardised research methods is that “findings are not

necessarily intended to be repeatable since they reflect reality at the time they were collected, in a

situation which may be subject to change” (1999: p. 67). Concepts of both culture and motivation

are dynamic, changing with time, management and other factors addressed in the literature review.

3.6 Ethics

Ethically the most difficult aspect of the report was getting permission to use SLB for the analysis.

The functional structures at SLB are high so knowing how far to go in terms of seniority was

difficult. Every segment, continent, region and country has a different manager with loops in terms

of who reports to whom. Eventually it was decided Allain Kayo, Wireline manager of Southern and

Eastern Africa would be approached. Allain was assured the report was purely for academic

purposes and would not be distributed for any other reasons.

Permission had also to be asked from employees participating in interviews for their real names

were used in the report. Interviewees were also made aware that management could possible read

their comments as they would be inserted into sections of the report.

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Due to the researcher having previously worked for SLB he had access to intranet and other internal

information. Discretion had to be used in terms of what SLB would mind being made public

considering it was acquired from a company private source.

3.7 Limitations of the Study

A limitation in the proposed study is the lack of generalisability of findings. However,

generalisability is not a goal of qualitative research (Bryman & Bell, 2007). Interviews and surveys

have been conducted on one company, SLB, making findings specific to their conditions. In

addition there are limitations associated with using surveys. One cannot clear misunderstandings or

probe interesting points (Bryman & Bell, 2007). These have however been countered with the use

of subsequent interviews.

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4. Research Findings

“If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts.”

Albert Einstein

The findings section looks at the culture perceptions at different levels in Schlumberger, gathered

from the survey and interview data, and will be presented in three forms: collectively, from

management and from employees’. This will allow the researcher to ascertain if there is an

alignment in the organisations culture.

Motivational factors and how the current culture at SLB has affected or influenced them will also

be looked at. Findings will be presented in the order shown in figure 10.

Figure 10: Flow of information presented in findings section

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4.1 Demographics of Population

4.1.1 Survey participants

The response rate to the surveys sent out was 43 percent (Clark, 2009). Of the 105 surveys, 45 were

correctly filled in, and of the 45 surveys seven were filled by managers. In order for the survey to

be representative, three key areas were taken into account; the base location, gender and position of

the respondent within Wireline division.

Location:

Table 5 provides a breakdown of the country locations used in the surveys and the number of

respondents from each. 25 out of the possible 80 countries SLB operates in were represented.

Angola and Congo have the largest representation for no reason other than the researcher’s past

interaction with these locations which made employees more willing to get involved in the project.

Table 5: Base locations of employees in survey

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Gender:

Table 6 and figure 11 provide a breakdown of the gender participation in the survey. Out of the 45

respondents 18 were female, 22 male with the remaining 5 choosing to be anonymous, providing

neither their names nor gender. As noted in the research methodology (RM) chapter, the researcher

attempted to get the exact male to female ratio of engineers but was not able to due to

confidentiality issues.

Figure 11: Gender distribution as a percentage Table 6: Gender distribution as a number

Management vs. Employees

Table 7 shows the number of managers vs. employees. Getting managers to fill in the survey

proved harder then initial anticipated. Out of the total 45 respondents only seven were at managerial

level with the remaining 33 employees.

Table 7: Breakdown of managers and employees

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4.1.2 Interview participants

The interview sample had to be representative of the survey sample to allow comparisons to be

made between the two different populations. As mentioned in the RM chapter, selection criteria

were location, gender, position in the organisation and individual culture preference.

Out of the 45 participant that completed the survey, 24 said they were willing to be interviewed.

Due to selection criteria and time constraints only 10 were interviewed. Table 8 shows a summary

of the participants’ location, gender and position. Out of the 10 interviewees, 6 were male and 4

female, 2 were managers and 8 employees and in total all came from 8 different locations.

Individual culture perception was also taken into account with power, task and role cultures

represented by participants. The surveys revealed a weak Person culture element at SLB so it was

not considered for the interview.

Table 8: Breakdown of participant used in the interviews

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4.2 Organisational Culture Results

General perception:

A clear pattern emerged relating to the type of organisational culture perceived by both

management and employees. Likert scales were used where, “Not at all”, “To some extent”, “To a

large extent” and “All the time” expressed degrees of agreement to culture related questions5. Table

9 reflects a summary of results from the questionnaire showing a strong task culture, followed by

elements of role and power but a very weak person culture.

