A STUDY ON THE CULTURAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE HOSPITALS IN BUCHAREST

Turnover rates for hospital personnel (nurses, doctors and auxiliary staff) have been increasing in recent years, especially in the public sector, being the result of a couple of factors. I believe that one of the main causes is related to organizational culture aspects. This research analyses if dated facilities, unpleasant work environment and lack of personnel contribute to a low job satisfaction and involvement. The study also compares the results obtained from persons working in the public sectors with the results given by respondents from private clinics. An organization's culture could be strong or weak, being dependent to cohesiveness, value consensus and individual commitment to collective goals. Effective cultures help organizations anticipate and adapt to environment changes, thus proactive cultures should enhance and support profitability on the long-run. This research also investigates strength of the occupational culture by comparing the results obtained in the public sector with results from private sector. My study is developed on 63 professionals working in the medical system and it is based mainly on quantitative methods. The instrument of the research is the structured questionnaire. The main goal of the study is to highlight the significant cultural differences between the state-owned and public-owned hospitals and to assess if they have a greater influence to the institutions, as compared to common occupational values and norms. The implications of my research for the field of organizational behavior refers to the fact that I have identified the organizational elements that are common to both public and private hospitals, influenced by a strong occupational culture, and those that differ significantly, being the result of underfunding and poor management. As a conclusion, I consider that this is a great starting point for further research in the field and I plan to enlarge the investigation on a greater number or respondents and to come up with solutions for the identified issues.