Organisational culture and students' academic performance of government grant-aided secondary schools in Soroti distinct of Uganda

Abstract

The study was undertaken to investigate the extent to which organizational culture influenced students' academic performance of government grant-aided secondary schools in Soroti District. It was prompted by the fact that, although organizational culture is a pronounced concept in most successful organizations in the world, schools underestimate the influence of organizational culture and as a result they have registered poor performance. The study was guided by the following objectives: To establish whether most government grant-aided secondary schools in Soroti District share a common culture. 1. To discover whether organizational culture influences academic grades obtained at the end of a cycle in government grant-aided secondary schools in Soroti District in Uganda. 2. To find out if organizational culture influences transition/completion rates in government grant-aided secondary schools in Soroti District. 3. To propose strategies to achieve optimum students' academic performance in government grant-aided secondary schools in Soroti. Basing on a wide review of literature on organizational culture and students' academic performance in government grant-aided secondary schools, a basis for developing a conceptual framework was established. There was an international literature focusing on this area that has contributed to the study. Culture will remain linked with superior performance only if the culture is able to adapt to the changes in environmental conditions (Gordon & Di Tomaso, 1992). A cross sectional survey guided the study. Methods of data collection included: questionnaires, interviews, document analysis and observation. A sample size of 196 respondents was selected and they included administrative staff, teaching staff and students. Subsequently quantitative data was analyzed using Microsoft Excel 2013 whereas qualitative data was analyzed by content analysis. The results of the study variables, organizational ·culture and students' academic performance revealed that there was a significant positive relationship between the study variables. The findings revealed that a strong well established culture promoted good performance in any organization. It was therefore recommended that for better students' academic performance all government grant-aided secondary schools should strive to establish strong organizational cultures so as to realize better academic