An organizational culture survey is an employee survey, usually run anonymously, that measures how employees perceive the shared values, norms and behaviors in their organization. It shows with data how decisions are made, which behaviors are rewarded, how mistakes and new ideas are treated and how far the values written on the walls are lived in everyday work. The most widely used models are Cameron and Quinn's OCAI and the Denison Organizational Culture Survey. In this article we explain what a culture survey measures, how these two models work, how to read the gap between current and preferred culture, and sample questions you can use in your own survey.
- An organizational culture survey is an employee survey that measures how employees perceive the way work really gets done, which behaviors are rewarded and how far the stated values are lived in everyday work.
- The two most widely used models are the OCAI (Cameron and Quinn) and the Denison Organizational Culture Survey: the OCAI describes culture as a mix of four types (clan, adhocracy, market and hierarchy), while Denison measures involvement, consistency, adaptability and mission.
- The real value of a culture survey is the gap it reveals between the current culture and the culture the strategy requires; there is no universally "good" or "bad" culture.
- An engagement survey measures how employees feel about the organization; a culture survey measures how things work there. Culture measurement matters most during mergers, transformations and changes in strategy.
What is organizational culture?
Organizational culture (also called corporate or company culture) is the set of values, beliefs and unwritten "this is how we do things here" rules shared by the members of an organization. Culture is what a new employee learns in their first few months: Can you push back on your manager in a meeting? What happens when you make a mistake? Are decisions made quickly or do they go through long approval chains? Who gets promoted?
One of the most cited frameworks in culture research comes from Edgar Schein, who describes culture in three levels:
| Level | What it includes | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Artifacts | Visible structures, processes, symbols and behaviors | Office layout, dress code, number of meetings, job title system |
| Espoused values | The values, goals and strategies the organization states openly | Value statements such as "We are customer-focused" or "We learn from mistakes" |
| Basic underlying assumptions | Beliefs taken for granted without question, often unconsciously | "Whoever takes a risk gets blamed", "The CEO makes the real decision" |
This distinction matters for understanding what culture surveys can measure. Surveys work best at measuring the behaviors employees observe and how far espoused values are lived. Basic assumptions are often not fully captured by a survey; understanding them requires focus groups and interviews.
What does an organizational culture survey measure?
Culture surveys do not grade an organization as "good" or "bad"; they describe what kind of culture it has. A typical culture survey looks for answers to these questions:
- Current culture: How do employees describe the organization today? Which behaviors dominate?
- Preferred culture: What kind of culture do employees and leaders believe the organization needs to deliver its strategy?
- Values-behavior alignment: How far are the organization's stated values visible in everyday work, especially in how leaders behave?
- Subcultures: How different is the perception of culture across departments, locations, tenure groups or merging companies?
- Strengths and weaknesses: Which features of the culture support the strategy, and which slow it down?
Culture survey vs engagement survey vs satisfaction survey
These three surveys are often confused, but they answer different questions:
| Survey | Core question | What it measures | How to read the result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Satisfaction survey | Are employees content with what they get from the organization? | Satisfaction with pay, working conditions, manager, development opportunities and similar areas | Higher is better |
| Engagement survey | How do employees feel about the organization? | Emotional connection, intention to stay, discretionary effort and the drivers behind them | Higher is better |
| Culture survey | How do things work here? | Shared values, norms and dominant behavior patterns | The right answer depends on the strategy; the gap between current and preferred matters |
The key difference is in the last column. In satisfaction and engagement surveys, a high score is good news. In a culture survey, a high score on "adherence to rules and procedures", for example, may be a strength for a pharmaceutical plant and a risk for a software company that needs to ship products fast. We cover engagement and satisfaction surveys in detail in what is an employee engagement survey and what is an employee satisfaction survey.
How to measure organizational culture: the most common models
OCAI (Cameron and Quinn)
The OCAI (Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument), introduced in Kim Cameron and Robert Quinn's book "Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture", is one of the most widely used culture assessment tools in the world. It is based on Quinn and Rohrbaugh's Competing Values Framework, which places organizations on two axes:
- Flexibility and discretion versus stability and control
- Internal focus and integration versus external focus and differentiation
The two axes create four culture types:
| Culture type | Position | Dominant characteristics | Definition of success |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clan | Internal, flexible | A family-like environment, collaboration, mentoring, teamwork, loyalty | Employee development, commitment and team cohesion |
| Adhocracy | External, flexible | Entrepreneurship, innovation, experimentation, risk-taking | New products and services, being a pioneer |
| Market | External, controlled | Competition, results orientation, hitting targets, winning | Market share, beating competitors |
| Hierarchy | Internal, controlled | Structure, rules, procedures, efficiency, predictability | Dependability, low cost, smooth operations |
How the OCAI works: The instrument covers six dimensions: dominant characteristics, organizational leadership, management of employees, organizational glue, strategic emphases and criteria of success. Each dimension has four statements, one for each culture type. Respondents divide 100 points among the four statements according to how closely each one describes their organization. The same set is answered twice: once for "now" (current culture) and once for what the organization should look like in five years to be successful (preferred culture).
