# Introduction eople are constantly surrounded by culture (often invisible) that forms the background of their worklives in organizations. Organizational culture provides a powerful mechanism for controlling behavior by influencing how we view the world around us. Organizations do not exist in a vacuum but in a specific culture or socio-cultural environment that influence the way their employees think, feel and behave. Work place culture is a very powerful force that influences an employee's work life. It is the very thread that holds the organization together. Hence, managers and employees Author : Faculty of Management Sciences, Department of Business Administration, Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa State, Nigeria. e-mail: mbaagwu38@yahoo.com governed, directed and tempered by the organization's culture (Ritchie, 2000). Thus, organizational culture has a strong influence on employees' performance and work attitude. For employees, it is either the glue that bonds people to an organization or what drives them away. It involves standards and norms that prescribe employees behavior in a workplace (Martins & Martins, 2003). Hence, organizational culture is the underlying values, beliefs, principles and practices that constitute its management system (Denison, 1990). The corporate culture of an organization depends on its environment, objectives, belief system and management style. Hence, the prevailing collaborative culture (decentralized work force with integrated units) in NAFDAC was informed by the nature and area of coverage of its activities (regulation and control of pharmaceuticals, foods, drugs, cosmetics, beverages and packaged water all over Nigeria).A strong corporate culture indicates that employees are like-minded and hold similar beliefs/ethical values while a weak corporate culture indicates that employees are unlike-minded and hold dissimilar beliefs/ethical values. Thus, organizations can only achieve their goals by aligning their corporate culture with their performance management system. In adopting a collaborative culture in the execution of its activities NAFDAC empowers its employees to exercise greater control/autonomy over their work thus influencing their job performance, commitment, self-confidence and self-esteem. It is against this background that it becomes pertinent to discuss organizational culture and employees' performance in NAFDAC, Nigeria. # a) Statement of The Problem The excellent results achieved by NAFDAC in its fight again stfake and counterfeit drugs, since its reorganization in April, 2001, as evidenced by the public destruction of about 2 billion Naira worth of fake drugs and the lunching of the world's first anti-counterfeiting mobile authentication message using short message service (SMS) for end-patient regulated medication authentication. This technology has put the power of detecting counterfeit regulated products in the hands of more than 60 million Nigerian cell phone users, thus organizational culture, employees' commitment, employees' productivity, NAFDAC. # Mba Okechukwu Agwu Abstract-The paper discussed organizational culture and employees' performance in the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Nigeria. It views organizational culture as shared values, beliefs and norms that influence the way employees think, feel and behave in the workplace. It assumes that a positive organizational culture will enhance employees' performance. The research question adderssed the extent of the relationship between organizational culture and increased employees commitment/productivity in NAFDAC. The place of study consists of the 6 zonal and 36 state offices of NAFDAC in Nigeria while the duration of study is between February 2013 and January 2014.A descriptive research design was used in executing the study using 420(judgmentally determined) randomly selected NAFDAC employees from its zonal/state offices in Nigeria for questionnaire administration. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results from the data analysis indicated that significant relationship exists between organizational culture and increased employees commitment/productivity in NAFDAC and recommends among others: continuous staff training, increased government funding, continuous improvement of employees' condition of service, continuous improvement of employees' condition of service, sustenance of the prevailing organizational culture of decentralization and current team building efforts. enlisting them in the battle against counterfeiting. In addition to the black eye technology deployed in screening many drug samples, the agency has also launched the radio frequency identification (RFID) system, used in the verification of regulated products and documents. The system has the potential to track and trace regulated products and prevent forgery of sensitive documents. To strengthen the anti-fake drug war, the agency is currently seeking to undertake a review of its laws to impose life-term jail, confiscation of assets upon conviction and compensation for victims where the counterfeit product is found to be the proximate cause of death or severe bodily injury of the victims. The law also seeks to make this a non-bill able offence. There are also credible reports about improved international collaborations which have resulted to a number of remarkable achievements. Such collaborations have led to the Indian