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Organizational Behavior Survey
Note: This survey is based on the “Models of Organizational Behavior” in Leadership and Organizational Behavior.
Objective: To identify what behavioral model your organization prefers to operate in.
Instructions: This questionnaire contains statements about the organization. Next to each question, indicate how often your organization displays each behavior by using the following scoring system:
- Almost never - 1
- Seldom - 2
- Occasionally - 3
- Frequently - 4
- Almost always - 5
- _____ Things get accomplished around here because employees fear for their jobs.
- _____ Most employees do not leave this organization because it provides a lot of security.
- _____ The managers display real leadership traits and are respected by the employees.
- _____ There is a real feeling of teamwork.
- _____ Only Management is allowed to make decisions.
- _____ Although the employees are happy and contented, they give only passive cooperation.
- _____ Both managers and employees want to create better job performance.
- _____ There is a partnership between managers and employees.
- _____ Although people obey their leader, they do not respect the leader.
- _____ Management's main concern is making money.
- _____ The employees feel they are part of the organization.
- _____ The employees feel a real responsibility to make things work.
- _____ Most of the jobs are considered "minimum wage" jobs.
- _____ The employees' main concern is for the security of their families and themselves.
- _____ When things go wrong, the main concern is to fix it, not to lay blame.
- _____ There is enthusiasm among the employees to better job performance.
- _____ The employees' main concern is to provide for their families and themselves.
- _____ Although the employees have good benefits, they tend to give only minimal performance.
- _____ The employees feel they are recognized for their work.
- _____ The employees feel their jobs hold high esteem and are of great value to the organization.
- _____ Management does not expect the employees to give more than minimal performance.
- _____ Most of the employees seem content to stay in their position.
- _____ Employees are part of the decision making process.
- _____ Things happen around here because of the self-discipline of every employee.
In the fill-in lines below, mark the score of each item on the questionnaire. For example, if you scored item one with a 3 (Occasionally), then enter a 3 next to Item One. When you have entered all the scores for each question, total each of the four columns.
| Item Score | Item Score | Item Score | Item Score |
| 1. ________ | 2. ________ | 3. ________ | 4. ________ |
| 5. ________ | 6. ________ | 7. ________ | 8. ________ |
| 9. ________ | 10. ________ | 11. ________ | 12. ________ |
| 13. ________ | 14. ________ | 15. ________ | 16. ________ |
| 17. ________ | 18. ________ | 19. ________ | 20. ________ |
| 21. ________
|
22. ________
|
23. ________
|
24. ________
|
| TOTAL _____
|
TOTAL _____
|
TOTAL _____
|
TOTAL _____
|
| Autocratic | Custodial | Supportive | Collegial |
Scoring
The highest score in the columns above points you to what type of behavior your organization normally operates in:
- Autocratic - This stage depends on power, those in command have the power to demand. "You do this or else," means that an employee will obey or be penalized. The employee orientation is obedience towards the boss, not respect.
- Custodial - These are welfare companies that practice paternalism. The organization depends on economic recourses to meet the security needs of its employees which leads to dependence upon the organization.
- Supportive - This approach depends upon leadership instead of power or money. Through leadership the organization helps the employee to grow and accomplish things in the organization.
- Collegial - This is a team concept that depends upon the management building a partnership with employees.
This questionnaire is to help you assess what behavioral model your organization operates. It is based upon the theory that organizations generally operate out of one of four modes - Autocratic, Custodial, Supportive, or Collegial. The lowest score possible for a model is 6 (Almost never) while the highest score possible for a model is 30 (Almost always).
The highest of the four scores indicates what model you perceive your organization to normally operate in. If your highest score is 24 or more, it is a strong indicator of the model it operates in.
The lowest of the three scores is an indicator of the stage your team is least like. If your lowest score is 12 or less, it is a strong indicator that your organization does not operate this way.
If two of the scores are close to the same, you are probably going through a transition phase. If there is only a small difference between three or four scores, then this indicates that you have no clear perception of the way your organization behaves, or the organization's behavior is highly variable.
Also note that if several scores are close to being the same, then the one on the right could be stage that you company primarily operates out of. That is a collegial company could have patterns of both custodial and supportive organizations.
Reliability and Validity
Since this survey is a learning tool used in training programs, such as leadership development, rather than a research tool, it has not been formally checked for reliability or validity. However, since I have received feedback from various sources and has been updated numerous times, I believe it to be a fairly accurate tool.
Next Steps
Return to the chapter on, Leadership and Organizational Behavior
Return to the Leadership Training and Development Outline