How to read the results: The average for each culture type across the six dimensions is calculated and plotted on a four-quadrant profile chart. Overlaying the current and preferred profiles shows which culture types need to grow and which need to shrink. Cameron and Quinn suggest that differences of around 10 points or more between current and preferred culture are areas for change worth attention.
One caveat: The OCAI is an "ipsative" instrument, meaning the scores depend on each other. Giving more points to one culture type means taking points from the others. That is why OCAI results cannot be analyzed like Likert-scale surveys, where each item is scored independently, and cannot be added to the same report as a favorable score.
Denison Organizational Culture Survey
The model developed by Daniel Denison focuses on the culture traits linked to business performance. It is also built on two axes (internal versus external focus, flexibility versus stability) and measures culture through four traits, each with three indexes:
| Trait | What it describes | Indexes |
|---|---|---|
| Involvement | Empowering employees and engaging them in the work | Empowerment, team orientation, capability development |
| Consistency | Shared values and well-functioning internal systems | Core values, agreement, coordination and integration |
| Adaptability | Responding to change in the external environment and to customers | Creating change, customer focus, organizational learning |
| Mission | A clear sense of direction and purpose | Strategic direction and intent, goals and objectives, vision |
The survey measures the 12 indexes with 60 items on a 5-point scale. Results are reported on a circular chart as percentiles against the organizations in the survey's benchmark database. Unlike the OCAI, the Denison model generally treats a higher score on each trait as positive; it argues that the four traits are linked to outcomes such as growth, profitability and customer satisfaction. The Denison survey is a licensed tool; its items and benchmark data are not available free of charge.
A custom culture survey
Many organizations use a culture survey built on their own values instead of an off-the-shelf model. In this approach, each stated value is translated into observable behaviors, and employees are asked how often they see those behaviors. A value such as "transparency", for example, is measured with a statement like "My manager explains the reasons behind decisions to the team."
The advantage of a custom survey is that the results speak directly to the organization's own values and strategy. The disadvantage is the lack of external comparison. The right approach depends on the purpose of the survey:
| Approach | When it fits |
|---|---|
| OCAI | When a culture transformation is planned, when the cultures of two merging organizations are being compared, or when leaders need to discuss "which culture are we moving toward" |
| Denison | When you want to see the strengths and weaknesses of the culture against external benchmark data and have a licensing budget |
| Custom survey | When you want to track whether newly defined values are being lived, with the same measurement repeated over time |
Organizational culture survey questions: examples by dimension
The statements below are a starting point for a custom culture survey. All of them can be answered on a 5-point agreement scale (from "Strongly disagree" to "Strongly agree"). Note that the statements ask about observable behaviors rather than feelings: statements like these are what best capture "how things work here."
Values and behavior alignment
- Our organization's values are genuinely taken into account in everyday decisions.
- Senior leaders' behavior is consistent with the organization's stated values.
- Someone who acts against our values is not rewarded, however good their results are.
- There is a shared understanding of what matters in our organization.
Decision-making and empowerment
- I can make decisions about my work without waiting for approval.
- Decisions are made after asking for the views of the people they affect.
- Decisions are made at a reasonable pace.
- People who are given responsibility are also given the authority to carry it out.
Innovation and risk-taking
- New ideas are considered regardless of who they come from.
- You do not need permission to try doing something a different way.
- Mistakes made in good faith are treated as learning opportunities rather than a reason to find someone to blame.
- Our organization adapts quickly to changing conditions.
Collaboration and teamwork
- Different departments work together toward shared goals.
- When I ask another team for help, I get support.
- Information is shared openly between teams.
- Success is credited to teams more than to individuals.
Results and customer focus
- Our goals are clear and measurable.
- Customer feedback changes the way we do our work.
- High performers are recognized in our organization.
- We are aware of what our competitors are doing and act accordingly.
Structure and processes
- Our work processes are designed to make the work easier.
- Rules and procedures are applied equally to everyone.
- Roles and responsibilities are clearly defined.
- Unnecessary bureaucracy does not get in the way of doing our work.
Openness and trust
- In our organization, people can disagree with senior leaders without hesitation.
- Bad news is passed up the line without being hidden.
- I receive timely and honest information about what is happening in the organization.
- I do not expect negative consequences for speaking my mind.
Adding two or three open-ended questions to the closed items lets you see the culture in employees' own words:
- How would you describe our organization's culture in three words?
- What does it take to be successful here? (Describe what really works, not the written rules.)
- What is one thing about our culture you would like to keep, and one thing you would like to change?