Parliament enacting, for the first time, a law making it a criminal offence punishable by life imprisonment the manufacture and distribution of fake pharmaceutical products. The aforementioned giant strides by NAFDAC in its fight again stfake and counterfeit drugs would not have been possible without a strong organizational culture that encourages increased employees commitment and productivity. # b) Research Objectives The objectives of the research are as follows: i. To determine the extent of the relationship between organizational culture and increased employees' commitment in NAFDAC. ii. To determine the extent of the relationship between organizational culture and increased employees' productivity in NAFDAC. # c) Research Questions Many factors influence people in organizations, but not all are considered when trying to understand the behavior of people at work, the most frequently overlooked factor is the influence of organizational culture on employees' performance; hence the research is focused on the following research questions: i. Does any significant relationship exist between organizational culture and increased employees' commitment in NAFDAC? ii. Does any significant relationship exist between organizational culture and increased employees' productivity in NAFDAC? # d) Research Hypotheses In view of the above research questions, the following null hypotheses were formulated: 1HO: There is no significant relationship between organizational culture and increased employees' commitment in NAFDAC. 2HO: There is no significant relationship between organizational culture and increased employees' productivity in NAFDAC. # e) Literature Review Earlier studies indicated a relationship between organizational culture and employees' performance. Magee (2002) argued that organizational culture is inherently connected to organizational practices which in turn influence employees' performance. Hellriegel & Slocum (2009) contend that organizational culture can enhance employees' performance if what sustains it can be understood. Thus, the culture of an organization acquaints employees with the firm's history as well as current methods of operation that guide employees on expected and acceptable future organizational behaviors and norms. Some theoretical models assert that effective human resource system is based on supporting values, that create a positive impact on employees' attitudes and behaviors which in turn influence their performance (Ferris et al., 1998).From numerous "culture surveys" it has been claimed that employee performance can be improved by developing and creating certain kinds of organizational cultures (Sackman and Bertelsman, 2006 and Denison, 1990,). Martin and Siehl (1990) argued that organizational culture is theoretically related to performance and have positive influence on it. Bowen and Ostroff (1989) observed the role of culture in nurturing, sustaining and enhancing employees' performance in organizations. Kopelmal et al. (1990) observed that organizational culture aids coordination of assignments and minimizes inefficiency in resource utilization. Employees need a supportive organizational culture to attain their individual objectives. According to Furnham and Gunter (1993), organizational culture functions as the internal integration and coordination between a firm's operations and its employees, where it fails to fulfill these functions to a satisfactory level, employees may be influenced negatively. A positive culture supports adaptation and enhances employees' performance by motivating, shaping and channeling their behaviors towards the attainment of corporate objectives (Daft, 2010). Afirm's mission reflects its ultimate long term objective which is accomplished by conducting integrated operational and behavioral activities. A firm's performance improves if it has a clear sense of purpose and commitment towards its mission. Academics and practition ersargue that the performance of an organization is dependent on the degree to which the values of its are widely shared (Kotter and Heskett, 1992). Similarly, it is widely argued that shared and strongly held values enable management to predict employees reactions to certain strategic options and by reducing these values, the consequences maybe undesirable (Ogbonna, 1993). Denison (1984) found, in his study of organizational culture, that companies with a participative culture reaped a return on investment, which averaged nearly twice that of firms with less efficient cultures. His conclusion was that cultural and behavioral aspects of organizations were intimately linked to both short-term performance and long-term survival. # f) Conceptual Framework Organizational culture is the set of shared values, beliefs, and norms that influence the way employees think, feel, and behave in the workplace (Schein, 2011). Morgan (1997)views organizational culture as the collection of traditions, values, beliefs, policies and attitudes that constitute a pervasive context for everything one does and thinks in an organization. Collins and Porras (2000) opined that organizational culture refers to a system of shared meaning held by members that distinguish one organization from other organizations. They believe that this shared meaning consists of seven key characteristics: innovation and risk-taking, attention to detail, outcome orientation, people orientation ,team orientation, aggressive-ness