| Summary: | This dissertation explores the approach that entrepreneurs take towards their
organizational structure and culture. As such, the underlying research question is: Do
founding entrepreneurs take a causal approach to organizational structure and culture? In
order to investigate this, existing literature on entrepreneurship, organizational structure
and organizational culture have been critically analyzed. Although there is considerable
research on entrepreneurship independently of organizational structure and culture,
however the approach entrepreneurs take towards these organizational phenomena has
rarely been considered. This dissertation follows a qualitative ethnographic, interpretivist
methodology, using semi-structured interviews, document analysis and participant
observation. The Blue Water Elite Swim Training (BEST) Centre is used as the basis of the
study. According to the research presented in the literature review, as well as the evidence
discovered through the aforementioned methods, it has been found that entrepreneurs use
a combination of both effectual and causal approaches to their organizational structure and
culture, with an element of evolution over time. The overriding limitation to this study
however, is that the BEST Centre is a small organization, with seven permanent employees.
This therefore makes it difficult to generalize the results presented in this dissertation, to
large organizations. This dissertation concludes by considering the implications of the
findings, suggesting that similar studies on whether founding entrepreneurs of larger
organizations, as well as organizations in a variety of industries, are consistent in either their
causal or effectual approaches to organizational structure and culture.
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