Date of Award

Fall 2008

Project Type

Thesis

Program or Major

Recreation Management and Policy

Degree Name

Master of Science

First Advisor

Robert J Barcelona

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess organizational culture in campus recreation departments and its links with organizational effectiveness. The competing values theory and subsequent framework was used to determine if there were significant differences in the organizational cultures of campus recreation departments based upon specified dependent variables including their administrative unit (academics, athletics, business operations or student affairs), their institutional size (small, medium, medium-big, or large), and their institutional control (public or private). A quantitative survey instrument based upon the competing values framework was used to sample campus recreation directors and professional staff members in institutions of higher education. Cluster mapping, descriptive statistics and discriminant analysis were used as the primary methods of statistical analysis. The results indicated there were no significant patterns or classifications in the organizational culture maps based on the dependent variables, and the study was unable to provide any pattern of significant links between the organizational culture of campus recreation departments and their relative organizational effectiveness. There was one significant difference found in the discriminant analysis in public universities administered under athletics versus student affairs and a follow up study examining this relationship is advised. An exploratory analysis was conducted on the perceptions of organizational culture between campus recreation directors and professional staff members, and a significant difference was found between these two groups in group culture and hierarchical culture. The significant finding in the discriminant analysis, the inferential analysis of the cluster maps, and the exploratory findings in the perceptions of organizational culture between campus recreation leaders and professional staff members are identified as areas for further research.

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