Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Describing the organisational culture of a selection of community pharmacies using a tool borrowed from social science

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Pharmacy World & Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective of the study To describe the dimensions of organisational culture within a selection of community pharmacies. Setting Community pharmacy in the New Zealand primary care sector which is partially government funded and currently undergoing major reform. Community pharmacy is under pressure to take on new roles, integrate within the wider primary care team and deliver the expectations of contemporary health policy. Method The mixed methods approach of concept mapping was undertaken with 10 representatives from six community pharmacies selected as case sites. The process was split into three parts (a) face to face brainstorming to generate statements describing culture, followed by (b) statement reduction, piloting and approval of statement list by participants, followed by (c) sorting the statements into ‘like’ groups. Multidimensional scaling analysis of participant sorting allows the development of discrete clusters of statements that describe aspects of organizational culture. Results A set of 105 statements were generated at the brainstorming meeting. Eight clusters of organisational culture resulted from participant sorting: leadership and staff management; valuing each other and the team; free thinking, fun and open to challenge; trusted behaviour; customer relations; focus on external integration; providing systematic advice; embracing innovation. Conclusion Community pharmacy is under pressure to take on new roles and deliver and there is some evidence organisational culture of pharmacy may be a barrier. Our paper outlines the development of a survey instrument for describing organisational culture through Concept mapping, a tool borrowed from social sciences. This tool can be used for exploration of aspects of culture that may be important in the change management process for improving the effectiveness of community pharmacy as expected by contemporary primary health care policy.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Scahill SL, Harrison J, Carswell P. Organisational culture: an important concept for pharmacy practice research. Pharm World Sci. 2009;31:517–21.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Canadian Pharmacists Association (CPA). Blueprint for Pharmacy. Edmonton: Canada; 2007. Available at http://www.pharmacists.ca/content/about_cpha/whats_happening/cpha_in_action/pdf/Blueprint%20Implementation%20Plan%20Final%20-%20Consultation%20April%2020%2009.pdf. Accessed 20 June 2009.

  3. United Kingdom Dept of Health. Pharmacy in England: building on strengths—delivering the future. London (UK); 2008. Available at http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_083815. Accessed 18 Dec 2008.

  4. New Zealand Ministry of Health. Medicines New Zealand. Wellington, New Zealand; 2007. Available at http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexmh/medicines-nz. Accessed 18 Jan 2009.

  5. United States Government. Pharmacy affairs and 340B drug pricing program; 2008. Available at http://www.hrsa.gov/opa/introduction.htm. Accessed 19 Jan 2008.

  6. Scahill SL, Harrison J, Sheridan J. The ABC of New Zealand’s ten year vision for pharmacists: awareness, barriers and culture. Int J Pharm Pract. 2009;17(3):135–42. doi:10.1211/ijpp/17.03.0003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Commonwealth Government of Australia. Compilation of the fourth community pharmacy agreement between the commonwealth of Australia and the pharmacy. Canberra, Australia; 2005. Available at http://www.guild.org.au/uploadedfiles/National/Public/Community_Pharmacy_Agreement/4CPA%20Compilation%20Agreement_FINAL.pdf: Accessed 19 Jan 2009.

  8. Gilbert L. Pharmacy’s attempts to extend its roles: case study in South Africa. Soc Sci Med. 1998;47(2):153–64.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. The Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand. Focus on the future: ten year vision for pharmacists’: 2004–2014. Wellington. New Zealand; 2004. Available at http://psnz.org.nz/public/home/documents/10_yea_plan.pdf. Accessed 19 Jan 2009.

