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Introduction
Theoretical Framework
The theoretical framework introduces and describes the theory that explains why the research problem under study exists. The relevance of improving corporate culture is determined by the increasing influence of the human factor: the aging workforce, which leads to a decrease in the level of the economically active population. In addition, the peculiarities of the Millennial generation, seeking to change jobs frequently and being in a group of high unemployment rates. Every organization strives to achieve a high degree of team cohesion by increasing interest in the success of both the team and the company as participants in the social process. Properly built corporate culture has a direct impact on the companys performance. It is one of the key components to achieving goals and strengthening the role of the social component in the motivation of employees. The innovation activity is a strategic direction of airline competitiveness increase, connected with commercial use of new equipment, technologies, and intellectual potential of the personnel. Innovations make it possible to form new market segments (market niches) due to improved or unique characteristics of the transportation product and reduce its cost.
The factors that affected the choice of the theme are explained by the fact that the culture of an organization can either support and encourage innovation or hinder it. It can encourage workers to develop and implement innovations or discourage them from doing anything new. The degree to which organizational culture supports innovation varies significantly across different companies. Therefore, due to the firms size, organizational culture, and management at Turkish Airlines is an interesting field of study. This is because the company has many different employees among whom data collection such as questionnaires and face-to-face interviews can be conducted.
These provide a statistical assessment and apply Geert Hofstedes model for data analysis. The target audience that could potentially be interested in the research is all companies operating in the passenger air transport sector and Turkish Airlines in particular. The theoretical basis of the study consists of scientific articles related to organizational culture and innovation management. The thesis provides sections such as a review of sources to substantiate previous work from this theme. At the same time, the methodology and chosen research methods to collect the data. The findings, discussion, and conclusions section present the research results.
Statement of the Problem
The context of the problem is to investigate how, at the present step of development, changes in the management of the chosen organization through the study of organizational culture. A revision of management priorities characterizes the current development period of the aviation business in Turkey. The difficulties of human resources management come in the first place. It is gradually beginning to be understood that it is necessary to consider their characteristics and culture when interacting with personnel. In the vocabulary of modern Turkish management, there is such a concept as organizational culture, and it becomes understood that the corporate culture affects the administration in any company.
Purpose of the Study
The research aims to analyze the organizational culture and its influence on the innovation management of the enterprise Turkish Airlines .
Research questions
The research questions are designed to establish following issues: what is the development of corporate culture at Turkish Airlines? What is the current state of organizational culture in the organization? How important is the factor for management? Which recommendations can be made to improve organizational culture for more effective innovation management?
Significance of the study
The significance of the study results from the fact that the system of values within which Turkish Airlines operates is based not only on its economic functions but also on the culture of economic activity of its managers. Organizational culture is one of the leading factors that directly impact the processes taking place within the organization, determining the style and way of activity of the organization, the characteristics of interaction between employees, requirements for workers, and attitude towards them. Thus, it is essential to establish a relationship between organizational culture and innovation management to ensure the companys effective functioning.
The value of the research also is that it applies quantitative and qualitative data for data collection and analysis of existing literature. Its originality is specifically in its qualitative data collection, which allows for a comprehensive study of the level of organizational culture development in a particular company rather than in the industry as a whole. At the same time, this research will also conduct a synthesis of previous studies, which will provide recommendations for establishing an organizational culture and establishing innovation management. The potential contribution of the study is that it aims to establish the real state of organizational culture and its use by managers. At the same time, the research is conducted in the aviation sector aimed at transporting customers, so it is exposed to competition. The prospective impact of the study is also to provide guidance to the company on how to use effective and innovative management for the businesss success.
Definitions
Organizational culture, as a social innovation, allows for different organizational configurations in accordance with the needs of innovative development of the company and form the appropriate motivation for their implementation. At the same time, conscious and goal-oriented management of the processes of cultural development at the enterprise enables the leader to influence the innovation activity of the staff essentially. Corporate culture is a set of general concepts and approaches to the organization, forms of relations and activity results, which distinguish the organization from others.
Innovation management is an independent branch of management science and professional activity. It aims to form and provide conditions for the innovative development of any organization. Innovation management is a combination of innovation process management and change management. This applies to products, business processes, marketing and organizational innovation.
Company Turkish Airlines is the primary air carrier of the country and has the most extensive route network among Turkish companies. It flies to more than 120 countries around the world. Turkish Airlines has a large and modern fleet of more than 200 airliners, regularly updated. A comfortable arrangement of passenger seats characterizes aircraft. Turkish Airlines generally focuses on the quality of on-board service.
