Organisational Culture Inventory®

The Organisational Culture Inventory® (OCI) is the most widely used and thoroughly researched tool for measuring organisational culture in the world.

It provides a profile of an organisation's operating culture, in terms of the behaviours that members believe are required to "fit in and meet expectations".Such expectations guide the way organisational members approach their work and interact with each other. These behavioural norms influence the organisations ability to solve problems, adapt to change and perform effectively.

Using the Human Synergistics Circumplex, the OCI measures behavioural norms and expectations, be they ‘Constructive’, ‘Aggressive/Defensive’ or ‘Passive/Defensive’.

Defining a Ideal Culture

A special version of the OCI is used to create a vision of the ideal or preferred culture for the organisation. Using this, leaders can define the culture that would best help their organisation achieve its vision and support long term effectiveness.

This ideal culture profile then becomes the standard against which the actual organisational culture is then compared, resulting in a gap analysis that focuses improvement efforts where they can make the most difference.

Outcomes of Culture

When measuring actual operating culture, the OCI also measures certain key outcomes: individual member satisfaction, commitment, role clarity, role conflict and perceptions of the organisation's service quality.

Additional outcomes, plus levers for cultural change, can be measured by running the OCI in tandem with the Organisational Effectiveness Inventory™ (OEI).

The OCI can be used for:

• Validating the need for cultural transformation
• Planning and monitoring organisational development programs
• Supporting programs designed to enhance member engagement, organisational learning, quality and reliability, and/or customer service
• Facilitating mergers, acquisitions and strategic alliances
• Enhancing managers' understanding of culture
• Managing diversity
• Measuring culture for academic and research purposes

Unique characteristics of the Organisational Culture Inventory® (OCI)

• Measures behavioural norms and expectations and the impact these have on performance
• A reliable, valid and genuine ,measure of culture – clearly distinguishing culture from climate as different and separate organisational variables
• Meets rigorous academic and psychometric standards
• Integrates with the other circumplex based tools – Leadership/Impact® (L/I), Management/Impact™ (M/I), the Life Styles Inventory™ (LSI) and the Group Styles Inventory™ (GSI) to link individual, group and organisational level behaviours