and stability . Organizational culture has the potential to enhance organizational performance, employee job satisfaction and a sense of certainty about problem solving (Kotter, 2012). If it becomes incongruent with the changing expectations of internal/external stakeholders, the organization's effectiveness can decline (Ernst, 2001). For a business, organizational culture is either a force for change or a definite barrier to it; hence managers are increasingly challenged with changing an organization's culture to support new ways of accomplishing work. According to Nelson & Quick, (2011), organizational culture performs four functions: gives members a sense of identity, increases their commitment, reinforces organizational value sand serves as a control mechanism for shaping behavior. It is important to note that leaders shape and reinforce culture by what they pay attention to, how they behave, how they allocate rewards and how they hire and fire individuals. Organizational culture and employees' performance are clearly related though the exact nature of this relationship is mixed (Kopelman, Brief, & Guzzo, 1990). Studies have shown that the relationship between many cultural attributes and employees' performance has not been consistent over time (Denison, 1990;Sorenson, 2002).According to Bulach, Lunenburg, & Potter (2012),the effects of organizational culture on employee behavior and performance can be summarized thus: First, knowing the culture of an organization allows employees to understand both the organization's history and current methods of operation. Second, organizational culture can foster commitment to the organization's philosophy and values. Third, organizational culture, through its norms, serves as a control mechanism to channel behaviors toward desired behaviors. Finally, certain types of organizational cultures may be related directly to greater effectiveness and productivity than others. The effect of organizational culture on employees' performance partly depends on its strength (how widely and deeply employees hold corporate ominant values and assumptions).In a strong organizational culture, most employees across all subunits hold the dominant values. These values are also institutionalized through well-established artefacts, thereby making it difficult for those values to change. Furthermore, strong cultures tend to be long-lasting; some can be traced back to company founder's values and assumptions. In contrast, companies have weak culture when the dominant values are short-lived and held mainly by a few people at the top of the organization. Robbins (2001)observed that corporate culture does not pop out of thin air and once it is established, it does not fade away. He further emphasized that the founders of an organization have a major impact on its early culture because they have a vision of what the organization should be. # g) Theoretical Framework This research is based on Thomas Peters and Robert Waterman (2006) theory of organizational excellence which states that organizational culture is closely tied to the success of best-run American companies which are characterized by these attributes: a bias toward action; close to the customer; autonomy and entrepreneurship; productivity through people; hands-on, value-driven effort; sticking to the knitting; simple form, lean staff and simultaneous loose-tight properties. The decentralized organizational culture of NAFDAC possess these identified attributes and are most probably responsible for the giant strides made by NAFDAC in its fight again stfake and counterfeit drugs in Nigeria. Organizational excellence in NAFDAC can be traced to its corporate culture attributes: A Bias toward Action-NAFDAC is continuously experimenting and developing new techniques (anticounterfeiting mobile authentication message, black eye technology etc.) for identification and elimination of fake and counterfeit drugs. Autonomy and Entrepreneurship-NAFDAC values autonomy and entrepreneurship as an attribute of its corporate culture by encouraging innovation and risk taking among its employees through the introduction of incentives for new techniques development. Close to the Customer-NAFDAC carries out preshipment and destination inspection of all Nigerian bound drugs in their countries of origin to eliminate importation of fake and counterfeit drugs in Nigeria. h) Legal Framework NAFDAC was formed to checkmate illicit and counterfeit products in Nigeria in 1993 under the country's health and safety law. Its formation was inspired by a 1988 World Health Assembly resolution requesting countries' help in combating the global health threat posed by counterfeit pharmaceuticals. In December 1992, NAFDAC's first governing council was formed. The council was chaired by Tanimu Saulawa. In January 1993, a supporting legislation was approved as legislative Decree No. 15 of 1993. On January 1, 1994 NAFDAC was officially established as a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Health. It is headed by a chairman who presides over a governing council appointed by the president on the recommendation of the Minister of Health. According to the requirements of its enabling decree, the Agency was authorized to. ? Regulate and control the importation, exportation, manufacture, advertisement, distribution, sale and use of drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, bottled water and