Table 9: Summary of all culture responses

Figure 12 and 13 reflects the same data as table 9 but from opposite ends of the Likert scale.

Patterns were found to be clearer at the extreme ends of the Likert scale with both highlighting the

task culture dominance and person culture weakness.

5 Explained in greater detail in the RM section

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Figure 12: Culture most present at SLB Figure 13: Culture least present at SLB

The culture perception shown in the survey held true with most interviews. When Isoken was asked

how she would describe the organisational culture, her reply was,

“There is a workaholic culture at my organization. Everyone is in early and stays way past

office hours plus works on weekends….it is just the way we work. It is normal to schedule

meetings outside normal working hours and we take pride in calling ourselves a 24-hour

company. New comers always find it tough but they have to adapt to this culture because

that is just the way we work.”

When asked the same question, Jarvis’s response was,

“SLB is well known among its employees by MBO, Management by Objectives, which

means everything, is about objectives. In the beginning of the year, employees are given

their objectives based on their function in the company, which will be evaluated at the end

of the year. The good thing is that the employees are aware of what they need to do, but

eventually it is all more about the results rather than the process itself.”

Both responses describe SLB as having a culture that is very objectives driven, which is a key

feature of a task culture as described in the literature review. Table 10 gives a detailed breakdown

on how questions relating to each culture scored, showing the order of organisation culture

dominance at SLB.

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Table 10: Summary of questionnaire results

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According to Brown (1995), an organisations culture is affected by the country and the

environment in which it is located. One might then ask the question, with SLB operating in 80

different countries how is it possible to achieve a common organisational culture? Doune Libar, an

engineer based in Congo explained.

“SLB operates on a rotation system where every two years an employee will be moved to a different

location. A consequence of this constant movement is a common culture that develops across

borders. Employees are trained in a central location, coming from all over the world, and live

together for periods of up to three months. This exposure to fellow employees you otherwise would

never have met, strengthens internal networks and makes solutions achieved in Siberia accessible

to someone based in Gabon.

A personal example of this was when I was on a high profile job in the Niger Delta. My location at

the time was Congo but due to the nature and size of the job the client requested for me in

particular. The tool combination was the first of its kind to be run in Africa. Preparation alone took

me three months and the actual job two weeks. Two weeks on one job in our line of work is like a

life time. To find out about best practices and how this tool combination could be run I had to speak

to SLB employees in four different countries. The job was to be monitored real time by an “expert”

in Aberdeen as well as the top management in Luanda. To say there was lots of pressure around

this job is an understatement.

Week one and all went smoothly. Everyone was over the moon and started to relax. Day nine and

the unimaginable happened. I was chatting on MSN to a colleague based in Oklahoma when

suddenly I lost all connection to the tools down hole. I will never forget the debilitating feeling I got

when I first realised what had happened. I was like a rabbit trapped in a car’s headlights, I needed

30 seconds just to realise what was going on. I don’t recall ending the conversation with my

friend...hahahah, but guess I must have. Both Aberdeen and Luanda sprung into action and started

making suggestions on how to fix the problem. For a day and half no one could figure out exactly

what the problem was and we had all given up. A specialist was being flown in from base to help,

so I was just waiting. I started chatting again to my friend on MSN and was explaining the problem

to him. He was just as baffled as me so explained the problem to some of the guys he worked with.

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One of them had experienced something similar a few years earlier and passed a message on to me

exactly how he had solved it, so I gave it a bash and guess what, it worked. All the real time

monitoring and world class assistance meant nothing on that job, what made the difference was a

friend I had made a few years earlier who happened to discuss my problem in passing with his

colleagues during their lunch break, the irony of it!”

Management vs. employee perception

The next area to be investigated was the perception managers and employees had of the

organisational culture separately, and whether they were aligned. The results more or less mirrored

that of the organisation as a single unit shown in figure 14 and 15 with task culture coming through

as the dominant culture. When employees were asked if they considered themselves specialists or

generalists, Isoken replied’

“I would describe myself as a jack of all trades in a specialist field. As a Wireline engineer,

our training is very focused and specialised; however you have to be versatile and be able

to run a wide range of Wireline services. I am at the stage where I can run a lot of different

services, but not really an expert in a particular one.”

This is in line with the features of a task culture employee.

