The Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) has been proven to be an effective tool for assessing organizational cultures around the world. (Cameron, 2011) Using the Competing Values Framework (CVF), organizations are able to understand what cultural type they are based on where they score in four distinct quadrants: hierarchy (control) culture, market (compete) culture, clan (collaborate) culture, or adhocracy (creative) culture. (Cameron, 2011)
Though the OCAI and the CVF have been developed in English in the United States, (Cameron, 2011) it requires a slight learning curve for even seasoned leaders. There is jargon, concepts, and processes involved in the OCAI and CVF that require new users to get up to speed with the nuances in order to gain the full benefits of the tool. If there is a learning curve for American English speakers, it is understandable individuals in other cultures around the world that are not primarily English speaking would require a learning curve. It is necessary the OCAI and CVF administrators accurately translate and retain consistent meaning of necessary terms and concepts in the native language of the organization. (Fritchie, 2015) The “quality of the translation and validation of the translated instrument plays a significant role in ensuring that the results obtained are…due to real differences or similarities between cultures in the phenomena being measured”. (Maneesriwongul, 2004, p. 175) It is vital the terms in the translated instrument are the same as the original language or the results will not be able to be compared across languages. (Fritchie, 2015)
In short, the principles, nuances, and intricacies found in Cameron and Quinn’s book must be understood in order for the OCAI to be fully effective and the CVF results to be fully understood. Users, regardless of global location, require some learning curve, the question is simply how much is required.
References
Cameron, K. S., & Quinn, R. E. (2011). Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture: Based on the Competing Values Framework (3 edition). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Choi, Y. S., Seo, M., Scott, D., & Martin, J. (2010). Validation of the Organizatinal Culture Assessment Instrument: An Application of the Korean Version. Journal of Sport Medicine, vol. 24 (2), 169–189.
Fritchie, F. (2015, March). Competing Values Framework – Challenges and Usefulness in the Republic of Korea. LDSL 724 4B.
Maneesriwongul, W., & Dixon, J. . (2004). Instrument Translation Process: A Methods Review. Journal of Advanced Nursing, vol. 48(2), pp. 175–186.