The answers to the "three words" question are one of the most powerful summaries of the current culture; the difference between the words employees use and the words leaders use often says a lot on its own. We explain how to analyze open-ended answers in open-ended employee survey questions.
How to run an organizational culture survey: step by step
- Clarify the purpose. Culture measurement is usually tied to a change: a new strategy, a merger, growth, digital transformation or newly defined values. Write down in advance which decision the measurement will support. We cover this step in detail in setting goals before an employee survey.
- Choose the model. Using the table above, choose the OCAI, Denison or a custom survey. In a custom survey, three or four behavioral statements per value are usually enough.
- Decide who defines the preferred culture. With the OCAI, you can ask all employees about the preferred culture. In many organizations, however, the preferred culture is defined in a workshop with the leadership team and compared with employees' perception of the current culture.
- Plan the breakdowns. Breaking results down by department, location, tenure, managers versus non-managers and, in a merger, legacy company makes subcultures visible. To protect anonymity, do not report groups below a minimum size. See segmentation in employee surveys and anonymity in employee surveys for details.
- Keep the survey short. For a custom culture survey, 25 to 40 statements are usually enough. If culture items are added to an engagement survey, limit the culture section to 8 to 12 statements.
- Go deeper with focus groups. The survey answers the "what." For the "why", and for Schein's level of basic assumptions, discuss the topics that stand out in the results with small groups.
- Share the results and set priorities. Culture change is a long process. Instead of trying to close every gap at once, focus on the two or three behaviors that matter most for the strategy.
How to interpret the results
When reading culture survey results, look at four things:
- The gap between current and preferred: The largest gaps show the priorities for change. In the OCAI these are differences of more than 10 points; in a custom survey, the values with a low favorable score.
- The gap between leaders and employees: Senior leaders seeing the culture as clearly more positive than employees do is a common and important finding. It shows that leaders judge the culture by its stated values, while employees judge it by what they experience.
- Differences between subcultures: The organizational average can hide very different subcultures. Cultural differences can be large, especially after a merger or between headquarters and the field. The most practical way to see these differences is a heatmap of survey results.
- The link between culture and engagement: If culture items were asked together with an engagement survey, you can look at which culture features have the strongest relationship with engagement. We explain this analysis in key driver analysis in engagement surveys.
Remember: a culture survey is not a report card. An organization where hierarchy culture dominates cannot be said to have a "bad" culture. The real question is whether the current culture supports the organization's strategy.
When should you run a culture survey?
Culture changes slowly, so repeating a full culture assessment every year is usually unnecessary; measuring every two or three years is enough. Culture measurement is especially valuable in these situations:
- Mergers and acquisitions: Comparing the cultures of two organizations before they merge helps anticipate integration problems.
- A change in strategy: Measuring the gap between the culture the new strategy requires and the current culture is the foundation of a transformation plan.
- Defining new values: A measurement before the values are defined shows the starting point; one a year or two later shows how far the values are being lived.
- Rapid growth: To track whether the founding culture is being preserved as headcount grows quickly.
Between full assessments, you can track change by adding a few culture items to the annual engagement survey or to pulse surveys.
After the survey: turning results into culture
Culture changes through repeated behavior, not announcements. After measuring, choose a few behaviors with the largest gaps, decide how leaders and processes (hiring, promotion, recognition, performance reviews) will support them, and track progress with the same statements in the next measurement. To turn survey results into lasting change, see the recommendations in our article on turning satisfaction survey results into company culture.
Frequently asked questions
What is an organizational culture survey?
An organizational culture survey is a questionnaire, usually anonymous, that measures how employees perceive the shared values, norms and behaviors in their organization. It shows how decisions are made, what is rewarded, how mistakes are treated and how far the stated values are visible in everyday work.
What is the OCAI?
The OCAI (Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument) is a culture assessment tool developed by Kim Cameron and Robert Quinn, based on the Competing Values Framework. Respondents divide 100 points among four statements in each of six dimensions, once for the current culture and once for the preferred culture. The result is a profile showing how strongly the organization reflects the clan, adhocracy, market and hierarchy culture types.
What does the Denison Organizational Culture Survey measure?
Developed by Daniel Denison, the survey measures four culture traits linked to business performance: involvement, consistency, adaptability and mission. Each trait has three indexes, and the 12 indexes are measured with 60 items. Results are reported as percentiles against the organizations in the survey's benchmark database.
What is the difference between a culture survey and an engagement survey?
An engagement survey measures employees' emotional connection to the organization, their intention to stay and their willingness to go the extra mile. A culture survey measures how things work in the organization, meaning its shared behavior patterns and values. Engagement is an outcome; culture is the environment that shapes it.
How often should you run an organizational culture survey?
Because culture changes slowly, a full culture assessment is usually run every two or three years. Measuring before a merger, a new strategy or a major transformation program, and again about a year later, shows how the change is progressing. In between, a few culture items can be tracked in the annual engagement survey.
