What is the OCAI and can we use it directly in our survey?

The Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) was developed by Kim Cameron and Robert Quinn and is based on their Competing Values Framework. The full scored instrument is copyrighted (© 1999 Kim S. Cameron) and should not be reproduced verbatim for commercial use without permission. The four culture types (Clan, Adhocracy, Market, Hierarchy) and the six dimensions (dominant characteristics, leadership, management of employees, organizational glue, strategic emphases, criteria of success) are widely published and may be described and cited. For licensed administration of the full instrument, see ocai-online.com.

How is a culture survey different from an engagement survey?

An engagement survey measures the drivers of engagement — expectations clarity, recognition, growth, manager effectiveness. A culture survey measures the values and identity layer that engagement grows in. Think of culture as the soil and engagement as the crop. You can have high engagement scores in a Hierarchy culture or low engagement in a Clan culture — the type is not the outcome. Culture surveys ask 'what kind of organization are we?' and 'do we live our values?'; engagement surveys ask 'are people motivated and equipped to do great work?'. The two should be run as complementary but separate instruments.

How do we interpret the now-vs-preferred gap in the OCAI-style profile?

For each of the six dimensions, calculate the average points allocated to each culture type (Clan, Adhocracy, Market, Hierarchy) in the NOW set and the PREFERRED set. Subtract to find the gap. A gap of 10 points or more on any type in any dimension is worth examining. Prioritize dimensions where the gap is both large and consistent across the organization — a wide gap on 'management of employees' that appears across every department is a more urgent signal than a large gap confined to one team. The dimension with the widest average gap across all four culture types combined is your highest-priority culture-change lever.

Should culture and DEI questions be in the same survey?

Keep them separate. Culture surveys measure culture-type and values alignment. DEI surveys measure belonging, inclusion, and uniqueness — typically using a validated scale such as the Work Group Inclusion Scale (WGIS, Chung et al. 2020). The two are correlated but distinct: a Clan culture can have low belonging if it values cohesion but not the distinctiveness of individual identities. Running them in the same survey produces muddled results and makes it hard to assign clear ownership for actions. Run them close together in time and cross-tabulate results, but keep the instruments and action plans separate.

Employee Surveys

What Questions Should Be on a Company Culture Survey?

A company culture survey should work on two levels: it should profile the kind of culture you have now versus the kind your people prefer (using the Competing Values Framework as a lens), and it should test whether your stated values are actually lived day-to-day. The actionable number is not a benchmark rank — it is the gap between your current and preferred culture profile. Global engagement has fallen to 20% (Gallup, 2025); culture is the upstream condition that determines whether that number rises or keeps falling.

16 QuestionsCensus / AnnualAnnualIpsative (OCAI) + 5-pt Likert

The Question Bank

Copy-Ready Questions, Grouped by Theme

Every group uses the scale that fits it. Copy one question, a whole theme, or the full set straight into your survey tool.

Filter by theme16 questions

Culture Profile (Competing Values Framework)

Multiple choiceDistribute 100 points across four options (A = Clan, B = Adhocracy, C = Market, D = Hierarchy) — first for NOW, then for PREFERRED

These six dimensions describe your organization across four culture types — Clan (collaborative, people-first), Adhocracy (innovative, entrepreneurial), Market (results-driven, competitive), and Hierarchy (structured, process-oriented). For each dimension, respondents distribute 100 points across four statements that represent each type — first describing how the organization is NOW, then how they would PREFER it to be. The gap between the two distributions is the diagnostic signal. This approach is based on the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) developed by Kim Cameron and Robert Quinn. The full scored instrument is copyrighted (© 1999 Kim S. Cameron); the descriptions below explain the six dimensions and their purpose without reproducing the verbatim scored item set. See sourceNotes for licensing details.

1.
Dominant Characteristics: Distribute 100 points to describe what your organization is like overall. Consider how much each statement reflects the current (and then preferred) reality: (A) a personal place, like an extended family; (B) a dynamic, entrepreneurial, creative place; (C) a results-oriented place focused on getting the job done; (D) a highly controlled, structured place.
Based on Cameron & Quinn's Competing Values Framework (OCAI © 1999 Kim S. Cameron) — described, not reproduced verbatim.
The 'dominant characteristics' dimension anchors respondents' mental model of the organization before drilling into specific practices — it produces the clearest signal of overall cultural identity.
2.
Organizational Leadership: Distribute 100 points to describe how leadership in your organization is generally characterized — (A) mentoring, facilitating, and nurturing; (B) entrepreneurial, innovative, and risk-taking; (C) hard-driving, demanding, and achievement-focused; (D) coordinating, organizing, and efficiency-focused.
Based on Cameron & Quinn's Competing Values Framework (OCAI © 1999 Kim S. Cameron) — described, not reproduced verbatim.
Leadership style is one of the fastest-changing dimensions — a gap here often indicates a culture transition already underway that formal strategy hasn't caught up to.
3.
Management of Employees: Distribute 100 points to describe how employees are managed and what the work environment feels like — (A) teamwork, consensus, and participation are emphasized; (B) individual initiative, risk-taking, and freedom are encouraged; (C) competitiveness, high expectations, and achievement are the norm; (D) security of employment, conformity, and predictability are emphasized.
Based on Cameron & Quinn's Competing Values Framework (OCAI © 1999 Kim S. Cameron) — described, not reproduced verbatim.
This dimension often surfaces the sharpest now-vs-preferred gap: employees may want more Clan or Adhocracy than current Hierarchy/Market management practices allow.
4.
Organizational Glue: Distribute 100 points to describe what holds the organization together — (A) loyalty, mutual trust, and commitment to the organization; (B) commitment to innovation and development; (C) goal achievement and accomplishing the mission; (D) formal rules, policies, and maintaining a smooth-running organization.
Based on Cameron & Quinn's Competing Values Framework (OCAI © 1999 Kim S. Cameron) — described, not reproduced verbatim.
The 'glue' dimension is highly predictive of retention; employees who value loyalty-based cohesion (Clan) in a rule-based environment (Hierarchy) often disengage silently.
5.
Strategic Emphases: Distribute 100 points to describe what areas your organization emphasizes as strategic priorities — (A) human development, high trust, and openness; (B) acquiring new resources and creating new challenges; (C) competitive action, winning in the marketplace, and achieving targets; (D) permanence, stability, efficiency, and smooth operations.
Based on Cameron & Quinn's Competing Values Framework (OCAI © 1999 Kim S. Cameron) — described, not reproduced verbatim.
Strategic emphases reveal whether formal strategy documents and lived experience match — a critical input for culture-change programs.
6.
Criteria of Success: Distribute 100 points to describe how success is defined here — (A) the organization defines success based on the development of human resources, teamwork, and concern for people; (B) success means having unique or newest products, being an innovator; (C) success means winning in the marketplace and outpacing the competition; (D) success means efficiency, dependable delivery, smooth scheduling, and low cost.
Based on Cameron & Quinn's Competing Values Framework (OCAI © 1999 Kim S. Cameron) — described, not reproduced verbatim.
How success is defined determines what behaviors get rewarded — and therefore which culture type will dominate regardless of stated values.

Values Alignment

5-pt Likert1 = Strongly Disagree → 5 = Strongly Agree

These items test whether your stated culture is actually lived. They are independent of culture type — you can have strong values alignment in any of the four OCAI types. A low score here means the stated culture is aspirational, not operational. Items are compiled best-practice (QSET-015); original wording, free to use.

1.
I understand our organization's values.
QSET-015 — Compiled best-practice values-alignment items.
If employees can't name the values, no alignment is possible. Low scores here point to a communication problem, not a culture problem.
2.
Leaders at this organization model our stated values.
QSET-015 — Compiled best-practice values-alignment items.
Leadership modeling is the single strongest predictor of whether values translate into behavior. This item keeps the focus on a values lens, not a manager-effectiveness competency (which belongs on a manager-feedback survey).
3.
My day-to-day work aligns with what we say we value as an organization.
QSET-015 — Compiled best-practice values-alignment items.
Employees who experience a gap between espoused values and their actual work tasks disengage faster than those who experience any single culture type consistently.
4.
Decisions here are consistent with our stated values.
QSET-015 — Compiled best-practice values-alignment items.
Decisions under pressure reveal the true hierarchy of values. This item surfaces the gap between values as marketing and values as operating principles.

Lived Culture & Open Feedback

5-pt Likert1 = Strongly Disagree → 5 = Strongly Agree (rated items); free text (open items)

Quantitative items that test how culture is experienced day-to-day, plus two open-ended prompts that capture language employees actually use to describe the culture. The open-ended items are especially valuable: unsolicited words reveal the real culture faster than any Likert item. Items are compiled best-practice (QSET-015); open-ended prompts are original wording.

1.
I feel proud to work at this organization.
QSET-015 — Compiled best-practice.
Pride is a downstream indicator of culture health — it integrates values, identity, and lived experience into a single signal. Low pride despite competitive pay flags a culture problem, not a comp problem.
2.
I see a consistent culture across different teams and departments.
QSET-015 — Compiled best-practice.
Culture fragmentation — where each team lives a different reality — is invisible in aggregate scores. This item surfaces it.
3.
People here treat each other with respect, even when they disagree.
QSET-015 — Compiled best-practice.
This tests the behavioral floor of culture: civility under pressure. Disrespectful conflict is the fastest culture-erosion mechanism and the hardest to recover from.
4.
How would you describe our culture in one or two words?
Open textQSET-015 — Compiled best-practice open-ended.
Unsolicited language reveals what employees actually think. A word cloud of this item often surfaces the true culture type faster than any point-distribution instrument.
5.
What is one thing about our culture you would change if you could?
Open textQSET-015 — Compiled best-practice open-ended.
A direct, forward-looking open-end. The specificity of responses here is a proxy for psychological safety — vague answers mean people don't trust the survey.
6.
Is there anything else about our culture you'd like to share?
Open textQSET-015 — Compiled best-practice open-ended.
A general catch-all that captures themes the structured questions missed. Keep it last and optional.

Decision Guide

When Should You Use This Survey?

Match the survey type and cadence to your situation.

🧭

You are about to launch a culture-change initiative and need a baseline

Use

Run the full OCAI-framework culture profile survey (Groups 1 and 2)Add the lived-culture quantitative items (Group 3) to validate what the profile predictsSegment by tenure and level — culture gaps are often generational or hierarchical

Avoid

Running a single open-ended 'how would you describe our culture?' without the structured profile

Open-ended items surface language but not the now-vs-preferred gap. You need both to know where to focus culture-change effort.

📊

You ran an engagement survey and culture scored low as a driver

Use

Run a standalone culture survey focused on values alignment (Group 2)Add two or three open-ended items from Group 3 to surface specific languageDo not run the full OCAI profile in the same cycle — separate the instruments

Avoid

Adding culture questions to an already-long engagement survey

Culture is complex enough to warrant its own instrument and its own action-planning cycle. Bolting it onto an engagement survey produces shallow data and makes follow-up harder.

🤝

Leadership is planning a merger, acquisition, or major reorganization

Use

Run OCAI-framework profiles on both entities before integrationCompare culture-type profiles to forecast where friction will be highest (e.g., Hierarchy meeting Adhocracy)Resurvey 6 and 12 months post-integration to track cultural convergence

Avoid

Assuming culture will align naturally after structural integration

The largest integration failures are culture failures, not structural ones. A 15-point gap on Clan-vs-Market after integration predicts attrition better than almost any other metric.

🌱

You want to understand whether your values are being lived, not just stated

Use

Run the Values Alignment group (Group 2) as a standalone pulse — 4 items, under 2 minutesSegment by manager and department to find where values are strong vs where they are aspirationalPair with an open-end: 'Give me one example of a decision in the last 90 days that reflected our values'

Avoid

Measuring culture only at launch of new values statements

Values alignment decays. Organizations that measure it once during a refresh and then never again will see alignment scores drop without noticing.

🌍

You are building a DEI strategy and want to connect it to culture

Use

Run culture (values alignment + culture type) and DEI (WGIS belonging items) as separate surveys, close in timeCross-tabulate culture-alignment scores against belonging scores to identify whether culture type predicts belonging outcomesKeep 'I can be myself at work' and 'I belong' items on the DEI survey, not here

Avoid

Substituting culture survey items for DEI items, or vice versa

Culture and belonging are correlated but distinct. Conflating them leads to incorrect diagnoses: a Clan culture can have low belonging if demographic uniqueness is not also valued.

Benchmarks

What "Good" Looks Like

Scores only mean something against a benchmark. Here are the numbers worth measuring against.

20%

Global employee engagement in 2025 — down from 23% in 2022. Culture is the upstream condition that determines whether this number rises.

Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2026 (263,810 respondents)

US$438 billion

Lost productivity cost from disengagement in 2024 alone — the year engagement fell to 21%. The 2026 report places the current figure above $10 trillion globally.

Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2025/2026

More than $10 trillion

Estimated global cost of low engagement in 2025 (≈9% of global GDP). Low engagement is in large part a culture problem — misaligned values and undefined culture types produce disengagement that surveys can only measure, not fix on their own.

Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2026

Do It Right

Survey Design Best Practices

The methodology that separates a survey people answer honestly from one they ignore.

Classify every instrument before publishing it

The OCAI is copyrighted (© 1999 Kim S. Cameron). You may describe the four culture types and six dimensions — they are widely published and academically citable — but you may not reproduce the full scored ipsative item set verbatim for commercial use without permission. The values-alignment items in Group 2 and 3 are compiled best-practice (original wording, free). Treat these two categories differently: one requires description and attribution; the other is copy-paste ready. This discipline — classify status, then publish accordingly — is the single most important rule for any survey page that touches validated instruments.

METH-012 — Licensing and attribution discipline

The OCAI scale is ipsative, not Likert — keep it consistent and explain it

The Competing Values Framework uses a point-distribution (ipsative) scale: respondents allocate 100 points across four culture-type statements per dimension. This is structurally different from the 1–5 agreement scale used in Groups 2 and 3. Do not mix scales within a single group or render OCAI dimensions as Likert items — that destroys the forced-choice property that makes the now-vs-preferred gap meaningful. Brief respondents explicitly: 'Distribute exactly 100 points across the four options. More points = more like your organization.' Run the two response sets (Now and Preferred) separately, or as clearly labeled twin columns.

METH-002 — Scale design; QSET-014 OCAI notes

Interpret the OCAI gap, not the absolute score

There is no universally 'best' culture type. An organization scoring 60 points on Hierarchy is not failing — it may be a regulated utility where Hierarchy serves the business. The diagnostic is the NOW-vs-PREFERRED gap: a 15-point gap on Clan (employees want more people-focus than they experience) is an actionable finding; a 60-point Hierarchy score on its own is not. Interpret your profile against your internal strategy, not against an external culture benchmark. Use the same benchmark framing as for engagement: own trend over time is more actionable than a cross-industry comparison.

METH-009 — Benchmarking method; QSET-014 OCAI notes

Run culture surveys annually, not in real time

Culture changes slowly — quarterly pulse cadences will show noise, not signal. An annual census is the right cadence. Pair it with an engagement pulse (quarterly or bi-annual) to track whether culture-improvement actions are moving the engagement needle between culture-survey cycles.

METH-001 — Survey length and cadence

Keep culture and DEI questions on separate surveys

Culture surveys measure culture-type and values alignment. DEI surveys measure belonging, uniqueness, and psychological safety — a distinct construct (see WGIS, Chung et al. 2020). Combining them in one instrument conflates findings and makes it harder to design targeted interventions. 'I belong here' and 'our values guide decisions' are different problems with different owners and different action plans.

METH-003 — Avoiding question conflation; BRIEFS_batch3.md DIFFERS_FROM note

Close the loop within two weeks

Culture surveys that disappear into HR are the fastest way to kill participation in the next cycle. Share a summary of the now-vs-preferred gaps, name the top two or three culture-change priorities leadership will act on, and give a timeline. If the culture profile is unexpected or difficult, name that honestly — employees already know it. The act of measuring and sharing results is itself a values signal.

METH-008 — Acting on results and closing the loop

Avoid These

Survey Mistakes That Wreck Your Data

Reproducing OCAI verbatim without a license

The Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument is © 1999 Kim S. Cameron. The four culture types (Clan, Adhocracy, Market, Hierarchy) and the six dimensions are widely published and may be described and cited. The full scored ipsative item set is copyrighted and may not be reproduced verbatim for commercial deployment without permission.

Instead: Describe the six dimensions and four culture types in your own words, attribute clearly to Cameron & Quinn, and link to the OCAI Online platform (ocai-online.com) for licensed administration of the full instrument.

Using a Likert scale for OCAI dimensions

The Competing Values Framework relies on a forced-choice, ipsative point-distribution (100 points across four options). Converting the dimensions to agreement items ('I agree this is an Adhocracy') loses the forced-choice property that makes the now-vs-preferred gap diagnostic. You end up with four independent scales, not a culture profile.

Instead: Keep the OCAI dimensions ipsative. If your survey platform does not support point distribution, use a ranked-choice alternative — but not simple Likert agreement.

Treating the culture profile as a benchmark comparison

There is no universally best culture type. A high Hierarchy score at a nuclear-safety regulator is a feature, not a bug. Comparing your Clan score against an industry average and calling it low is misleading — it ignores whether that score is appropriate for your business model.

Instead: Frame the OCAI result as a now-vs-preferred gap, not a pass/fail. Ask: 'Where is there the largest gap between where we are and where people want us to be?' That is the actionable signal.

Conflating culture and DEI measurement

Culture surveys measure culture-type and values alignment. DEI surveys measure belonging, inclusion, and uniqueness (for example, via the Work Group Inclusion Scale, Chung et al. 2020). Combining them produces a long survey with muddled action planning: the team responsible for culture change is not always the same team responsible for DEI programs.

Instead: Run culture and DEI surveys separately, timed close together. Cross-tabulate the results to understand the relationship, but keep the instruments and action plans distinct.

Surveying culture and never sharing the profile

Culture profiles that disappear into an HR deck and are never shared with employees signal the opposite of the values you are trying to assess. If leaders won't share the culture-type gap, employees infer the gap is embarrassing — and they are usually right.

Instead: Commit to a results-share within two weeks of survey close. Show the now-vs-preferred gap by dimension. Name the top two culture-shift priorities and the leaders who own them.

Running a culture survey without a downstream action plan

Culture measurement without culture action is worse than not measuring at all: it raises expectations, generates data, and then delivers nothing. Global engagement is at 20% (Gallup, 2025), in large part because organizations keep listening without acting.

Instead: Before launching the survey, draft a decision tree: if the now-vs-preferred gap on Clan exceeds 15 points, here is who reviews it and what intervention options are on the table. The plan does not need to be final — it needs to exist before results arrive.

Sources & Licensing

Where These Questions Come From

Validated instruments have owners. Here's what's adapted from what — and how to use each one without stepping on a license.

OCAI — Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument

The OCAI is © 1999 Kim S. Cameron, based on the Competing Values Framework developed by Cameron & Quinn. The four culture types (Clan, Adhocracy, Market, Hierarchy) and the six dimensions described on this page are widely published and may be cited for editorial and educational purposes. The full scored ipsative instrument may not be reproduced verbatim for commercial use without permission from the copyright holder. For licensed administration of the full OCAI, visit ocai-online.com. Items on this page describe the OCAI framework; they do not reproduce the verbatim scored instrument.

Ready to Send

Launch & Follow-Up Templates

The invite, the reminder, and the results share-back — the messages that drive response rates.

Culture Survey Launch — All-Staff Email

Subject: Help us understand our culture — [X]-minute survey open now Hi [Team/Company], We are running our annual company culture survey from [Start Date] to [End Date]. The survey has two parts: 1. A culture-profile section where you distribute points to describe what our organization is like NOW and what you would PREFER it to be. 2. A values-alignment section where you rate how consistently our stated values show up in daily work. Both sections take roughly [X] minutes. Responses are [anonymous / confidential — processed by [third party] and reported in groups of [n] or more]. Why this matters: the culture profile shows us where the largest gaps are between the culture we have and the culture we want. We will share results with the whole organization by [Share-back Date] and name the two or three priorities we will act on. [Survey Link] Thank you for your honesty. [Name / People Team]

Replace [anonymous / confidential] with your actual method. If results will be segmented by department or level, say so — employees need to know what 'group of n or more' means in practice.

Frequently Asked Questions

No. The Competing Values Framework is descriptive, not normative. There is no single best culture type. A Hierarchy profile at a pharmaceutical manufacturer or a financial regulator reflects genuine operational requirements. A Clan profile at an early-stage startup reflects the cohesion that gets through the first three years. The diagnostic value is the gap between your current and preferred profile — not the absolute type. If employees want significantly more Clan than they experience, that is a signal worth acting on. A high Hierarchy score by itself is not.

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