Literature Review
The formation and maintenance of competitive advantage affect all elements and business processes of the organization, associated with the creation, production, and sale of developments. It is due to the fact that a competitive position in achieving the best quality of service can often be realized only with effective direct seller-buyer contact, which, in turn, depends on the formed organizational culture (Felipe et al., 2017). In the existing conditions of market economy development, the way out for originating the competitive potential of most enterprises is implementing an innovative management system.
The primary purpose of corporate culture in an innovation-oriented enterprise is to achieve high performance and elevated results by improving human resource management. It should be grounded on employee loyalty to the company management and decisions, changing the attitude of personnel to the organization as a whole as a common sphere of interaction and realization of interests (Rajapathirana and Hui, 2018). The essence and content of the concept organizational culture can be revealed through its functions. According to Rajapathirana and Hui (2018), the first is realized through a set of values; it contributes to a better organizations interaction with the external environment. The second function is aimed at the relationship within the organization, to create a spirit of cooperation, mutual assistance, joint norms and values, the system of rewards and punishments for staff.
The competitiveness and efficiency of an airline company nowadays are primarily determined by its ability to adapt to the conditions of the market economy and implement innovations to maintain a leading position. Based on the analysis of the worlds leading airlines, Al-Azri et al. (2015) remark that the most successful ones have one thing in common a well-developed organizational culture. Their leadership and principles make it clear that success in the marketplace is primarily the result of the combined efforts of all of the organizations personnel (Al-Azri et al., 2015). Taking care of people, the atmosphere of trust and openness, creating conditions for disclosure of talents are the integral components of the corporate culture, which can bring quite tangible financial results.
Thus, organizational culture is one of the fundamental elements affecting individual and corporate results or processes. However, there is no consensus in the publications regarding the very definition of organizational culture (Elsbach and Stigliani, 2018). Researchers correspondingly note that because of its variability and ability to adapt to different conditions, culture is a phenomenon that cannot be described accurately and completely. They state that organizational culture needs to be studied from different perspectives since one-sided studies cannot provide accurate results. It should be mentioned that analysis and research on this topic became widespread back in the 1980s when the issue of the relationship between culture and other organizational variables received particular attention. It can be explained by the increasing role of organizations in the international arena. According to Schmiedel and Brocke (2019), this period was the first wave of scholarly work on the impact of culture on employees and organizational performance in general. Definitions take different forms depending on the concept; they reflect the perspective approaches and emphases of the authors.
Consequently, scientific papers and practical experience of the 80s revealed two opposed approaches to defining organizational culture. The first is that the meaning should be understood as an internal subsystem that allows physical entities to adapt to the environment. This approach means that the company has its own culture, which is descriptive and includes personality traits. In the second approach, the company is seen as a culture, a system of knowledge that each of its constituents can interpret through their minds (Chatman and OReilly, 2016). It, in turn, allows access to the dynamics of the social system in all its complexity and then leads to the concept of corporate identity.
However, other researchers such as Akpur and Kemal (2021) state that between 1983 and 1986, different interpretations of the terms emerged, whereby the previous ones have lost their relevance as they no longer respond to the global environment. Therefore, it is necessary to use more modern interpretations for a qualitative definition of organizational culture. For example, Sürücü and Ye_ilada (2017) believe that under its meaning should be understood the beliefs, assumptions and most notably the values that are shared by all members of the group. They include the rules of conduct, type and style of leadership, as well as administrative procedures and customs. Jitklongsub and Suveatwatanakul (2020), in turn, defined organizational culture as the philosophy, ideology, values, assumptions, beliefs, and expectations shared. Other accept that corporate culture should be compared to human invention, which creates an atmosphere of solidarity, fullness and commitment and productivity of all actors who move towards the same goal.
It is also worth noting the definition that comes down to understanding the organizational culture as a system of shared values, goals and beliefs. They depend directly on the organizations teams, its internal structure and its control system, which establishes behavioural norms that are necessary for the viability of the organization (Chen et al., 2018). They believe that the central role in the interpretation of the concept should be given to the external environment, which must necessarily meet and adapt to all the factors on which the company depends. Ali et al. (2017) provide a definition that most authors would agree with; they interpret organizational culture as a holistic organism that has developed historically due to the leaders or founders. The authors state that it is social and challenging to change as it necessarily consists of people whose everyday activity leads to achieving goals.
