OCI

OCI profile

OCI profile

The purpose of this paper is to examine the development and validation of an dated version of the Organizational Culture Profile (OCP) (O'Reilly, man & Caldwell 1991). The current study overcomes the limitations of Q-sort methodology used in earlier versions of the OCP by developing a more user-friendly Likert-type scale format for the instrument and using a large, Australia-wide sample of executives in its psychometric validation. Studies of organizational culture are varied, multilevel (department, division, company, country), and ubiquitous. Denison (1996, p. 654) asserts that culture is 'the deep structure of organizations, which is rooted in the values, beliefs and assumptions held by organizational members.' That is, when we speak of organizational culture, we refer to the meanings inherent in the actions and procedures of organizational commerce and discourse.

Culture evolves and is not manipulated easily, while climate is temporal and often subject to manipulation by people with power and influence (Denison 1996). Generally, culture studies are conducted at different levels of analyses (for instance, organizational versus societal) using different methodological approaches (conceptual, quantitative, and qualitative) and a variety of associated constructs. For example, culture has been studied in association with leadership as proposed by Schein (1985), or values as examined by O'Reilly, Chatman and Caldwell (1991). The focus for the present study is delimited to an examination of organizational culture from an individual perspective (e.g. Kristof 1996; Van Vianen 2000) and uses the perspectives of managers and senior executives as the data source. This approach is consistent with the proposition that only the top echelons of leaders are in a position to significantly influence cultural identity and change (Barlow, Jordan & Hendrix 2003; Katz & Kahn 1978), and replicates the approach adopted by O'Reilly, Chatman and Caldwell (1991 p. 491) in their development of the original version of the Organizational Culture Profile (OCP).

Measuring Organizational Culture in China

With the permission and cooperation of Dr. Denison, we have translated and cross-translated the Denison Organizational Culture measure into Chinese and have used it with a variety of organizations in China; including a Chinese insurance company, the China sales and marketing units of a global high-tech company, the China manufacturing and China based regional headquarters of a global office furniture company, the China commercial unit of a global consumer products company, and three hospitals in south and east China. The organizational culture measure asks employees at all levels to describe their organization in a survey questionnaire composed of 60 questions. It takes around 15 minutes to complete, either on-line via the internet or in hard copy, both Chinese and English languages are provided upon request. Let us take a look at how the Organizational Culture measure can be used.

Figure presents the organizational culture profile as described by 136 employees at all levels of the China operations of a global office furniture company based in Shanghai. The numbers presented for each organizational culture dimension are percentile scores based on comparisons with over 550 companies that have completed the ...