(1272) Improving Organizational Culture at Two Academic Pharmacy Departments: A Mixed Methods Approach

Objectives: The diversity of faculty roles in pharmacy academia, including practice and tenure-track, highlights the need for a positive organizational culture to bridge gaps, motivate faculty, and improve performance evaluations. The objectives of this study are to (1) measure organizational culture at two academic pharmacy departments that employ non-practice and practice faculty; (2) explore identified factors that influence organizational culture; (3) frame preliminary recommendations to address identified organizational factors.

Methods: A multiple case study with an explanatory sequential mixed methods approach was used by first conducting a cross-sectional quantitative survey, followed by qualitative interviews to explain and interpret survey results. An organizational culture survey tool, validated within a pharmacy context, was sent to all tenured/tenure-track (TT) or contract (C) faculty (N=36) at the two departments (department one had 10 TT and 10 C; department two had 8 TT and 8 C) and collected data on items and dimensions of organizational culture. Survey data were analyzed using descriptive statistics to identify organizational culture areas rated both high (>75% very much like) and low ( < 40% very much like). Online focus groups and one-on-one interviews (N=13) further explored the high and low rated organizational factors identified from the survey. TT and C participated in separate sessions. Qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Program evaluation strategies were used to frame preliminary recommendations.

Results: Overall survey response rate was 77% (28/36), with a Department one response rate of 75% (7/10 TT; 8/10 C) and a Department two response rate of 81% (8/8 TT; 5/8 C). Across the two departments a mixture of TT and C faculty participated in online focus group sessions and one-on-one interviews (N=13).
High (Emphasis on Collegiate Support; Stability) and low (Social Responsibility; Innovation; Performance Orientation) scoring dimensions for Department one were identified and further described from the qualitative data through emerging themes: “Emphasis on collegiate support is overall improvement in the sense of being visible and valued for different contributions”, “Innovation emerges from bold thinking, investments, and diversity”, and “Performance orientation is affected by lack of identity of who are as a department.” Recommendations for organizational culture change and maintenance included creating social events to increase celebrations of faculty work, encouraging faculty to identify and take risks in innovative initiatives with proper monitoring and follow up, and promoting department innovations to higher level stakeholders.
High (Competitiveness; Emphasis on Collegiate Support) and low (Innovation; Performance Orientation; Emphasis on Collegiate Support - Mentoring) scoring dimensions for Department two were identified and further described from the qualitative data through emerging themes: “Striving to be unique from other programs promotes innovation and attracts new students”, “Innovation is bold thinking, diversity and investing in new hires”, “Fostering personal and professional development through mentoring is encouraging use of resources and cross-campus networking”, and “Performance Orientation is promoted by sharing and celebrating each other’s contributions.” Recommendations for organizational culture change and maintenance included facilitating cross-campus networking/mentoring by providing resources for mentorships, obtaining autonomy from the college in communicating department accomplishments, and identifying contract clinical faculty needs to be innovative.

Conclusions: This study offers a reproducible approach to measure and improve organizational culture at colleges of pharmacy. While the recommendations were tailored to the specific contexts of the two departments in the study, other colleges of pharmacy can adapt these strategies to suit their unique circumstances. Aspects related to encouraging risk-taking in innovation with support, promoting diversity of expertise, and celebrating faculty contributions can affect college’s culture and be leveraged to promote culture’s outcomes such as improved performance and productivity.