Organizational Orientations are trait-like ways that people approach work in contemporary organizations. The measures reported below are designed to measure the degree to which an individual employs one or more of these orientations in their own work environment. These measures were first presented in a paper at the 2003 convention of the Eastern Communication Association. In the research to date, these orientations appear to be very related to organizational communication behaviors of employees and also associated with job satisfaction. There are three orientations. While any of these can be measured alone, that will not give a complete picture of the orientations. The measures are provided below as separate scales. They can also be randomly presented as a single scale and the three scores computed separately. Normative data will be provided here when it becomes available. The basic research in this area had been done with college student participants. Research is now being done with non-student employees in both profit and non-profit organizations.
Upward Mobile Orientation Measure
Instructions:
Please indicate the degree to which you agree or disagree with each of
the statements below by recording your response in the space before each
item. Use the following response options: 5 = Strongly Agree; 4 = Agree;
3 = Undecided; 2 = Disagree; 1 = Strongly Disagree.
_______ 1. I generally try my best to do what an organization I work for wants me to do.
_______ 2. If I had the choice, I would take a promotion over the acceptance of my peers any time.
_______ 3. One of my goals is to get a good job and excel at it.
_______ 4. Eventually, I would like to be the "big boss" in an organization.
_______ 5. I firmly believe that if I work hard enough, one day I will be right up at the top.
_______ 6. I am good at my job and I love it.
_______ 7. Most of all, I really want to be recognized for the excellent work I do.
_______ 8. *I think moving up in an organization is not worth all the work you have to do.
_______ 9. Sometimes I think I am a "workaholic."
_______10. I want a job where what I do really counts for something.
_______11. Everyone tells me I am a really good worker.
_______12. I want work which has a lot of intangible rewards.
_______13. Ordinarily, I feel good about what I have accomplished when I am done with my day's work.
_______14. I would be willing to work hard to be the top person in an organization.
_______15. Since I am really good at what I do, I will move up in the organization.
_______16. What I want most in a job is the possibility of really doing something important.
_______17. Any job worth doing is worth doing as well as I can.
_______18. I am a very creative worker.
* Reverse scoring.
Ambivalent Orientation Measure
Instructions: Please indicate the degree to which you agree or disagree with each of the statements below by recording your response in the space before each item. Use the following response options: 5 = Strongly Agree; 4 = Agree; 3 = Undecided; 2 = Disagree; 1 = Strongly Disagree.
_______ 1. Other than a paycheck, the organizations I have worked for have had little to offer me.
_______ 2. The product/service produced by organizations where I have worked are of very low quality.
_______ 3. *I have generally been quite satisfied with jobs I have had.
_______ 4. The organizations I have worked for couldn't care less whether I live or die--and I feel the same way about them.
_______ 5. I really dislike the rules and regulations I am forced to live with in organizations.
_______ 6. I am usually unhappy wherever I work.
_______ 7. Everywhere I have worked, I have had an incompetent supervisor.
_______ 8. Wherever I work, I wish I were working somewhere, almost anywhere, else than where I am.
_______ 9. *The procedures and regulations of organizations I have worked for have generally been quite reasonable.
_______10. I find it difficult to adapt to the demands of most organizations.
_______11. Generally, I don't like the rules that organizations make me follow.
_______12. I don't really like most of the people I have worked with.
_______13. *I have worked for really good organizations.
_______14. Most organizations have unreasonable expectations for workers like me.
_______15. Most of the time, a halfhearted effort is all I feel I need to give in a job.
_______16. I really hate most organizations I have worked for.
_______17. One supervisor is about like any other, a pain in the backside.
_______18. What I want most in a job is to be left alone.
_______19. Frankly, I am smarter than most of the people I have worked for.
_______20.
I have been unhappy just about everywhere I have worked.
* Reverse scoring.
Indifferent Orientation Measure
Instructions: Please indicate the degree to which you agree or disagree with each of the statements below by recording your response in the space before each item. Use the following response options: 5 = Strongly Agree; 4 = Agree; 3 = Undecided; 2 = Disagree; 1 = Strongly Disagree.
_______ 1. My life begins when I get off work.
_______ 2. If I were offered a job that paid better, I would take it in a "New York Minute."
_______ 3. A job is a job--everyone has to work somewhere.
_______ 4. I am generally indifferent to where I work. One job is about the same as another.
_______ 5. Generally, I just do as much as is required by my job.
_______ 6. Since I am entitled to them, I take all of my sick days whether I am sick or not.
_______ 7. I don't much care where I work, so long as the pay is good.
_______ 8. When work is over, life begins.
_______ 9. One job is pretty much like any other job.
_______10. If I found out the organization I worked for was in trouble, I would quickly look for a job in another organization.
_______11. Work is something I have to do, not something I want to do.
_______12. When it comes to choosing a job, "show me the money!"
Source:
McCroskey, J. C., Richmond, V. P., Johnson, A. D., & Smith, H. T. (Under Review). Organizational orientations theory and measurement: Development of measures and preliminary investigations. Communication Quarterly,