Introduction

Organizational culture is the set of operating principles that determine how people behave
within the context of the company. Underlying the observable behaviours of people are the
beliefs, values, and assumptions that dictate their actions. Having a positive and aligned
culture benefits the organization in many ways. One important benefit is a high level of
productivity. The destructive influence of recruiting someone who does not share the same set
of values, goals and commitment espoused by the organization will weaken a strong chain of
links and bonds. An employees performance depends on what is and what is not proper
among his or her peers, which in turn affects that individuals behaviour and motivation to
participate and contribute within the organizational framework.
Creating an environment where people enjoy and value their work is crucial for success. To
do this effectively, leaders must be sure to match the employee with his or her behavioural
preferences. Individuals should be given assignments that are consistent with their strengths
and interests, and opportunities for continued learning and growth to reinforce those strengths
and interests should be provided as well.
The bottom line for managers who want to create a culture of success is to start with creating
a positive environment. They need to bring in people whose values are in line with the
organizations culture, and continue to acknowledge success and involve the whole
organization in maintaining an environment that allows people to enjoy working hard to meet
the companys goals. Managers also need an accurate understanding of the organizations
culture in order to direct activities in a productive way and to avoid the destructive influence
of having employees who are not committed to the companys goals.
Being aware of an organizations culture at all levels is important because the culture defines
appropriate and inappropriate behaviour. In some cultures, for example, creativity is stressed.
In others, attention to detail is valued. Some cultures are more socially oriented, while others
are task-oriented, business only environments. In some companys teamwork is key. In
others, individual achievement is encouraged and valued.
Some organizational cultures can be very counterproductive for business effectiveness and
profits, as well as for the ability to attract and retain the most suitable employees.
Understanding one's own organizational culture and the impact of that culture on the
motivation and actions of others, be they customers, suppliers or employees, is essential for
effective business interactions.

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An overview of
BRAC

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What BRAC is
BRAC, an international development organization based in Bangladesh, is the largest nongovernmental development organization in the world, in terms of number of employees as of
June 2015. Established by Sir Fazle Hasan Abed in 1972 after the independence of
Bangladesh, BRAC is present in all 64 districts of Bangladesh as well as other countries in
Asia, Africa, and the Americas. BRAC employs over 100,000 people, roughly 70 percent of
whom are women, reaching more than 126 million people. The organization is 70-80% selffunded through a number of commercial enterprises that include a dairy and food project and
a chain of retail handicraft stores called Aarong. BRAC maintains offices in 14 countries
throughout the world, including BRAC USA and BRAC UK.
BRAC considers itself to have a unique philosophy towards eradicating poverty. As one
author has said, BRACs idea was simple yet radical: bring together the poorest people in
the poorest countries and teach them to read, think for themselves, pool their resources, and
start their own businesses (Barber). BRAC has mobilized to organize what it calls "the
isolated poor" or the "ultra poor". Women and girls have also been a strong focus of BRACs
anti-poverty approach.
Known formerly as the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee and then as the
Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (currently, BRAC does not represent an
acronym), BRAC was initiated in 1972 by Sir Fazl Hasan Abed at Shallah Upazillah in the
district of Sunamganj as a small-scale relief and rehabilitation project to help returning war
refugees after the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971.
Countries where BRAC operates:

Asia: Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Philippines.

Africa: Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, Liberia, Sierra Leone.

Caribbean: Haiti.

BRAC provides technical assistance to organisations in Haiti, Sudan, and Indonesia.

BRAC has affiliate organisations in the United Kingdom and United States.

BRAC Awards
Gates Award for Global Health (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation), 2004
CGAP Financial Transparency Award, 2005 & 2006

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 Independence Award (Shadhinata Puroshkar), 2007

The Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize, 2008
Devex Top 40 Development Innovator, 2011
#1 Nonprofit in International Microfinance (2012)
#1 in Top 100 Best NGOs in 2013 (2013)
World Toilet Organization "Hall of Fame" Award 2014
BRAC's priorities
Focus on women - BRAC places special emphasis on the social and financial empowerment
of women. The vast majority of its microloans go to women, while a gender justice
programme addresses discrimination and exploitation.
Grassroots Empowerment - BRACs legal rights, community empowerment and advocacy
programmes organize the poor at the grassroots level, with barefoot lawyers delivering legal
services to the doorsteps of the poor.
Health and Education - BRAC provides healthcare and education to millions. Our 97,000
community health workers offer doorstep deliveries of vital medicines and health services to
their neighbors. BRAC also runs the worlds largest private, secular education system, with
38,000 schools worldwide.
Empowering farmers - Operating in eight countries, BRACs agriculture programmes work
with the governments to achieve and sustain food security. This is ensured by producing,
distributing and marketing quality seeds at fair prices, conducting research to develop better
varieties, offering credit support to poor farmers and using environmentally sustainable
practices.
Inclusive Financial Services - BRAC attempts to alleviate poverty by providing the services
of its community empowerment programme and targeting the ultra poor programme. BRAC's
cumulative disbursement is of almost 10 billion dollars in microloans annually, augmenting
microfinance with additional services like livelihood and financial literacy training. Farmers
get access to seasonal loans, high quality seeds and technical assistance. Millions now have
the freedom to take control of their lives.
Self-Sustaining Solutions - BRACs enterprises and investments generate a financial surplus
that is reinvested in various development programmes subjected to poverty alleviation.
The BRAC Family Today

97,000 community health promoters are providing essential healthcare worldwide,

with maternal, neonatal and child health services covering 24.5 million in Bangladesh
alone.
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1.14 million children are currently enrolled in BRACs 38,000 primary and preprimary schools, and 9.51 million have graduated. BRAC's youth empowerment clubs
provide life skills training to more than 260,000 teens from disadvantaged
backgrounds.
5.54 million micro-borrowers with a cumulative loan disbursement of USD 9.73
billion.
25 million people have access to clean toilets thanks to BRACs sanitation
entrepreneurs.
More than 600,000 rural poor women being organised through 11,234 Polli Shomaj
and 1,217 Union Shomaj; BRAC's 376 popular theatre teams in Bangladesh only
have reached nearly 4.3 million people.

Vision, Mission, and values of BRAC

Vision
A world free from all forms of exploitation and discrimination where everyone has the
opportunity to realize their potential.

Mission
BRACs mission is to empower people and communities in situations of poverty, illiteracy,
disease and social injustice. Our interventions aim to achieve large scale, positive changes
through economic and social programmes that enable men and women to realize their
potential.
Values
Innovation:BRAC has been an innovator in the creation of opportunities for the poor to lift
themselves out of poverty. We value creativity in programme design and strive to display
global leadership in ground-breaking development initiatives.
Integrity: BRACs value transparency and accountability in all our professional work, with
clear policies and procedures, while displaying the utmost level of honesty in our financial
dealings. We hold these to be the most essential elements of our work ethic.

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Inclusiveness: BRACs are committed to engaging, supporting and recognising the value of
all members of society, regardless of race, religion, gender, nationality, ethnicity, age,
physical or mental ability, socioeconomic status and geography.

Effectiveness: BRACs value efficiency and excellence in all our work, constantly
challenging ourselves to perform better, to meet and exceed programme targets, and to
improve and deepen the impact of our interventions.

Different welfares That BRAC does

BRAC believes that poverty is a system and its underlying causes are manifold and
interlinked. Some of these linkages are obvious, for example, a days wage forgone because
of illness or resources lost to a natural disaster. Others play a more indirect role in
perpetuating poverty, such as lack of awareness about laws and rights can lead not only to
outright exploitation, but also encourage a lack of accountability on the part of the state to
cater to its most vulnerable citizens.
Economic development
BRACs Economic Development programme includes microcredit. It provides collateral-free
credit using a solidarity lending methodology, as well as obligatory savings schemes through
its Village Organizations. In addition to microfinance, BRAC provides enterprise training and
support to its member borrowers in poultry and livestock, fisheries, social forestry,
agriculture and sericulture. BRAC also has a number of commercial programmes that
contribute to the sustainability of BRACs development programmes since returns from the
commercial programmes are channeled back into BRACs development activities. These
programmes include Aarong, a retail handicraft chain, BRAC Dairy and Food Project, and
BRAC Salt. BRAC founded its retail outlet, Aarong (Bengali for "village fair") in 1978 to
market and distribute products made by indigenous peoples. Aarong services about 65,000
artisans, and sells gold and silver jewelry, handloom, leather crafts, etc.
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Education
BRACs Non-Formal Primary Education programme provides five-year primary education
course in four years to poor, rural, disadvantaged children and drop-outs who cannot access
formal schooling. These one-room schools are for children between eight and fourteen years
of age. Each school typically consists of 33 students and one teacher. Core subjects include
Mathematics, Social Studies and English. The schools also offer extracurricular activities. As
of June 2008, 37,500 Primary Schools and 24,750 Pre-Primary schools have been established
by BRAC enrolling nearly 3 million children, 65% of whom are girls. The schools have a
drop-out rate of less than 5%. BRAC has set up centres for adolescents called Kishori Kendra
that provide reading material and serve as a gathering place for adolescents where they are
educated about issues sensitive to the Bangladeshi society like reproductive health, early
marriage, womens legal rights etc. BRAC has also set up community libraries 185 out of 964
of which are equipped with computers.