Finding a pattern in management’s perception of role, power and person cultures proved harder as

no obvious one emerged. As can be seen in figure 14 task culture stood out as being dominant

however no strong subcultures appeared. One however needs to bear in mind that management’s

participation in the surveys was limited, with only seven completing the questionnaire.

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Figure 14: Managements perception of culture Figure 15: Employees perception of culture

This uncertainty in management’s perception of culture was reinforced by Ehab, a manager based

in Egypt. He saw SLB as having two very distinct cultures, one old school and one new. According

to Ehab SLB has,

“Two cultures trying to survive together, the one of the old school field guys who are very

practical, operational, a bit rough and who promote a culture of `bullying` the new comers

and making them suffer so they`ll get better, this group doesn`t really appreciate changes

and doesn`t seem to think much of being politically correct

The second one, is `the politically correct`, where we pretend that we`re a `civilized`

company, one that cares about ethnic and gender diversity, about employees life style. They

come up with nice ideas and keep on pushing them down to make people believe it can

actually be done…unfortunately they sometimes forget the core of our business and sound a

bit ridiculous.”

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4.3 Culture Impact on Motivation

With the current culture mix at SLB, the researcher sought to examine how motivated the

employees were, what factors impacted on their motivation and how effective they felt SLB was at

addressing these factors.

Are employees motivated?

The two initial questions asked in the surveys were, “how motivated are you in your current

position” and “does the environment within which you work motivate you positively”. The results

to these questions are shown in figures 16 and 17. Of the 38 respondents6, 36 percent were not

motivated at all while only 4 percent said they were motivated all the time, 29 percent said they

were not motivated positively by their work environment while only 9 percent said they were.

Figure 16: Are employees motivated Figure 17: How does work environment affect motivation

6 Only employees were surveyed for this section

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The same two questions were asked in the interviews, revealing very little motivation from the

actual job and more from colleagues and certain aspects surrounding it. These aspects included

opportunity to travel, meeting new people and making more money than they otherwise would have

with normal jobs. According to Eva,

“My current assignment motivates me in a way that the mixed cultured environment brings

some fun to the work spirit. Moving from one place to another also motivates me. It is like

travelling for free. Work hard play harder is the reality and on a practical level, my current

position pays more than if I were working for a normal company back home.”

Jarvis and Leopoldo were frank in saying the only reason they stayed at SLB was because of the

money. Some of these motivation factors however were not seen as being sustainable by employees

looking to settle. According to Sally,

“All the moving is exciting. We get to see countries we never would have and meet all kinds

of nationalities. At this stage of my life I love it but once I want to have kids and settle down

I am sure that will change. I am still young, so let’s wait and see.”

Motivational factors and effectiveness of management ranked

Nine factors, believed to be critical to the motivation of employees, were ranked in the survey

(Horwitz et al, 2003). Employees were also asked to rate how effective they felt management was

at addressing these motivational factors. The results from the survey are shown in table 11 in

descending order, with ‘regular management contact’ ranking first as a motivational factor and

‘career development and learning opportunity’ first for management effectiveness.

Table 11: Ranking of motivational factors and managements effectiveness toward them.

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When Isoken was asked how regular contact with top management would affect her motivation and

how good SLB was at providing it her response was,

“Yes it would do well for top management to take time to talk to individuals about what they

like and what can be improved upon, not only when there is a problem. This is something

that my organization can change. If top management shows up it’s because there is a

problem. Their presence at this time cannot be a motivator since people are already

stressed and cannot speak freely. Top managements’ direct communication with employees

(not forwarded emails from them to line managers and passed down) would definitely be

appreciated.”

Sophie however had a different point of view, stating that top management contact was not a factor

in her motivation as she preferred more real and meaningful interactions. According to Sophie,

“It (top management contact) does not affect me at all, top management is just there to say

everything is ok and to take care of shareholders. They are not going to be frank on

concrete problem; they just have their global vision. I rather prefer contact with middle

management, who are powerful enough to make this change but not powerful enough to be

completely disconnected from local problems.”

Figures 18 through to 21 provide a breakdown of responses on how employees felt management

dealt with the two highest and lowest rated motivational factors. Figures 18 and 19 show the two

top ranked motivational factors receive poor ratings while figures 20 and 21 show the two lowest

ranked received positive rating.

