Profile of Organizational Characteristics

Likert, R. (1980). Survey of Organizations. Rensis Likert Associates, Inc. San Diego, CA: University Associates.

Comments: Likert developed three instruments designed to evaluate various aspects of organizations. The three instruments are based on his Systems 4 concept of organizational/administrative behavior. System 1 is characterized as exploitive-authoritative organizational behavior; System 2 benevolent authoritative; System 3 consultative; and System 4 allows for group participation in decision making and organizational activities.

Scale Construction: The Profile of a School is a 64-item instrument with parallel forms designed to be used with students, teachers, administrators, central office staff, and school board members. Its greatest value is the ability to compare scores and responses, one-on-one, across all members of a school system concerning their perceptions of the organizational functioning of a school district.

The Profile of Organizational Characteristics is a 43-item inventory that covers eight organizational variables: the leadership process used; the character of motivational forces; the character of the communication process; the character of the interaction-influence process; aspects of the decision-making process; the nature of goal setting or ordering; aspects of organizational control; and the performance goals and training practices. This profile is intended to describe the nature of managerial systems used in industrial organizations. Sample items from this instrument are provided below.

Reliability: The testing (technical) manuals associated with each instrument provide ample information on the development of each scale. They also provide reliabilities, validity information, and other psychometric qualities of each scale. All reliability estimates ranged in the low to mid 90s.

References

Profile of a School

1. How often is your behavior seen by your students as friendly and supportive?
2. How often do you seek to be friendly and supportive to your students?
3. How much confidence and trust do you have in your students?
4. How much trust and confidence do your students have in you?
5. How much interest do your students feel you have in their success as students?
6. How free do your students feel to talk to you about academic matters such as their work, course content, teaching plans, and methods?
7. How free do your students feel to talk to you about nonacademic school matters such as student activities, rules of conduct, and discipline?
8. How often do you seek and use your students’ ideas about academic matters?
9. How often do you seek and use your students’ ideas about nonacademic school matters?
10. How much do your students feel that you are trying to help them with their problems?
11. How much influence do you think students have on academic matters?
12. How much influence do you think students have on nonacademic matters?
13. How much influence do you think students should have on academic matters?
14. How much influence do you think students should have on nonacademic matters?
15. To what extent are students involved in major decisions affecting them?
16. What is the general attitude of your students concerning class, school, or personal matters?
17. How accurate is information given to you by your students concerning class, school, or personal matters?
18. How do students view communications from you?
19. How do students view communications from the principal?
20. How well do you know the problems faced by your students in their school work?
21. What is the character and amount of interaction in your classroom?
22. To what extent do your students help each other when they want to get something done?
23. To what extent do your students look with pleasure on coming to school?
24. To what extent do you look forward to your teaching day?
25. To what extent do your students feel excited about learning?
26. How often do you see your principal’s behavior as friendly and supportive?
27. How much confidence and trust does your principal have in you?
28. How much confidence and trust do you have in your principal?
29. How free do you feel to talk to your principal about academic and nonacademic school matters?
30. How often do you try to be friendly and supportive to your principal?
31. How often do you try to be friendly and supportive to other teachers?
32. How often are your ideas sought and used by the principal about academic and non-academic school matters?
33. In your job, how often is it worthwhile or a waste of time for you to do your very best?
34. How much influence do you think teachers have on academic and nonacademic school matters?
35. How much influence do you think teachers should have on academic and nonacademic school matters?
36. How much influence do you think principals have on academic and nonacademic school matters?
37. How much influence do you think principals should have on academic and nonacademic school matters?
38. How much influence do you think central office staff has on academic and nonacademic school matters?
39. How much influence do you think central office staff should have on academic and nonacademic school matters?
40. How often are students’ ideas sought and used by the principal about academic matters?
41. How often are students’ ideas sought and used by the principal about nonacademic school matters?
42. How much do you feel that your principal is interested in your success?
43. How often does your principal use group meetings to solve school problems?
44. To what extent does your principal make sure that planning and the setting of priorities are well done?
45. To what extent does your principal try to provide you with the materials and space you need to do your job well?
46. To what extent does your principal give you useful information and ideas?
47. To what extent are you encouraged to be innovative in developing better educational practices and course content?
48. What is your general attitude toward your school?
49. What is the direction of the flow of information about academic and nonacademic school matters?
50. How do you view communications from the principal?
51. How accurate is upward communication to the principal?
52. How well does your principal know the problems faced by teachers?
53. What is the character and amount of interaction in your school between the principal and teachers?
54. What is the character and amount of interaction in your school among teachers?
55. In your school, it is “every man for himself” or do principal, teachers, and students work as a team?
56. How are decisions made in your school system?
57. At what level are decisions made about academic matters?
58. To what extent are you involved in major decisions related to your work?
59. How much does your principal try to help you with your problems?
60. How much help do you get from the central staff?
61. To what extent are decision-makers aware of problems, particularly at lower levels?
62. How high are your principal’s goals for educational performance?
63. Who holds high performance goals for your school?
64. Who feels responsible for achieving high performance goals in your school?
65. To what extent is there student resistance to high performance goals in your school?

Scoring: A series of descriptive terms is used to define, broadly, four positions along the continuum. For example: Very Little (1 and 2); Some (3 and 4); Considerable (5 and 6); and Very Great (7 and 8).