Public health
BRAC started providing public healthcare in 1972 with an initial focus on curative care
through paramedics and a self-financing health insurance scheme. The programme went on to
offer integrated health care services, its key achievements including the reduction of child
mortality rates through campaign for oral rehydration. .BRAC currently provides a range of
services that reach an estimated 31 million rural poor and include services for mothers in
reproductive health care and infants. In Bangladesh, 78% of births occur in the home. BRAC
has implemented a program in which midwives are trained to work in the homes of women to
ensure that births are as risk-free as possible. As of December 2007, 70,000 community
health volunteers and 18,000 health workers have been trained and mobilized by BRAC to
deliver door-to-door health care services to the rural poor.

Social development
The Social Development component focuses on building human and socio-political assets of
the poor especially women through institution building, awareness raising, training and
collective social mobilization. The Human Rights and Legal Services component seeks to
empower the poor by increasing their awareness of their rights (legal, human and social) and
entitlements through participation in activities like the Popular Theatre and through Human
Rights and Legal Education (HRLE) classes arranged by BRAC for its Village Organisation
members. BRAC also offers external services such as access to lawyers or the police either
through legal aid clinics, by helping women report cases at the local police station or when
seeking medical care in the case of acid victims. At the end of June 2006, 124,748 HRLE
classes were held and 1,332 acid victim cases and 1,735 rape victim cases were reported.

Disaster relief

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BRAC conducted one of the largest NGO responses to Cyclone Sidr which hit vast areas of
the south-western coast in Bangladesh in mid-November 2007. BRAC distributed emergency
relief materials, including food and clothing, to over 900,000 survivors, provided medical
care to over 60,000 victims and secured safe supplies of drinking water. BRAC is now
focusing on long-term rehabilitation, which will include agriculture support, infrastructure
reconstruction and livelihood regeneration.

Strengths of BRAC
Thinking local, acting global Besides Bangladesh, BRAC spreads antipoverty solutions to
10 other developing countries, which are Uganda, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, South Sudan,
Liberia, Haiti, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Philippines. Unprecedented scale and
reach - Today, BRAC reaches an estimated 135 million people with over 100,000 employees
worldwide.

Theoretical Aspects

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Organizational culture
Generally, organizational culture is the pattern of shared values, beliefs, and assumptions
considered to be the appropriate way to think and act within an organization.

Culture is shared.
Culture helps members solve problems.
Culture is taught to newcomers.
Culture strongly influences behavior.

Organizational culture is a macro phenomenon which refers to the values, patterns of beliefs,
assumptions, goals, and system based on which an organization functions, and also behaviour
patterns reflecting commonality in people working together. Organizational culture is the
identity of an organization, and because of that, in some ways it becomes an identity of those
who work there as well. In an organization the employees are constantly surrounded by
culture. It forms the background (often invisible) of their work lives shaping everything in an
organization. Since organizational culture is a powerful mechanism for controlling behaviour
by influencing employees personal views and thoughts, it eventually makes a positive impact
on their performance. Organizational culture continues to pass over to new employees which
gradually become established as a part of an organization's core identity.
People in an organization influence its culture as much as culture influences them. Although
value is one of the phenomena that organizational culture embodies, it is central to all other
phenomena as those are shaped by the values that the organization upholds, i.e., the conscious
and affective desires or wants of people that guide their behaviour.
Organizational values are abstract ideas that guide organizational thinking and actions. It
represents the foundation on which the organization is formed. Defining an organizations
unique values is the first and most critical step in its formation and development. Values are
the embodiment of what an organization stands for and should be the basis for the behaviour

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of its members. Organizational values shape the general standards for employees as to how to
behave in the organization.
For any organization to be successful, the values on which the organization is built must be
appropriate for time, place, and environment in which it operates. Since values offer the basis
for judgments about what is important for the organization to ensure its sustainable existence
in the long run; it is crucial to retain the right values within the organization as well as among
the employees at every stage of routine work.