chemicals. ? Conduct appropriate tests and ensure compliance with standard specifications designated and approved by the council for the effective control of ? Undertake appropriate investigation into the production premises and raw materials for food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, bottled water and chemicals and establish a relevant quality assurance system, including certification of the production sites of the regulated products. ? Undertake inspection of imported foods, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, bottled water, and chemicals and establish a relevant quality assurance system, including certification of the production sites of the regulated products. ? Compile standard specifications, regulations, and guidelines for the production, importation, exportation, sale and distribution of food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, bottled water and chemicals. ? Undertake the registration of food, drugs, medical devices, bottled water and chemicals. ? Control the exportation and issue quality certification of food, drugs, medical devices, bottled water and chemicals intended for export. ? Establish and maintain relevant laboratories or other institutions in strategic areas of Nigeria as may be necessary for the performance of its functions. NAFDAC envisions that by making these functions known, that its actions will be apparent in all sectors that deal with food, cosmetics, medical devices, bottled water and chemicals to the extent of instilling extra need for caution and compulsion to respect and obey existing regulations both for healthy living and knowledge of certain sanctions or default. # II. # Materials And Methods The scope of this research is limited to the employees of NAFDAC in Nigeria. It is assumed that responses obtained from the sample respondents would be representative of the opinions of all NAFDAC employees on organizational culture and employees' performance in its 6 zonal and 36 state offices in Nigeria. The duration of study is between February 2013 and January 2014.The core aspect of the study is the use of cross sectional survey research design in generating the required primary data. A sample of 420 randomly selected respondents was used for question nairead ministration. The sample size of420 was judgmentally determined by selecting ten respondents from each of the 6 zonal and 36 state offices of NAFDAC in Nigeria. For the purposes of questionnaire administration, the sample respondents were selected from the 6 zonal and 36 state offices of NAFDAC by random shuffling of cards method, ten respondent seach from the 42(6+36)NAFDAC offices. Each employee's name was written on a small card and the name on the top most card was selected each time, the Productivity through People -NAFDAC demonstrates a belief in their employees through shared decision making, absence of rigidity of command and encouragement for new ideas. Organizations like NAFDAC that manifest high levels of trust in subordinates, use participatory decision making, listen to and use employees' ideas/show concern for their welfare is practicing "productivity through people." Hands-On, Value-Driven Effort-NAFDAC pays explicit attention to cultural values and devotes substantial effort to promoting and clarifying core values to its employees. Strong-culture organizations like NAFDAC that emphasize high achievement levels for company/employees are practicing "hands-on, valuedriven effort." Sticking to the Knitting-Organizations stay in businesses they know how best to run. NAFDAC only concentrates on identification and elimination of fake and counterfeit drugs in Nigeria. Simple Form, Lean Staff-NAFDAC keeps small corporate staff and does not use complex matrix organizational structures by sharing decision making authority among its employees. Simultaneous Loose -Tight Properties-NAFDAC exhibits both tight and loose couplings. It is tight about cultural values and loose or decentralized about autonomy, providing individuals throughout the organization room to perform. cards were shuffled. This was done continuously until all the sample respondents were selected. To avoid one name being selected twice or more, the selection of the topmost card was done without replacement. Data collected we reanalyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The questionnaire was designed toobta in a fair representation of the opinions of the 420 sample respondents using a four-point Like rt type scale. The questionnaire responses of the sample respondents were presented using tables while formulated hypotheses were tested using analysis of variance (ANOVA).A total of 420 copies of the questionnaire were administered, collected and used for the analysis. iii. # Results And Discussions a) Distribution of Responses on Research Questions Does any significant relationship exist between organizational culture and increased employees' commitment in NAFDAC? Table 1 shows that questions: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 with varying mean scores of 3.17, 3.02, 2.81, 2.88 and 2.79 were above the weighted average of 2.5. The table further revealed a grand mean score of 2.93 indicating a strong evidence of the existence of a significant relationship between organizational culture and increased employees' commitment in NAFDAC. This conclusion is buttressed by the observation of Bulach, Lunenburg, & Potter (2012) that organizational