Assessment of Idiographic Organizational Climate

Abstract

In preparing an organizational diagnosis, one problem faced by change agents is the integration of the different perceptions of the individuals who make up the client organization. It was hypothesized that factor analysis and elements of social exchange theory (cost. reward, and commitment) could be used to resolve this problem. An instrument was prepared in a preliminary study. The instrument was then administered to the faculties of two schools, and qualitative descriptions of each organization were made on the basis of factor patterns. Simultaneous factor analysis showed that there were systematic differences in the factor patterns obtained from the two schools. Faculty who reviewed the descriptions could correctly identify the one derived from their school's data, indicating that the descriptions were valid. These results indicate that the social-exchange and factor-analysis combination is a promising technique for organizational diagnosis.