It is significant to mention that the organizational culture directly affects the results achieved by employees or managers in a particular company. Okatan and Alanku_ (2017) agree that it affects employee behaviour, learning and development, creativity and innovation. Thus, the definition of organizational culture, which has been widely accepted in scientific development by researchers interested in this field of knowledge, allows one to formulate it more precisely. Culture is all the fundamental assumptions and ideas that a given group has invented, discovered or developed in the process of learning to solve problems of adaptation to the environment and internal integration.
These definitions have been repeatedly tested and proven by it to such an extent that they can be considered relevant and accurate. Therefore, they can be instilled in every new member of the company as a proper way of feeling and perceiving the right direction of thinking about teamwork problems (Caber, 2018). Something cohesive and common elements can be found in all of these definitions. They emphasize the participants assumptions, norms, values, and the resulting ways of acting or behaving. It is a kind of mental community, understood as the foundation of all organizational activity and underlying the specific tasks that the organization must address.
The passenger air transportation market is highly competitive and subject to the influence of many external factors. At the same time, the successful functioning of airlines requires them to be customer-oriented, which is only possible within the framework of implementing an effective strategy based on a solid organizational culture of the company. The corporate philosophy of Turkish Airlines, which includes both mission, values and basic principles of work, is a kind of ideological platform on which all its activities in the field of corporate culture are based (Maden, 2013). Its primary vector and reference point is people, particularly passengers. Therefore, the primary duty of all Turkish Airlines employees is to help their customers. For this purpose, the companys corporate philosophy includes the development of competence, constructiveness, teamwork, understanding of the significance of relations with passengers, orientation on the satisfaction of clients needs and continuous improvement of service quality.
It is also noteworthy that the concept of organizational culture is directly correlated with many other phenomena, one of which is innovation. In order to understand their relationship, it is essential to dwelling on the concept of innovation, particularly in the field of air travel. Alagöz and Ekici (2014) see them as a fundamental method capable of influencing a companys competitiveness in domestic and international airlines and one of the main ways to improve an airlines image. They state among the distinctive features of airlines innovation activities, the absence of a development phase related to the development of new aircraft, specific functional orientation.
The term innovation itself has its roots in the Latin expression Novus or new , so one of its alternative interpretations is reduced to an innovative idea, methodology or development. Innovation has also been defined as the process by which new practices and techniques are introduced (Hammoud et al., 2017). They can also be interpreted as the development and further implementation of previously unknown ideas by workers who, over time, enter into business transactions with other physical actors in facets of the institutional, legal order.
For innovation to be practical, it must be encouraged and correlated with other relevant norms and support systems. Okumus et al. (2020) argue that they are the engine of progress and change, with organizational culture as the fundamental element that defines innovation. They consist of diverse forms of activity to provide value to the target audience and sufficient profit for the organizations. Adilo lu-Yalç1nkaya and Besler (2021), in turn, note that innovation is one of the most critical functions of any business. Any company that plan to generate profits should consider them as a means of achieving and retaining a strategic competitive advantage.
In order to determine whether an institution is capable of innovation, a comprehensive set of company characteristics that drive and facilitate innovation strategies must be examined (Aldemir et al., 2021). Innovation capability consists of creating and implementing new technological capabilities in the field of practice. The term encompasses a range of activities, from a predisposition to invent to improving existing technology beyond the original design parameters (Battal and Polat, 2020). It is also important to note that innovation capability directly affects the productivity and viability of its operations in several ways.
A companys capabilities are critical to gaining and maintaining a competitive advantage and expanding in any market (Gemici and Alpkan, 2015). In particular, the capacity to innovate is directly related to several strategic advantages. For example, they noted that sustainable competitive advantage could be achieved by continuously improving independent innovation capability in companies. Thus, innovation is related to the organizational capacity to transform new ideas into commercial and social value. It correlates with a wide range of elements and therefore is influenced by various internal and external factors (Arena et al., 2017). Although innovation is a complex concept, research highlights five key areas that affect an organizations innovativeness. These elements relate to leadership, opportunistic behaviours; culture and change; learning; and networking and relationships.
It is also important to note other studies in this area, particularly those that address issues of innovative business models. For example, Zaim et al. (2013) argue that the business model of any organization will be effective only when it has an element of innovation. They also note that business model innovation can increase operational efficiency and double its profits. Do ru (2021), in turn, explains that innovation, organizational culture and business are very closely related. Though in order to innovate, it is not necessary to change the concept of the company and come up with new development or service. It is enough to change the way of offering and part of the workflow, and then productivity will improve significantly. Demir et al. (2021) add that innovation is vital for the airline industry because these players are subject to high competition.
