Information and Communication Technologies and Organizational Culture in the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Authors : Bilgin ÖZKAN

Pages : 37-72

View : 21 | Download : 9

Publication Date : 2015-01-01

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :The purpose of this article is to provide an insider’s perspective on the mutually constitutive interplay between Information and Communication Technologies ICTs and the organizational culture of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs over the last two decades. It is argued that the introduction of ICTs to work processes in the Ministry has been a set of reform attempts of senior bureaucrats to adapt the organization to the rapidly changing socio-political environment and to ensure the dominance of the Ministry in the information field of Turkish foreign policy. Reforms have targeted organizational behaviours manifesting the basic assumptions of the organizational culture, namely “hierarchy”, “secrecy”, “oneway communication with the public” and “the notion of the survival of the state”. This case study indicates that the influence of ICTs is most profound in the communication style of foreign service officials, which has gradually been changing from one-way to two-way communication with the public. ICTs have also enabled foreign service officials to develop collaborative cross-agency relations with other public and private organizations. The article
Keywords : Turkey, Foreign Ministry, organizational culture, technology, communication, public diplomacy