Organizational Culture Assessment Inventory

Steinhoff, C. R., and Owens, R. G. (1988). The Organizational Culture

Inventory: A metaphorical analysis of organizational culture in educational
settings. Paper presented at American Educational Research Association.

Comments: This instrument was developed as an objective measure of

organizational culture. Two major questions were of concern:
(1) What are the essential factors that define the metaphor “Organizational
Culture?” and
(2) How can these factors be evaluated objectively in a given organization?
Organizational culture is a pattern of basic assumptions developed by a
given group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation
and internal integration. The study of patterns of these assumptions has
focused on control mechanisms, values, norms, history, traditions,
ceremonies, rituals, heroes, symbols, and informal networks, as well as
internalized solutions to internal and external problems.

Scale Construction: A taxonomy structure of organizational culture was developed from

a review of the literature. This taxonomy has six dimensions that define the culture of a
school:
(1) the history of the organization;
(2) values and beliefs of the organization;
(3) myths and stories that explain the organization;
(4) cultural norn1s of the organization;
(5) traditions, rituals, and ceremonies; and
(6) heroes and heroines of the organization.

Sample: The development of the instrument constituted two samples: (I) Several classes
of graduate students provided 56 responses representing 47 individual schools. (2) Data
were collected from eight elementary schools, which represented the major themes
identified in the initial analysis.

Data Analysis: The analysis of the initial data produced descriptions of four cultural
phenotypes that differentiate in terms of the metaphorical language
2. Cabaret- Some respondents described their schools as a circus, a
Broadway show, a banquet, or a well-choreographed ballet performed
by well-appreciated artists.
3. The Little Shop of Horrors- A small percentage described their school as
unpredictable, tension-filled nightmares having the characteristics of Paris during
the French Revolution. Teachers in these schools lead isolated lives; there is little
social activity.

Reference
Owens, R. G., and Steinhoff, C. R. (1989). Towards a theory of organizational
culture. Journal of Educational Administration. 27: I6.
Organizational Culture Assessment Inventory
I . Every school has a unique history all of its own. Teachers know
something of that history even if they have not worked there for a long
time, because people talk about things that went on in former times.
Some of these events may have been powerful incidents in the
community that affected the school, and others may be purely internal
matters that might seem unimportant or even mundane to outsiders.
Please describe in a brief paragraph some of the more important
events or trends that helped to shape the character of your school as it
is today.
2. Schools usually espouse some official, formal, public set of values and
beliefs. Ordinarily these appear in handbooks, newsletters, speeches, and so
on. But in day-to-day work, a school may sometimes seem to be operating
from values and beliefs that are different from the official public statements.
The latter values and beliefs are, of course, often implicitly understood but not
often talked about.

ln a brief paragraph, please describe the actual, functional values and beliefs
that are important in your school.

3. People who work in schools very often tell stories- perhaps mythical, or
apocryphal, or humorous- that help to explain what life in them is really
like.
Briefly describe a common story that is likely to be told to a newcomer by
an "old hand" in your school to impress upon the individual "how things
are really done around here."

4. Every school has established but unwritten expectations for behavior on the
job.

In a brief paragraph, please describe some of the most important expectations

that have to be met in your school in order to get along.

5. Schools often develop informal customs, or rituals, that are more or less
unique. For example, in one school that we know of there is a bridge
game going on in the teachers' lounge every day with different people
sitting in as they come off of ball and cafeteria duty. In another school,
the principal has an informal coffee klatch in the school kitchen every
morning, and so on.

In a brief paragraph, please describe any such rituals that are important
in the daily life of your school.

6. Schools seem to have at least one person, either now or in the past, who
is thought of with great respect (or even reverence) because he or she is/
was so outstanding in the life of the school.

If you can think of such an individual in the history of your school that
the individual is so well-regarded, please describe in a brief paragraph
why it is.
 7. In responding to the previous questions, you have provided a rich description of important
aspects of the culture of your school. But the culture of a school is a total entity, even greater
than the sum of its parts. We now would like you to summarize the descriptions that you
have providedby using metaphors as a way to convey the essence of the culture of your
school. A metaphor identifies one object with another and ascribes to the first object one or
more qualities of the second. For example, some administrators speak of the school as a
family.

People often use metaphors to succinctly describe complex ideas. For example, when
we say that a school is a well-oiled machine; that metaphor makes clear what that
particular school is really like in the eyes of the people who work in it. For another
example, for teachers to speak of a principal as being "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" tells us a
lot about the impact of the behavior of that individual principal on the teachers in that
particular school.

In this sense, considering the descriptions that you have already written
what one best metaphor would you use to complete the following
sentences:
a. My school "is”a (an, the) _ .
b. Please explain why you chose this metaphor.
c. The principal in my school "is" a (an, the).
d. Please explain.
e. The typical teacher in my school "is" a (an, the) _ .
f. Please explain why you chose this metaphor.
g. The typical student in my school " is" a (an, the) _ .
h. Please explain why you chose this metaphor.
i. The community in which my school is situated " is" a (an, the).
j. Please explain.
8. What, in your opinion, would be the metaphor for the ideal school?
9. What, in your opinion, would be the metaphor for the ideal school principal?
I0. What, in your opinion, would be the metaphor for the ideal teacher?
l l. What, in your opinion, would be the metaphor for the ideal student?
12. What, in your opinion, would be the metaphor for the ideal school community?

Scoring: Responses are scored on the basis of school metaphor. Reprinted with permission of
the author.

Source:
Lester, P.E., Inman, D., & Bishop L. K. (2014). Handbook of tests and measurements
in Education and the Social Sciences. (3rd edition). Rowman & Littlefield. Pages
125-127.