Figure 18 : Perception of top management contact Figure 19: Perception of top management support

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Figure 20: Perception of career development Figure 21: Perception challenging meaningful work

A breakdown of management’s efforts towards all nine motivation factors is given in Appendix B.

A summary of the results have however been given below in table 12.

Table 12: Rating of management on addressing motivational factors

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5. Discussion

Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.

Albert Einstein

The discussion section will follow a similar structure to the findings section whereby the

organizational culture that has developed at SLB will be looked at, followed by management and

employee alignment and how this has impacted on motivational levels.

5.1 Organisational culture at SLB

Organisational culture and subcultures:

Barrett (2008) believed that an organisations culture is a product of leadership past and leadership

present. Schein on the other hand felt shaping an organisations culture is a process whereby, “a

pattern of shared assumptions that the group learnt as it solves its problems... is taught to new

members” (1992: p. 12).

Both views hold true for SLB, with elements of each coming together to shape the organisational

culture. Isoken and Sally, both field engineers, gave their opinion with Isoken stating that

employees are, “made to believe early on in their careers that the Schlumberger way is the only way

to work in order to retain a competitive edge, and we tend to pass this down to others coming after

us.” Sally felt,

“The organisation takes many steps to develop its specific culture. It employs many

different people from many different backgrounds and throws them into stressful situations

with specific problems, not necessarily related to anything they have had to face before.

Certainly the culture develops, in every country that the organisation operates, thus

achieving the company’s ultimate cultural goal.”

One can see from these comments a combination of employee’s moulding new entrants and

management taking specific measures has resulted in the ultimate culture. To arrive at the overall

culture both are necessary and play an equal role, management dictates and employees react and

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depending how far apart these two views are will determine were the ultimate organisational culture

will fall. To compensate for these alternate views subcultures develop which according to Brown

(1995) is normal as organisations with a single culture are rare. The findings revealed SLB has a

dominant task culture with role and power subcultures.

Task culture

Figure 22: Task culture

According to Handy (1979), due to control issues a task culture is difficult to maintain on a large

scale and eventually over time will evolve into either a role or power culture. SLB was founded 107

years ago and currently operates in 80 different countries with more than 87 000 employees; this

does not fit the classic Handy profile of a task culture environment, yet SLB has managed to

maintain it. Due to the nature of the environment SLB operates in, the researcher believes,

maintaining this dominant task culture has been the key to SLB’s survival and is a result of

management making a conscious effort to cultivate it.

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Role culture

Figure 23: Role culture

As mentioned, role and power culture are natural subcultures to task. With the size SLB was grown

to, the elements of role culture are critical to maintain day to day functionality. Role culture

provides procedures and routine that standardizes basic functions that would otherwise be difficult

with SLB’s current size. To overcome many of the difficulties of the job much was been put into

procedures with best practices and safe operating procedures (SOP). Must employees understood

the need for these and felt they were necessary. According to Ryan, a field engineer,

“there are standard rules and procedures for almost every part of my job. The rules are

here to make my job easier and more routine which is good on one hand as you always have

a reference document to refer to. On the other hand it stifles your thought process and

creativity and does not allow the mind great challenges. On the whole though, I would say

the rules and processes are necessary tools to do my job.”

Power culture

Figure 24: Power culture

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Interviews revealed employees perceived power in the organisation to be centralized with top

management making all key decision however due to the size of the organisation, by the time these

decision reach the field they are altered to fit local conditions. According to Ehab, a manager based

in Egypt,

“I think this is a classic example of a company which higher up, uses the centralised

strategy, keeping everything with a standard, however, realistically and keeping in mind it’s

diversity in culture and the various places in which it operates these rules cannot fit

everywhere and so lower down the hierarchy, the decisions are made on a more

decentralised basis.”

Subcultures can present themselves in a number of different ways. According to Martin and Siehl

(1983) as discussed in the literature review, a subculture can be enhancing, orthogonal or counter.

In brief, an enhancing subculture agrees radically with the dominant culture, the orthogonal

subculture believes in both the dominant as well its own and a counter subculture goes against the

dominant culture.

