Assessing the Organizational Culture in a Jail Setting

The culture of an organization shapes much that occurs in that environment. Leaders who are oblivious of their organizational culture are less likely to succeed. Organization members who do not understand the culture may be vulnerable to its more negative influences. Assessing the key attributes of an organizational culture in an agency is a tricky but important enterprise. In this research, we pre-tested an instrument that could be used, in tandem with others, to assess the organizational culture of a criminal justice agency's (in this case a jail). We focused on the perceptions of the 'lower level' workers in this organization.