Particularly after the state control over this sector decreased, airlines have set a goal to serve many passengers at low prices to get customers love. Peksatici and Ergun (2019) believe that traditional airlines tried to stick to their conventional airline models, but the direct result of such actions was decreased demand for services, which led to the need for change. Ahmedian and Soran (2019) found that different organizational structures affect airline recognition in the aviation industry. They concluded that those that are innovative increase the companys market value. They define innovation as a way for airlines to succeed in todays world. Karasar and Öztürk (2014) analyzed innovations, dividing them into new business models, new technologies, and improved passenger classification to understand their needs and expectations. They also noted that airlines struggling with crises worldwide could manage their process by cutting costs as usual and through innovative models, customer classification, and new technology.
The search for the most influential innovations because of the above is a complex task that requires processing a significant amount of information. The structure of innovation activity can be represented as an innovation pyramid . The pyramids base (the lower hierarchy level) defines the static organization, its essential elements. The upper level of the order determines the dynamic organization and the innovation process. Areas of adaptation of organizational structures to innovations can be: the creation of staff units, providing coordination of work on the development and implementation of innovation (Taskinsoy and Uyar, 2017). They also include additional functions of structural units, associated with new responsibilities and powers of heads of departments; restructuring of the management system, changing the patterns of communication. In huge, enormous and partly medium-sized airlines, it is advisable to create elements of the organizational structure engaged in innovation activities permanently, in small ones temporarily.
The airline chooses the object of innovation, which corresponds, as a rule, to the already established composition of preparatory activities. For example, opening a new airline, connection to a new booking system, and air transportation sales are a well-regulated set of measures determined by supplying companies, state regulatory bodies, and the airlines themselves. Innovations are always associated with changes in the way an airline company operates (Kurt et al., 2013). The organization of an automated search process can be based on the sequential enumeration and analysis of possible combinations of changes in the directions of functioning of the enterprise. The algorithm of such an information system is based on the processing of change keyword sets and databases.
It is equally important to support the creative activity of personnel in terms of innovative proposals, which implies the creation of an environment in the company that is favourable for innovation and the use of methods for generating new ideas. A good environment occurs if: management is receptive to new ideas; working contacts between employees are encouraged; working groups of employees from different departments are created when solving problems and conducting new developments (Inan, 2018). An innovative culture is unthinkable without a creative atmosphere that encourages employees to develop new things; the principal value is the ability to work creatively. Solving problems creatively is the most important quality of modern management.
A particular organizational structure of management is needed to form an innovation culture based on the principle of flexible response and new perception (Suifan, 2021). For this purpose, project or program-targeted structures and their combination with traditional functions are used. An essential condition for the organization of innovative activity at the intrafirm level is entrepreneurial autonomy, granting freedom to individual structural units of the enterprise.
Ahmetoglu (2018) notes that Turkish Airlines is one of the companies where organizational culture is closely related to innovation management. It provides domestic and foreign cargo transportation to the most significant number of destinations. He states that the company plans to achieve this by acquiring high-tech, fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly aircraft that provide high levels of comfort. Raharjo (2018) also notes that with an unrivalled route network, a young and modern fleet, comfortable seats and delicious food, the company has earned Europes Best Airline. With great enthusiasm and ambition, they fly to almost every country globally.
Karaman and Akman (2018) make the statement that knowledge and intellectual activity are crucial to an organization and are the source without which no complete action is possible. He also believes that the organizational culture and innovation management process in Turkish Airlines is inextricably linked. Furthermore, innovation management in this company aims to manage the positive and negative functions of critical knowledge in various activities, define new strategies and new products, strengthen human resource management and meet several objectives or goals.
Over the years, the organization has been at the forefront of innovations emerging in the airline world, from renewable biofuels and new aircraft to advanced operational tools and in-flight entertainment systems. To maintain its leadership position in the industry and its ability to provide world-class customer service, the company had to increase its workforce and implement modern IT practices, including Agile and DevOps (Edwards-Schachter, 2018). Such transformations are challenging for any company, and they are particularly challenging for an ever-growing multinational corporation.