In SLB’s case two subcultures appear to have taken different positions. The role culture seems to be

orthogonal to the dominant task culture as most employees seemed to appreciate and understood the

need for rules and procedures in certain aspects of their jobs. The power culture though seemed to

be counter subculture as the majority of employees did not appreciate management making

decisions they felt they had last practical knowledge about. Jarvis explains how he feels decisions

and changes are made,

“Management is always making decisions about policies that affect our everyday lives and

never consult us. You might come into the office one day and are all of a sudden expected to

follow a totally new set of standards. Safety standards for example, they are updated at least

once every two months. Some of the changes are really impractical so no one really follows

them anymore. It sometimes seems as though management makes changes just for the sake

of it.”

How these different cultures mix and the strength of the subcultures is dependent, according to

Handy (1979), on the environment in which the organisation functions. Handy believed four basic

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types of environments exist: Crisis, policy, innovation and steady state. Figure 25 shows how the

different company environments influence the culture mix.

Figure 25: Summary of culture results

The primary function of a field engineer in SLB is to deliver a high technology service to a

demanding client. To stay ahead of the competition it is essential SLB is innovative, making it clear

where they lie on figure 25. In the model, innovative companies normally have a dominant task

culture with power and role subcultures, this is in line with the findings from the study.

Culture Alignment:

Having a dominant task culture perception by both management and employees doesn’t necessarily

mean there is alignment in their overall perception of the organisations culture. A divergence in

management and employees perception occurs as far as the importance or existence of subcultures.

This can be seen in tables 13 and 14 where employees place a greater emphasis than management

on the other three culture types. Management’s limited subculture perception could be attributed to:

Management consciously trying to develop a task culture and is therefore not aware of the

‘side effect’ subcultures that are forming. These subcultures would not affect them as

previously discussed they are formed as a reaction by employees to decisions management

makes.

Management assuming conditions are the same as when they where field engineers and not

realising that organisational culture is a fluid concept that changes to suit conditions. Brown

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(1995) highlighted the three major areas that affect an organisations culture as; national

culture, leadership and business environment and stated if any of the three changes the

organisational culture will be affected.

Management being disconnected from the employees and simply unsure of the culture

presently in the organisation. Table 13 shows managements reluctance to respond with

definite answers as clusters develop around the “To some extent” and “To a large extent”

response.

Table 13: Management’s perception of culture Table 14: Employees’ perception of culture

In summary, management seems to be trying to develop a specific culture but due to issues around

how they communicate or implement it a gap seems to have developed between them and

employees. This gap has resulted in subcultures forming. For alignment to exist management now

needs to understand not only the mainstream organisational culture they are trying to push, but also

these offshoot subcultures.

5.2 Motivation Levels at SLB

The literature review shows that there is no one best fit culture for an organisation, but

combinations that need to be appropriate for the employees and the environment in which the

company functions. The findings suggest that motivational levels at SLB are low, however the

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researcher does not believe this is a direct result of the culture but rather a result of misalignment

between management and employees. Misalignment occurred in two areas:

Organisational culture perceptions, as already discussed and

Motivational factors and how they were ranked.

The findings section described how the motivational factors were ranked and below table 15

provides a summary that shows the misalignment between management and employees on

motivational factor perceptions.

Maslow (1954) argued that needs are only motivators when not met. Field engineers working for

SLB have most there basic needs fulfilled. All interviewees made mention of money being a key

determinant in them staying, because it was so good, but did not necessarily say it was what

motivated them. Employees at this level generally need more than just material goods to motivate

them and begin to look at intrinsic factors. Issues like how do they get on with the management and

how does the job affect their family life become important. According to the findings, management

at SLB hasn’t reacted to this yet and is still very focused on extrinsic needs. Table 15 shows

‘Performance incentives, bonuses and share options’ is only ranked sixth out of the nine

motivational factors and third as far as management’s effectiveness. Employees recognize they are

paid well but don’t consider this motivation.

Table 15: Motivational factors ranked and management’s effectiveness at dealing with them

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Two trends seem to have emerged from the motivational factor ratings:

1. Employees want greater support and interaction with management.

2. Being a field engineer doesn’t seem to be seen as a long term career by both employees and

management.

Management support and contact:

Interviews revealed most employees could accept the harsh conditions they were expected to work

under as part of their job description however what de-motivated them was how management took

this for granted and didn’t seem to appreciate their efforts. According to Doune,

“It doesn’t matter what you may have done in the past, in managements eyes you are only

as good as your last job. If we have a failure on a job, management doesn’t support us with

the client but is prepared to give us up as peace offerings if need be. After seven years I still

feel I can lose my job tomorrow and have seen it happen to guys that have been in the

company longer than I have. If management can’t show loyalty why should we?”

