Mindsets and Skills as Determinants of Organizational Culture Change

Abstract

Mindsets are elements of organizational culture. To examine mindsets and skills is necessary to lay the foundation towards a cultural change aiming for adaptability, creativity,
intrapreneurship, and being pioneering in the work organization. This study was designed with a Positive Organization Development (POD) perspective, anchored on Appreciative Inquiry (AI) emphasizing discovery of the best qualities in people through in-depth and inspiring methods of inquiry. Findings show that the participants had potentials for change because they were motivated by a societal cultural factor such as strong affect for their families as a primary reason to work, and had clear positive attitudes towards their tasks and institution. Because they scored high in the personal work values of professionalism and efficiency, there was high probability that if the institution required them to gain new knowledge, skills and credentials, they would follow. Adaptability scores were high but creativity, being pioneering and intrapreneurship scores were low, yet the study participants had potentials to raise these. These mostly young employees would be open to innovations at work, especially those who belong to the generation of millennials, whose work environment requires agility and innovativeness.