THE INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIAN ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE ONSPIRITUAL GROWTH

A THESISBY

TABE JOHN TAMBENPVIU-MCS-M.TH-003

TOTHE COLLEGE OF THEOLOGY

NEW PROSPECT VISON INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITYWASHINGTON DC, USA

+

IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE AWARD OF Ph.D DEGREE INTHEOLOGY (Ph.D Th)

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CERTIFICATION

I Certify that this Thesis on The INFUENCE OF

CHRISTIAN ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE ON SPIRITUAL GROWTH,

is an original work written by TABE JOHN TAMBE and

was carried out under my supervision.

I have examined and found it acceptable for the award

of Ph.D certificate in Theology.

Dr. ANYA FRANCIS (Supervisor) Sign.

Date:

2

DECLARATION

We declare that the Thesis on THE INFUENCE OF

CHRISTIAN ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE ON SPIRITUAL GROWTH

is an original work written by TABE JOHN TAMBE with

REG. NO. (M.TH/2011/001)

We have examined and found it acceptable for the

award of DOCTORATE DEGREE.

DR. ANYA FRANCIS Sign. (Supervisor)

Date:

3

EXTERNAL EXAMINER Sign.

Date

ABSTRACT

This study investigated THE INFUENCE OF CHRISTIAN

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE ON SPIRITUAL GROWTH -YAOUNDE

CAMEROON.

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The population of study was three and ninety two

Christians leaders from three churches in the

Yaounde.

Selected randomly from three different Churches in

the Region. The instrument used for the study was a

questionnaire that was constructed through the help

of the Supervisor.

To accomplish this investigation five research

hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The

data obtained from the respondents were subjected to

statistical analysis. From the findings made on these

study, conclusions were drawn and recommendations

made.

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CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.0 INTRODUCTION

This chapter deals with the background to the

study, statement of the problem, hypotheses,

significance of the study, research questions,

objectives, definition of operational concepts and

delimitation of the work.

The work is divided into five chapters, which are

empirically and systematically arranged from the

problem background to the conclusion of findings.

Chapter one introduces salient issues like statement

of the problem, the research question, objectives,

hypotheses, delimitation of the study, significance

and definition of operational concepts while the

second chapter dwells on related literature and the

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theories used. Chapters three focuses on the

methodology used; the target population, sample and

sampling technique, instrument and method of data

management; while chapter four presents the findings

on tables and analysis of results using Fisher’s

Exact Test and the interpretation of results.

Conclusions are made, making allusions to the

theories and literature stated. Some suggestions and

recommendations are stated. The work ends with a

bibliography and an appendix.

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Behaviour in organisation is not simply a

function of formal expectation and the individual

cognition and motivation but the dynamic nature of

the relationship among these elements. Participants

bring with them to the work place a host of unique

attributes, sentiments, values, needs, motives and

cognitions. All groups, formal or informal produce in

a manner some significance to the organisation. This

symbolic production is the result of a dialectic

interrelationship in a context; for actors and social

relations Hoffstede (1980).

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These individual characteristics mediate the

rationale and planned aspects of organisational life.

A collective sense of identity emerges that

transforms a simple aggregate of individualism into a

distinctive workspace personality or culture. This

indigenous feeling of the group has been analysed and

studied under the variety of labels. These include;

organisational character, “milieu”, atmosphere,

ideology, climate, culture, emergent system and

informal organisation (Hoy & Miskel,1996) in (Louche,

2005)

Specialists in organisational sciences perceive

the relationship between culture and organisation

differently. According to Smirich (1983), in Chanlat

(2003),culture is something an organisation has or

something an organisation is. Many social scientists

ask the question, if culture is a variable or a

structured system? These researchers constantly

examine the internal individual organisational

culture.

Organisational culture is a contemporary

perspective for examining the distinctive character

of any given organisation. Culture in a business

enterprise is not the same as a firm’s ‘strategy’ or

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‘structure’, although these terms are some times used

interchangeably because they can all play an

important part,, along with the competitive and

regulatory environment, in shaping people’s

behaviour. Strategy is simply a logic for how to

achieve movement in some directions, but the beliefs

and practices called for in a strategy that may be

the firm’s culture (Kotter & Heskett, 1992).

Anthropologists, sociologist and different social

scientists have examined and defined culture from

different angles, but our analysis of the internal

workplace environment is focus on organisational

culture, comprising of the attitudes, beliefs,

experiences, norms, opinions, values and behaviour,

which is defined as ‘share realities’ that appear to

exist among groups of people within an organisation

(Schein, 2005), and it’s the ‘residue of success.

This notion suggests a natural, spontaneous and human

side of the organisation. It also suggests that the

organisational whole is greater than the sum of its

parts.

Organisational culture has two levels which

defer in terms of their visibility and their

resistance to change. At the more visible level

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culture represents the behaviour patterns or style of an

organisation that new employees

are automatically encouraged to follow by their

fellow employees. For example, people in one group

have for years been “hard workers”, those in another are

“very friendly” to strangers and those in a third always

wear conservative clothes. Culture in a sense might be tough

to change, but not nearly as difficult as at the

level of basic values.

At the deeper and less visible level, culture

refers to values that are shared by the people in a group and

tend to persist over time even when group membership changes.

The notions about what is important in life can vary

greatly in different organisations; in some settings

people care deeply about money, while in others about

technological innovations or employees well-being. At

this level culture can be extremely difficult to

change in part because group members are often

“unaware” of many of the values that bind them

together (Kotter & Heskett, 1992).

On this premise both the visible, groups

behaviour norms and the invisible shared values of

the organisation’s stand as the culture of that

organisation and would determine the output and

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efficiency of the company’s strategies and projects

beginning from the organisational human welfare and

interaction tone. Where groupthink is enhanced and

conformity is reached, workers are easily influenced

towards given decisions and to co-operate at all

levels of organisational task for efficiency.

Schein (2005),defined organisational culture as

“the residue of success», and stated that an

organisational model, which illuminates culture from

the stand point of the observer, is described by

three cognitive levels of organisational culture.

The first and most cursory level of the model is

the organisational attributes that can be seen, felt

and heard to the uninitiated observer, like the

facilities offices, furnishing, visible and

recognise, the way its members dress, how each

visibly interacts with others and organisational

outsiders. The next level deals with the professed

culture of the organisational participants

themselves, where you have the company’s slogans,

missions statements and other operational needs.

This shows attitudes of organisational membership and

their behaviour.

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At the third and deepest level, the

organisation’s tacit assumptions are found. These are

elements of culture that are unseen and not

cognitively identified in everyday interactions

between organisational members. These elements of

culture are often a taboo to discuss in the

organisation. Many of these ‘unspoken rules’ exist

without the conscious knowledge of the membership and

sometimes those with enough experience to understand

this deepest level of culture become acclimatized to

these attributes over time thus adding to the

invisibility of their existence (Schein, 2005).

Culture at this level is the underlying and driven

element of organisational culture that is often

missed by most organisational behaviourists.

At the surface, organisational rewards can imply

one organisational norm but at the deepest level

imply something completely different. This insight

which is not easy or common and difficult to appraise

is produced by interaction of workers at the

individual level and group; and by sharing their

accepted cultural content; aspiration, opinions,

norms, beliefs, values etc. These unseen,

unidentified and unspoken rules, elements and

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unconscious knowledge are produced and do have a

greater influenced on the organisation, in terms of

effectiveness and efficiency, in output, productivity

and dynamics of interpersonal relationship in the

organisation..

Schein (2005), in defining Organizational

Culture, postulates that culture is something used to

give structural stability through repeating patterns

that organizations have in order to achieve things

over a sustained period of time. In "Culture and

Organizational Learning," Scott Cook and Dvora Yanow

examine how organizations, not individuals, learn.

Or, in other words, how an organization constitutes

and reconstitutes itself. For them, it's about the

interaction of people with their things. Culture is

an environmental interaction. The different

actors, like workers, pastors and specialists, in

producing their culture through negotiation, fusion

of their values and separation as professionals will

avoid waste of time effort and money, but could

produce growth with little input. Workers will save

time, money and effort (Louche, 2005). This is

efficiency produced by forces in an organisation.

Something which workers are sometimes not quite

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aware of, about themselves and the group; but serve

as a catalyst for output and efficiency.

This piece of work is based on examining the

influence of Christian organisational culture on

spiritual growth. It begins by examining the general

background of the Christian organisation and the

various cultures in organisations and particularly

the salient cultural elements (intrinsic motivational

forces) in the Christian organisation which have an

influence on spiritual growth. .

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Literature on organisational culture and output

indicates evidence on the enhancement of the

effectiveness and efficiency in the organisation by

the type of culture adopted.

Many organisational behaviourists and

psychologists have outlined and argued on different

grounds; for power culture, role culture, task

culture and person culture by giving their advantages

and disadvantages. Schien (2005), and Kotter &

Heskett (1992), have indicated that the levels of

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culture in the organisation have the visible and

invisible elements or forces that lead to

organisational output and efficiency.

We have also observed that most organisations

especially church organisations are not productive

and this might be because they have neglected the

individual intrinsic factors such as church

discipline, doctrinal modes training programmes,

dressing culture and routine activities of the

church, which lead to improve the attitude of members

in that given organisation.

It is the attitude shown towards events and

situations that makes us discover that not everyone

is called to do some specific tasks. Therefore, when

we get people to do what they were not interested in

we are indirectly advocating for poor output and low

production. This indicates that vocational attitude

towards a task is quite salient in the quality of the

accomplishment of it.

Those who have mastered an activity for so many

years may be skilful and can do it more perfectly

making us of time, energy and money; but in many

occasions we put unskilful people in those places

because they relate to us and this mares the

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growth of the individuals and that of the

organisation. Organisational behaviourists in

examining influential factors for output in an

enterprise have not mentioned the routine

activities (habit) as a force that influences

output. A degree of skills and abilities could be

built in the workers through routine and an

increases in their skills for efficiency as they

interact moves towards actualisation..

Organisational culturalists and psychologists in

discussing on group influence, failed to consider the

mere existence of the dynamics of interpersonal

relationships in the working environment. Some peolpe

are intrinsically driven to work by the presence of

some colleagues. The behaviour of others triggers the

attitude of some people. This is sometimes non

cognitive and unidentified, yet has an influence on

the their growth; some times more than the prescribed

norms of the organisation.

Some organisations enjoy steady growth without

any extra effort. No additional input, training of

workers, replacements or use of threats, yet their

growth remain steady and sometimes increase. One can

observe total harmony, solidarity and smooth vertical

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and horizontal communication. This is the efficiency level of

people in any organisation.

We are asking the question as to why some church

organisations are breaking apart all the time to

create others and the life of some of the members

(Christians) do not reflect or experience spiritual

growth but rather become a social misfit and raises

eye brows in the community. These are some intrinsic

cultural forces which the person himself may not

perceive or notice.

Kurt Lewin, in his field of group dynamics did

not clearly come out with some of these variables

among cultural elements in organisational behaviour,

we want to find out if these will not influence

spiritual growth efficiency in church

organisations?

Can spiritual growth efficiency be observed in

the life of organisational members where these

cultural variables are found or can these elements

influence a change in the spiritual life of members

of the church organisation? This is the reason we

wish to find out if spiritual growth depends on

Christian organisational culture.

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1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

From the background to the study and statement of

the problem on Christian organisational culture and

Spiritual Growth , the main research question raised

is as follows:

- Does Spiritual Growth depend on Christian Organisational Culture?

Specific Questions

Can routine church activities influence spiritual

growth?

can church discipline influence spiritual growth?

How can church doctrine influence spiritual

growth?

Will the church training programmes influence

spiritual growth?

Does physical appearance of the Christians

influence spiritual growth?

1.4 HYPOTHESES

1.4.1 General Hypothesis

To give a tentative response to the research

question that would guide the investigation, we

proceeded to develop a general hypothesis for the

study as follows:

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- There is no significance influence of Christian Organisational

Culture on Spiritual growth. This hypothesis has two

variables: The independent variable, which is the

Christian Organisational Culture and the dependent

variable which is Spiritual Growth.

1.4.2 Research Hypotheses

To have clear indicators that could be used for

the manipulation of variables we had to proceed to

the operationalization of the independent variable of

the general hypothesis. This led us to formulate five

research hypotheses that would serve as a guide to

data collection and analysis.

H1 There is no significant influence of routine

church activities on spiritual growth?

H2 There is no significant influence of church

discipline on spiritual growth?

H3 There is no significant influence of church

doctrine on spiritual growth?

H4 There is no significant influence of the church

training programmes on spiritual growth?

H5 There is no significant influence of physical

appearance of the christian on spiritual growth?

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1.5 OBJECTIVES

1.5.1 General objective(s)

The general objective of this work is:

-To find out if Spiritual growth depends on Christian

Organisational Culture?

1.5.2 Specific objectives

The study is geared to;

investigate on routine church activities and

influence on spiritual growth?

find out if church discipline can influence

spiritual growth?

find out if the church doctrine can influence

spiritual growth?

find out the church training programmes can

influence spiritual growth?

investigate on physical appearance of christian

spiritual growth?

1.6- Significance of the study

This piece of work is a pointer to salient

issues in organisational culture and efficiency.

Touching the informal, invisible and unidentified

cultural elements that play a role by influencing

spiritual.

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-The work will serve as an eye opener to

organisational psychologists and behaviourists by

touching one of the most difficult area of

investigation. They will benefit from the knowledge

generated here, as it serves as a pointer and guide

towards research on effective organisational norms in

group dynamics.

-Many Organisational leaders and managers will

exploit the results of this work to enhance their

cultural content to improve growth.

-It will serve as a motivation to students of

research in this domain, to develop and investigate

on other related issues like unidentified cultural

factors of the leaders that may influence

efficiency.

-Policy makers of church organisations and

government would use the results as a guide to

formulating rules and regulations that would direct

the functioning of these organisations.

1.7- Delimitation of the study

This research work focuses on organisational

culture and efficiency and specifically on the

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cultural forces in the church organisations that

influence efficiency.

Geographically, the work examines some churches

in Yaounde, The Apostolic, Full Gospel and Assemblies

of God were used as case study. These are used

because they the main Pentecostal movements in and in

Yaounde and do have some visible organisational

structure and cultural elements.

In the thematic domain, emphasis is laid on those

salient concepts used

in the work. What are they? How can they influence

spiritual growth in the Christian organisation? The

welfare of the individuals and the general life of

the organisation.

1.8- Definition o f some operational concepts

‘Total inherited ideas, beliefs, values, attitudes,

norms of behaviour, which

constitute the shared bases of social action’ and

‘the total range and ideas and

activities of a group of people with shared

traditions which are transmitted and

reinforced by members of a group’ (Chambers

Dictionary)

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- Organisational culture

Kolb et al (1974), said an organisation is viewed

as consisting of individuals interconnected as

members of a social network, interpreting, creating,

sharing and acting on information or knowledge.

It is also a group of people brought together, in

a systematic manner in order to achieve desired

objectives (Tamajong & Fonkeng, 2003)

The Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary

defines it as a group of people who work together in

a structured way for a shared purpose. An

organisation therefore is an organised structure

comprising of individuals of divers giving who are

interconnected and share in various ways to pursue

the prescribed objectives and for the efficiency of

the enterprise.

Chester Barnard’s definition coined since 1938

remains popular. He said, “----an organisation is a

system of consciously coordinated activities or

forces of two or more persons” (Kreitner;1995) in

(Tamukong & Oben, 2005).

The American Heritage Dictionary defines culture

more formerly as <the totality of socially

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transmitted behaviour patterns, its beliefs,

institutions and all other products of humans work

and thought characteristics of a community or

population.

Kotter & Heskett (1992) state that the “term”

culture originally comes from social anthropology,

which revealed ways of life that may not only be

different from the more technologically advanced

parts of America and Europe but may often be very

different among themselves. The concept of culture

was coined to represent in a very broad and holistic

sense, the quality of any specific human group that

were passed from one generation to the next.

The Websters New Collegiate Dictionary defines

culture as “the integrated pattern of human behaviour

that include thoughts, speech, actions and antifacts

and depends on man’s capacity for learning and

transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations

Culture is to society what memory is to the

individual. In other words culture include the

traditions that tell “what has worked” in the past.

It also encompasses the way people have learned to

look at their environment and themselves and their

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unstated assumptions about the way the world is and

the way people act” (Triandis, 1994)

Culture subjectively influences behaviour while

it is made by humans; it also helps to make them,

because humans have an interactive relationship with

culture (Mogaddem et al, 1993)

Traindis (1990) identifies and defines cultural

syndromes as a pattern of values, attitudes, beliefs

norms and behaviour that can be used to contrast a

group of cultures to another group of cultures. He

said, these cultural complexity, individualism versus

collectivism and tight versus loose cultures. "

Culture can be viewed as an independent variable

(or external variable) brought into the organisation,

as an internal variable within an organisation, or as

a root metaphor for conceptualising organisations.

Also, "a pattern of basic assumptions - invented,

discovered, or developed by a given group as it learns to

cope with its problems of external adaptation and

internal integration - that has worked well enough to be

considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new

members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel

in relation to those problems" (Schein, 1985)

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Schein (2005), defines organisational culture as,

“the residue of success” within an organisation.

Deal and Kennedy (1982), also define

organisational culture as, “ the way things get done

around here? It comprises of attitudes, values,

experiences beliefs and opinions of the people.

Organisational culture is a “pattern of beliefs

and expectations shared by organisation’s members

that produces norms that powerfully shape the

behaviour of individuals and group in organisation”

(Schwartz & Davis 1981). Ruigrokl & Achtenhagen

(1999), in Louche (2005), state that many authors

agree on the fact that:-

- Culture constitute norms, beliefs, opinions and

behaviour

- Culture is shared by members of an organisation

and is taught to new members

- Culture is seen in the actions and input to work,

by the manner of treatment of organisational

problems

- Culture is an informal mechanism of control and

coordination, it contributes to cement

relationships.

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Therefore, organisational culture is what

characterised an organisation and makes it

different from others. It is both the visible and

invisible forces and elements (norms, beliefs,

opinions, values etc) that work for the

organisation’s success and leads to its efficiency.

- Spiritual Growth

Here, we use models to illustrate spiritual and

church growth.

1. Rick Warren's book, "The Purpose-Driven

Church." set forth a Model. The "Attractive Church "

In this model, programs (such as daycare, sports

programs, classes, and contemporary music and

worship) are created which attract people from the

community to the church. the Christians in the

practice are experiencing changes in their spiritual

lives; this is spiritual growth.

2. Michael Slaughter of Ginghamsburg also set

forth a Model", called the "Missional Church". In

this model, missional activities are developed to

which people are drawn to participate. As they

participate, they gradually become involved in the

life of the church.

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3. Brian L. Boley's Model "Praise God to Friends

and Neighbors." How to Share the Gospel: A Proven

Approach for Ordinary People". In this model, members

of the congregation begin to praise God to friends

and neighbors. As they praise God, they are

eventually seen as "God-experts", and people begin to

inquire of them about spiritual issues. By routine

spiritual activities their lives change and the lives

of those they share the word. As the members of

church organization experience spiritual growth the

organization also grows.

Although the Bible does not specifically address

church growth, the principle of church growth is the

understanding that Jesus said, “I will build my

church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it”

(Matthew 16:18). Paul confirmed that the church has

its foundation in Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11).

Jesus Christ is also the head of the church and the

church’s life Having said that, it should be

remembered that “growth” can be a relative term.

There are different kinds of growth, some of which

have nothing to do with numbers.

A church can be alive and growing even though the

number of members/attendees is not changing. If those

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in the church are growing in the grace and knowledge

of the Lord Jesus, submitting to His will for their

lives, both individually and corporately, that is a

church that is experiencing true growth. At the same

time, a church can be adding to its rolls weekly,

have huge numbers, and still be spiritually stagnant.

Growth of any kind follows a typical pattern. As

with a growing organism, the local church has those

who plant the seed (evangelists), those who water the

seed (pastor/teachers), and others who use their

spiritual gifts for the growth of those in the local

church. But note that it is God who gives the

increase (1 Corinthians 3:7). Those who plant and

those who water will each receive their own reward

according to their labor (1 Corinthians 3:8).

There has to be a balance between planting and

watering for a local church to grow, which means that

in a healthy church each person must know what

his/her spiritual gift is so that he/she can function

within in the body of Christ. If the planting and

watering get out of balance, the church will not

prosper as God intended. Of course, there has to be

daily dependence upon and obedience to the Holy

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Spirit so His power can be released in those who

plant and water in order for God's increase to come.

Finally, the description of a living and growing

church is found in Acts 2:42-47 where the believers

“devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to

the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to

prayer.” They were serving one another and reaching

out to those who needed to know the Lord, for the

Lord “added to their number daily those who were

being saved.” When these things are present, the

church will experience spiritual growth, whether or

not there is numerical increase Praising God and

having favor with all the people. And the Lord added

to their number day by day those who were being

saved. (Acts 4:7)

- Beliefs and Doctrines

These are laid down precepts and teachings of

religious groups to guide and instruct adherents as

norms of the group. They are for reprove,

correction and direction to members. The degree of

practices of the tenets will be determining factor

for adherence to abide in a particular church group

or organization (Easton,1996)

- The Church

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Bong (200) defines the church as the company of

those are born again through personal faith in

Jesus Christ and are brought by the holy spirit

into fellowship both with God and other Christians.

They are sanctified empowered and gifted to

witness, serve and worship. The original Greek word

for Church is "Ecclesia", which means "called

ones". It is simply God's called out people. These

people are guided by Biblical beliefs and

practices. The degree of their understanding of

these beliefs and practices may determine their

abidance in a particular church organisation.

Therefore, the Church is a Christian organization

with a structure and culture that must have an

impact on the lives of the its members.

- Christians and Believers

Grolier (2003) states that a Christian or a

believer is one who adheres to an Christian movement,

having accepted their doctrines, beliefs and

practices and fulfils his or her membership

conditions as stated in their tenets. These are those

who for one reason or the other will like to remain

or migrate to othe Church organization if their

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aspirations are not met in the Church where they are

found.

.

CHAPTER TWO

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Review of Literature And Theoretical Framework.

2.0 INTRODUCTION

This chapter focuses on the review of related

literature, philosophical and psychological

contributions on 'The Influence of Christian

Organisational Culture on Spiritual Growth.' The

researcher formulated some topics to guide the

studies. Such topics include; level of organisational

culture, classification of organisational culture,

types of organisational culture, some elements and

role of culture. the structure and culture of the

Pentecostal Churches in Cameroon.

2.1 Review of Literature.2.1.1The Levels of Organisational Culture

Louche (2005), states that culture has an old

reference from organisational psychology. By 1939,

Roethlisberger and Dickson were already talking of

systems of ideas and beliefs through which the global

values of an organisation manifest, and symbols on

which these values are organised. Jacques (1952),

like Crozier (1963), in Louche (2005), indicate that

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there was bureaucracy model in France, and only in

1980s that the term “culture of the enterprise” came

with force in the programme. Culture, now perceived

as a decisive factor which explains the success of an

organisation, especially in Japan.

Although the definitions of culture are many,

most authors agree on the fact that:-

- Culture is made up of norms, beliefs, opinions

and behaviour;

- Culture is shared by members of the organisation

and is taught to new members;

- Culture is seen in the actions carried out or in

the manner of treating the organisational

problems; and

- Culture is an informal mechanism of control and

coordination; it contributes to concretise

relationship (Ruigrok and Achtenhagen, 1999) in

Louche (2005).

All organisational theorists agree that

organisational culture is made up of many levels

(Louche 2005), but we shall discuss three as

indicated by Schein (1985).

2.1.1.1- The level of manifestation

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This is the most apparent. It is made up of

explicit indicators of culture. The topology, the

history of the organisation as it might be presented

in the brochure, the rites and rituals (socially

collective activities), the oral and written language

used, the heroes who are like the model of the

expected behaviour and symbols like dressing and

flags.

2.1.1.2- The level of values

Values here are defined as behaviour goals,

objectives, the desired state in different specific

situations and which are held as the normative

standard to judge and select among alternative

behaviours. These are universals in the content and

structure of values (Zana,1992) in (Louche,2005).

Values constitute an inferred variable. This can be

illustrated in this way. Imagine that there is a

sudden fall in sales in an enterprise. If the manager

says “Let do publicity” he chooses a behaviour among

others (analysis the behaviour of the commercial

agent of the model product…). This choice shows a

value “publicity increases sales” which will be

communicated to the members. It is a call for every

member of the organisation to identify, accepts and

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follows the values prescribed for the enterprise to

enhance output or growth.

2.1.1.3- The level of Basic postulates

This is the most buried level and it is made up

of values that are considered acquired and tangible.

Research here is done on different orientations:

- National culture;

- Direction of the enterprise; and

- Position of the different actors.

Organisational culture is seen as societal

values and is also considered as an instrument of

management used by the management of the organisation

. Researchers have indicated that cultures are

constructed by different groups in the organisation;

therefore they must be only shared opinions, but

different orientations which are discussed below.

A- National culture:

Hofststede (1980), carried out many researches

with the objective of defining national culture. “La

culture est par essence une programmation mentale collective; c’est cette

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partie de notre conditionnement que nous partogeons avec les autres

membres de notre nation.”

From 1967 to 1971, Hofstede was a psychologist in

a multinational (in a multinational enterprise that

manufactured computer equipment). He administered a

questionnaire to 116000 people of different status

based on attitudes and values. Data was collected

from 40 countries and the stable characteristics

appeared which constituted national culture. There

was the questions of generalisation of workers who

did not belong to the multinational where he worked,

but some facts justified this generalisation.

After 1971, Hofstede became professor in an

international Institute of Administrative Affairs,

with the population composed of leaders of different

countries; they were invited to fill the

questionnaire. This gave the same response like that

of the multinational. He therefore consulted about 40

published works and the similitude of the results

showed that the observed phenomena did not depend on

the multinational, but national culture. These

cultures are defined in four dimensions.

i- Individualism versus collectivism: In

individualism the society gives liberty of

37

citizens and individuals are preoccupied with

their personal interest, unlike collectivism

where each person is pre occupied with group

interest. It appears that individualism is link

to riches and collectivist countries are quite

poor.

ii- Power distance: This is defined by the way

inequalities are treated. For example, Northern

Europe and Anglo-Saxon countries practice

strong individualism, where hierarchy

differences are not accepted. France

singularises itself from these countries by

accepting inequalities of power, but moves

closer to individualism

iii-Uncertainty avoidance: Since the future is

characterise by uncertainty it is good to

expose these uncertainties to members. Some

societies conditioned their members to accept

this uncertainty; so will create security. They

will use different means to do that:

(technology that will protect dangers on nature

and war, law, rules and institutions that

permits them to face unpredictable people,

religion and ideologies)

38

iv- Masculinity versus femininity: This model

opposes the societies that separate the

masculine roles from those of the feminine and

those that do not. We should have had a

masculine society, if we have to separate their

roles, except sex roles.

Northern European countries have a high indice

link to feminism. Men and women occupy indifferently

all social roles, while Japan has a strong masculine

inclination, including Germany, Austria and Swiss.

France and the United States are in the intermediary

position.

From the descriptions Hofstede draws some

conclusions on management. He draws attention on the

fact that managerial thought is oriented from

researches carried out in U.S.A, of which their

values are not the same with other countries. Using

this thought in different cultural contexts will take

a different significance. There will be difficulties

at the level of managing the behaviour of leaders at

the level of motivations. In U.S.A the idea of self

realisation involves risk taking, unlike in some

countries like Japan and Germany where there is

strong control of uncertainty and less risk taking.

39

What meaning do we give then to self realisation

(Hofstede, 1982) in (Louche, 2005).

At this time that international exchange is

developing, it is necessary to take into

consideration the characteristics of national

cultures. There was a time when enterprises thought

they could impose a common culture, but experience

shows that the more they struggle, the more cultural

diversity (Iribarne, 1999) in (Louche, 2005).

Iribarne thinks that all enterprises engaged or

involved in intercultural situations must mobilise

researches that update similitude and cultural

differences. They give guide lines which permit the

construction clear intercultural relations, and are

quite effective.

B- Management of the enterprise (culture as a

management tool)

Lemaître (1984), in Louche (2005), defines

culture as a system of representation and values

shared by all the members of the enterprise. This

culture mobilises energies and control behaviours, so

the direction of management controls most factors

that will condition it. Culture therefore constitute

40

the management tool, and is put to work through

divers procedures.

i- Selection of personnel: Some enterprises first

of all control the conformity of the candidates

to cultural values of the enterprise. Some

times a call to old associations of some units

of training will permit the search for persons

of the culture they wish to reinforce.

ii- Training: The training activities put in place

for the new workers permit the learning of some

tasks but also the diffusion of the culture of

the enterprise.

iii-Symbolic management: Culture is transmitted

through symbolic management. Language is one of

the types. You can establish between culture

and language. In some enterprises you have

subordinates but in most American companies you

have but collaborators. The language chosen

will wipe away some hierarchy differences and

pushes workers to real responsibility. Lemaître

shows that myths, metaphors, histories

contribute to establish culture and to share it

with others.

41

iv- Culture as a factor of performance: To

Lemaître, culture is a factor of performance

controlled by the management, though it is

partial control. In effect, learning culture is

done in multiple groups or mixed groups where

there is the development of different cultures.

To him culture is a factor of performance only

if three conditions are met.

- The enterprise must practice strong culture. They

must have a large field of representations and the

values of most members of the organisation. This

is still to be verified.

- The culture must be in accordance with the

strategic necessities at hand. For example, a need

to renovate the enterprise a culture that will

privilege risk taking and creativity.

- Culture must encourage reciprocal loyalty between

individuals and the organisation.

C- Position of Different Actors

With the approaches of Hofstede & Lemaitre the

worker is the recipient of the external culture

(National Culture) or from a dominant group (the

management); but the workers also are the producers

of the culture that intervenes in day to day

42

organisation of task (work). This culture contributes

to define the collective identity, as analysed by

Sainsaulieu (1985), in (Louche, 2005).

By the 1960s studies were carried out where 200

interviews and 800 questionnaires were used on

labourers, employees, technicians and cadres, who

worked at different sectors (electric material,

mechanics, chemistry, insurance). Sainsaulieu came

out with different types of cultures in relation to

the type of work (Louche, 2005).

Their norms were the characteristics of the

relationship between colleagues, with pairs, with the

hierarchy and leaders. Four models (fusion,

affinitive, negotiations and retreat) translated four

types of implications in the work place.

i- The fusion model: This concerns specialists

workers. These types of workers have little

personal responsibilities, little perspectives

and valorise the collective activities, to see

the differences that might cause a problem.

Here, unity in a strong value and the chiefs

are known to be very necessary because they

contribute to maintain this unity.

43

ii- The negotiation model: This is for

professionals and care taking, with divers

relationships; intense subscription within

acknowledgment of the differences that exist.

They preferred trained and emerged leaders than

imposed leaders.

iii-Separation models: This model concerns those

who have received professional growth and are

separating from the original group (belonging

group),who lived intimately and are sad to move to

different level (new professional domain) like moving

to the office or laboratory like young employed

technicians expecting promotions (Piotet &

Sainsauleiu,1981) in (Louche, 2005).

iv- Retreat model: The belief here is that work is

just an economic necessity and an object of

investment. Pair relations remain superficial and

less developed and relationship to chiefs is more

important. This is power exclusion model (Labourers,

specialists, young, low level of qualification,

women, immigrants) or workers with carrier profile.

The works of Sainsauleiuu permit us to define many

models of work relations and the different sub

cultures permits structured learning and training by

44

the organisation. Those who think weak in the social

set up take the retreat position. Those who invest in

the organisation develop strategies that are linked

to their position.

Here, we can talk of inherited and shared

culture, but if culture is constructed from a social

position, then the question of the validity of

Sainseulieu models constituted from 1960s, when

growth or increase was on (Raymond; 1998). Some

collective identities were sorted from three

dimensions.

Identification spaces: Four spaces are retained

(identification by content work, to the

enterprise, to the dynamics of personal projects

and reference to the society.

Representation system: The representation of

authority of the gaols of work and goals of the

enterprise permits us to understand what is being

done.

Collective adjustment of behaviour: This dimension

concern the relational behaviour, developed

towards the hierarchy but also to other partners

and the attitudes towards work.

45

Factorial analysis gotten from data collected from

an enterprise led to the development of two

dimensions.

Collective integration: This determines the

foundation of individual co- operation in the work

place. Two modes of integration are identified. That

which comes through the rules that valorise the

status versus the interaction that enhances debates

in the group.

- Sociability: People always oppose situations of

intense relationship with colleagues, in some

situations where relations should be avoided.

Economic transformations are accompanied by

diversification of cultures, define within the work

activities. Globally, we are place before

contradictory orientations at the level of the

analysis of culture. Hofstede & Lemaître have made us

to understand that the worker is the recipient who

passively integrates a global model of culture that

is uniformed. To Sainsaulien, culture is not shared.

The authors keep on discussing on what is

fiseable in an organisation, especially on culture

developed by Individual groups. Each of this people

has variables that permit integration, sociability

46

and collective contributions that enhances group

culture, to work for an increase output or

efficiency.

There are some unidentified and non cognitive

forces that motivate the individuals to accept, bow

and work. They can’t even identify or are not

conscious of what drive them to dynamically

cooperate to the efficiency in the work group.

These forces are linked to the individual workers,

the professional talk and the working environment.

2.1.2- Classification of Organisational Culture.

Several methods have been used to classify

organisational culture. In this work we shall discuss

four.

A. By Deal and Kennedy.

Deal and Kennedy defined organisational culture as

“the way things get done around here.” They measured

organisations in respect of:

a. Feedback – That quick feedback means an instant

response. This could be in Monetary and could also

be seen in another way, such as the impact of a save

in a match.

47

Risk – It represents the degree of uncertainty in the

organisation’s activities.

By these parameters, they suggested four

classifications of organisational culture:

i) The Tough-Gay Macho culture. Here, feedback is

quick and the rewards are high. It is often applied

to fast moving financial activities such as

brokerage, but could also apply to athletes

competing in team sports. It can be a very stressful

culture in which to operate.

ii) The work hard /play hard culture is

characterised by few risks being taken, all with

rapid feedback. This is typical in large

organisations, which strive for high quality

customer service and it is often characterised by

team meetings, jargons and buzz-words.

ii) The Bet your Company Culture, where big stakes

decisions are taken, but it may take years before

the results are known. These might involve

development or exploration projects, which take

years to come to fruition, such as oil prospecting

or military aviation.

iv) The Process Culture occurs in organisations

where there is little or no feedback. People just

48

get busy and become bogged down with how things are

done and not with what is to be achieved. This is

often associated with bureaucracies. Though we

criticize these cultures, they do produce consistent

results, which are ideals, for example, the public

services.

B. By Charles Handy

Handy (1985) popularised a method of looking at

culture which some scholars have used to link

organisational Structure to organisational culture.

He describes it as:

A power culture that concentrates power in a few hands

with control that radiates from the centre like a

web. Power cultures have few rules and little

bureaucracy; to permit swift decisions.

In a Role Culture, people have clearly delegated

authorities within a highly defined structure.

Typically, these organisations form hierarchical

bureaucracies, power derives from a person’s

position and little scope exists for expert power.

By Contrast, in a Task Culture, teams are formed to

solve particular problems. Power is derived from

expertise, so long as a team maintains expertise.

49

A person culture exists where all individuals believe

themselves superior to the organisation. Survival

can be difficult for such organisations, because the

concept of an organisation suggests that a group of

like-minded individuals pursue the organisational

goals. Some professional partnership can operate as

people’s culture, because each partner brings a

particular expertise and clientele to the firm.

C. By Hofstede

Hofstede demonstrated that there are national and

regional cultural groupings that affect the behaviour

of organisations. He identified five characteristics

of culture in his study of national influence.

- Power distance: The degree to which a society

expects that there should be differences in the

levels of power. In his study results suggests

that there is an expectation that some

“individuals wield larger amounts of power than

other. While another score reflected the view that

all people should have equal rights>.

- Uncertainty avoidances reflects the extend to which a

society accepts uncertainty and risk.

- Individualism versus collectivism: individualism is

contrasted with collectivism and refers to the

50

extent to which people are expected to stand up

for themselves or alternatively act predominantly

as a member of the group or organisation.

- Masculinity versus femininity: Refers to the value

place on traditionally male and female values;

male values for example include competitiveness,

assertiveness, ambition and the accumulation of

wealth and material possessions.

- Long versus short term orientation: Describes a society’s

time horizon or the importance attached to the

future versus the past and present. In long term

oriented societies, thrift and perseverance are

valued more while in short term oriented

societies, respect for tradition and reciprocation

of gifts and favour are valued.

D. By Edgar Schein

Schein defines organisational culture as “the

residence of success” within an organisation.

According to him culture is the most difficult to

change organisational attribute that exist,

outlasting organisational products services, founders

and leadership and all other attributes of the

organisation. His organisational model illuminates

culture from the stand point of the observer

51

described by three cognitive levels of organisational

culture.

-The first most cursory level is the

organisational attributes that can be seen, felt and

heard by even the uninitiated observers; including

the facilities, offices, furnishings, visible rewards

and recognition. The way its members dress and how

each person visibly interacts with each other and

with organisational outsiders.

-The second level deals with the professed

culture of the organisational participants

themselves. At this level, you can find company

slogans, mission’s statements and other operational

creeds, which are local and personal widely spread

and expressed within the organisation. The

organisational behaviour at this level can be studied

by interviewing the organisation’s memberships and

using questionnaires to gather attitudes of

organisational membership.

-There is a third and deepest level. The

organisation’s tacit assumptions; which are elements

of culture that are unseen and not cognitively

identified in every day interactions, between

organisational members. These are the elements of

52

culture that are often taboo to discuss inside the

organisation.

Many of these “unspoken rules” exist without the

conscious knowledge of the membership; even those

with enough organisational experience to understand

this deepest level of culture usually become

acclimatised to these attributes over time, thus

adding to the invisibility of their existence.

Surveys and casual interviews with organisational

members cannot really draw out these attributes,

rather a much more in-depth means must be used to

first identify, then understand organisational

culture at this level. Culture at this level is the

underlying and driving element of organisational

culture that is often missed by most organisational

behaviourists.

An organisation can profess highly aesthetic and

moral standards at the second level while

simultaneously displaying curiously opposing

behaviour at the third and deepest level of culture..

At the surface of organisational rewards it can imply

one organisational norm but at a deepest level

implying something completely different. This insight

offers an understanding of the difficulty that

53

organisational new comers have in assimilating

organisational culture and why it takes time to

become acclimatised and also explains why

organisational change agents usually fail to achieve

their goals. (Understanding tacit cultural norms are

generally not understood before would be change

agents begin their actions) (Schein 1985)

Understanding culture at the deepest level will

enhance the appreciation of the dynamics of inter

personal relationships; which we added to the

dynamics of organisational culture in the process of

pursuing or evaluating efficiency.

It is at Schein’s third level that the researcher

holds on the salient “issues underlying the

unidentified, non cognitive or non perceived forces

in the organisation emerging from the human relations

within the workers, the task and working environment;

which contribute to the spirit of cooperation,

assiduity, devotion and harmonious intra-worker

relations, to yield efficiency. Many organisational

behaviourists neglect these forces.

1.3 Types of organisational cultures

54

Harrison in Handy (1985), states four typologies of

organisational culture and suggested that organisations can be

classified under these four cultures; having their advantages

and flaws.

1- Power culture.

Handy describes the power culture as a ‘web’. He

suggests that this reflects the concentration of

power of a family-owned business, which can either be

extremely large or small. The family operation with

strict responsibilities going to family members

responsibility given to personalities rather than

expertise creates the power structure of the ‘web’.

Examples to which Handy refers include the massive

institutions in the USA, run as a small family

business at the top and known as ‘robber barons’.

Power is concentrated in a small area, the centre of

which is the wheel or the centre of the web. Power

radiates out from the centre, usually a key

personality, to others in the family who send

55

information down to either departments, functions or

units.

The important point to note is that, because power

and decision-making is concentrated in so few hands,

the strategists and key family members create

situations which others have to implement. It is

difficult for others outside the ‘family network’ to

influence events The ability of the power culture to

adapt to changes in the environment is very much

determined by the perception and ability of those who

occupy the positions of power within it. The power

culture has more faith in individuals than committees

and can either change very rapidly and adapt or ‘fail

to see the need for change’ and die.

Mintzberg (1986), recognised this in his account

of a divisionalised structured. This model is like

Weber’s charismatic organisation just like a web with

a ruling spider and those in the web are dependent on

a central power spread.

In this model the rays of power and influence

spread out from a central figure or group. There may

be a specialist or functional structure but central

control in exercise largely through appointing loyal

key individuals and interventionist behaviour from

56

centre, where there is whim and personal influence

rather than procedures or purely logical factors. The

whim here is not autocratic or authoritarian although

it is authoritative, because effectiveness is judged

on results and sometimes for the central figure; the

ends sometimes justify their means.

Such organisations can be strong, proud and

dynamic, react quickly to external demands; but can

suffer from staff disaffection. People in the middle

layers may feel they have insufficient slope, also

the interventionist pressure and constant need to

refer centre may create dysfunctional competition and

jostling for the support of the boss.

This organisation is dependent on the ability and

judgement of the central power, if it is weak, then

the organisation will struggle and as the power of

the organisation grows, the central culture breaks

down if the centre keeps up its interventionist, co-

ordinating role. Large organisations may lead to

divisions (create other spider webs linked to the

central web) (Harrison, 1995) in (Handy,1998)..

Handy postulates that the dominant managerial

style may already equates to Reddin’s task-oriented

entrepreneurial style and shares its potential

57

advantages and disadvantages. Individuals succeed as

long as they are power oriented; politically minded,

risk taking with a low need for security. The power

of members is based on control over resources and

personal influence with the centre.

2- Role culture

This has been typified as a Greek temple and has

often been stereotyped as portraying bureaucracy in

its purest form. The apex of the temple is where the

decision making takes place, the pillars of the

temple reflect the functional units of the

organisation which have to implement the decisions

from the apex. The strength of the culture lies in

specialisation within its pillars. Interaction takes

place between the functional specialism by job

descriptions, procedures, rules and systems. This is

very much an organisation culture run by a paper

system. An authority is not based on personal

initiative but is dictated by job descriptions.

58

Co-ordination is by a narrow band of senior staff.

This is the only coordination required as the system

provides the necessary integration.

Handy states that the job description is more

important than the skills and abilities of those who

people the culture. Performance beyond the role

prescription is not required or encouraged.

The authority of position power is legitimate.

Personal power is not. This reflects Weber’s pure

theory of bureaucracy. System effectiveness depends

upon adherence to principles rather than

personalities.

Handy suggests that this culture is appropriate in

organizations which are not subject to constant

change. The culture functions well in a steady-state

environment, but is insecure in times of change. The

role culture is typified in government departments,

local authorities, public utilities and the public

sector in general. This sort of culture finds it

extremely difficult to change rapidly. The role

culture is typified by rationality and size. You will

have experienced this culture if you have ever worked

with a large, state enterprise.

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Its pillars represent functions and specialities such

that departmental functions are delineated and

empowered with their role, like the finance

department, the design department etc. Work within

and between departments (pillars) is controlled by

procedures, role descriptions and authority

definitions. Communication structures are well-

defined systems and products (committee constitutions

and reports, procedure manuals official memoranda);

and there are mechanisms and rules for processing

decisions and resolving conflicts. Matters are taken

up in the line to the pediment of the Doric structure

where heads of functions can defined a logical,

rational and corporate response (Mutzberg, 1986).

Here, co-ordination is at the top, with the

senior management group. Job position is central to

this, not necessarily the job holder as a person but

people are appointed to role based on their ability

to carry out the functions; satisfactory performance

role. This is very much in line with Weber’s

bureaucratic framework. Performance required is

related to role and functional position and

performance over and above role is not expected and

may disrupt. Efficiency stems from rational

60

allocation of work and conscientious performance of

defined responsibility (Handy, 1985).

If economies scale are more important than

flexibility or technical expertise and speciality

more important than product innovation or product

cost, then the stability and conformity of the role

culture has merits. Mintzber refers to this model as

the machine bureaucracy. Role culture tends to

develop in a relatively stable environment and

importance is given to predictability standardisation

and consistency. Burns and Stalker pointed out the

problem of mechanistic organisations struggling to

cope with dynamic market change. Similarly, Reddin’s

bureaucratic management style tends to place less

emphasis on task innovations and people

relationships. (Handy, 1985).

3- Task (Project Team) culture

This is characteristic of organizations which are

involved in extensive research and development

61

activities they are much more dynamic. They are

constantly subject to change and have to create

temporary task teams to meet their future needs.

Information and expertise are the skills that are of

value here. The culture is represented best by a net

or lattice work. There is close liaison between

departments, functions and specialities, liaison,

communication and integration are the means whereby

the organisation can anticipate and adapt to change

quickly.

Influence in this team culture is based upon

expertise and up-to-date information where the

culture is most in tune with results. The dangers for

this culture exist when there is a restriction in

resources causing it to become more power’ or ‘role’

orientated.

Harrison also outlined the task culture as one like a

net with small teams of cells at the interstices, a

type of team approach to organisation. The modern

jargon also refers to organisational arrangements as

- Net work organisation, where many separate

organisations cooperate to deliver a project. So

the large organisations consist of lots of little

ones that make their contribution.

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- Matrix organisations, which are project oriented

with ever changing project or contract teams.

Team or cell technologies fall into this mode of

organising. As a culture, power and influence are

distributed to the interstices of the net and

emphasis on results and getting things done

Resources are given to the right people at

whatever level who are brought together and given

decision-making power to get on with the task.

Individuals empowered with discretion and control

over work. The task and results and the focus,

team composition and working relationship are

founded on capability rather than status.

Handy (1985), also states that team culture is

flexible and adaptable because teams are formed for

specific purposes and composition changes according

to the stage of the project. The team is flexible and

sensitive to the environment because client

responsiveness is important.

Here, economies of scale are harder to realise, but

computer communications and information systems

facilitate team who want to specialise may be involve

in general problem solving and when the task changes

they must move with specialisation. The perfect

63

usually involves high risk, ambiguity, and control

via:

- Allocation of projects and target

setting;

- Project budgetary/resources allocations

and

- Monitoring/review of progress systems.

Where resources become scarce to management, many

intervene more closely, there may be competition

between project leaders for available resources;

either way morale may suffer individual priorities

and objectives take over and the task culture then

becomes a power culture. Many managers and

technicians at junior and middle levels prefer a task

culture that is the work of the human relations

theorists.

Task culture is based on experts’ power with some

personal and positional power and influence tends to

be more widely dispersed with team members feeling

that he or she has more of it. In the team status,

individual style differences are of less

significance; the group achieves synergy to learners’

creativity, problem solving and thus gain efficiency.

64

The aspirations of the individual are integrated with

the objectives of the organisation.

The advocacy is that the dynamic operations that

permits the individuals in the group to be influenced

to contribute to achieve synergy that would

facilitate or enhance the work process to efficiency

state, is the contribution of these non cognitive and

unidentified forces that emerge from the work

environment, the task and unnoticed intrinsic

motivational force in the workers.

4- Person culture

This is characteristic of the consensus model of

management, where the individuals within the

structure determine collectively the path which the

organization pursues. If there is a formalized

structure, it tends to service the needs of the

individuals within the structure. Organizations which

portray this culture reject formal hierarchies for

‘getting things done’ and exist solely to meet the

needs of their members. The rejection of formal

65

‘management control’ and ‘reporting relationships’

suggests that this may be a suitable culture for a

self-help group or a commune, etc., but it is not

appropriate for business organizations.

Handy’s typologies of organization structures suggest

that we should try, whenever possible, to match the

culture with the external demands and constraints on

the organization. Different operating units require

different cultures. 

One factor that must be borne in mind is that

different operating units within the organization

require different structures. Some units or functions

will be operating in a steady-state environment,

where there are very few changes and the future is

reasonably predictable, whereas others are subject to

a great deal of change not just in what they do but

also in how they do it. Consequently, it is desirable

to have different approaches to managing and

different "cultures’ in different units

In person culture the individual is on the central

point and if there is a structure it exists only to

serve the individuals with it. If a group of

individuals decide to band together to do their own

thing and an office or secretary would, it is a

66

person culture, because the culture only exists for

the people concerned and has not super-ordinate

objective (Handy, 1985).

This type of culture may be the only acceptable

organisation to a particular group of people; such as

workers’ co-operatives or where individuals basically

work on their own but find some back up useful.

Here, only the originators are likely to

achieve success as the organisation begins to take on

its own identity and begins to improve on

individuals, so moving towards some of the other

cultures (Minsberg, 1995).

A culture that exists because of the individuals,

who have come together, is an evident that they have

agreed on the salient issues that permit their

differences to work towards a common objective. Their

dynamic level of socialisation and relationship,

which has enhanced their individual intrinsic

motivation for achievement, is what builds the skills

in each of them through routine, for productive

habits around the task each has to cover, built on a

healthy working environment. These most at times is

quite unconscious to the workers but could influence

their output, to efficiency.

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2.1.4 Some elements of culture

The concept of culture is what is attached to it

(symbols, values, myth, rituals, ceremonies legend

etc) (Charlat, 2003).

Johnson (1988), in describing a cultural web,

identified a member or element, that can be used to

described or influence organisational culture.

- The paradigm: what the organisation is about;

What it does, its missions, its values

- Organisational system: The process in place to

monitor what is going on. Role

cultures would have vast rulebooks.

There would be more reliance on

individualism in a power culture.

- organisational structure: Who makes the decision,

how widely spread is power and on

what is power based?

- Symbols: These include the logos and decisions, but

would extend to symbols of power,

such as car parking spaces and

executive wash rooms.

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- Rituals and Routines: Management meetings board

reports and so on may become habitual

than necessary.

- Stories and myths: Build up about people and events

and convey a message about what is

valued within the organisation. 2.1.5 Some critical issues on organisational culture.

Many writers from critical management studies have

tended to express scepticism about the functionalist

and unitary views of culture put forward by

mainstream management thinkers. Whilst not

necessarily denying that organisations are cultural

phenomena, they would stress the ways in which

cultural assumptions can stifle dissent and

reproductive management propaganda and ideology. It

would be naïve to believe that a single culture exist

in all organisations or that cultural engineering,

for example, will reflect the interest of all

stakeholders within an organisation.

Parker (2000), suggested that many of the

assumption of those putting forward theories of

organisational cultural and structure (informal and

formal) versions of what organisations are. Further,

69

it is perfectly reasonable to suggest that complex

organisations might have many cultures, and that such

sub-cultures might overlap and contradict each other.

The neat typologies of cultural forms found in text

books rarely acknowledge such complexities, or the

various economic contradictions that exist in

capitalist organisations.

Role and Value of Culture

Given the above perspectives, it is no surprise

to find that any role or value associated with

culture reflects those perspectives. Thus objective

researchers, such as management consultants, see

culture as another resource in management's armoury,

to be used for instance in pursuit of organisation

strategy. Subjective researchers see the exact

opposite, where culture belongs to the individuals,

shouldn't be manipulated by others and should even

determine an organisation's strategy.

Management's Perspective

Deal & Kennedy (1982), state that "a strong

culture is a powerful lever in guiding behaviour" and

that companies that cultivate their cultures "have an

edge". This edge is shown in terms of productivity:

"The impact of a strong culture on productivity is

70

amazing" and it also makes employees "feel better

about what they do, so they are more likely to work

harder" This causal link between culture and

performance is strongly asserted by the objective

school.

Many, less flamboyant writers, echo the value,

even essentialness, of a duality of rational and

emotional approaches. Nether-the-less, there is a

danger in simply equating 'strong culture' with

'desirable cultures' (Schein, 1985). A strong culture

could exhibit traits that cause a negative impact on

performance. For example, a monopoly bureaucratic

company thrust into a competitive market place. Here

the culture is at odds with the requirements of the

environment, and with the strategy, if this has been

realigned with the environment.

The structure and culture of the Pentecostal Churchesin Cameroon.

In Cameroon, the earliest Pentecostal churches -

notably the Apostolic Church,

which was brought in by a Nigerian (I.O. Oyoyo) in

1948 and Full Gospel

Mission, introduced by a German (Reverend Werner

Knorr) in 1961 - are

71

examples of groups that have made this shift. Today,

the Assemblies of God have joined and they have many

strands and rituals in common. Some of the factors

that differ from one group to the other are

organizational structure, doctrines, practices and

origin. Another striking difference in doctrine

distinguishing one Pentecostal group from another

concerns the economic message; based on accepted

cultural practice. What unites them most is that

members believe they are ‘born-again’ Christians.

This is based on the biblical conversion experience

of being ‘born-again’ through an individual act of

repentance and submission to the leadership of the

Lord Jesus. This implies ‘giving your life to

Christ’, which is the doctrinal cornerstone of

Christianity (Marshall 1992). Another central tenet

shared by Pentecostals, is baptism by the

Holy Spirit, the sign of which is speaking in

tongues, expressed in

the verse from the story of the Pentecost in the Arts

of the Apostles.

72

An organigram of the main Pentecostal churches in

Cameroon

The structure of these Pentecostal churches is the

same but the culture and rituals differ. The name

The president/Supretendent

The nationalcouncil/The Board

Groups/Senior pastors.Group supervisors

Regionalcouncils/Regional

Pastors/area pastors

The secretarygeneral/Secretary

Assemblies(individual

Districtpastors/Assembly

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given to the post or position held will determine the

role one plays. In role culture. The Apostolic have a

president at the head while the full Gospel and

Pentecostal Assembly have a superintendent at the

head of the church.

Harrison in Handy (1985), states the four typologies

of organisational culture and suggests the

classification of organisations under these cultures.

A careful examination of the these churches and their

structures one will undoubtedly conclude that the

churches practice a blend or mixture of the four

cultural types for power and function. In structure

you will observe the management and labour clearly

but the management division sometimes is only

identified by the functions they carry out or the

role played in the organization. In cultural

elements, rituals, symbols and beliefs, doctrine and

practices that affect members of the church and

determine they spiritual growth and actualization

(the rapture); here, we may find differences, a shift

in practice and dynamics in the different church

groups.

What organizational structure and culture have

Pentecostal leaders put in place to keep up their

74

economic salvation message and ensure the spiritual

growth of the members and also the inevitable

disappointment? They promise people salvation and

riches through the gospel of prosperity; but

sometimes by observation only very few people get rich

through this method, yet the movements still remains

attractive to many adherers. How is this possible?

In Cameroon, unlike elsewhere in Africa - for

instance, in Nigeria where most

of these churches have their origin - the Pentecostal

churches have maintained a

peripheral political and social stance to safeguard

their organizational culture for proper management.

Unlike the mainline churches, they have had only

peripheral influence in politics. This is because

their leaders tell their followers that churches

should primarily be preoccupied with a spiritual

agenda, such as prayer, Bible study, preparation for

the sacrament, evangelization and

individual pastoral counselling. Each group, as a

body, involves itself in politics

only in defence of its official teaching and

interest. However, individual

75

members are not barred from political issues, but

they do not involve themselves

actively – at least not to the same degree as members

of mainline Christian

churches. Pentecostals in Cameroon emphasize that

they may not belong to or

campaign for political parties, and may not form

political parties or take part in

political demonstrations; they may, however register

and vote. The church organizations are open systems

but with cultural specifics that would direct their

visions and missions through beliefs cultural

practices

Functional Church Organization Structure:

This is more common of the types we have been

discussing. This structure is fairly simple in

nature, resembling the picture below:

Functional

Structure

Headquarters

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The above org chart is set up for a business, based

on the line of business or function (hence the name).

In a church structure, you would most likely have a

structure similar to the one illustrated below.

This structure is ideal for a church with only a few

ministries, one location, routine tasks, and a stable

environment. Normally, the “Corporate Figure-Head”

would be the pastor with the heads of the various

ministries reporting directly to him. Again, this is

ideal for churches with fairly mid-sized staff and

stable church environments. When does this structure

meet its capacity? Let’s look at an example.

Accountingand

Finance

Researchand

Development

Production Marketing

Men'sMinistry

YouthMinister

EducationDirector

FacilitiesManager

Assistant

Pastor

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Example: Let’s say you have a developed ministry

including a men’s ministry, small group ministry,

three divisions within youth ministry, a prison

ministry, four campus facilities, a budget team, and

not to mention the out-bound ministry teams. So at

any given point the pastor may have roughly 11or more

direct reports, all with different ministry needs.

Did I mention that in addition to administering this

team of people, the pastor is also expected develop a

sermon series and spend ample time in prayer and with

his family?

Cross Functional Church Structure:

This is a hybrid of the functional church

organization model, with only one exception. This

model provides three functional teams with each

having a functional team leader. What does this model

provide? It allows the pastor to spend time focusing

on the direction of the church in prayerful

discernment and less time on day to day

administration. This also allows the pastor to become

more of a servant leader than a simple front-linesman

in a battle. Look at the structure of this method

below.

Elements of a church’s culture

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Sam Chand (2008) states seven words to describe the elements of church culture derived from the word CULTURE itself for easier understanding. These seven key words are:C ControlU UnderstandingL LeadershipT TrustU UnafraidR ResponsiveE Execution

Assistant

Pastor

SeniorMinistry

Small groupleader

ChildrenMinistry

Men'sMinistry

Communication teamleader

Congregational careleader

Accounting /FinanceTeam

Otherfacility/nee

On campusfacilities

ExecutivePastor ofMinistries

ChurchAdministrat

or

facilitiesManager

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Depending upon the size and ministry structure of the

church, the categories of the functional teams may

differ. In general, however, you will need one of the

functional units to be over ministries. Some

structures may allow for facilities to roll under the

Church Administrator. However, if you have multiple

campuses, or find yourself with several logistic

issues, it may be better to have the facilities role

separated out.

One of the major advantages to this structure,

outside of the focus of the pastor on the vision for

the church, is the ability for the functional leaders

to be able to better support the teams reporting to

them. Oftentimes, you may find some ministries

suffering due to a lack of support or lack of time

investment from the pastor. Perhaps, the pastor is

being plagued by problem solving a be rage of

logistic needs. This is where this particular

structure has a major “Value-Add.”

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This is a break-down of the potential organizational

structures of today’s churches

but some of your churches are set up from an

organizational perspective. Most of the things may

work and others may not.

The strongest force in a Christian++ organization is not vision or strategy

– it is the culture which holds all the other components.

2.2 Theoretical FrameworkAccording to Kerlinger (1986), a theory is a set of

interrelated constructs (concepts), definitions and

propositions that present a systematic view of

phenomena by specifying relations among variables,

with the purpose of explaining and predicting the

phenomena.

Therefore, the study supposes there is a diatonic

between organisational unidentified forces and

efficiency in output.

Hoffman et al (1988), hold that a theory is a set

of logically related statements that generate testable

hypotheses and explains some aspects of experiences.

From this, we can see that without theories, we

would have only a collection of facts without any kind

of interpretation. Every theory is built on certain

assumptions, theories arc like lenses, filtering out

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certain facts and arranging the others in a particular

pattern.

The lenses that help to organise the facts and

influence their interpretation. Theories above all

guide research and also enable the researcher to

predict the out come of the situation, both in

studies and in life. Theories selected for this study

include the Group Dynamics of Kurt Lewin, the

motivations theory and the representation theory.

2.2.1 The Group Dynamics And Kurt Lewin:

2.2.1.1 A Brief History of Kurt Lewin

Kurt Zadek Lewin was born on September 9 1890 into

a Jewish family in Mogilno, Poland (then in country

of Mogilno, province of Posen, Germany). He was one

of four children in a middle class. Jewish family

(His father owned a small general store and a farm).

They moved to Berlin when he was aged 15 and he was

enrolled in the Gymnasium. In 1909 he entered the

University of Friebery to study medicine. He was then

transferred to the University of Munich to study

Biology. Around this time he became involved in the

Socialist Movement. His particular concerns appear to

have been the combating of anti-semitism, the

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democratisation of German institutions and the need

to improve the position of women.

Along with other students, he organised and taught

adult education for working class women and men

(Marrow; 1969).

His doctorate was undertaken at the University of

Berlin where he developed an interest in the

philosophy of science and encountered Gestatt

Psychology. His PhD was awarded in 1916, but by then

he was serving the German army (he was injured in

combat). in 1921, Kurt Lewin joined the psychological

instituted of the University of Berlin, where he was

to lecture and offer seminars in both philosophy and

psychology. He started to make a name for himself in

terms of both publishing and concerning his teaching.

His work became known in America and he was invited

to spend six months as a visiting professor at

Standard in 1930, with the political position getting

bad in Germany, by 1933, he and his wife and daughter

left and settled in USA (he became an American

citizen in 1940). Kurt Lewin was first to work at the

Cornell School of Home Economics and then in 1935 at

the University of Lowa (this was the year when his

83

collection of papers in English – A Dynamic Theory of

personality – was published).

Significantly, he became involved in various

applied research initiatives linked to the war

effort( from 1940 onwards). There included exploring

the morale of the fighting troops, psychological

warfare and reorienting food consumption away from

foods in short supply. His social commitments were

also still strong and he was much in demand as a

speaker on minority and inter-group relations. He

wanted to establish a centre for research group

dynamics and in 1944 this dream was realised with the

founding of the Research Centre for Group Dynamics at

MIT. At the same time Kurt Lewin was also engaged in

a project for the American Jewish Congress in New

York. The Commission of Community Interactions. It

made use of Lewin’s model of action research

(Research directed towards the solving of social

problems) in a number of significant studies into

religious and racial prejudice. It was also but of

some of this work in 1946, the community leaders and

group facilitators that the notion of T-groups

emerged. He and his associated were able to get

funding from the office of Naval Research to set up

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the National Training Laboratories in 1947 in Bethel,

Maine.

However, Lewin died of a heart attack in

Newtonville, mass on February 11 1947 before the

laboratories were established (Bion, 1961).

He became one of the pioneers of Social

Psychology, often called “the father of Social

Psychology”, and one of the first researchers to

study dynamics and organisational development, he

also advocated Gestatt Psychology (Forsyth, 2006).

Lewin became influential in the founding of

sensitivity training through the Tavistock Clinic in

London. He coined the notion of genidentity in 1922,

and also proposed Herbert Brumer’s interactionist

perspectives in 1937 as an alternative to the native

versus nurture debate in that he suggested that

neither nature (in born tendencies) not nurture (how

experiences in life shape individuals) alone can

account for individual behaviours and personalities,

but rather, both interact to shape a person .

2.2.2 Field Theory of KURT Lewin

Hall and Lindzey (1978) summarise the central

issues in Kurt Lewin’s field theory as follows:

85

- Behaviour is a function of the field that exist

at the time the occurs;

-Analysis begins with the situation as a whole

from which are differentiated the components

parts, and

-The concrete person in a concrete situation can

be represented mathematically.

Here, we will not enter into the details of Kurt

Lewin’s field theory, however, it is necessary to

examine its key elements. To begin, it is important

to recognise its roots in Gestatt theory (A Gestatt

is a coherent whole. It has its own laws and is a

construct of the individual mind rather than

reality). For Kurt Lewin behaviour was determined by

totality of an individual’s situation. In this field

theory, a “field” is defined as “the totality of

coexisting facts which are conceived as a mutually

interdependence” (Lewis, 1951).

Individuals were seen to behave differently

according to the way in which tensions between

perceptions of the self and of the environment were

worked through. The whole psychological or “life

space”, within which people acted had to be viewed in

order to understand behaviour. within these

86

individuals and groups could be seen in topological

terms (using map-like representation) individuals

participated in a series of life spaces (such as the

family, work, school and church) and these were

constructed under the influence of various forces

vectors (Lewin, 1952).

Lewin also looked at the power of underlying

forces (needs to determine behaviour and hence

expressed a preference of psychological as opposed to

physical or physiological description of the field.

In this we can see how he drew together insights from

the topology (e.g., life space), psychological (need,

aspiration etc), and sociology (e.g. force fields-

motives clearing being dependant etc group pressure)

(Lewin, 1948).

Cartwright (1951), stated that the force field is

one of the most influential development in the field

of social science. Force field analysis provides a

framework of looking at the factors (forces) that

influenced a situation. It looks at forces that are

either driving movement towards a goal (helping

forces). The principle developed by Lewin, in a

significant contribution to the fields of social

87

sciences, psychology, social psychology,

organisational development and management process.

Lewin, a social psychologist believed that the

“filed” is a Gestatt psychological environment

existing in an individual’s (or in the collective

group) mind at the certain point in time that can be

mathematically described in a topological

constellation of constructs. The “field” in very

dynamic, changing with time and experience and it is

fully constructed. An individual’s “field” or “life

space” will describe that person’s motives, values,

needs, moods, goals, anxiety and ideals (Lewin, 1943)

He believed that changes of an individual

lifespace depend on the individual internalization of

external stimuli (from the physical and social world

into the “lifespace”.

In this context Lewin’s concept is based on the

known forces in the “field” of “lifespace” that

influence the individual in every action and

cumulates through internalization to determine his or

her motives, desires, values etc, and will serve as a

drive towards any given activity. He was limited

with these known forces but there are some

unperceived and unconscious forces, not known by the

88

individual himself but which contribute to influence

the individual’s activities in the organisation.

Schein (2005), spoke of them and called then

unseen and non cognitively identified cultural

elements; but he did not enumerate them. In the

dynamic group in the field, these are produced and

play on the individuals unconscious and will

determine the quality job he will produce.

Brown (1988), argues that two keys ideas emerged

out of the ‘fields’ that are crucial to an

appreciation of group processes, interdependence of

fate and task interdependence.

In interdependence of fate the basic line of

agreement is that groups come into being in a

psychological sense, not because their members are

similar to one another, rather, they exist where

people in its realise their fate depends on the fate

group as a whole. Lewin (1946), states it in this

way, when he described the position of the Jews in

1939.

“It is not similarity or dissimilarity that

constitutes a group, but rather

interdependence of fate. Any normal group,

certainly any developed and organised one

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contains and shared contain individuals of

very different characters … it is easy

enough to see that the concern fate of all

Jews makes them a group in reality. One who

has grasped this simple idea will not feel

that he has a break away from Judaism

altogether whenever he changes his attitude

towards a fundamental Jewish issue and he

will become more tolerant of differences of

opinion among Jews. What is more, a person

who has learned to see how much his own

fate depends upon the fate of his entire

group will ready and even eager to take

over a fair share of responsibility for its

welfare.”

Here, the fate is an external force that is

enhanced by the group dynamics and encourages for a

group fight and solidarity for a common welfare.

Then, after which another unseen force is created,

this time in the individual which causes him to work

tirelessly, fighting sometimes without good

understanding of what and why they should fight.

Unlike the interdependence of fate, task

underdependence can be a fairly weak form of

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interdependence of many groups. A more significant

factor is where there is interdependence in the goals

of group members. If the group’s task is such that

members of the group are powerful dynamics is created

(Lewin, 1946).

Lewin remains unconvinced of the explanatory

power of individual motivational concepts such as

those provided by psychological theory. He was able

to argue that people may come to a group with very

different dispositions, but if they share a common

objective, they are likely to act together to achieve

it. This is what is usually described as Lewin’s

field theory. An intrinsic state of tension within

group members stimulates or motivates movement

towards the achievement of desired common goals

(Johnson & Johnson, 1995).

Interdependence (of fate and task) also results

in the group being of “dynamics whole”. This means

that a change in one member of or sub-groups impacts

upon others. These two elements combined together to

provide the basis for Deutch’s in 1949, and deeply

influenced exploration of the relationship of task

process (Brown, 1989).

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In these processes, be it interdependence of fate

or task, the psychological process in the field is

the forces that propel the group members to

collectively and unconditionally get engage in goals

achievements. In both contexts, around the task,

working environment and in the individuals

themselves, environment and in the individuals

themselves, this dynamisms permits the emergence of

some unperceived, unconscious and unidentified forces

that are responsible for the level of the cob web

type of co-operation and individual involvement

towards efficiency in achieving the objectives. There

is a level of intrinsic drive that the worker himself

is not aware of or is unconscious of in the person of

executing his functions and this lead to the quality

of job he does. This is what Schein calls the deepest

level of culture in the organisation.

2.2.3 Etymology of group dynamics

This “term group” comes from the Italian word

‘groupo’ meaning beautiful arts, designating, many

people, painting or sculptures that forms a subject.

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A group is known to Lewin as a reality that generates

credible marks in the individual similitude to his

goals or temperament. The group is an interdependent

system between members and elements of the field

(goals, norms, perceptions of the external milieu,

division of roles, status etc) (Anzieu, 1994).

This system explains the functioning of the group

and its conducts and also the internal functioning

(subgroups, affinities poles) of action of external

reality; and the residence of the group force or

system of forces is what controls its actions.

The word “dynamics” is defined as forces or

processes that produce change inside a group or

systems. Collins Cobuild English Language Dictionary

states that dynamics are scientific motion, energy

and forces which produce power or movement.

Lewin, the propounder, came not with this for the

first time in 1944, in an article in the same thought

as in physics to distinguish statistics and the

dynamics of a system. He said in a given milieu a

certain distribution of forces determine the

behaviour of an object which posses defined

prospective. He used representation or graphics to

show the unchanging relations in a psychological

93

field, in the perpetual evolution of the individual

which parts in evidence of the notion of the space of

an individual, locomotion of the individual from the

space to the given objects of his needs;

psychological distances between the subject and

persons and objects of the field and also the

barriers that exist between elements of the field

(Lewin, 1946).

From the dynamics field or structure the

phenomenological interactional processes between the

persons, subjects and objects put in evidence the

term ‘group dynamics’, as one of the contemporary

methods of social psychology propounded by Moscovici.

Lewin (1948), coined the term to dynamics to describe

the way groups and individuals act and react to

changing circumstances.

Group dynamics implies that individual behaviours

may differ depending on individuals current or

prospective connections to a sociological group. This

field of study of social sciences focuses to a

sociological group. This field of study of social

sciences focuses on the nature of groups. This field

of study of social sciences focuses on the nature of

groups. urges to belong or to identify, may make for

94

distinctly different attends (recognised or

unrecognised), and the influencing of overwhelming

individual proclivities and actions. The group

dynamics may also include changes in behaviour of a

person when he is represented before a group the

behavioural pattern of a person vis-à-vis group

(Lewin, 1951).

2.2.4 Some sources of group dynamics

The expression group dynamics was used any how by

diverse authors from 1935, but was effectively

consecrated in 1944 by Kurt Lewin in USA, and this

permitted researchers from this date, with

extraordinary results and success (Bucchielli, 1995).

Before then many articles on the psychology of

small groups, on individual behaviour in small groups

have been written by 1920 and 1930. From then, it

move 50 articles each year between 1945 to 1950, then

150 each year by 1950 to 1960, from this date it was

stabilised to 200 articles each year after which the

domain of social psychology was developed and group

dynamics became one of its important chapters.

Social psychology is the psychology of small

group, but the formula was understood in different

ways. Gabriel TARDE in 1890 studied the mode, laws of

95

imitation, GUSTAVE LE BON in 1985 wrote on the

psychology of population (groups), and Wundt, founder

of the first laboratory of psychology in 1879 in

Leipzig, directed his monumental psychology of the

people in ten volumes, from 1900 to 1920. We can

agree that these authors work on psychology of

groups; meanwhile it happens in restricted group, or

in a small work group (community), is psychology of

groups. Small groups constituted the specific domain

of group dynamics.

Mucchielli (1995) presents this in four different

aspects:

- The condition of Social Life in USA

America is the original soil of group

dynamics and in where many associations

flourish. TOCOUEVILLE (1964), in Mucchielli

(1955), in his book  « De la Démocratie en

Amérique », said, “J’ai rencontré en Amérique des

sortes d’associations dont je confesse que je n’avais même

pas l’idée. Les Américains de tous les âges, de toutes les

conditions, de tous les esprits, s’associent sans cesse. Non

seulement ils ont des associations commerciales et

industrielles auxquelles tous prennent part mais il ne ont

encore de milles autres espaces, de religieuses, et morales,

96

de graves, de futiles et fortes générales et de très

particuliers d’immense et de forte petits…partout ou à la

tête d’une entreprise nouvelle, vous voyez en France l’Etat,

et en Angleterre un grand seigneur, comptez que vous

apercevrez en Amérique, ans Association … »

Needless to say that this social phenomenon is in

constsire the observation of Toconeville and group

psychology finds here a field of choice.

– A Particular historical condition in USA

- On industrial plan. There was a quert for

output during the period of economic recession

(regression) managers asked psychologists to study

factors of the output of the groups of workers.

- In the political plan. The problem of the

German National Socialists and its propaganda,

leaders added to research programmes, analysis of

collective phenomena and means of action on human

groups.

- In the military plan. The preparation to set

into war in 1917, provokes (favours) the development

of psychotechnique to select chiefs and also the

preparation of the second world war made US to

intensify researchers on cohesive factors and

97

effective of groups in operations and on the means of

accelerating training through group methods.

–Evolution of behaviour as a cultural product

By the end of the 19th century psychology became

objective and experimental, with the creation of the

first psychological laboratory between 1880 to 1890,

this was oriented towards the understanding of

individual personality.

Sociology was officially created in the 19th

century by Auguste Comite which oriented towards the

study of political institutions, collective phenomena

of big human groups and socio cultural penalties.

By the first quarter of the 20th century there

came the respective evolution of the two sciences.

psychology handled issues on behavioural problems in

groups while sociology handled sub cultures, in

culture and micro sociology`.

2.2.5 The four (4) Direct Sources of Group Dynamic

Mucchielli (1995) states four direct sources of

Group Dynamics beginning from the Howthorne study of

1927 to Kurt Lewin Research Culture on Group Dynamics

1- The Hawthorne Studies

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The Hawthorne studies began in 1924 to

investigate in the scientific management tradition,

the relationship between light intensity and

productivity in a Western Electric Plant in Chicago.

During this period instead of studying tools and

techniques in scientific management traditions,

behavioural scientists were focusing on people the

sociological and psychological dynamics of the work

place.

In this studies, the productivity of the

experimental group of workers tended to improve no

matter how the light intensity was manipulated. Even

in very dim light productivity continue to rise.

Scientific management theory could not explain

the observation and a team of behavioural scientists,

headed by Elton Mayo (1880 – 1949) was invited from

Harvard University of conduct a more vigorous study.

The research project came to an end in 1932 and

by then over twenty thousand workers had

participated. Mayo and his team after interviewing

the subject extensively concluded that the attitude

of workers affected productivity more than change in

work conditions (Tamukong & Oben; 2005). Relationship

among workers and between workers and supervisors

99

were more significant in production. In the

experiment the workers had been accorded more humane

and cordial treatment than was the case in normal

working conditions.

2. The Group Psychotherapy

By the end of the 19th century it was discovered

that a mental patient have had a social disconnected

root hidden within himself where communication is cut

and he find it impossible to adapt, either having

unconscious satisfaction resulting from his state of

sickness or shocks or trauma that must have ruined

his natural insertion into community.

During the period when under the impulses of

Freud and his psychoanalysis, the cure of neurones

went for orientation in the merit from 1900, towards

the analysis of the past and the unconsciousness of

the individual, other medical doctors without

coordination nor doctrine went into research methods

that are direct for social re-adaptation of the sick,

by their participation in various groups. the

historical exploration of this method gave

surprising information like;

- In Norway by 1900, Ragnar Vogt (applied

the principles of R. Sammpr) put the sick with

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serious cases in selected families where he had

given précised instructions on intra-family

psychotherapy.

- J.H. Pratt in 1905 in USA organised what

he called “classes” in his clinic, he had

control of thought, to explain to the sick the

nature of their troubles and let go through

that self concentration and anxiety.

- Others went ahead in 1918 to call some of

the sick, or some of the old sick people that

were healed to form groups that will be capable

of influencing the subjects profoundly, just as

it was formerly done to alcoholic addicts.

(Joergemsam used as methods to cure

improvitisation in the theatre by acting with

the mentally sick people.

- In 1920, still in U.S.A, Green Soigne used

group participation methods. In 1934 Slavson

created group psychotherapy to the mild mental

sick people of pre-school age and discussion

groups, psychotherapy for the adolescence and

adults.

3. Sociometric of Morano

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In 1913 at Vietnam, Jacob Levy Morano (known today

as the creator of the psychodram), at the age of

21 years and a student of medicine took part in

experiences of social re-adaptation of prostitutes

and had experiences of different behaviours at

free discussion sessions in small groups. He

realised that each of these participants could

become a therapist to others, and that the group

was alive, consistent, a conscious structure of a

specific structure. He discovered that there could

be an influence on traditional conceptions on

personality which is buried in the individual.

During the First World War Morano took care of

people who could not concentrate and he studied

the development of spontaneous institutions and

collective tension phenomenon, after 1918 he

launched therapeutic theatre at Vietnam and new

ideas developed.

- Social dimension is essential to personality

since this has no hidden impulses which are separated

from the self but rather the total social roles,

there is a possibility to play and a possibility of

changing.

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- All human groups have an informal affective

structure which determines the behaviour of the

individuals in the groups, and the relation between

them. The first idea given by psychodrama is the role

play and group psychotherapy. A second idea was to

give birth to socio-metric, a method used for the

analysis of the structure of the informal affective

relations in an isolated group. Morano migrated to

U.S. in 1925 where he created a psychodrama in 1928

and in 1932 he constructed a sociometric test. from

1923 he proposed the first interaction diagrams and

the first position diagrams which were finally

adopted by Kurt Lewin in 1936. From the biographies

of Morano and Lewin had a meeting point dated 1934 –

1935 but, a great controversy exist between the two

schools of thought on the question of priorities in

the discovery of group dynamics.

4. Kurt Lewin and the research centre for group dynamics

In 1945, a fifty-five years Kurt Lewin in the

University of Harvart established a research centre

of group dynamics. He had had a long experience as a

psychologist before moving to U.S.A. in 1923. He was

coming from Germany and from the famous psychological

school known as the school of Gestatt Theory or (a

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theory of form), with the principle studying not the

psychological elements but the total configuration,

which signifies the relationships of individuals.

After carrying out experimental studies, theses new

configurations or perception which Kurt Lewin used to

study individual behaviour in relation to the general

configuration of his life space or psychological

field”. The psychological field of the human subjects

is the organisation and the significant configuration

that the things the institutions have for him. These

human beings is perceived as an obstacle, ideas

standing as goals on the way also as barriers,

different places as barriers, situations as dangers

to avoid etc. From there psychology that could have

developed in terms of significant space (the

psychology of topology), the human group would have

just been an interest to Kurt Lewin as a “totality”

and as a “psychological climate” unlike what

determines the individual conducts. In 1946 when he

left Harvard to Ann-Arbor University he integrated a

research centre for group dynamics to the institute

for social research of this university and in 1946

Kurt Lewin had to lead new Britain (connecticot), a

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historical session where he got a new pedagogic

method which is called the T-group.

2.2.6 Group Dynamics And Representation.

Moscovici (1973), explained that social

representations are systems of values, ideas and

practices with a two-fold function: first to

establish an order which will enable individuals to

orientate themselves in their material and social

world and to master it; secondly, to enable

communication by providing them with a code for

social change and a code for naming and classifying

unambiguously the various aspects of their world and

the individual, and group history.

The aim of social representation theory is to

show how this elaboration is getting done and how

consensus, conflict, and tension in a community

contribute to the elaboration process (Moscovici,

1963; Farr,1990) . The social representation theory

show everyday interpersonal interaction and

communication dynamics result in the emergence of

collectively shared patterns of beliefs, values and

practices.

The theory stipulates that it is important to

investigate the organization of differences in

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positioning, social representation are not monolithic

and widespread beliefs through a given population;

but reflect as much the given convergence or

divergence inside a given community. According to

Dureen (2001), the social representation theory

provides the interpretative framework for rendering

them intelligible as forms of social practices.

In this light the level of dynamics in the group

or forces that drive towards group action, base on

individuals influence in the process or producing a

change, which will guarantee intrinsic satisfaction

which eventually become a representation as would be

viewed observably. Sometimes this self unrecognised

influence becomes so strong and rapid towards

producing efficiency as a norm. This comes up as a

given cultural element residue of success for an

organisation (Schein, 2005).

Workers who after much search pick up a job would

express satisfaction and happily be driven towards

values; and with a desire to have mental health, a

release from the past stress, constant symbolic

relationships that gear towards efficiency. This ties

with what Herzlich et al (1969), states, that : “A partir

d’une étude sur la représentation sociale de la santé et de la maladie,

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c’est un processus de construction du réel…l’accent mis sur la notion de

représentation vise à réintroduire ’étude des modes de connaissance et

des processus symboliques dans leur relation avec les conduits.’’

In the process through a search for objectivity

and information that prevail on previous out put could

indeed lead to naturalization of concretisation of

attitudes of workers on representation to envisage and

see only efficiency as level of output and norm; lead

the forces that rule almost all the workers in the

enterprise.

CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY

.

1.0 Introduction

To understand organisational culture and output

and especially, “the Influence of Christian

Organizational Culture on spiritual growth,” a

specific approach is identified. The research design

is described; the population and sample for the study

are stated while the sampling technique is explained.

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The instruments used are described, their validation

and administration procedures are presented and

finally the methods for data collection and analysis

are explained.

3.1 Research design

The survey research method was used to sample the

opinion of members, to investigate on their attitude

towards their assigned tasks, the content of the

environment and the routine activities that would

enhance behaviour.

The survey research design is used because it is

appropriate to sample the opinion of people on a

phenomenon, as it is the case with this study.

These cognitive and non cognitive cultural

elements demand a deeper investigation to really

identify the forces and their influence on spiritual

growth. The study also required the use of interview

with some members to have in-depth information on the

cultural motivational forces that drive them towards

spiritual growth in the church organisation.

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3.2 Population of the study

The word population is used to include all

members or elements of a well-defined group. To all

the members of a real hypothetical set of people,

events or objects to which a researcher wishes to

generalise the results of a research.

Nworgu (1991), defines it as the limit writing,

which the researcher’s findings are applicable.

The population for this study constituted leaders

of some selected Churches. To access this population

we had to ask for an authorisation from the senior

Pastors who permitted and placed us at the disposal

of the Church leaders; who gave the documents,

information needed and responded to the questionnaire

for data collection.

3.3 Sampling technique and sample

A sample is a smaller group of elements drawn

through a definite procedure, from accessible

population. Those that constituted the sample are

those actually studied. The sample of this study is

made up of 392 church leaders from the three church

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organisations. and the documentation that shows

cultural input and spiritual growth.

A sampling technique is a plan, which specifies

how elements should be drawn from a population. For

this study, the workers were randomly selected from

the services.

The stratified random sampling technique was used

for the selection of the members. This is because

churches are stratified in departments and services,

and all must be considered; but not all the leaders

are used. A specific number of leaders was randomly

selected and given the questionnaire to respond.

3.4 Research instruments

The instruments used for data collection in

this study are; a questionnaire for sampling of

opinion of church leaders.

Validation of the instrument refers to the ability

of the instrument to measure what it is supposed to

measure. From the literature review and specifically

from the hypotheses, the researcher constructed a

questionnaire.

The validity of the questionnaire was verified in

two phases. Firstly, the researcher took the work to

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the supervisor who read through and made

corrections. Questions were added and some

rephrased. This was to make sure that information to

be collected was going to suit the purpose of the

study.

The second phase was on the field, where some

questionnaires were randomly given to 10 leaders.

They were collected and analysed; and some

corrections made. The sample for the pilot study had

the characteristics of the sample for the research

work; thus, was quite representative.

3.5 Data analysis technique

The results are presented on tables according to

the characteristics of data on the questionnaire,

percentages were sorted out and presented as

descriptive statistics; while the Fisher’s Exact Test

was the main test used to verify the hypotheses.

Presentation of the methodology of the Fisher’s ExactTest.

The Fisher exact test for 2 x 2 tables is used

when members of two independent groups can fall into

one of two mutually exclusive categories. The test is

used to determine whether the proportions of those

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falling into each category differ by group. The chi-

square test of independence can also be used in such

situations, but it is only an approximation, whereas

Fisher's exact test returns exact one-tailed and two-

tailed p-values for a given frequency table. The

probability of observing a given set of frequencies

A, B, C, and D in a 2 x 2 contingency table, given

fixed row and column marginal totals and sample size

N, is:

Just like the Chi Square Test, it is used to

verify the independence between two qualitative

variables. The Fisher’s Exact Test is equally used to

respond to the same question. We should say that the

Chi Square Test is no more appropriate when we have

cells that show less than 5% theoretical frequency.

And so to avoid this error we used the Fisher’s Exact

Test.

The statistics of the test is that of the Old ratio q

given by by the formulae below :

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Performs Fisher's exact test for testing the null of

independence of rows and columns in a contingency

table with fixed marginals.

Usage

fisher.test(x, y = NULL, workspace = 200000, hybrid =

FALSE,

control = list(), or = 1, alternative =

"two.sided",

conf.int = TRUE, conf.level = 0.95,

simulate.p.value = FALSE, B = 2000)

Arguments

X either a two-dimensional contingency table

in matrix form, or a factor object.

Y a factor object; ignored if x is a matrix.workspace an integer specifying the size of the

workspace used in the network algorithm.

In units of 4 bytes. Only used for non-

simulated p-values larger than 2 by 2

tables.

Hybrid a logical. Only used for larger than 2 by 2

tables, in which cases it indicated

whether the exact probabilities (default)

or a hybrid approximation thereof should

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be computed. See Details.

control a list with named components for low level

algorithm control. At present the only one

used is "mult", a positive integer >= 2

with default 30 used only for larger than 2

by 2 tables. This says how many times as

much space should be allocated to paths as

to keys: see file ‘fexact.c’ in the

sources of this package.Or the hypothesized odds ratio. Only used in

the 2 by 2 case.

alternative indicates the alternative hypothesis and

must be one of "two.sided", "greater" or

"less". You can specify just the initial

letter. Only used in the 2 by 2 case.conf.int logical indicating if a confidence

interval should be computed (and

returned).

conf.level confidence level for the returned

confidence interval. Only used in the 2 by 2

case if conf.int = TRUE.simulate.p.value

a logical indicating whether to compute p-values by Monte Carlo simulation, in larger than 2 by 2 tables.

B an integer specifying the number of

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replicates used in the Monte Carlo test.DetailsIf x is a matrix, it is taken as a two-dimensional contingency table, and hence its entries should be nonnegative integers. Otherwise, both x and y must bevectors of the same length. Incomplete cases are removed, the vectors are coerced into factor objects,and the contingency table is computed from these. For 2 by 2 cases, p-values are obtained directly using the (central or non-central) hypergeometric distribution. Note this fails (with an error message)when the entries of the table are too large. (It transposes the table if necessary so it has no more rows than columns. One constraint is that the productof the row marginal be less than 2^31 - 1.) For 2 by 2 tables, the null of conditional independenceis equivalent to the hypothesis that the odds ratio equals one. ‘Exact’ inference can be based on observing that in general, given all marginal totals fixed, the first element of the contingency table hasa non-central hypergeometric distribution with non-centrality parameter given by the odds ratio (Fisher,1935). The alternative for a one-sided test is based on the odds ratio, so alternative = "greater" is a test of the odds ratio being bigger than or. Two-sided tests are based on the probabilities of thetables, and take as ‘more extreme’ all tables with probabilities less than or equal to that of the observed table, the p-value being the sum of such probabilities. For larger than 2 by 2 tables and hybrid = TRUE, asymptotic chi-squared probabilities are only used ifthe “Cochran conditions” are satisfied, that is if nocell has count zero, and more than 80% of the cells have counts at least 5.

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Simulation is done conditional on the row and column marginals, and works only if the marginals are strictly positive. (A C translation of the algorithm of Patefield (1981) is used.) ValueA list with class "a test" containing the following components: p.value the p-value of the test.conf.int

a confidence interval for the odds ratio. Onlypresent in the 2 by 2 case if argument conf.int = TRUE.

estimate

an estimate of the odds ratio. Note that the conditional Maximum Likelihood Estimate (MLE) rather than the unconditional MLE (the sample odds ratio) is used. Only pressent in the 2 by 2case.

null.value

the odds ratio under the null, or. Only present in the 2 by 2 case.

alternative

a character string describing the alternative hypothesis.

method the character string "Fisher's Exact Test for Count Data".

data.name

a character string giving the names of the data.

Fisher’s exact Test2x 2 Table

M1 M2N1 6 1N2 2 8

p = 0.015220The P-value (the probability of obtaining theobserved result or a more extreme result) iscalculated when you press the Test button.

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The result, P=0.015, indicates that the 2 treatmentsgave significant different results.

In the case of a table 2x2, independence ismeasured here by odds ratio which is the relationshipq =(n11.n22)/(n12.n21). The independence correspondin case that q=1. There is therefore three possiblealternative hypotheses. The bilateral hypothesis, qis not equal to 1(q<>1); the left unilateralhypothesis q is less than 1 (q<1); the rightunilateral hypothesis q is more than 1 (q>1).

Remark: P-value is the probability to reject thenull hypothesis, knowing that it is true; if p_-valueis superior to 5% the null hypothesis (Ho) is acceptedif not, the alternative hypothesis (Ha) is accepted.

3.6.3 Group Dynamics and Church Activities as a

Vocation

The word vocation was originally used in theology

to refer to the predestination of religious Monks and

priests having the calling for and entirely devoted to

the service of God. Its use was then extended to

secular life to describe spiritual things. Thus, you

can talk of artistic, literary or scientific vocation

to refer to those who have a religious-like commitment

for the work they intend to do or are already doing.

The term is also used to describe tasks accomplished

for one’s country or the society; in this respect one

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can talk of a military or medical vocation (Tsafak,

2000).

He further states that a vocation is a calling, an

aptitude and an attitude for a well defined task,

trade or profession; and a person who has the vocation

tends to consider his profession to be the most

beautiful. This is reflected in his preference of love

for, and attachment to the activities. Such a person

does not regret his initial choice of the profession

of faith, in spite of all latter difficulties and

occasional disillusions inherent therein.

Tsafak (2000), emphasised that the vocation is

characterised by self sacrifice, the commitment of

one’s whole being with all the resources of one’s

intelligence and heart, all one’s spiritual and even

physical energy, all one’s time to the professional

tasks. In absolute terms to have the vocation for a

profession means being able and willing to live only

for it.

A keen observation of leaders in church

organisation will reveal those with the calling to

certain activities. This aptitude and attitude serve

as an intrinsic motivational force that drives those

with vocational calls to get committed to their faith

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single heartedly with devotion to get best results

that would lead to spiritual growth efficiency.

Kolb et al (1974), states that human efficiency is

not measured neither in terms of muscular energy nor

of intellectual grasp; but it is dependent upon many

factors other than native strength of mind and body.

He said that the attitude which one takes towards life

in general and towards his calling in particular is of

more importance than native ability. The man with

concentration and power of continued enthusiastic

application will surpass a brilliant competitor if the

latter is careless and indifferent towards his work.

Many who have accomplished great things in business,

in the profession and in science have been men of

moderate ability. For testimony of this fact, let’s

take this quotation of Charles Darwin.

“I have no great quickness of apprehension or with which is so

remarkable in some cleverness. He writes, “I am a poor critic…My

power to follow a purely abstract train of thought is very limited:

and therefore I never could have succeeded with metaphysics or

mathematics. My memory is extensive, yet lazy, it suffices to

make me cautious by vaguely telling me that I have observed or

read something opposed to the conclusion which I am growing,

or on the other hand in favour of it. So poor in one sense is my

119

memory, that a few days a single date or a line of poetry. I have a

fair share of invention, and of common sense or judgement, such

as every fairly successful lawyer or doctor must have, but not. I

believe in any higher degree.’’(Johnson & Johnson;1995).

This is presumably an honest statement of fact.

Darwin was always physically weak, that for forty

years he was particularly an invalid and able to work

only about three hours a day. In these few hours he

was able to accomplish more than other men of

apparently superior ability who were able to work long

hours daily for many years. Darwin made the most of

his ability and increased his efficiency to its

maximum.

3.6.4 Group Dynamics and Vocational Dressing Culture

Coon (2000),in Forsyth (2006), states that modern

psychology has dealt with the problem of explaining

the possibility of the formation and maintenance of

habits. The explanation is found in the mutual

development of the mind and the nervous system and in

the dependence of thought and action upon the nervous

system and particularly upon the brain. To understand

people's habits we must look beyond thought and

action and consider some of the fundamental

120

characteristic features of the nervous system. One

such characteristic is the plasticity of the nervous

substance. If I bend a piece of paper and crease it,

the crease will remain even after the paper is

straightened out again. The paper is plastic, and

plastic means simply that the substance offers some

resistance to adopting a new form, but that when the

new form is once impressed upon the substance it is

retained.

He further states that modern conception of

psychology has emphasized intimate relationship

existing between our thoughts and our brains. Every

time we think a slight change takes place in the

delicate nerves-cells in some part of the brain. Every

action among these cells leaves an indelible mark.

Just as it is easy for the paper to bend where it has

been creased before, it is likewise easy for action to

take place in the brain where it has taken place

before.

The brain may also be likened to the cylinder or

disk used in a dictating machine and in photographs,

and a thought likened to the needle making the

original record. It takes some energy to force the

needle through the substance of the cylinder, but

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there after it moves along the opened groove with a

minimum of resistance. In a similar way it is easy to

think the old thought or to perform the old act, but

it is most difficult to be original in thinking and in

acting. The result is our outfit for each day. Why we

put on the clothes we have chosen and appear sometimes

contrary to our profession and vocation.

3.6.5 Group Dynamics and Proper church Training

A meritorious posting is an application of job

design, based on training and specialisation applied

to area of work motivation. Job design is based on an

extensive and still growing theoretical base, it has

had considerable research attention in recent years,

and it is being widely applied to the actual practice

of management (Luthans, 1992).

Initially, the field of organisational behaviour

paid attention only to job enrichment approaches to

job design. Now, with quality of work life, becoming

a major societal issue throughout the world, job

design has taken a broader perspective.

One of the globalisation concepts is

specialisation, to encourage partnership.

Specialisation is the variable which encourages job

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satisfaction, which is born from meritorious

postings. Job satisfaction is a pleasurable or

positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal

of one’s job (Kotter&Heskett, 1992).

In Group Dynamics there is group influence just

like conformity and choice –shift as group think.

This leads to influence on political views and

behaviour in an enterprise which can yield not only

competence and effectiveness but efficiency of

production; because placement is itself an intrinsic

motivational factor for job satisfaction and drive

towards high performance (Luthans, 1992).

Salancik&Pfeffer in Luthans (1992), state the

concept of Social Information Processing Approach, as

an aspect of group dynamics with reference to

meritorious postings or job design. They state the

premise to be that, the “individual” as an adaptive

organism, adapts attitudes, behaviour and beliefs to

their societal context and to the reality of their

own part and present behaviour and situation.

According to concept SIPA, there are three major

causes of a job holder’s perceptions, atttudes and

actual behaviour.

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- The job holder’s cognitive evaluation of

the real task environment.

- The job holder’s past actions, including

reinforcement history and learning.

- The information that the immediate

social context provides.

Here, it is suggested that through a variety of

processes, commitment, rationalisation ( self

interpretation of behaviour), and information

saliency (or importance)are defined Moorhead&

Griffin in (Luthans , 1992). These attribution

processes combined with social information

influence the job holder’s perceptions, attitudes

and behaviours towards his task and can enhance

job satisfaction, which is one of the most

important attitude to be considered when

modifying workers’ behaviour for efficiency in

performance. Meritorious postings yields

creativity enhances ability and gives autonomy

over a task, and consequently efficiency output

of the employee.

3.6.6 Group Dynamics and Doctrine (Beliefs Practices)

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There is great danger of losing sight of the Church

in the endeavor to emphasize the idea of the Kingdom

of Heaven or Christendom. We are prone to think it a

small thing to speak of the Church; the Kingdom and

Christendom seem so large in comparison. We are

tempted to distinguish and contrast Churchism, as it

is sometimes called, and Christianity, to the

disparagement of the former. It is well to remember

that Jesus Christ positively identifies Himself with

the Church (Acts 9) and not with Christendom; He gave

up His life that He might found the Church

(Eph.5:25). The Apostle Paul sacrificed himself in

his endeavors to build up the Church, not

Christendom. He speaks of his greatest sin as

consisting in persecuting the Church of God (1

Cor.15:9). The supreme business of God in this age is

the gathering of the Church. Some day it will be

complete (Eph.4:12), and then the age will have

served its purpose.

1. Old testament use of the word.

Lev.4:13 -- "And if the whole congregation of Israel

sin through ignorance, and the thing be hid from the

eyes of the assembly . . . ." The Hebrew word

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for assembly means to call or assemble, and is used not

only for the act of calling itself, but also for the

assembly of the called ones. In this sense Israel is

called a "church," an assembly, because called out

from among the other nations to be a holy people

(Acts 7:38, "the church in the wilderness"). There is

always a religious aspect associated with this

particular call.

2. The new testament use of the word.

It is from the New Testament primarily, if not really

exclusively, that the real meaning and idea of the

Church is derived. The Christian Church is a New

Testament institution, beginning with Pentecost, and

ending, probably, with the rapture. Two words are of

special importance in this connection:

a) Ecclesia, from Two Greek Words Meaning "To Call

Out From."

This word is used in all about 111 times in the New

Testament. It is used in a secular sense in Acts

19:39 -- "It shall be de termined in a lawful

assembly"; of Israel in the wilderness (Acts 7:38),

and of the assembly of believers in Christ

(Matt.16:18; 18:17; 1 Cor.1:2; Eph.5:25-27). In

keeping with this idea the saints are said to be the

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"called-out" ones (Rom.8:30; 1 Cor.1:2; cf.2

Cor.6:17).

b) "Kuriakon" -- That Which Belongs to the Lord.

So we have "the supper of the Lord" (1 Cor.11:20);

the "day of the Lord" (Rev.1:10). See also Luke 22:25

and Rom.14:8, 9, as illustrating that over which the

Lord has dominion and authority.

To sum up then: The Church is composed of the body of

believers who have been called out from the world,

and who are under the dominion and authority of Jesus

Christ.

c) The Growth of the Church Idea in the New

Testament.

At first there was but one Church at Jerusalem. The

meetings may have been held in different houses, yet

there was but one Church with one roster: so we read

of the total membership consisting at one time of 120

(Acts 1:15), again of 3,000 (2:41), and still again

of 5,000 (4:4), to which there were daily additions

(2:47). The apostles were at the head of the Church

(2:41-47). See Acts, cc.1 and 2, for a fuller account

of the first Church.

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The second stage in the growth of the Church was its

spread throughout Judea and Samaria, as recorded in

Acts 8.

Antioch, in Syria, then became the head of the

Gentile Church (Acts 13:1), as Jerusalem was the head

of the Jewish Church (Acts 15); Paul representing the

Church at Antioch, and Peter and James at Jerusalem.

The assembly at Antioch was called "the church" just

as truly as was the assembly at Jerusalem (11:22;

13:1).

Because of the missionary activities of the apostles,

especially Paul, churches sprang up in different

cities, especially in Asia Minor, e.g., Corinth,

Galatia, Ephesus, and Philippi.

In view of all this the term "church" came to be used

of the Church universal, that is, the complete body of

Christ as existing in every place (1 Cor.15:9;

Gal.1:2, 13; Matt.16:18); of local churches in any one

place (Col.4:16; Phil.4:15; 1 Cor.1:2, etc.); of single

meetings, even where two or three met together

(Matt.18:19; Col.4:15; Phil.1:2; Rom.16:5).

It is evident, then, from what has here been said,

that by the term "church" is included all that is

meant from the Church Universal to the meeting of the

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church in the house. Wherever God's people meet in

the name of Christ to worship, there you have the

Church.

Brief history of the Christian Organization (The

Church)

Schaff ( 1997), as a Christian historian

states that when “the fullness of time” was come, God

sent forth his only-begotten son, “the desire of all

nations”, redeem the world from the curse of sin and

to establish an everlasting kingdom of truth, love,

and peace for all who believe in his name. in Jesus

Christ a preparatory history, both divine and human

that comes to its close. In him are cumulated the

previous revelations of God and Jews and Gentiles;

and in him are fulfilled the deepest desire and

efforts of both Gentiles and Jews for redemption. In

his divine nature as God, he is according to St John,

the eternal son of the father, and the agent in the

creation and preservation of the world, and in all

those preparatory manifestation of God, which where

completed in the incarnation. In his human nature as

Jesus of Nazareth, he is the ripe fruit of the

religious growth of humanity, with an earthly

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ancestry, which St Mathew (the evangelist of Israel)

trace to Abraham, the patriarch of the Jews and St

Luke (the evangelist of the Gentiles), to Adam, the

father of all men (Philip and Schaff, 1997).

In him dwells all the fullness of the

God-head bodily; and in him also is realized the

ideal of human virtue and piety. He is the eternal

truth and the divine life itself, personally joined

with our nature; he is our Lord and our God; yet at

the same time flesh of our flesh and bone of our

bone.

In him the problem of religion is

solved the reconciliation and fellowship of man with

God; and we must expect no clear revelation of God,

nor higher religious attainment of man, that is

already guaranteed and actualized in his person.

But as Jesus Christ closes all

previous history, so begins he an endless future. He

is the author of a new creation, the second Adam, the

father of generated humanity, the head of the church,

“which is his body, the fullness of him, that fills

all in all” He is the pure fountain of that stream, a

light, which has since flown unbroken through nations

and ages, and will continue to flow, till the earth

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shall be full of his praise, and every tongue

confesses that he is Lord, to the glory of God the

father. The universal diffusion and absolute dominion

of the spirit and life of Christ will also be the

completion of human once the end of history, and the

beginning of a glorious eternity (Scaff and Philip;

ibid).

Philip (1997) by Alfred EDERSHEEN

(1984), who showed the great and difficult task of

the biographer under Jesus, how he, by external and

internal development, under the conditions of a

particular people age and country, came to be what he

was in idea and destination, and what he will

continue to be for the faith of Christendom, the God-

man and Saviour of the world.

Alfred states that Jesus Christ

advanced in wisdom and stature, and in favour with

God and man. Though he was the son of God, yet he

learned obedience by the things, which he suffered;

and having been made perfect, he became the author of

eternal salvation unto all them that obey him. The is

no conflict between the historical Jesus of Nazareth

and the ideal Christ of faith. The full understanding

of his truly human life, by its very perfection and

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elevation above all other men before and after him,

will necessarily lead to an admission of his own

testimony concerning his divinity.

Jesus Christ came into the world under

Caesar Augustus, the first Roman Emperor before the

death of king Herod the great, four years before the

traditional date of our Dionysian era. He was born at

Bethlehem of Judea, in the royal line of David, from

Mary “the wedded maid and virgin mother” (Schaff:

1997). The world was at peace, and the gates of Janus

were closed for only the second time in the history

of Rome. There is poetic and moral fitness in his

coincidence: it secures a hearing for the gentile

message of peace that might have been drowned in the

passions of war and the clamor of arms. Angels from

heaven proclaimed the good tidings of his birth with

songs of praise. Jewish shepherds from the

neighboring fields and heathen sages from the East

greeted the newborn king and savior with the homage

of believing hearts. Heaven and earth gathered in

joyful adoration around the Christ-child, and the

blessing of this event is renewed every year among

high and low, rich and poor, old and young,

throughout the civilized world.

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Alfred (1984) advances that the idea

of a perfect childhood, sinless and holy, yet truly

human and natural had never entered the mind of poet

or historian before and when the legendary fancy of

the Apocryphal Gospels attempted to fill out the

chaste silence of the evangelists, it painted an

unnatural prodigy of a child to whom wild animals,

trees, and dumb idols bowed, and who changed balls of

clay into flying birds for the amusement of his play

mates.

The youth life of Jesus is

veiled in mystery. We know only one, but a very

significant fact. When a boy of twelve years

astonished the doctors in the temple by his questions

and answers, without repelling them by immodesty and

premature wisdom, and filled his parents with

reverence and awe by absorption in all things

(Philip: 1997).

The external conditions and

surroundings of his youth are in sharp contrast with

the amazing results of his public life. He grow up

quietly and unnoticed in a retired Galilean mountain

village of proverbial insignificance, and in a lowly

carpenter-shop far away from the city of Jerusalem,

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from schools and libraries, with no means of

instruction, save those which were open to the

humblest Jew, the care of godly parents, the beauties

of nature, the services of the synagogue, the secret

communion of the soul with God, and the scripture of

the old testament, which recorded I type and prophecy

his own character and missions. He never derived his

doctrines from any of the existing school or sets; he

never referred to the traditions of the elders except

to oppose them. From the Pharisees and Sadducees he

defined alike and provokes their deadly hostility.

He was independent of human learning and

literature, of school and parties. He taught the

world as one who owed her nothing. He came down from

Heaven and spoke, out of the fullness of his personal

intercourse with the great Jehovah. He was not a

scholar, neither artist nor orator, yet he was wiser

than all sages, he spoke as man had never spoken, and

made an impression on his age and all ages after him

such as no man had ever done or will do. Hence the

natural surprise of his countrymen, as expressed in

the questions “from whence hath this men these

things?” “How knoweth this man letters, having never

learned?”

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He began his public ministry in the

thirtieth year of age, after the messianic

inauguration by the baptism of John, and after the

messianic probation in the wilderness the counterpart

of the temptation of the first Adam in paradise

(Philip: ibid). the ministry lasted only three years

and yet in these three years in condensed the deepest

meaning of the history of religion. No great life

ever passed so swiftly, so quickly, so humbly, so far

removed from the noise and commotion of the world;

and no great life after its close excited such

universal and lasting interest. He was aware of this

contrast: He predicted his deepest humiliation even

the death on the cross, and a subsequent irresistible

attraction of his cross, which may witness from day

to day wherever his name is known.

For the ministry, he chose twelve

Apostles for the Jews and seventy disciples for the

Gentiles, not among the scholars and leaders, but

among the illiterate fishermen of Galilee. He had no

home, no earthly possessions, no friend among the

might and rich. A few pious women from time to time

filled his purse ; and this purse was in the hands of

a thief and traitor. His associates were publicans

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and sinners in order to raise them up to a higher and

nobler life, and began his reformation among the

classes that were despised and neglected by the proud

(Easton; 1996)

He taught the purest doctrine as a

direct revelation of his heavenly father, from his

own intuition and experience, and with a power and

authority that commanded unconditional trust and

obedience. He rose above the prejudices of party and

sect, above the superstitions of his age and nation,

addressed the naked heart of man and touched the

quick of the conscience. His colossal ideas never

entered the imagination of man, the like of which he

held fast even in the darkest hour of humiliation,

before the tribunal of the Jewish high priest and the

Roman governor, and when He was suspended as a male

factor on the cross. Every page of church history and

every mission station on earth illustrate the truth

of this idea (Schaff and Philip: 1997).

The miracles and signs which accompanied

his teachings are supernatural, but not unnatural

exhibition of his power over man and nature. They are

not violations of law, but the manifestation of the

highest law, the superiority of mind over matter, the

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superiority of the spirit over the mind, the

superiority of divine grace over human nature. They

are the entire highest moral and a profoundly

symbolical significance, prompted by pure,

benevolence, and intended for the good of men. His

doctrines and miracles were sealed by the purest and

holiest life, in private and public. He could

challenge his bitterest opponents with the question:

“which of you convinceth me of sin?” knowing well

that they could not point a single spot.

At last he completed his active obedience by

the passive obedience of suffering in cheerful

resignation to the holy will of God. Hated and

persecuted by the Jewish hierarchy, betrayed into

their hands by Judas, accused by false witnesses,

condemned by the Sanhedrin, rejected by the people,

denied by Peter, but declared innocent by the

representative of the Roman law and justice,

surrounded by his weeping mother and faithful

disciples, revealing this hours by word and silence

the gentleness of a lamp and dignity of a God,

praying for his murderers , dispensing to the

penitent thief a place in paradise, committing his

soul to his heavenly father, he died with this

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declaration: “it is finish” (Schaff and Philip:

ibid).

He instituted the Lord’s Supper, to

perpetuate the memory of his death and the cleansing

and atoning power of his blood till the end of time.

He conquered sin and death on their own ground, thus

redeemed and sanctified all who are willing to accept

his benefits and follow his example.

The third day he rose from the grave, the

conqueror of death and hell, the prince of life and

resurrection. He repeatedly appeared to his disciples

to commission them to preach the gospel to every

creature. He took position of his heavenly throne,

and by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, He

established the church.

The historian Schaff wrote about the

human perfection of Christ, his divinity and his

whole mission as redeemer. He further states that the

effects of the manifestation of Jesus that for

transcends all merely human capacity and power, and

the history of Christianity, with the countless

fruits of a higher and purer life of truth and love

than was ever known before.

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Philip (1996) cited Butterroth (1882),

where he states the rationalistic, mythical, and

legendary attempts made to explain the life of Christ

on purer human and natural grounds, to resolve the

miraculous elements either into common events, or

into innocent fictions, split on the rock of Christ’s

character and testimony; by this many misinterpreted

the son of God. A hypothesis was scarcely matured

before another was invented and substituted to meet

the same fate (failure) in its turn; while the old

truth and faith of Christendom remains unshaken, and

matches on its peaceful conquest against sin and

error.

Philip (1956), affirms that truly,

Jesus Christ, the Christ of Gospel, the Christ of

history, the crucified and risen Christ, the divine

human Christ, is the most real, the most certain, the

most blessed of all facts. This fact is the only

solution to the terrible mystery of

sin and death, the only inspiration of the holy life

of love to God and man, the only guide to happiness

and peace.

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System of human wisdom will come and

go, kingdoms and empires will rise and fall, but for

all time to come, Christ will remain “The Way, the

Truth and the Life” (Schaff,

The five basic doctrines of the Christian faith are

taken from a book called "The Fundamentals" edited by

R.A. Torrey with contributors such as H.A. Ironside

and C.I. Scofield. In 1909, God led two Christian

laymen to set aside a large sum of money for issuing

twelve volumes which would set forth the fundamentals

of the Christian faith. These were called The

Fundamentals, and consisted of messages written by

well-known defenders of the faith from several

different denominations. These twelve volumes of The

Fundamentals were mailed free to over 300,000

ministers, missionaries and other Christian workers

in different parts of the world. The response was far

beyond any expectation. The Bible Institute of Los

Angeles (BIOLA) through its publication, The King's

Business printed additional copies to meet the demand

and finally combined the volumes into a four volume

set which was also widely circulated. It was written

as a defense of the Christian faith against

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liberalism, but holds true today in serving as a

helpful aid in distinguishing heresy from truth.

There are five basic doctrines of the Christian

Church. These doctrines put into simple language the

basic theology of our faith, taking into account the

full teaching of the Word of God in context. Without

these five doctrines any individual cannot consider

themselves to be a Bible believing, Christ centered,

Spirit baptized, Christian. Please understand that we

believe that there are many, many Christians today

from varied backgrounds and denominations who fully

believe and teach the five core doctrines of the

faith. These doctrines permeate their teaching at

every level. We also recognize that there are many

false teachers today who call themselves "Christians"

but deny one or more of these core doctrines by

teaching explicitly or implicitly against them.

Is the gospel then hopelessly confusing? Not so, for

even children can believe because the Bible says:

Tit 1:6 An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man

whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild

and disobedient. 

Lu 18:16 But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little

children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God

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belongs to such as these. 

Ro 10:9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe

in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

However, those that were addressed with this

admonition had the true gospel preached to them, as

it certainly was in Acts:

Ac 16:31 They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved--

you and your household."

A child can believe if the true gospel, which always

includes correct teaching on the five basic doctrines

even at their most basic, has been presented to them.

For instance, if you ask a young child who are the

persons of God, he would be able to say Father, Son

and Holy Spirit if he had been taught that in his

church. If you ask him whether Jesus was just a man

or just God he would likely answer that Jesus was

both God and man, even though none of us can fully

understand that concept. If you asked him how we are

saved, he would probably respond that we must believe

on the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. If you

ask him if Jesus only came once, he would probably

say that Jesus is coming again. If you ask him why

the Bible is so important, he would say that the

Bible is God's Word. So even a very young child who

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has been taught the basics of the gospel can answer

these fundamental questions correctly. But you would

find that children of cults and false churches do not

answer these questions correctly.

However, even if children believe they can still

choose to listen to false doctrine and become

deceived, as can older people. Those who are taught

false doctrine, a false concept of Christ, the

Godhead, salvation, His second coming, and the

authority of Scripture cannot be saved unless they

believe the true gospel:

Mt 15:9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by

men.' 

1Co 15:2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I

preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 

Ga 1:6-9 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who

called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel

-- which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing

you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But

even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than

the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we

have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a

gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!

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How many have "believed in vain" is only for God to

know for sure, but we can know false teachers by

their false teachings if we compare them with the

Word of God and the teachings of Christ who was

Himself the Word incarnate.

Can anyone, even a child be saved? Yes! 

Can they be led astray by false teaching? Yes.

2Co 11:3-4 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's

cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere

and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a

Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit

from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you

accepted, you put up with it easily enough. 

Lu 21:8 He replied: "Watch out that you are not deceived. For many

will come in my name, claiming, `I am he,' and `The time is near.' Do not

follow them. 

1Ti 4:1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the

faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 

Ro 11:22 Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God:

sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you

continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.

We must continue in the grace of God not abandoning

the true knowledge of Him to go after carnal lusts

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and false teaching that people would rather hear than

the truth.

2Ti 4:3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound

doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them

a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

There are many Christian doctrines, but these five

doctrines are primary. Any Christian or non Christian

who does not hold to these doctrines is not really a

"Christian" at all because he does not understand and

has not believed in the full Gospel message, the law

of Christ. If a person or movement or cult or

religion is teaching anything that goes against or

undermines these five doctrines, true Christians are

to rebuke them (if they claim to be Christians) and,

if they do not repent, are commanded by the Lord in

His Word to separate themselves from them. They are

to be considered the same as anyone else who is in

need of repentance through hearing and believing the

true gospel and by the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

They are not our brothers in Christ until they

believe in the true Gospel which is wrapped up in

these five basic doctrines. This is a clear

Scriptural mandate.

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I am not some great theologian. The subject of the

core doctrines is far beyond my small ability to

explain fully. But in a sense we are all called to be

theologians.

Ac 17:11 Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the

Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness

and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was

true. 

2 Tim. 4:3-5 For the time will come when men will not put up with

sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather

around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears

want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn

aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure

hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of

your ministry. 

Ro 15:4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach

us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the

Scriptures we might have hope.

Doctrine is being put down by many people today, by

Christians and non Christians alike. They not only

put the idea of doctrine down but they twist the

Scriptures to say what they want it to say to uphold

their own false beliefs. This is hypocritical.

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2Pe 3:16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of

these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to

understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do

the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

There are religions that do not even care about the

Word of God. There are cults that pretend to care but

do not hold to even the basic things taught there.

There are also those, such as talked about by Peter,

who distort the Word and pretend to be Christians but

are really wolves in sheep's clothing.

Mt 7:15 "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's

clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 

Ac 20:29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among

you and will not spare the flock.

These wolves are here today and I will give them

names and faces as we continue to study, proving from

God's Word that they are pretenders because they have

denied one or more of the basic doctrines of

Christianity.

Doctrine is simply what you believe.

"What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most

important thing about us." - A.W. Tozer, 

If what you believe differs from what the Word of God

says, you are in error in your doctrine. There is no

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person alive today who does not hold to doctrines.

They may pretend to be free of doctrine and just

"feeling" their way around the world, but they hold

to doctrines just as tightly as you and I do. They

just don't realized how much they have been deceived

by the enemy, by others, and by allowing themselves

to be deceived.

The five basic doctrines

1. The Trinity: God is one "What" and three "Whos"

with each "Who" possessing all the attributes of

Deity and personality.

2. The Person of Jesus Christ: Jesus is 100% God and

100% man for all eternity.

3. The Second Coming: Jesus Christ is coming bodily

to earth to rule and judge.

4. Salvation: It is by grace alone through faith

alone in Christ alone.

5. The Scripture: It is entirely inerrant and

sufficient for all Christian life.

The major religions of the world all deny all of

these major doctrines. The cults deny one or more,

usually more than one and especially the dual nature

of Christ. The wolves who pretend to be Christians

today involved in the Third Wave, New Wave, New Age

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counterfeit revival pretend to believe these

doctrines but don't let them fool you. By what they

teach they also deny one or more of these doctrines,

and in fact I have more than one article that proves

that many of them deny them ALL by what they teach.

These are the most slick and dangerous pretenders of

all. I will show by the end of this study which ones

they go against, and that it is not just one of the

five but ALL FIVE. I have already proven that the men

mentioned later are false teachers by quotes,

recording transcripts and video and by comparing them

with Scripture just like the Bereans compared with

Scripture everything Paul was teaching them. These

facts are readily available on our Deception In The

Church web site at:

There are other doctrines that are also very

important and a few I think ought to be added to this

list, but I am not a learned man and I leave that to

others more wise than I. I would add, for instance,

that a Christian must believe that he was baptized

and sealed with the Holy Spirit when He believed and

was born again as it says in the Scriptures.

1Co 12:13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body--whether

Jews or Greeks, slave or free--and we were all given the one Spirit to

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drink. 

Eph. 1:13-14 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the

word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you

were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a

deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who

are God's possession--to the praise of his glory. 

2 Cor. 2:21-22 Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in

Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his

Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Those who teach that you need a second "baptism" or

"anointing" that is transferable with human hands are

in grievous and dangerous error. But actually their

false teaching on the person and work of the Holy

Spirit comes from a false teaching on the Trinity

because many of them treat the Holy Spirit as an

"it", a substance rather than the third person of the

Trinity. So because of that they say they can throw

the Spirit around the room, press Him into people's

foreheads, etc. They deny by their actions and

doctrine that the Holy Spirit is God and is all

powerful, sovereign, omnipresent, omniscient,

unchangeable. So again we come back to the basic

doctrines of the Faith that we will be studying.

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It is also important to note a few other things

before we start.

(1) There are secondary doctrines, or minor issues,

on which we as Christians can debate but we must not

separate over in terms of disfellowshipping or

excommunicating, in the sense that we no longer

consider someone to be our brother in Christ. There

are denominations for people of like mind who have

disagreed over secondary doctrines and find it more

comfortable to be with those of like mind. That is

fine as long as it does not lead to walls being built

against fellowship and to no debate on these issues,

which in some unfortunate cases it has. That is

wrong. We are still one by virtue of the indwelling

Holy Spirit. We need to be very careful to "major on

the majors and minor on the minors". That is why I am

doing this study, to give you the majors so you can

compare teaching you hear with the major doctrines of

the faith. Some secondary doctrines would be:

(a) Eschatology - what will happen in the end times

and when the return of Christ will be, except where

it denies that Christ will return bodily to rule and

judge. 

(b) Bible versions   - which one is a better

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translation. There are very bad translations out

there that we should not use, but there are also good

ones and some disagree on them. But there are also

some who have made this a very big divisive issue in

the Church. I do not agree with those who hold to a

strict elitist view of KJV-Only, for instance. 

(c) Eternal Security versus Conditioal Security.

Though this is a very important issue and I happen to

disagree with both extreme sides of the Calvinism

versus Arminianism debate, it is still not an issue

to divide over, unless you begin to deny salvation by

grace alone or clear teaching from Scripture on other

points. 

(d) Method of Water Baptism - immersion or

sprinkling, which has the stronger picture in the

Bible? 

(e) Method of the Lord's Supper   some pass around

small cups and bread, some have everyone drink from

one cup, some serve real wine, some serve grape juice

or even other juice, some serve regular bread and

some serve unleavened bread. I can tell you what my

preferences are because of the pictures I see in the

account of the Last Supper in the Bible, but to

separate of this kind of issue would be wrong. Unless

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you begin to say that Jesus is crucified again and

His blood and flesh is actually brought to life. This

denies that Jesus Christ is with the Father in His

resurrection body as well as going against Heb. 6:6

in crucifying Christ all over again. Over the Mass we

separate with the false religion of Catholicism.

(2) We are called to be discerning and judge right

from wrong as Christians, unlike what many false

teachers are teaching today. Let's do a short study

to understand that we are to put teaching and

prophesy to the test today, just like in the time of

the early Church, and back into the Old Testament.

Some Christian Fundamental

Doctrines/Teachings There are some doctrinal areas

which the fundamentals emphasis in their stand not to

deviate from the laid down beliefs.

Water Baptism

Easton (1996) begins by identifying it as an

ordinance instituted by Christ (Mathew 28:19-20), and

designed to be observed in the church, like that of

the Lord’s Supper “till e come”.

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The word “Baptism is derived from a Greek word

“Baptiso” means to “ put in” or to “dip”. “The mode

of Baptism can in no way be determined from the Greek

word “baptise”. (Eastonn ibid). the Baptism analysed

from the beginning and said it must be “to dip” but

some do not accept that it could also be “to put an

element or liquid over or on it”. The reason other

sprinkle water on converts.

Easton said, nothing therefore as to the mode of

baptism can be concluded from the mere word. In the

Old Testament and New Testament, the word has a wide

latitude of meaning where it requires the mosaic law.

There were affected by immersion, and by effusion and

sprinkling, and the word “washing” or “baptism”

designates them all.

Baptism is meant for those who repent and become

followers of Christ. The controversy is common to all

parties, believers were baptised in apostolic times

and they have been baptised in all time by all the

branches of the church. The question is should the

infant children of believers of members of the church

be baptised?

In support of the doctrine of infant baptism or

the children of believers or believing parents, the

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very condition that were required in the old

covenant, of circumcision to be included in the

commonwealth of Israel, the church is applied. You

can’t come keeping your children behind. The terms of

admission into the church were the same because

circumcision was a sign and seal.

Others say Christ himself was brought to the

temple after eight days for dedication, he took

children to his arm and blessed them and it is at the

age of accountability, knowledge of good and bad when

one takes a decision for Christ that you are

baptised, as he went to the Jordan river, “he that

believes and is baptised shall be save”. Children do

not believe. (Easton, ibid).

The Lord’s Supper

Also called “the Lord’s table”.

“Communion”, “Cup of blessing” and breaking of Bread”

in the early churches was also called “Eucharist” or

giving of thanks and generally by the Latin church

“mass” a name derived from the formula of dismissing,

that is, “go, it is discharged” ( Easton, 1996). The

account of the institution of this ordinance is given

in Mathew 26:26-29.

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It was a sign to commemorate the death of Christ:

“do this in remembrance of me”.

To signify “seal”, and apply to believe all the

benefits of the new covenant. In these ordinances,

Christ ratifies his promises to his people. The

elements used to represent Christ’s body and blood

are bread and wine. The kind of bread, whether

leavened or unleavened, is not specified. Wine and no

other liquid is to be used. Believers feed on

Christ’s body and blood not with the mouth and

manner, but by the soul alone, by faith which is the

mouth of the soul; by the power of the Holy Spirit

(Easton, ibid). this is a permanent ordinance in the

church of Christ, and is to be observed “till he

comes” again.

The Holy Spirit

This is the third person of the adorable Trinity. His

personality is proved from the fact the attributes of

personality as, intelligence and volition are

ascribed to him. He proves, helps, glorifies,

intercedes. He executes the offices peculiar only to

a person. The nature of these office s involves

personal distinction.

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His divinity is established from the fact the

names of God are ascribed to him and that divine

attributes are also ascribed to him, omnipresence,

omnipotence; eternity, creation is ascribed to him

and the working miracles. Worship is required and

ascribed to him (Easton; 1996).

He is promised to every believer. The early

apostles of our Lord were baptised with the Holy

Ghost by his coming upon them. The fire with which

they were baptised sat upon them. The Pentecost event

explains this. The controversy here is that some hold

that he ended with the old apostles and his gifts are

not to continue these days; but Peter said “this

promise is given unto you and to your children and to

your children’s children and as many as the Lord our

God shall call, “who are afar off”. “ and this signs

shall follow them that believe”. He will teach, guide

and bring to remembrance the word of God to

believers, so he is essential, effective and eternal

to Christians.

Prayer

It is conversation with God; the intercourse of the

soul with God, not in contemplation or meditation,

but in direct address to him. Prayer may be oral as

157

mental, occasional or constant, ejaculatory or

formal. It is a beseeching the Lord”, pouring out the

soul before the Lord. “prayer and crying to heaven”,

“seeking for God and making supplications” “drawing

near to God” “bowing the knees” (Easton; 1996).

Prayer presupposes a belief in the personality of

God, his ability and willingness to hold intercourse

with us, his personal control of all things and of

all his creatures, and all his actions.

Acceptable prayer must be sincere, offered with

reverence and godly fear, with a humble sense of our

own insignificance as creatures and your own

unworthiness as sinners, with earnest importunity,

and with unhesitating submission to the divine will.

Ask in faith and believe that he is the rewarder of

them that seek him (Schaff, Philip; 1997).

There are no rules laid down for the manner of prayer

or he attitude to be assumed by the suppliant.

Kneeling, standing, or sitting prayer is of different

kinds; secret, social and public, in the service of

the sanctuary. Intercessory prayer and as moved to

pray anywhere.

The Lord’s prayer is a model or pattern of prayer

than a set to be offered up, we have no form of

158

prayer for general use given us in any scripture

Easton,1956).

The bible has many examples of people who prayed

and God answered them differently.

Salvation

This is the act of God’s saving grace, whereby

you are saved from sin and the consequences of sin;

reconciled to God and delivered from condemnation. It

involves repentance, justification, sanctification

and your faith in God.

Repentance

There are three Greek words used in the New Testament

to denote repentance.

1)The word Metamelomai is used in a change of mind,

such as to produce regret or even remorse on account

of sin but not necessarily a change of heart. This is

used with reference to the repentance of Judas.

2)Metanoes: meaning to change one’s mine and purpose as

a result of after knowledge. This verb, with the

cognate noun.

3)Metanoia, is used of true repentance, a change of

mind and purpose and life, to which remission of sin

is promise (Easton; 1996)

Evangelical repentance consists of :

159

1.A true sense of one’s guilt and sinfulness

2.apprehension of God’s mercy in Christ

3.an actual hatred of sin

4.turning from it to God and persistent endearment to

walk with God in the way of his commandments.

The true penitent is concerns of guilt, of pollution,

and of helplessness, and repentance comprehends not

only such a sense of sin but also an apprehension of

mercy.

Justification

It is a forensic term, opposed to condemnation.

As regards its nature, it is the judicial act of God

by which he pardons all the sins of those who believe

in Christ, and accounts, accepts, and heats them as

righteous in the eye of the law. Justification

declares that all the claims of the law are satisfied

in respect of the justified. It is the act of a judge

not of a sovereign.

It proceeds on the imputing or crediting to the

believer by God himself of the perfect righteousness,

active and passive of representative and surety,

Jesus Christ (Romans 10:3-9)

Faith

160

The sole condition in which righteousness is

imputed or accredited to the believer is faith in or

on the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is called a

“condition” not because it possesses any merit, but

only because it is the instrument by which the soul

appropriates or apprehends Christ and his

righteousness. This act of faith which secures our

justification, secures also at the same time our

sanctification (Schaff, Philip, 1997). Faith is the

substance of things hope for, the evidence of things

not seen. When one believes and accepts it, it

becomes yours.

Sanctification

It involves more than mere moral reformation of

character, brought about by the power of the truth :

it is the work of the Holy Spirit bringing the whole

nature more and more under the influences of the new

gracious principles implanted in the soul in

regeneration. In other words, the work begun in

regeneration, and it extends to the whole man

(Easton; 1997)

Faith is essential in securing sanctification

union with Christ and brings the believer into the

161

more humble, self-renouncing, self –abhorring,

seeking union with Christ daily: those who seek it

will be subject to the constant chastisement of their

father’s loving hand.

This leads to watchfulness, prayer, frequent

admonitions and perseverance, the highest sense of

belonging to God, which is holiness.

Evangelism

This comes from the word “evangelical” which is

derieved from the Greek noun “evangelion” translated

as glad tidings, good or joyful news, or gospel. The

verb evangelizomai, to announce good tidings of, or

to proclaim as good news.the noun and verb forms

appear nearly one hundred times in the New Testament

( Howard David, 1986).

Some people use evangelisation while others use

evangelism. The Catholics says evangelism has a

negative connotation. The idea of preaching to force

people to believe so they believe in evangelisation.

From the time of Martin Luther and during the

reformation, the Christians carried out the message

evangelism was applied to protestants who held the

message or salvation. Many had missionary vision,

movements to other places, hold conferences, write

162

books on faith (Howard; 2000). Go into all the world

and preach the gospel to every creature, he that

believes and is baptised shall be save, but he that

believe not shall be condemned. The evangelical work

to obey this command all over the world.

163

CHAPTER FOURPRESENTATION OF RESULTS AND ANALYSIS OF DATA

Introduction

This chapter presents results obtained from the

data collected on the Christian organisational

cultural elements and spiritual growth. The results

are presented in two main sections. Section one deals

with descriptive results on background information

and some items related to the hypotheses of the

study. The statistical tool employed in this section

is mainly percentages. Section two presents results

on the hypotheses of the study using inferential

statistics, with Fisher’s Exact Test as the main

tool.

4.1 Presentation of Results on tablesTable I : Distribution of leaders according to church

Church Number percentage (%)The Apostolic 98 100Full Gospel 98 100

78

Assemblies of

God

98 100

Living Word

Fellowship

98 100

Total 392 100

The above table shows that the churches chosen

were represented by their leaders to give enough

information for their churches. All responded to the

questionnaire.

Table 2 : Distribution of leaders according sex

 Sex Number Frequency (%)Male 217 55,35Female 175 44.64Total 392 100

The above table indicates that there are still

more men in church leadership than women. Unlike in

some area of social life where the women are about to

overthrow the men. can this variable influence

spiritual growth efficiency in church organisations

for the benefit of its members

79

Table 3 : Distribution according longevity in church.  Number Frequency (%)20-35 332 87,2435-50 50 11.4750-60 10 2.54Total 392 100

The above table indicates the age range of

leaders in the churches. Most leaders are young

people. This might be to prepare the church of

tomorrow. The middle age follow while very few old

are there in leadership. The old people are giving

way to the young generation

Table 4 : Distribution showing academic level of

leaders

Academi

c level

Number percentage (%)

Seconda 119 30,4

80

ryHigh

school

131 33,4

Univers

ity

136 34,7

Masters 03 03Nil 0,8Total 392 100

The above table shows that most of the leaders

have school and have a good academic level to

appreciate other humans and appraise situations

logically. they can be trained or groomed for any

field of studies. Table 5 : Distribution of workers according to number

of trainings done

  Number Percentage (%)0 105 26,791 98 25,002 67 17,13 13 3,324 8 2,045 1 0,26

81

Total 292 74,49Nil 100 25,51Total 392 100,00

From table 5 above we noticed that one quarter

26,79% of the leaders have not received training,

against 25 % who have received training once and

22,72%who have received training twice, and 0,26%

which is either one person in 5 trainings .Most of

the leaders have not received any adequate training ,

though a good number are trained on basic issues yet

some have received no formal education but can handle

basic Christian activities..

Their constant routine tasks can enhance ability,

mastery, and love for the work that can eventually

improve spiritual growth.

Table 6 : Distribution according to types of church

meetings

 Church

Activities Yes No TotalBible 48 22 70

82

TeachingsPrayer

meetings 124 165 289Young converts 7 2 9Leadership

meetings 10 6 16Counseilling 2 3 2Nil 4 2 6Total 198 194 392

The table above shows the distribution

according their various meetings. Only 06 persons say

no leadership meeting, 48 say yes they have bible

teachings in their church as against 22 and 7 for

young converts against 124 .for prayer meetings. This

shows that many Churhes like prayers meetings.

Table 7: Distribution according to the Beliefs, doctrines they

practice

 Post occupied

Number Percentage

(%)Baptism by

Immersion 70 17,86The Lords Super 289 73,72

83

Holy Ghost

Baptism 9 2,30Speaking in

Tongues 16 4,08Healing and

Delivarance 8 2.4Total 392 100,00

The table above shows that 289 leaders agree on

the Lord's super and only 70 stand for baptism by

immersion. the results would not be what some people

will think, rather they call for a second thought in

Christian beliefs and doctrine. Only a few people

agree on deliverance and healing activities, which

are changing the religious psychological environment

in Cameroon today.

Table 8: Distribution according to Church discipline

 Discipline Number percentage (%)For every body 309 78,83Must follow

Biblical

79 20,15

84

proceduresCan be

excominicated 4 1,02Total 392 100,00

The above table shows that most of the leaders

say discipline is for the members. 79 believe that

the biblical procedure must be followed in any

discipline while only 04 responds accepted that a

member can be sent away from church. This shows that

discipline is very important in any group or

organisation.

Table 9: Distribution according to dressing code

Dressing code Number Percentage (%)women must dress in a

particular way 314 83,37dressing code also

strict on men 52 11,09 dressing affect their

spiritual life 19 4,05Just dress Modest 4 0,85 Nill 3 0,64

392 100,00

85

The table indicates that most of the leaders

(314) hold that women must dress in a way that fits

the faith (52) do say the same for the men. Only (4)

hold that one can just modest and nothing special.

(3) people said nothing on this issue.

Table 10 : Distribution according to perception of

spiritual growth

  Number Frequency (%)Increase of members

in church 166 52,04many people attend

church meetings 66 20,69 many Christians

become leaders 25 7,84more branches of the

Church are opened 8 2,51When many people are

baptized 73 22,88Total 319 100,00

86

The above table shows the people's perception of church

growth. Many leaders hold that it is when membership

increases while others believe that it is when many get

baptized. others judge spiritual growth in church

attendance, the number of people that come to church

each day. We want find out the spiritual growth

efficiency or actual growth.

Table 11 : Distribution according to opinion on

church differences

 Areas of

differences Number Frequency (%)In some Christian

practices 111 28,31In training of

leaders 55 14,03organization of the

Church activities 219 55,86greater power of the

Holy Spirit 7 1,78Total 392 100

The above table shows that most of the leaders

believe that are from other churches because they

organize differently. 111 leaders say they are

87

different in terms of beliefs and practices. A few of

them hold that their church is more powerful in the

Holy Ghost and that makes them different from other

churches. Does these influence efficiency in

spiritual growth?

Table 12: Distribution according to range of training

programmes

  Number Frequency (%)One day to

one month 304 77,55one to six

months 76 19,39One year

and above 12 3,06Total 392 100,00

the table above shows that most church training

programmes are short, mostly between days and one

Month. 76 leaders agreed that some training

programmers can run up to six months. 12

respondents say some can run for a year. the

frequency and length of training programmes can

88

very much influence the spiritual growth of the

church and their member

4.2 Analysis of ResultsHypothesis 1 :

* There is no significant influence of routine church activities on

spiritual growth?

90% (342/380) of the leaders agree on the routine

church activities as an important variable for

spiritual growth, They put in extra hours, they are

not paid for that. In this sample of respondents we

89

noticed that 55, 23% (189/342) saw activities

passionate. Of which, 28, 26% (97/342) find the this

passionate and less tiri.ng.

Generally, 49,7% (189/380) think that the

activities are passionate, though tiring; contrary to

25,6% (97/380) who think that are really passionate

and less tiring.

Although a small population doesn’t does not

agree, 47,37% (18/38) see that it is passionate, and

less tiring. Can we say that the church activities

influences spiritual growth efficiency?

We can now test hypothesis 1 (H1) of our topic.

To answer this question, we have to use ‘The

Fisher’s Exact test’.

The methodology of this test is presented in the next

paragraph.

Presentation of the methodology of the Fisher’s Exact

Test.

Just like the Chi Square Test, it is used to

verify the independence between two qualitative. The

Fisher’s Exact Test is equally used to respond to the

same question. Meanwhile we should say that the Chi

90

Square Test is no more appropriate when we have cells

that show less than 5% theoretical frequency. And so

to avoid this error we use The Fisher’s Exact Test.

The statistics of the test is that of the Old ratio q

given by the formulae below:

Performs Fisher's exact test for testing the null of

independence of rows and columns in a contingency

table with fixed marginal (see appendix).

Distribution according to church activities.

Church activities Yes No Total

Disturb

ing

17 0 17

Passion

ate but

tiring

189 15 204

Passion

ate and

less

tiring

97 18 115

Tiring 39 5 44Total 342 38 380

91

The use of the Fisher’s Exact Test

It has been resulted that the church activities

influence significantly (p-value = 0.06281)

efficiency

Hypothesis 2 :

There is no significant influence of church discipline on

spiritual growth

We created the variable. Here, we have to first

of all select those who accepted discipline for all.

These are qualified leaders. Our routine variable

will take the modality “Yes”, if the individual holds

that discipline be for everybody. we suggest he is

occupying the first routine. Here, the routine

variable takes the modality “No”.

92

Church discipline

Variables

Yes No Total

Yes to church

discipline

115 9 124

No to church

discipline

78 8 86

Total 193 17 210

We test the hypothesis where church discipline

significantly influences spiritual growth

efficiency of the church and individuals.

The results after the Fisher’s Exact Test show

that discipline significantly influences (p-value =

0.615) spiritual growth efficiency.

93

Hypothesis 3 :

There is no significant influence of church

doctrine on spiritual growth?

`Distribution according to the Beliefs,

doctrines they practice.

 Post occupied Number Percentage (%)Baptism by

Immersion 70 17,86The Lords Super 289 73,72Holy Ghost

Baptism 9 2,30Speaking in

Tongues 16 4,08Healing and

Delivarance 8 2.4Total 392 100,00

We have examine two variables to see the Beliefs,

doctrines and practices they all follow. The Fischer

exact test shows that the hypothesis where church

doctrine and beliefs significantly influences

spiritual growth  of the church and individuals.

94

The results after the Fisher’s Exact Test show

that the Beliefs, doctrines and practices

significantly influences (p-value = 0.715) spiritual

growth efficiency.

Hypothesis 4:

* There is no significant influence of the church training

programmes on spiritual growth.

Here, we tried not only to look at the number of trainings but also

to if they really have been trained at all. The duration of their was also

considered.

Distribution of workers according to number of

trainings done

  Number Percentage (%)0 105 26,791 98 25,002 67 17,1

95

3 13 3,324 8 2,045 1 0,26Total 292 74,49Nil 100 25,51Total 392 100,00

We have examine two variables to see the impact

of training on the Christians. The Fischer exact test

shows that the hypothesis where church training

courses significantly influences spiritual growth  of

the church and individuals.

The results after the Fisher’s Exact Test show

that the church trainings significantly influences

(p-value = 0.518) spiritual growth efficiency.

Hypothesis 5:

There is no significant influence of physical appearance on

spiritual growth.

96

Distribution according to the influence of physical

appearance

Dressing code Number Percentage (%)women must dress in

a particular way 314 83,37dressing code also

strict on men 52 11,09 dressing affect

their spiritual life 19 4,05Just dress Modest 4 0,85 Nill 3 0,64

392 100,00We have examine two variables to see the impact

of physical appearance of the Christians. The Fischer

exact test shows that the hypothesis where church

dressing code significantly influences spiritual

growth  of the church and individuals.

The results after the Fisher’s Exact Test show

that the physical appearance significantly influences

(p-value = 0.805) spiritual growth efficiency.

97

CHAPTRE FIVE

INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS, RECOMMENDATIONS

AND CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION

The objective of this chapter is to present

the interpretation of the findings, by making

reference to the theories and views of authors

in the review of literature. From the

discussions, conclusions are drawn and some

recommendations made; for improvements and

adjustments on Christian organisational culture

to enhance spiritual growth efficiency.

5.1 Interpretation of findingsHere, attempt is made to compare the findings of the

study with those of previous studies and theories. This

98

interpretation is oriented by the hypotheses of the

study, as they are interpreted, and discussed.

5.1.1 H1: Routine church activities on spiritual growth?From the analysis of data collected from

respondents on this hypothesis the results indicate

that vocational attitude of workers towards their job

influences efficiency in their productivity.

Literature stated on this absolutely supports the

findings. Tsafak (2000), emphasised that a vocation is

characterised by self sacrifice, the commitment of

one’s whole being with all the resources of one’s

intelligence and heart, all one’s spiritual and even

physical energy, all one’s time to the professional

tasks. This aptitude and attitude serve as an

intrinsic motivational force that drives those with

vocational calls to get committed to their tasks

single heartedly with devotion to get best results

that would lead to efficiency.

In absolute terms to have the vocation for a

profession means being able and willing to live only

for it. A keen observation of workers in an enterprise

will reveal those with the calling to certain tasks.

99

The man with concentration and power of continued

enthusiastic application to his task will surpass a

brilliant competitor if the latter is careless and

indifferent towards his work. Many who have

accomplished great things in business, in the

profession and in science have been men of moderate

ability. This aptitude and attitude serve as an

intrinsic motivational force that drives those with

vocational calls to get committed to their tasks

single heartedly with devotion to get best results

that would lead to efficiency.

Taylor (1933) affirms that human efficiency is not

measured in terms of muscular energy or of intellectual

grasp; but it is depended upon many factors other than

native strength of mind and body. He said that the

attitude which one takes towards life in general and

towards his calling in particular is of more importance

than native ability.

The results obtained are a prove of this ,as 90% of

the workers put in extra hours or or work above the

normal hours and this is not paid for ; and 55% of them

have passion towards their job. This brings in a greater

100

production without any waste, consequently, we agree that

vocational attitude towards a task influences efficiency.

5.1.2 H2: Church discipline on spiritual growth

After the Fisher’s Exact Test for this hypothesis

the results show that routine significantly influences

(p-value = 0.615) efficiency of the employees. From

data collected most of the workers, 193 out of 210 who

have worked some where before coming to HYSACAM occupy

or are doing the same thing they were doing in their

former enterprises. The routine variables here are

supported by what is stated in some literature above.

Hathaway in Luthans (1992), states that, to

discover how occupation habits should be developed,

experts in each of several typical establishments were

assigned to the task of making a careful study of

every movement of the eye, hand, foot and body, and

the rate and sequence of all the movements necessary

for performing single tasks most easily and

101

efficiently. The experts were also to study the

materials, tools and conditions best adapted to the

work. As a result of this research, numerous processes

had been scientifically standardised. The workmen had

been taught the new and better way and have been

drilled till the processes had been so far as possible

reduced to occupational habits. The workmen had been

easily induced to acquire the new habits.

The fundamental discovery was made that the

workman’s occupation habits are such as to enable him

accomplish his task in an economical and efficient

manner.

5.1.3 H3: Church Beliefs and doctrine on spiritual

growth

The analysis of results revealed that most of the

labourers do not carry out extra time of which other

personnel do carry out extra time. We can therefore

say that the choice of the qualified people on the

post that corresponds to their level of education

influences efficiency. This is in line with what

Kotter&Heskett (1992), postulated, that

specialisation and the respect of training received

in posting or in placing employees has an influence

102

on the quality of their output. It gives an internal

satisfaction which can eventually develop a drive or

an intrinsic motivational force towards creativity,

initiative and innovation as an element of self

actualisation on the part of the workers;

consequently, they will strive for quality

production, avoid waste and to have a high level of

performance.

One of the globalisation concepts is

specialisation, it is the variable that encourages

job satisfaction, and is born from meritorious

postings. Job satisfaction is a pleasurable or

positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal

of one’s job. That is why Schein (2005), advocates

that organisationists should also identify and

examine some unconscious and unidentified cultural

elements in the organisation because they should an

influence on the quality of the performance and the

general production. One of these elements is

meritorious postings that would obey specialisation

and training. This will serve as a challenge to the

worker and an internal push for him/her prove or show

what he/she can do. This is a natural tendency in

103

every individual. Therefore, organisational

psychologists and managers are called upon not to

neglect these salient elements of culture in the

enterprises.

5.1.4 H4: Church training programmes on spiritual growth.

The data collected on this hypothesis and

analysed proved that the people who are supervised,

and who also declares that the supervision makes them

to work, those who loved to be supervised, those who

have received at least a quarrel letter and go above

the normal working hours. On the contrary those who

have not received any quarrel letters do not put in

extra hours. So, we can say that the environment of

an individual influences his efficiency.

This is in line with what Lewin (1959), holds,

that learning, perception and attitudes are developed

on the field (environment), a given psychological

environment where man interacts with simple and

complex objects and activities. These will determine

attitudes, perception and behaviour of the employees,

as an environmental construct that influences

conduct, acquired as the individual learns through

104

interaction, observation and imitation. It is here

that attitudes are formed, even judgements and

stereotypes through interpersonal relations (Ebale,

2001). This is what will determine the quality of

output of the workers in their given tasks.

In a good job design set up, if the workers’

environmental needs are satisfied, this would enhance

or guarantee the quality of work.. Man-machine

conditions and working environment caretered for ,

which avoids stress leads to job enrichment. Physical

facilities, material and equipment are external

motivational factors that would enhance job

satisfaction, which is an internal or intrinsic

motivational factor that can put the workers into a

conducive condition and would permit him to put his

maximum output.

Leadership styles in delegation of power,

consultation and communication, are interactive

behavioural components constitute the environmental

atmospher which is the determinant factor of the workers’

or employees’ attitudes towards tasks, and consequently

the efficiency in production and performance

(Tamajong&Fonkeng, 2003).

105

We therefore conclude that the environment influences

efficiency or quality the performance of the employees in

the enterprise.

H5: Physical appearance on spiritual growth.

The data collected on this hypothesis and

analysed proved that physical appearance of the

Christians has a relationship with their style of

life, consequently it influences their spiritual life

, the reason they loved to be supervised. Those who

have received at least a quarrel and go above the

norms. Acts 2:38-41 "Then Peter said unto them,

Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name

of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye

shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Then theythat gladly received his word were baptized: and the same

day there were added unto them about three thousand

souls."That there were definitely, regularly organized

churches is clear from the fact that the Apostle Paul

addressed many of his epistles to churches in different

localities. The letters to the Corinthians (e.g., 1 Ep.12-

14) show that the churches had already recognized certain

forms of service and liturgy; those to Timothy and Titus

presume a regularly organized congregation of believers.

That there is a Church in the world is clear from 1

106

Cor.5:9-13. The Christian Church is as much an entity as

the Gentile, or the Jew (1 Cor.10:32). The existence of

church officers proves the existence of the Church in an

organized form: bishops and deacons (Phil.1:1), elders

(Acts 20:17), the presbytery (1 Tim.4:14). Church letters

were granted to members (Acts 18:27).each Christian

organization leads and guides its people not to conform to

the world but transform in renewal of their minds and

change character. the physical is the evidence of what is

within.

The apostles were at the head of the Church (2:41-

47). See Acts, cc.1 and 2, for a fuller account of

the first Church.

The second stage in the growth of the Church was its

spread throughout Judea and Samaria, as recorded in

Acts 8.

Antioch, in Syria, then became the head of the

Gentile Church (Acts 13:1), as Jerusalem was the head

of the Jewish Church (Acts 15); Paul representing the

Church at Antioch, and Peter and James at Jerusalem.

The assembly at Antioch was called "the church" just

as truly as was the assembly at Jerusalem (11:22;

13:1).

107

Because of the missionary activities of the apostles,

especially Paul, churches sprang up in different

cities, especially in Asia Minor, e.g., Corinth,

Galatia, Ephesus, and Philippi.In view of all this

the term "church" came to be used of the

Church universal, that is, the complete body of Christ

as existing in every place.

5.2 Summary of Findings

Based on the above discussion, we therefore

conclude that:

- The Church routine activities influence spiritual

growth of the

members of the church organisation

. -Church Discipline influences the spiritual growth

efficiency of the Christians.

- The physical appearance of the Christians influences

the quality of spiritual growth.

- The training of the church leaders and members in a

given church influences their spiritual growth.

- The Doctrine (beliefs) influences the spiritual

growth of the Christians and the Church organisation.

108

5.3. Recommendations and Suggestions

Considering the importance of this research, the

following recommendations have been made:

The church organisation should pay attention to

the intrinsic vocational cultural elements of

organisation because they intrinsically affect

the members, and do determine the quality of

their spiritual growth efficiency.

Church leaders and superintendents of the church

organisations should consider these salient

variables at top priority, if they need to

witness spiritual growth of their members and

that of the organisation.

Christian Organisations should embrace and fight

for efficiency in spiritual growth because with

this they can maintain or increase growth and

production without waste or put extra money,

energy and time.

Theologians, Researchers and Psychologists

should carry out further research on other

intrinsic elements of organisational culture,

like the members’ biological background etc.

109

5.4Limitation of study

Time of the collection of data from the

churches.

Many visits to the leaders in different

churches to collect data.

I suffered from theft and lost of my hard

drive and backups twice. -Financial constraints.

CONCLUSIONThe five research hypotheses, which guided the

research, were to find out the relationship that exist

between the Christian organisation cultural elements and

spiritual growth efficiency; which is quality output of

the members in their churches. All the hypotheses were

confirmed, that the routine church activities, the

doctrine or beliefs, church discipline, the training of

church leaders and physical of the Christians influence

the quality of the spiritual life of members of the

specific church organisation. This is growth where there

is not much wastage nor extra time put in, no extra

remuneration extra energy put in for results.

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This piece of work therefore ends with the conclusion

that Christian organisational culture has many levels

and the types of culture an organisation adopts will

determine its level of effectiveness and efficiency in

their spiritual growth. By the results obtained from this

piece of work, it is upheld that the concept of spiritual

efficiency in the organisation is maintained when the

elements of the organisational culture are paid attention

to, considered and promoted in the church organisation.

Organisational culture especially the rituals as

motivational forces are the elements investigated in this

piece of work. Though Psychologists and church

organization have not indicated these elements as

determinants of perception in organisation and attitude

change, some Organisationists like Schien have indicated

that there are some unidentified and non cognitive

cultural elements that can also influence growth and

efficiency.

Therefore, the theories used in this work were to

examine the elements on the field and specifically in a

group as stated by Lewin in his group dynamics.

Nevertheless, he neglected or never mentioned these

intrinsic cultural elements that are linked to the

111

individual and are the main cause of his change of

attitude towards any object, situation or given task for

actualisation and hope.

.From the results analysed and stated, one could have

an insight into the causes of poor growth and quality

output of members in many of our church organisations in

Cameroon.

Therefore, as Theologians and Psychologists, we would

strongly advocate that the managers and organisationists

should consider the human factor as the most salient for

any change of positive attitude of people towards their

given tasks in the church organisation; which would

consequently enhance spiritual growth efficiency.

112

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Appendix

1. Questionnaire

2. A recapitulative table

3. Statistics table

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SURVEY OF PASTORS AND CHURCH LEADERS

Christian organizational Culture and Spiritual Growth

Dear Pastors, Men and Women of God, kindly respond to the following questions to the best of your ability andas accurately as possible. All answers will be confidential

Please tick (√) (X) or specify the response which bestanswers the following:

1. Sex: I am a:

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Male----------1( ) Female--------2( ) Name of Church-----------------------------------------------------------------------3.Longevity in this Church.------------------------------------------------------------.4Post held in Church.--------------------------------------------------------------------5

2. What is the highest education level you have completed?

1 year post secondary---------------1( ) 2 year post secondary---------------2( ) 3 year post secondary---------------3( ) 4 year post secondary---------------4( ) More than 4 years post secondary----5( ) Others-------------------------------------6( ) Please specify______________________

3. What program of activities do you have each week?.prayers meetings------------------------------01( ) Bible studies------------------------------------02( ) Evangelical meetings--------------------------03( ) leadership meetings----------------------------04( ) women meetings-------------------------------05( ) youths meetings-------------------------------06( ) Children ministry-------------------------------07() You have meetings all the days of the week---08( ) 

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Bachelor of Science in Nursing-------------------------09( ) Others--------------------------------------------------10( ) If other, please specify_______________________________

4. What training programmes do you carry out for leaders?

two to three days training programs-----------------1( ) One Month programs--------------------------------------2( ) two to six months programs-------------------------3( ) One year and above programs---------------------4( ) Others---------------------5( ) Please specify_________

5. What are some of the Christian beliefs that you practice?:

Baptism by immersion---------------------------------1( ) Holy Communion is given to everybody-------------2() Baptism of the Holy Ghost and speaking in tongues 3( )The doctrine of giving to the church work, pastor etc---4( ) Special prayers for deliverance and other problems-----5( ) 

6. How do you practice church discipline.?Everybody is subject to discipline----------------------------01( ) Can you send away a Christian from Church?----------------02( )

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Does each follow a process before any discipline-------------3( ) Do you discipline for offences committed out of Church?-- 4( ) Who is the disciplined person considered in Church?--------5( )Can the person participate in Church activities?---------------6( ) If not, why? Please specify---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------7

7. Does dressing play an important role in your Church?Must women dress only in a particular way?-----------------------1( ) Is the dressing code also strict on men?-----------------------------2( ) Does dressing affect their spiritual life?-----------------------------3( ) If yes, how? please specify----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4( ) State the forbidden dress styles--------------------------------------------5( ) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------6( ) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------7( ) -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------8( ) 

12. What do you consider to be spiritual growth?

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Increase of members in church--------------------------------------------1( ) When many people are baptized--------------------------------------------2( ) When many Christians become leaders--------------------------------- -3( ) As many more people in Church speak in tongues----------------------4( ) When many progress in businesses or have jobs-------------------------5( ) When many people attend church meetings-------------------------------6( )When everybody contributes to raise money for Church projects.......7( ) When more branches of the Church are opened and built---------------8( ) When the Church produces more pastors and leaders--------------------9( ) 

13. How is your Church different from other Christian Churches?

In some beliefs----------------------------------------------------1( ) In some Christian practices..-----------------.-------------------2( ) In training of leaders -----------------------------------------------3( ) In organization of the Church activities--------------------------4( )Have a greater power of the Holy Spirit than others-------------5( ) 

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can you say the Church is experiencing spiritual growth?--------6( ) If yes, please specify.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................7

********************

THAN

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