Contact with top management proved important to most employees surveyed. Jarvis explained the

type of contact he feels there currently is with top management

“The contact is mostly just pushing regulations down on us, which is not so beneficial,

especially with no explanation. I think more background needs to be given in order for us

to accept, understand and follow rules correctly, otherwise they are useless and they are

followed half heartedly.”

Likert (1961), as discussed in the literature review, conducted a study showing the importance of a

manager’s relationship with the employees and how it affects overall morale of the organisation. In

all the cases Likert tested, employees with a good relationship with management proved to have a

better overall attitude towards their job. Generally manager employee relations seem to be lacking

at SLB and is impacting on motivational levels.

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December 2009

Lifespan of a field engineers career:

‘Career development’, ’meaningful work’ and ‘fun work environment’ rank as the three l

motivational factors among SLB employees. If an employee is looking to be with an organisation

over a long period of time, one would imagine these factors would be top of the list. The fact that

they are not might be an indication that a large percen

long term with SLB but rather get out as much as they can and move onto something that will

provide those three factors. This in turn has created a vicious cycle were management accepts that

the lifespan of a field engineer is short lived and

engineers while they can. According to Isoken,

compared to some of the other service companies, longer working hours and gener

work conditions. A field engineer’s job has been turned into a commodity where they can

simply be replaced. According to Allain, if the company

engineer they will have made their

employee According to Leopoldo SLB is the only service company that doesn’t have rotation in all

its locations. Most employees are relocated to where they are based spending months on end

without seeing their families. This

perpetuates the cycle as shown in figure 26

Figure 26: Motivation cycle

Culture and its effects on Motivation at SLB

field engineers career:

‘Career development’, ’meaningful work’ and ‘fun work environment’ rank as the three l


one would imagine these factors would be top of the list. The fact that

they are not might be an indication that a large percentage of employees are not intending to stay



ld engineer is short lived and tries to do the same, get the most out of the

engineers while they can. According to Isoken, this has meant less vacation for SLB field engineers

compared to some of the other service companies, longer working hours and gener

work conditions. A field engineer’s job has been turned into a commodity where they can

ed. According to Allain, if the company can get three years service out of an

their money back from training and other investments

According to Leopoldo SLB is the only service company that doesn’t have rotation in all


This further robs employees of intrinsic motivation and further

figure 26.

Page 63

‘Career development’, ’meaningful work’ and ‘fun work environment’ rank as the three lowest


one would imagine these factors would be top of the list. The fact that

tage of employees are not intending to stay



get the most out of the

this has meant less vacation for SLB field engineers

compared to some of the other service companies, longer working hours and generally tougher

work conditions. A field engineer’s job has been turned into a commodity where they can now

can get three years service out of an

ng and other investments in the

According to Leopoldo SLB is the only service company that doesn’t have rotation in all


further robs employees of intrinsic motivation and further

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According to an anonymous client of SLB, “what separates SLB and gives it the competitive

advantage it has is not its people but the technology they are able to come up with. Their

competitors have more experienced engineers who seem to care more, so if SLB loses their

technological advantage they will be in trouble.”

In order to address the issue of low employee retention rates SLB will have to break this cycle.

Management has a choice of either accepting the ways things are as part of the business or

addressing employee needs and focusing on motivational factors they rank high.

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6. Conclusion and Recommendations

The objective of the report was to understand why SLB experiences low employee retention rates

and how it can be changed. This was achieved by investigating three areas:

1. The current organisational culture in the Wireline division

2. Whether management and employee perceptions of the organisational culture was aligned

3. And if there was a relationship between the organisational culture and motivational levels of

employees.

In brief the answers to these three areas were:

1. The Wireline division currently has a dominant task culture with power and role

subcultures.

2. Management and employees perceptions of the dominant culture is aligned however the

overall culture perception was not. Management did not seem to have an understanding of

the subcultures which had developed.

3. Motivational levels did not seem to have a direct link to organisational culture but rather to

misalignments between management and employees perceptions of subcultures and the

importance of motivational factors.

