McNay's four-type organisational culture taxonomy combined with Structured/Unstructured e-learning policy types as an analytic framework

Research Method · All research methods
Evidence · 2 claims (2 for) · 1 study (1 associational), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 2 claims rest on one study

Description

The study frames institutional elearning contexts using two axes: an elearning policy typology (Structured versus Unstructured, defined by policy document, formal support unit and institution-wide LMS) and McNay's (1995) taxonomy of organisational cultures. The article describes the four cultural types: the collegium has "loose institutional policy definition, informal networks and decision arenas, and innovation at the level of the individual or department"; the bureaucracy has loose policy but strong regulation; the corporation has tight policy and tight implementation with top-down directives; the enterprise has a well-defined policy framework with students as clients. Institutions are classified by combining both axes.

Accounts

• McNay's four-type organisational culture taxonomy combined with Structured/Unstructured elearning policy types as an analytic framework: The study frames institutional elearning contexts using two axes: an elearning policy typology (Structured versus Unstructured, defined by policy document, formal support unit and institution-wide LMS) and McNay's (1995) taxonomy of organisational cultures. The article describes the four cultural types: the collegium has "loose institutional policy definition, informal networks and decision arenas, and innovation at the level of the individual or department"; the bureaucracy has loose policy but strong regulation; the corporation has tight policy and tight implementation with top-down directives; the enterprise has a well-defined policy framework with students as clients. Institutions are classified by combining both axes. (Czerniewicz et al. (2009))

Claims

• Institutional elearning policy is associated with more courses using ICTs, with Structured Corporate institutions reporting the highest course use and the Unstructured Bureaucratic institution the lowest [+M]
• Variety of ICT use shows a reversed pattern: students in Structured Corporate institutions report the most varied use, but staff variety is highest in the Unstructured Collegium institution [+M]

Related Research Methods

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Key Sources

• Czerniewicz, L. & Brown, C. (2009). A study of the relationship between institutional policy, organisational culture and elearning use in four South African universities. Computers & Education, 53, 121-131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2009.01.006

Page metadata

Field	Value
type	research-method
id	mcnays-four-type-organisational-culture-taxonomy-combined-with-structuredunstructured-e-le
title	McNay's four-type organisational culture taxonomy combined with Structured/Unstructured e-learning policy types as an analytic framework
description	The study frames institutional elearning contexts using two axes: an elearning policy typology (Structured versus Unstructured, defined by policy document, formal support unit and institution-wide LMS) and McNay's (1995) taxonomy of organisational cultures.
status	review
generated	by process:settle-candidates on 2026-10-29
trust	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content

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