Characteristics of Organizational Culture

1. Innovation and risk taking: The degree to which employees are encouraged to be
innovative and take risks.
2. Attention to detail: The degree to which employees are expected to

exhibit

precision, analysis, and attention to detail.

3. Outcome orientation: The degree to which management focuses on results or
outcomes rather than on the techniques and processes used to achieve them.
4. People orientation: The degree to which management decisions take into
consideration the effect of outcomes on people within the organization.
5. Team orientation: The degree to which work activities are organized around teams
rather than individuals.
6. Aggressiveness: The degree to which people are aggressive and competitive rather
than easygoing.
7. Stability: The degree to which organizational activities emphasize maintaining the
status quo in contrast to growth.
Each of these characteristics exists on a continuum from low to high. Appraising the
organization on them, then, gives a composite picture of its culture and a basis for the shared
understanding members have about the organization, how things are done in it, and the way
they are supposed to behave.

How Employees Learn Culture

Stories: Anchor the present into the past and provide explanations and legitimacy for
current practices.
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Rituals: Repetitive sequences of activities that express and reinforce the key values of

the organization.
Material Symbols: Acceptable attire, office size, opulence of the office furnishings,

and executive perks that convey to employees who is important in the organization.
Language: Jargon and special ways of expressing ones self to indicate membership
in the organization.

How Organizational Cultures Form

Creating an Ethical Organizational Culture

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The organizational culture most likely to shape high ethical standards among its members is
high in risk tolerance, low to moderate in aggressiveness, and focused on means as well as
outcomes. What can managers do to create a more ethical culture? They can adhere to the
following principles:
1. Be a visible role model: Employees will look to the actions of top management as a
benchmark for appropriate behaviour. Send a positive message.
2. Communicate ethical expectations: Minimize ethical ambiguities by sharing an
organizational code of ethics that states the organizations primary values and ethical
rules employees must follow.
3. Provide ethical training: Set up seminars, workshops, and training programs to
reinforce the organizations standards of conduct, clarify what practices are
permissible, and address potential ethical dilemmas.
4. Visibly reward ethical acts and punish unethical ones: Appraise managers on how
their decisions measure up against the organizations code of ethics. Review the
means as well as the ends. Visibly reward those who act ethically and conspicuously
punish those who dont.
5. Provide protective mechanisms: Provide formal mechanisms so employees can
discuss ethical dilemmas and report unethical behaviour without fear of reprimand.
These might include ethical counsellors, ombudsmen, or ethical officers.

Cultures Functions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Defines the boundary between one organization and others.

Conveys a sense of identity for its members.
Facilitates the generation of commitment to something larger than self-interest.
Enhances the stability of the social system.
Serves as a sense-making and control mechanism for fitting employees in the
organization.

Culture as a Liability
Culture can enhance organizational commitment and increase the consistency of employee
behaviour, clearly benefits to an organization. Culture is valuable to employees too, because
it spells out how things are done and whats important. But we shouldnt ignore the
potentially dysfunctional aspects of culture, especially a strong one, on an organizations
effectiveness.

Institutionalization
When an organization undergoes institutionalization and
becomes institutionalized that is, it is valued for itself and not for the goods or
services it producesit takes on a life of its own, apart from its founders or members.
It doesnt go out of business even if its original goals are no longer relevant.
Acceptable modes of behaviour become largely self-evident to members, and
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although this isnt entirely negative, it does mean behaviors and habits that should be
questioned and analyzed become taken for granted, which can stifle innovation and
make maintaining the organizations culture an end in itself.
Barriers to Change Culture is a liability when the shared values dont agree with
those that further the organizations effectiveness. This is most likely when an
organizations environment is undergoing rapid change, and its entrenched culture
may no longer be appropriate. Consistency of behaviour, an asset in a stable
environment, may then burden the organization and make it difficult to respond to
changes.
Barriers to Diversity Hiring new employees who differ from the majority in race,
age, gender, disability, or other characteristics creates a paradox: management wants
to demonstrate support for the differences these employees bring to the workplace,
but newcomers who wish to fit in must accept the organizations core cultural values.
Because diverse behaviors and unique strengths are likely to diminish as people
attempt to assimilate, strong cultures can become liabilities when they effectively
eliminate these advantages.
Barriers to Acquisitions and Mergers
Historically, when management looked at
acquisition or merger decisions, the key factors were financial advantage and product
synergy. In recent years, cultural compatibility has become the primary concern. All
things being equal, whether the acquisition actually works seems to have more to do
with how well the two organizations cultures match up.

Organizational Culture
of
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BRAC

Organizational culture of BRAC at a glance

BRAC, the largest non-governmental development organization in the world working in
Bangladesh and abroad. The organization endeavours to empower people in situations of
poverty, illiteracy, disease, and social injustice. In performing these activities, the
organization also aims to achieve large scale positive changes through economic and social
programmes that enable women and men to realize their potentials. BRAC in fact uphold
some values - innovation, integrity, inclusiveness, and effectiveness to achieve its missions.
BRAC intends to work for its missions through different development programmes, to name
some, microfinance, improvement of health, providing education to disadvantaged children,
sensitizing villagers for gender equality, etc. In general the programmes are directed towards
socioeconomic development of its clients who are disadvantaged in the community.
Organization culture as shaped by values plays an important role in improving the
performance of an organization. Working in terms of organizational missions, thus, achieve
organizational objectives brings up the obvious questions, can values be engineered to
develop desired organizational culture? For this reason, Brac find out some of the basic issues
regarding their organizational culture. They are-

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Changes in the level of knowledge

2. Changes in the level of skill
3. Changes in attitude
4. Change in behaviour
5. Change in the organization
They find the following structure for developing their culture of the organization with proper
values.

Knowledge ------- Attitude ------- Behavior -------- Organization

Skill

Organizational Culture and its goal of BRAC

Fosters a harmonious, steady-paced, supportive environment which accommodates

the personal needs of individuals and places strong emphasis on the emotional and
physical welfare of others.
Welcomes change and adapts easily and quickly to new situations. Good at
networking and establishing positive relationships with those both inside and outside
the organisation.
Requires employees to adhere to strict rules, regulations or working practices to
ensure that products or services are provided to a very high standard. Places strong
emphasis on attention to detail and professional ethics.
Willing to try out new ideas, encourages creativity and innovation and provides
employees with the flexibility and freedom to generate radical and original ways of
solving.
Makes good use of the skills and experience of people at all levels by involving them
in the decision making processes and seeking consensus. Delegates responsibility
effectively throughout the organisation.
Requires people to take a determined, self-reliant approach to work and expects
individuals to be independent, self-motivated and single-minded in setting and
pursuing tough business and personal goals.

Benchmark regarding Culture among employees in BRAC

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Work
Priorit
y
1

Top Management

Managers' Perception

Non managers'
Perception

Accommodating, supportive Consensus-seeking and Innovative,

creative
and caring - Supporting
delegating
- and
informal
Coordinating
Innovating

Persuasive, motivating
adaptable - Initiating

Thorough and attentive to Accommodating,

Accommodating,
detail - Finishing
supportive and caring - supportive and caring Supporting
Supporting

Innovative,
creative
informal - Innovating

and Innovative,
creative Forceful, tough
and
informal
- entrepreneurial
Innovating
Focusing

and
-

and Thorough and attentive Persuasive, motivating

to detail - Finishing
and
adaptable
Initiating
Consensus-seeking
and Persuasive, motivating Single-minded,
selfdelegating - Coordinating
and
adaptable
- reliant and practical Initiating
Delivering

Assessing organizational culture of BRAC

Culture oriented:

Update and organise display board.

Scope for introducing new ideas at work.
Cleanliness Extra-curricular activity .
Flatter higher authority.
Maintain honesty of transportation cost .
Documentation and submission of office report .
Register movement during office hour .
Give importance to staff at higher level .
Enjoy extra-benefit because of nepotism .
Discrimination of guests based on levels.
Provide special meal to head office staff during their field visit .
Frugality/economy in uses official utility and property .
Economy in use of electricity .
Blame staff .
Train staff to increase their skill .
Proper use of mobile phone.
Have access to official circular .
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Lengthy process in taking leave.

Take care of higher authority during he/she visits to area office.

Values oriented:
Protest illegal activity of supervisor.
Engage cook in personal activity.
Help beneficiaries in resolving their problems.
Reproach cook/courier.
Rectify/correct staff behaviour.
Threat to terminate.
Friendship between colleagues.
Rebuke staff for mistake.

Gender oriented:

Womens participation in night field .

Desk work.
Male and female riding on same motorcycle together .
Drop out of female staff .

Team work oriented:

Work together to solve problems.

Help branch manager by all staff irrespective of programme.
Transactions of money between superordinate and subordinate .
Helplessness of staff with less skill.

Ethical decision making:

Forgive the corrupt.

Collect credit installment during holiday.
Staff entertained by beneficiary .
Force staff being transferred to new location despite illness.

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Practices of BRAC reflecting organizational culture

Practices that BRAC follow for making their organizational culture more effective are given
bellow:

Attend office on time .

Work after office hour .
Threat to terminate or ask to resign.
Use of obscene words by supervisor .
Rebuke cook/courier.
Corruption ones instalment deposited in others account.
Scope for giving opinion.
Impose own decision on other.
Ask opinion of all staff in taking decision.
Follow movement register in field visit .
Punctuality in meeting attendance.
Switch off light/fan after use.
Keep up quality work .
Sitting arrangement for beneficiaries at branch office.
Cleanliness of common and guestroom toilets.
Cleanliness of office campus .
Update and organise display board .
Give importance to the opinion of female staff .
Night field by female staff .
Recognise desk work in movement register .
Solve field related problem.
Share office-related information.
Discuss programme-related problems with supervisor.
Give importance to colleagues personal problem.
Display commitment done by the trained at the end of the training.

Training program for developing active organizational culture

Reasons for implementing and not implementing:

Issues
Attend office on time

Implemented
Training
motivated
attending office on time.

Not implemented
in -------

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Work after office hour

Increased efficiency To avoid To achieve given target To

risks in night field.
avail advantages of night
field

Threat to terminate or ask to

resign

Influence of training Avoid A method of applying power

staff dropout, Staff can and get work done.
complain
against
such
remark.

Use of obscene words by

supervisor

Influence of training Avoid ------dropout of staff Remark

demoralizes
staff
cab
complain
against
such
behaviour .

Rebuke cook/courier

Establish
better
work Method of exercising power.
environment as learnt from Good behaviour would make
training Antagonized cook cook ignore them. Necessary
overcharge for meal.
to make cook keep up with
time.

Members credit installment

deposited in others account

Corruption
if
identified
would embarrassed staff
They would lose credibility.
Would make it difficult in
keeping consistency in the
report

Necessary in meeting the

target, There was a pressure
for the practice in order to
prove good performance.

Scope for giving opinion

Development of an attitude
due to training.
Expressing opinion would
help in understand each
other.
Development of
confident due to gaining skill
and experience.

Believing
that
passing
opinion might backfire. Too
many
opinions
would
complicate the decision
making process and also
make it lengthy.

Ask for the opinions of all

staff in taking decision

Training made managers Subordinates opinions were

more
respectful
of not important .
subordinates
opinion.
Supervisors were convinced
that collective decision was
better.
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Follow movement register in

field visits

Would
give
positive
impression to supervisor
Staff could easily be located
If not followed their levels
would not be changed, would
be transferred. Training
increased the flexibility of
work
thus
facilitated
following the schedule.

Difficult to follow register in

the health programme as
health emergencies could not
be predicted.

Punctuality
meeting

Helped
in
getting
information
from
the
meeting. Gave a scope in
discussing the circular. Gave
a good impression to the
supervisor.
Training
developed an urge in
attending the meeting .

Work load discouraging in

attending.
Collecting
installment was considered
more
important
than
attending meeting.

Switch off light/fan after use

Increasingly believed that not

turning off means loss for
BRAC
Desire to save
national asset for the future
generations.

Not aware of the importance

of turning off. It was
believed that it was not their
duty to do so Busy with work
so could not keep track.

Keep up quality work

Proper guidance from the

supervisor.
Increased
accountability
and
transparency
of
the
organization. Less pressure
at work. Training made them
more
particular
in
maintaining the quality.

Low level of efficiency It

was believed that the
evaluation process was not
neutral so there was no need
to keep up with the quality.

in

attending

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Findings, Conclusion
&
Recommendations

Page | 21

Page | 22

Findings

In the organization represented by the above discussion, the people perceive that the
organisation:

As an NGO, BRAC has a well grooming organizational culture.

Innovation and risk taking ability is good.
People are focuses on individual capacity rather than group work,
Competitiveness among the workers are average.

MHL

io g d h e r a t e

o
w
Strong on important cultural dimensions (to them) of Caring, Results Focus and to a
lesser extent Ethics. These are some things to celebrate.
Welcomes change and adapts easily and quickly to new situations.
Lack of proper training among the field worker.
All the worker of BRAC give the effort to remain in a good culture in the
organization.
Requires people to take a determined, self-reliant approach to work and expects
individuals to be independent, self-motivated and single-minded in setting and
pursuing tough business and personal goals.
Delegates responsibility effectively throughout the organisation.
They have the better organizational culture plan, but implementation of them is yet
too far.
Weaker on a lesser important dimension (to them) of Innovation (and to a lesser
extent, Teamwork). This is a concern if these cultural dimensions are important to the
organisation.
Weaker on stability of the organization.
Conclusions
No matter how big or small is an organization, it is supposed to have an objective for its
formation and without it an organization does not sustain. Sometimes, the objective is
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implicit in nature and difficult to conceptualize but when well formulated it can be grouped
under missions and vision. In order to achieve the organizational objectives the organization
is supposed to nourish a culture very much supportive to the objective of the organization. On
the other hand, values are the foundation on which the organizational culture stands. Values
are reflected in the normative behaviour which over time culminates into organizational
culture.
So, it is important for an organization to have staff with values supportive to the
organizational objectives. This can be done by staffing the organization with members
embodied with values appropriated for the organization. It is difficult to identify the nature of
values of a person when they are being hired. Secondly, staff can be made to internalize
values as required through training. This is what BRAC intends to do by Organizational
culture and value training to all its staff, and thus develop appropriate values as required. It is
hypothesized that after training the staff would behave in such a way so that the missions of
the organization would be achieved.

Page | 24

Recommendations
To make a good culture, they should develop an organizational culture related
monitoring cell.
Manage proper training for the workers of BRAC.
Have to find out the barriers regarding weak organizational culture.
As weaker on a lesser important dimension (to them) of Innovation (and to a lesser
extent, Teamwork). This is a concern if these cultural dimensions are important to the
organisation. In this case, there is no felt need to develop these cultural dimensions; so
the organisation first needs to lift the sense of priority and urgency for these before the
people will accept development efforts.
The organisation needs to work either to lower the perception of the importance of
Attitudes, Empowerment and Alignment or work to lift the perception or actual
performance of them.
The senior managers may feel that the staff are empowered more than the staff believe
they are, so a planned communication strategy of what empowerment they already
have might be appropriate.
The senior managers may feel that empowerment is actually an issue that needs to be
developed, so a development plan needs to be enacted .
Characteristics-wise recommendations:
Dimensions
Innovation and risk taking
Attention to detail
Outcome orientation
People orientation
Team orientation
Aggressiveness
Stability

Current Status

Urgenc

Importanc

Low
High
Moderate
High
Low
Low
Moderate

y
High
low
high
medium
high
medium
high

e
High
High
medium
high
high
medium
High

Page | 25

Global headline figures Of BRAC as of December 2014

Population Reach
Annual Expenditure (BRAC)
Annual Expenditure (BRAC
International)
Number of Employees

138 million
USD 845 million

Number of Schools

45,498

Number of Students

1.4
million

Graduated Students

11.2
million

Members in
Community Libraries

1.2
million

USD 87.4 million

115,634

HEALTH

Community Health Workers

EDUCATION

111,272
GIRLS
EMPOWERMENT

MICROFINANCE

Total Borrowers
Cumulative
Disbursement

4.8 million

Shows Staged by Our

Popular Theatre Group

Women Received Training

Number of Club
Members

332,292

HUMAN RIGHTS
AND LEGAL AID
SERVICES

13,802

192,219

TARGETING THE ULTRA POOR

Women Received Assets

10,575

USD 13.4 billion

COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT

Community Institution (Polli

Shomaj) Built

Number of Clubs

Human Rights and

Legal Education
Participants
Number of Legal
Complains Received

3.9
million

231,464

AGRICULTURE AND
LIVESTOCK
525,015
1.6 million

Page | 26

Seeds Distributed
Poultry Vaccination
Provided

WATER, SANITATION AND HYGIENE

No. of People Served with Hygienic

Latrine
No. of People Served with Safe
Drinking Water

22 MMT
59.3
million

36.9 million

2.3 million

Page | 27