In order to address the current retention rate problems management will have to realign with the

employees and start building trust and loyalty. Likert (1961) proved the importance of management

employee relations in his case study. A cycle has developed at SLB where engineers don’t stay in

the field for long, so SLB looks to make field engineers easily replaceable, making engineers feel

less secure in their jobs, which in turn further lowers motivation and retention rates. This cycle will

eventually have an impact on Veldsman’s (2002) five building blocks (assumptions, values, norms,

beliefs and attitude) and negatively impact on the organisations culture.

In conclusion, management will have to look to break the cycle which has developed at SLB and

include both subcultures and motivational factors in future plans in order to move forward. The

report has attempted to highlight points of highest leverage toward addressing the situation of low

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retention rates at SLB. By focusing on motivational factors employees’ value most, management

will get greatest benefits for the least effort.

Future work that would help SLB management better understand their employees across the entire

organisation and not just the Wireline division would be to firstly conduct similar research in other

divisions. The report has highlighted how segmented the organisation is, with different divisions

operating independently of each other and fulfilling different job functions. Despite this, conditions

employees are exposed to are similar, making it difficult to say whether results achieved by

studying the Wireline division can be transferable to other segments. Secondly evaluate employees

other than just field engineers who were singled out due to time and financial constraints.

Other future work that could be helpful to the sector would be to investigate other service

companies and see if results obtained are company specific or industry general. SLB operates in a

highly competitive space with other service companies expected to deliver under similar conditions.

If, according to Brown (1995); county culture, management style and business environment are

what inform an organisations culture, the other service companies should have similar cultures. The

only factor that could be different would be management style. By singling out management style it

would determine the most appropriate.

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Appendix A: Interview Questions

Interview Questions:

Definition of culture: “a pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved

its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be

consider valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think,

and feel in relation to those problems”

How would you describe the culture at your organisation?(Meaning SLB as a whole)

Do you think specific steps are taken to develop the culture?

What do think are the main influencing factors behind the type of culture your organisation

has developed?

Task Questions

Describe the environment your organisation operates in. Would you consider it a

competitive one?

Does technology change rapidly in your organisation? Is this important and if so why?

Personally, how do you feel about change?

How would you describe yourself, a jack of all trades or a specialist?

Role Questions

Is your job creative or more prescriptive? Why do you feel the way you do?

Do rules and procedures affect your ability to do your job? In which way?

Is security and predictability important to you in your job? If so why or why not?

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Power Questions

How are decisions made in your organisation? Centralised vs. decentralised

“The end justifies the means”. Is management concerned with how you do your job or

simply that you get the result. Could you elaborate with an example?

Motivation Questions

How does your current position motivate you?

If not why does it not motivate you?

How does the company environment affect your motivation?

How does regular contact with top management affect your motivation? How good is your

organisation at providing this contact? How could it be improved?

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Appendix B: Motivational factor effectiveness

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Appendix C: Survey Questionnaire and results

Page 1 of 1

Organisational cultures effects on motivation

The objective of this research is to look at the type of organisational culture that has developed in your organisation and determine if there is a link between it and the motivation levels. All information gathered is confidential and will only be used for academic purposes.

1. Could you please state your name and country you are based in.

2. All statatements must be answered*

Not at all To some extent To a large extent All the time

How involved are you in decision making that affects your job?

My job description is well defined.

Someone else can easily be brought in to do my job.

A sense of trust exists among employees and management within my organisation.


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The company provides more than just facilities like a building or computer for me to do my job.

Day to day activities are dictated by rules and procedures.

My job requires a lot of creativity.

I consider my company a bureaucratic place with lots of red tape to work through.

The team I work with often changes.

Team work and collaboration between departments is encouraged.

3. All statatements must be answered*


Outcomes are valued above all other things in my organisation.

The way I do my job is very different from how other people with similar functions in my department do it.

Team work is important in my job.

In my division, decisions come from a central source of power.

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There is a clear career path for me.

Support structures are provided that go beyond just my immediate job.

There are overlaps between my function and others in the organisation

Adaptability is a personal skill I need to have in order to function in my department.

What I do is very different from what other people in my department do.

I am motivated in my current position.

The environment within which I work affects my motivation positively.

4. Rank in order of importance the following factors felt to influence motivation. 1 being the most important and nine the least* Rank the items below, using numeric values starting with 1.

Challenges, meaningful fulfilling work

Highly competitive work

Performance incentives/bonuses/share options

Career development and learning opportunities

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Top management support

Access to leading edge technology

Regular contact with top management

Oppurtunities for promotion

Fun work environment and team work

5. To what extent does your organisation provide for the motivation variables*



Highly competetive work


Career development and learning oppurtunities






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6. Would you be willing to be interview in order to give further detail on points highlighted in this questionnaire?

