QUESTIONS FOR ASSESSMENT
These questions are simply a guide to get you started with your assessment. You do NOT have to
answer each and every one, and indeed some may not apply, depending upon your organization.
However, they do provide a comprehensive way for you to begin approaching your assessment.
SYMBOLIC FRAME
1. What does architecture say about the culture? What is on the walls? How does the building make
you feel? How is space arranged? How is the parking lot organized? What kinds of cars do people
drive?
2. How do people look and act when they arrive? How do they look and act when they leave?
3. What is the organization’s history?
4. What are the organization’s core values? How are they displayed? Do they seem to make sense?
How widely known and shared are the values? Do they have meaning for people? Do they appear to
arouse sentiment? How have they changed over time?
5. Is there a visionary hero or heroine at the helm? In the recent or distant past? What is he or she
like? Does he or she represent and embody the core values? Inspire emotion in people? Is his or her
picture displayed on the wall? Is he or she portrayed in well-known stories?
6. Who are other heroes and heroines? Do people know who they are? Are they of a particular type?
Are they anointed and celebrated formally? Across the heroes and heroines, can you see patterns
consistent with stated values?
7. What seem to be the most potent symbols? What do these seem to represent?
8. What do social rituals of greeting and exit say about the culture? How deep are work rituals? How
does symbolic activity mesh with core values? Are ritual and values consistent with one another?
What are the key management rituals (the meeting, planning, memos)? What goes on in hazing
rituals as new members are brought into the culture? Are rituals convened around important
transitions? What do rituals symbolize? How stylized is the behavior in rituals? How different is it
from everyday behavior?
9. How does the organization’s implicit purpose compare with its explicit purpose?
10. How often are ceremonies held? Who attends? What is the sequence of events? What role do
heroes and heroines play? What symbols are recognized or exchanged? What costumes do people
wear? How do they compare with regular work costumes? What do people eat? What do they
drink? What emotions does the ceremony evoke?
11. What stories are told? Are they told across the culture? Who are the storytellers? What status are
they accorded? What are the stories about? How do stories relate to company values?
12. How well known and active is the informal network? Who is the priest or priestess? What is this
person’s relationship to the CEO? Who are the gossips? The spies? What events make the actors in
the informal network visible?
13. How cohesive are subcultures within the organization? What do subcultures form around (function,
length of tenure, gender, race)? How do subcultures relate? Do people find more meaning in
subcultures than in the larger culture? Can you see a core set of values across the subcultures?
What happens when the members of different subcultures attend the same meeting or ritual? Do
they bond or blast each other?
14. What metaphor of culture type—tough guy, bet-your-company, work hard/play hard, or process—
seems to capture the essence of the culture?
15. What metaphors do you frequently encounter in everyday language?
16. How often do people play? Where does play occur? What form does it take? Who plays with whom?