In general, most authors consider theoretical aspects of the organizations corporate culture, and the presentation of results of empirical research is comparatively low. Scientific research also deals with the concept of innovation, but at the same time there is insufficient explanation of its practical application. This is explained by the complexity of studying the internal environment of the enterprise. After all, visually, it is possible to observe only external manifestations of corporate culture, and interior ideas, attitudes, values, beliefs are studied through special techniques, conducting surveys of company personnel. That is why there is a need for a comprehensive study of the organization, the organizational culture of which is in close contact with innovation.
Methodology
Research Design
The research will employ a sequential design because it allows investigating the opinions of a whole group of people over a specific period. The study will use the interview and survey method in order to obtain truthful information from employees about organizational culture and its impact on innovation management.
Target population and participants
It is essential to discuss the characteristics of the research participants. As already mentioned, to understand how developed the corporate culture is, and its influence on innovation management at Turkish Airlines, a questionnaire survey and face-to-face interviews of employees in three structural units of Turkish Airlines were conducted. These divisions include the Marketing and Sales Department, Financial Department and Flight Operations Department. These departments were selected to cover a more significant segment of employees. Therefore, the study in 3 departments provided information about organizational culture and its impact on managers application of innovation management and to what extent.
The target group was 200 employees from marketing and sales, 180 finance employees, and 300 flight control personnel. It is also crucial to identify that the representation of the articles was in a 50/50 residual ratio. At the same time, employees of different genders who varied in socioeconomic status participated. Thus, in addition to rank-and-file employees, assistant managers were also involved. Moreover, workers with different ethnic backgrounds, such as Greeks and Kurds (50 workers), participated in the research.
In order to guarantee the anonymity of the questionnaire, measures were taken, such as giving each participant an identification code for the study. Therefore, their answers were recorded under the cypher code rather than the participants last name. However, during the face-to-face interviews, each participant was given an identification number ranging from 1 to 680. Accordingly, the interviewer did not know the respondents data, maintaining anonymity. Significantly, the files containing electronic data were password-protected and encrypted. Hence, it was impossible to establish which precinct belonged to which answer; as a consequence, due to the guarantee of anonymity the participants answered the questions honestly through.
Procedures
Data collection instruments
In order to understand the degree of the corporate culture at Turkish Airlines, the employees of the three Turkish Airlines departments (Marketing and Sales, Finance, and Flight Operations) were questioned, and five questions were asked to the staff. A total of 680 individuals participated in the research. The questionnaires were distributed to all the employees of the departments, and those who wanted to participate in the questionnaire filled out the forms during the week and dropped them in the specially installed boxes.
The questions were chosen in such a way as to establish the percentage of employees satisfaction or dissatisfaction with their work in the company. At the same time, the questions that participants received in the form of questionnaires are standard for such studies. They provide an accurate answer to the question about the current state of organizational culture and whether leadership influences management practices to be more innovative. What do you expect from your company in the future? How long have you been with the company? Would you say that the people you work with are a team? Do you enjoy working at Turkish Airlines? Does management examine the state of team cohesion and introduce an innovative manager based on that?
One more method used in the research is face-to-face interviews. It was chosen in order to get answers to the questions of organizational culture development in the organization. During the week, the employees were interviewed via Skype at a convenient time. Each of the participants was offered to give answers to questions that directly concern the companys culture and division of the companys values and the use of certain types of motivation in the enterprise. Specifically, the following questions were given: Do you know the history of your company? What is the mission of the company? What meaning does the very concept of organizational culture have for you? What recreational activities do you have in your organization? What material and tangible assets are core to your organization? It is essential to mention that this data collection method was conducted after the questionnaire, so the same 680 people took part in it.
Data analysis procedures
After two preliminary data collection steps were conducted, experts were brought in to conduct the Hofstede model analysis. This method of data analysis was chosen because of several significant factors. In order to evaluate organizational culture, G. Hofstede introduced special parameters that assess peoples behaviour (Do ru, 2021). During the investigation, the following criteria are used: individuality and collectivism, which characterizes the degree of a grouping of people; power distance, which describes the degree of inequality between management and subordinates; masculinity and femininity, which reflects the division of labour functions into male and female. Typology of organizational cultures is a variant of cognition of cultural types. The mode is implemented by the method of decomposing socio-cultural systems and subjects into types on a generalizing basis.
The mentioned aspects of cultural dimensions enable one to understand the functioning of different national cultures, which can coexist in one company. However, the principal value of this theory is the possibility of applying the knowledge of cultural d
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