Reliability of Organizational Measures, 1988: Survey of Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Area Organizations

This project had several objectives: (1) to estimate the reliabilities of diverse organizational measures by studying organizations of various types and sizes to determine the impact of size and type on reliability, (2) to develop techniques that facilitate common measurement across all organizational types, (3) to determine the characteristics of respondents most likely to provide the modal or typical response for an organization, and (4) to demonstrate that high quality samples of diverse organization types are technically feasible and affordable. Measures of age, size, external setting, internal structural differentiation, and organizational culture were obtained from 370 government, social service, and business organizations. The project involved data collection from at least five centrally located decision-makers (executives, administrators, officers) of each organization sampled. Characteristics of the respondent were included, with major emphasis on experience with the organization as well as current position and standardized demographic data. The unit of analysis for the project was the organization.