  10. Adamcik BA, Ransford HE, Oppenheimer PR, Brown JF, Eagan PA. New clinical roles for pharmacists: study of role expansion. Soc Sci Med. 1986;23(11):1187–200.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Roberts AS, Benrimoj SI, Chen TF, Williams KA, Aslani P. Implementing cognitive services in community pharmacy: a review of facilitators used in practice change. Int J Pharm Pract. 2006;14(3):163–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Hopp TR, Sorensen EW, Herborg H, Roberts AS. Implementation of cognitive pharmaceutical services (CPS) in professionally active pharmacies. Int J Pharm Pract. 2005;13(1):21–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Hopp TR, Klinke BO, Sorensen EW, Herborg, Roberts AS. Implementation of cognitive pharmaceutical services in Danish community pharmacies—perceptions of strategists and practitioners. Int J Pharm Pract. 2006;14(1):37–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Hall J, Smith I (2006). Barriers to medicines use reviews: comparing the views of pharmacists and PCTs. Int J Pharm Pract. 14(Suppl 2):B51–2.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Bush J, Langley CA, Jesson JK, Wilson KA. Perceived barriers to the development of community pharmacy’s public health function: a survey of the attitudes of directors of public health and chief pharmacists in UK primary care organisations. Int J Pharm Pract. 2006; 14(Suppl 2):B68–9.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Walker R. Pharmaceutical Public Health: the end of pharmaceutical care? Pharm J 2000;264:340–1.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Clark BE, Mount JK. Pharmacy Service Orientation: a measure of organizational culture in pharmacy practice sites. Res Soc Admin Pharm. 2006;2(1):110–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Cameron K, Quinn RE. Diagnosing and changing organisational culture: based on the competing values framework. 1st ed. USA: Addison Wesley; 1999. ISBN 0-201-33871-8.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Schein EH. Organisational culture and leadership. 3rd ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass; 2004. ISBN 0787975745.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Foddy WH. Constructing questions for interviews and questionnaires: theory and practice in social research. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 1993. ISBN 0521467330.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  21. Liamputtong P, Ezzy D. Qualitative research methods. 2nd ed. Melbourne: Oxford University Press; 2005. ISBN 019551744X.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Martin J. Cultures in organisations: three perspectives. 1st ed. New York: Oxford University Press; 1992. ISBN 0195071638.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Martin J. Organisational culture: mapping the terrain. Thousand Oaks: Sage; 2002. ISBN 0803972946.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Trochim WMK. An introduction to concept mapping for planning and evaluation. Eval Program Plann. 1989;12(1):1–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Trochim W, Kane M. Concept mapping: an introduction to structured conceptualization in health care. Int J Qual Health Care. 2005;17(3):187–91.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Kolb D, Shepherd DM. Concept mapping organizational cultures. J Manag Inquiry. 1997;6(4):282–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Kilmann RH, Saxton MJ, Serpa R. Gaining control of the corporate culture. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass; 1985. ISBN 0875896669.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Van Nabitz U, den Brink W, Jansen P. Using Concept Mapping to design an indicator framework for addiction treatment centres. Int J Qual Health Care. 2005;17(3):193–201.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Roeg D, Van de Goor I, Garretsen H. Towards quality indicators for assertive outreach programmes for severely impaired substance abusers: concept mapping with Dutch experts. Int J Qual Health Care. 2005;17(3):203–8.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Burchell N, Kolb D. Pattern matching organisational cultures. J Aust NZ Acad Manag. 2003;9(3):50–61.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The lead author is grateful for the mentorship and support of the following staff from the University of Auckland: Dr Amanda Wheeler, Dr Zaheer Ud-Din Babar, Dr Fiona Kelly, Associate Professor Janie Sheridan and Professors Ngaire Kerse and John Shaw. The authors would like to thank the representatives of the case study pharmacies who participated in our concept mapping project.

Funding

The lead author is the recipient of a University of Auckland Senior Health Research Scholarship. This study was partially supported by a grant from the Pharmacy Guild of New Zealand.

Conflicts of interest

The authors do not report any conflicts of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand

    Shane Scahill & Jeff Harrison

  2. Division of Health Systems, School of Population Health, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Peter Carswell

Authors
  1. Shane Scahill
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jeff Harrison
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Peter Carswell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shane Scahill.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Scahill, S., Harrison, J. & Carswell, P. Describing the organisational culture of a selection of community pharmacies using a tool borrowed from social science. Pharm World Sci 32, 73–80 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-009-9345-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-009-9345-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation