The study set out to ascertain the difference in core values between Johann Sebastian Bach's worldview (as reflected in his Baroque music), and the core values of a modern organisation's culture.

Johann Sebastian Bach's music is considered the crowning glory of the Baroque period. Bach's music epitomised the core values of decoro (decorum), sprezzatura (a noble negligence), and grazia (grace) that defined the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. These core values appear antithetical to modern views of organisations and businesses; however, this broad generalisation ignores the great diversity of organisational structures, cultures and activities. These core values may be singularly appropriate for organisations that are engaged in humanitarian activities especially where such activities require tact, diplomacy and delicacy in the non-judgmental delivery of services. This study set out to evaluate this hypothesis.

The intention behind this research was to ultimately make a difference in the working lives of people. To this end, the study is able to indicate to an organisation the degree to which they possess the core values, as an absence of them would denote a culture that is arguably disintegrated and ineffective.

The study was carried out at the human services organisation Crisis Support Services Inc. (a non-profit telephone counselling service established in 1960) that provides counselling, information and referral services to people in personal crisis. Crisis Support Services (CSS) incorporates five telephone counselling services and is located in Melbourne, Australia.

Five key business organisation executives were chosen to participate in one-on-one semi-structured interviews and a specially designed questionnaire was employed to collect primary qualitative data in order to evaluate the organisation's core values.

The results of the study revealed that Crisis Support Services was only partially aligned to Bach's core values at a degree of 58%, indicating that CSS is lacking in the balance of these elements. It was concluded that issues with leadership style, espoused behaviours, a lack of clarity pertaining to the company's mission and vision statements, and a lack of a mature and 'knowable' culture, were the elements inhibiting the full expression of the core values.

The research findings are particularly important to board, senior executive and management levels, as it indicates, in a unique way, the shortcomings of the organisation's present cultural climate, which in turn may influence decision making and strategic planning for the future, and positively impact at the counseller/client level.

Considering that Crisis Support Services is an organisation committed to helping those less fortunate, this result can be viewed as rather alarming; Crisis Support Services, to a certain degree, is unable to apply to itself the same values it freely gives to its clients. However, it is worth noting the moderate degree of alignment found in this study is still significantly higher than would arguably be predicted using current models of organisational cultures and activities. This would indicate that this type of analysis could be applied in other business environments, perhaps even those not directly involved in humanist activities.

This is the first study of its kind to employ Bach's music as a metaphorical tool to measure an organisation's cultural values.

© Stuart Campbell 2005

[If you would like to read the thesis abstract, click here.]