culture can foster commitment to the organization's philosophy and values. Source: Field Survey, 2014. # b) Test of the First Hypothesis Ho: There is no significant relationship between organizational culture and increased employees' commitment in NAFDAC. H1: There is a significant relationship between organizational culture and increased employees' commitment in NAFDAC. Table 4 shows that calculated F-Value of40.61 resulted from the relationship between organizational culture and increased employees' commitment in NAFDAC. This calculated F-Value is significant since it is greater than the critical F-Value of 5.29 given 3/16 degree of freedom at0.01 level of significance. Hence, the null hypothesis is rejected while the alternative is accepted. This shows that there is a significant relationship between organizational culture and increased employees' commitment in NAFDAC. There is no significant relationship between organizational culture and increased employees' productivity in NAFDAC. H 1: There is a significant relationship between organizational culture and increased employees' productivity in NAFDAC. Table 6 shows that calculated F-Value of 49.54 resulted from the relationship between organizational culture and increased employees' productivity in NAFDAC. This calculated F-Value is significant since it is greater than the critical F-Value of 5.29 given 3/16 degree of freedom at 0.01 level of significance. Hence, the null hypothesis is rejected while the alternative is accepted. This shows that there is a significant relationship between organizational culture and increased employees' productivity in NAFDAC. # iv. Conclusion And Recommendations The paper discussed organizational culture and employees' performance in the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Nigeria. It assumes that a positive organizational culture will enhance employees' performance. The three major findings of the research are as follows: ? NAFDAC's organizational culture of decentralization provides employees' with greater intrinsic rewards than other traditional means of governance. ? There is a significant relationship between organizational culture and increased employees' commitment in NAFDAC. ? There is a significant relationship between organizational culture and increased employees' productivity in NAFDAC. Arising from the findings of this paper, it is suggested that federal government and NAFDAC management should take the following measures to sustain the current high standard of employees' performance in the agency: The federal governments hould increase NAFDAC' sbudgetary allocation, so that more funds will be available for the acquisition of the latest technology on illicit drug detection and control. # c) Continuous improvement of employees' condition of service The condition of service of NAFDAC's employees' should be reviewed on a regular basis to ensure high level of staff morale, autonomy in decision making and discipline in their fight against fake drugs. 2![67280 + 38720+ 13520 =254000 ( X ) 2 = (820+ 580 + 440 +260) 2 = 220500 N 20 SS B = 254000-220500=33500 SS B =33500 Calculation of within group sum of squares (SSw) SSw = ? ? (?? ???? ?? ?? ??=?? ?? ??=?? ? ?? ? ) ?? or SS W = SS T -SS B SS T -SS B = 37900 -33500= 4400 SS W = 4400 Calculation degrees of freedom SS T df = N -1 = 20 -1 = 19 SS B df = n -1 = 4 -1 = 3 SS W df = n -1 + n -1 + n -1 + n -1 = 4n -4 = 4 (5) -4 = 20 -4 = 16 Calculation of Variances Between group variance (S B = Between group sum of squares (SS B ) Between group degree of freedom Between group variance = 11166.67= 40.61 Within group variance c) Test of the Second Hypothesis H o:](image-2.png "2 )=") 1in NAFDAC (n=420) 2in NAFDAC (n=420) 3i. Question number 2and increased employees' productivity in NAFDAC. ThisDoes any significant relationship exist betweenconclusion is buttressed by Ojo (2009) observation of aorganizational culture and increased employees'positive relationship between corporate culture andproductivity in NAFDAC?employee job performance in the Nigerian bankingTable 2 shows that questions: 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10with mean scores of 2.98, 2.74, 3.07, 2.86 and 2.99 wereabove the weighted average of 2.5. The grand mean of2.93.shows that there is a strong evidence of asignificant relationship between organizational cultureYearVolume XIV Issue II Version I( ) AGlobal Journal of Management and Business ResearchS/No.Strongly Agree X X 2Agree XX2Disagree XX 2Strongly Disagree X X 2120040000120144007049003090021702890013016900806400401600314019600120144001001000060360041602560011012100908100603600 5S/No.Strongly AgreeAgreeDisagreeStrongly DisagreeXX 2XX 2XX 2XX 261803240010010000908100502500714019600110121009081008064008200400001001000070490050250091502250012014400908100603600101753062511513225806400502500Totals845145125545597254203560029017500Source: Survey Data, 2014 4employees' commitment in NAFDACSource ofSum ofDegree ofMean sum ofCalculated F-TableDecisionvariancesquaresfreedomsquaresvaluecritical F-valueBetween33500311166.6740.615.29H o: RejectedgroupsWithin group440016275Total3790019Source: Survey Data, 2014 6Source ofsum ofDegree ofMeanCalculate F-Table criticalDecisionvariancesquarefreedomsum ofvalueF-valuesquareBetween3381031127049.545.29H o: RejectedgroupWithin group364016227.5Total3745019 © 2014 Global Journals Inc. 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