Yes No

7. If yes to above could you please provide your email address

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Survey Results -- Overview


Respondents: 45 displayed, 45 total Status: Open

Launched Date: 12/07/2009 Closed Date: N/A

Display: Display all pages and questions

0 filters

Disabled

1. Could you please state your name and country you are based in.

View responses to this question

Total Respondents 42

(skipped this question) 3

2. All statatements must be answered

Not at all To some extent

To a large extent All the time Response

Total

How involved are you in decision making that affects your job? 4% (2) 44% (20) 36% (16) 16% (7) 45

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My job description is well defined. 18% (8) 33% (15) 42% (19) 7% (3) 45

Someone else can easily be brought in to do my job. 18% (8) 62% (28) 13% (6) 7% (3) 45

A sense of trust exists among employees and management within my organisation.

27% (12) 51% (23) 22% (10) 0% (0) 45

The company provides more than just facilities like a building or computer for me to do my job.

2% (1) 24% (11) 53% (24) 20% (9) 45

Day to day activities are dictated by rules and procedures. 4% (2) 20% (9) 44% (20) 31% (14) 45

My job requires a lot of creativity. 24% (11) 58% (26) 16% (7) 2% (1) 45

I consider my company a bureaucratic place with lots of red tape to work through.

20% (9) 36% (16) 24% (11) 20% (9) 45

The team I work with often changes. 7% (3) 13% (6) 49% (22) 31% (14) 45

Team work and collaboration between departments is encouraged. 13% (6) 40% (18) 42% (19) 4% (2) 45


3. All statatements must be answered



Total

Outcomes are valued above all other things in my organisation. 0% (0) 27% (12) 44% (20) 29% (13) 45

The way I do my job is very different from how other people with similar functions in my department do it.

20% (9) 47% (21) 31% (14) 2% (1) 45

Team work is important in my job. 2% (1) 4% (2) 40% (18) 53% (24) 45

In my division, decisions come from a central source of power. 7% (3) 36% (16) 47% (21) 11% (5) 45

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There is a clear career path for me. 18% (8) 42% (19) 27% (12) 13% (6) 45

Support structures are provided that go beyond just my immediate job. 7% (3) 42% (19) 44% (20) 7% (3) 45

There are overlaps between my function and others in the organisation 11% (5) 47% (21) 38% (17) 4% (2) 45

Adaptability is a personal skill I need to have in order to function in my department.

0% (0) 9% (4) 29% (13) 62% (28) 45

What I do is very different from what other people in my department do. 40% (18) 51% (23) 9% (4) 0% (0) 45

I am motivated in my current position. 36% (16) 40% (18) 20% (9) 4% (2) 45

The environment within which I work affects my motivation positively. 29% (13) 40% (18) 22% (10) 9% (4) 45


4. Rank in order of importance the following factors felt to influence motivation. 1 being the most important and nine the least

Ranking Average


3.1

Highly competitive work

6.1


4.4

Career development and learning opportunities

3.4


6.1


5.8


7.0


5.0


4.1

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5. To what extent does your organisation provide for the motivation variables



Total

Challenges, meaningful fulfilling work 9% (4) 38% (17) 47% (21) 7% (3) 45

Highly competetive work 4% (2) 44% (20) 44% (20) 7% (3) 45

Performance incentives/bonuses/share options 7% (3) 38% (17) 47% (21) 9% (4) 45

Career development and learning oppurtunities 4% (2) 29% (13) 51% (23) 16% (7) 45

Top management support 18% (8) 62% (28) 20% (9) 0% (0) 45

Access to leading edge technology 4% (2) 24% (11) 58% (26) 13% (6) 45

Regular contact with top management 20% (9) 71% (32) 4% (2) 4% (2) 45

Oppurtunities for promotion 2% (1) 47% (21) 47% (21) 4% (2) 45

Fun work environment and team work 13% (6) 56% (25) 24% (11) 7% (3) 45


6. Would you be willing to be interview in order to give further detail on points highlighted in this questionnaire?

Response Total

Response Percent

Yes

23 51%

No

22 49%


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7. If yes to above could you please provide your email address

View responses to this question


(skipped this question) 21

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