How is Your Organization Managed?

Organizing is an important function of management. The following assessment helps you define how an organization you are familiar with is organized. With this information, you can determine if this organization 's design is consistent with the environmental forces it is facing.

Instructions: For this questionnaire, focus on either an organization for which you are currently working or one for which you have worked in the past. This organization could be the university you are attending.

  • Please circle the response on the scale indicating the degree to which you agree or disagree with each statement. There is no right or wrong answer.
  • Respond on the following scale to how you see your organization being managed: Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A), Don’t Know (DK), Disagree (D), Strongly Disagree (SD).

No. / Statement / SA / A / DK / D / SD
1 / If people believe that they have the right approach to carrying out their job, they can usually go ahead without checking with their superior:
2 / People in the organization don't always have to wait for orders from their superiors on important matters.
3 / People in this organization share ideas with their superior.
4 / Different individuals play important roles in making decisions
5 / People in this organization are likely to express their feelings openly on important matters.
6 / People in this organization are encouraged to speak their minds on important matters, even if it means disagreeing with their superior.
7 / Talking to other people about the problems someone might have in making decisions is an important part of the decision-making process.
8 / Developing employees' talents and abilities are major concerns of this organization.
9 / People are encouraged to make suggestions before decisions are made.
10 / In this organization, most people can have their point of view heard.
11 / Superiors often seek advice from their subordinates before decisions are made.
12 / Subordinates play an active role in running this organisation.
13 / For many decisions, the rules and regulations are developed as we go along.
14 / It is not always necessary to go through channels in dealing with important matters.
15 / The same rules and regulations are not consistently followed by employees.
16 / There are few rules and regulations for handling any kind of problem that may arise in making most discussions.
17 / People from different departments are often put together in task forces to solve important problems.
18 / For special problems, we usually set up a temporary task force until we meet our objectives.
19 / Jobs in this organization are not clearly defined.
20 / In this organization, adapting to changes in the environment is important.

Now give scores to each answer according to the following scheme: SA: 5, A: 4, DK: 3, D: 2, SD: 1.

Find the total score over the 20 questions 0-39: Bureaucratic, 40-79: Mixed, and 80-100: Organic.