An enquiry of 83 American organization development consultants with experience as facilitators in public schools indicated that only seven reported using one or more of the recognized assessment techniques for which there are published data concerning factor structure, reliability, and validity. (Author)

The development of the paper-and-pencil instrument called the Organizational Culture Assessment Inventory (OCAI) is based on the theory of organizational culture. Recent literature and organizational analysis are combined with Schein's model of organizational culture to provide the background for metaphorical analysis of organizational culture…

A preliminary analysis of the Organizational Culture Assessment Inventory yielded four root metaphors descriptive of the type of culture likely to be found in public schools: the family, the machine, the circus, and the "little shop of horrors." (10 references) (SI)

During the 1980s, the established, time-honored theoretic concepts of the past four decades (emphasizing mathematical proof and laboratory science thinking) yielded to newer, richer ways of understanding organizations. Three new streams of thought (effective schools research, the reform movement, and human resources theory) have given…