Organizational Orientations

Abstract

The Organizational Orientations scale is a comprehensive psychometric instrument designed to measure employees’ fundamental attitudes and behavioral predispositions toward the organizations they work for. Developed by McCroskey and colleagues (2004), this measure operationalizes the theory of organizational orientations by identifying three distinct, yet potentially co-occurring, viewpoints: the desire for Upward Mobile Orientation, active dissatisfaction reflected in the Ambivalent Orientation, and profound detachment represented by the Indifferent Orientation. This instrument is crucial for researchers in organizational communication and psychology seeking to understand how individual employee perspectives influence job satisfaction, commitment, and overall workplace behavior.

Keywords

Organizational Orientations, Organizational behavior, Employee attitude, Job satisfaction, Upward mobility, Ambivalence, Indifference, Workplace psychology, Organizational commitment.

Authors

James C. McCroskey, Virginia P. Richmond, Audrey D. Johnson, Howard T. Smith.

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Purpose

The primary purpose of the Organizational Orientations scale is to provide a reliable and valid means of assessing how employees view their relationship with their employing organization. This instrument moves beyond simple measures of job satisfaction or commitment to capture deeper, long-standing orientations that dictate an individual’s motivation, effort, and compliance within the workplace structure. By measuring these three specific orientations—Upward Mobile, Ambivalent, and Indifferent—the scale allows for nuanced analysis of employee motivation and potential turnover risk.

Furthermore, the scale was developed to test the theoretical premise that organizational members adopt predictable, measurable orientations that significantly influence their communication patterns and productivity levels within the organizational environment. Understanding these orientations is vital for effective organizational management and human resources planning.

Construct

The Organizational Orientations scale measures three distinct constructs related to an individual’s psychological connection to their workplace:

1. Upward Mobile Orientation: This dimension reflects an employee’s high level of motivation, dedication, and desire for career advancement and recognition within the organization. Individuals scoring high on this measure typically comply with organizational goals, value their job, and aspire to senior leadership roles.

2. Ambivalent Orientation: This dimension measures active dissatisfaction, cynicism, and hostility toward the organization, its rules, supervisors, and co-workers. Individuals with this orientation often feel exploited or neglected, resulting in low quality work effort and negative workplace attitudes. They express profound job dissatisfaction.

3. Indifferent Orientation: This dimension captures emotional detachment and alienation from the workplace. Employees with this orientation view their job merely as a means to an end (a paycheck). They exhibit minimal investment of effort beyond what is strictly required, prioritizing their personal life over organizational success.

Validity

In the original study by McCroskey et al. (2004), the validity of the Organizational Orientations scale was established through rigorous psychometric testing. Construct validity was assessed by demonstrating that the three factors measured distinct theoretical concepts and were appropriately related to relevant external variables, such as communication apprehension, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment.

The development process ensured face validity and content validity through careful item generation and refinement based on existing organizational theory. Subsequent research using the scale has generally confirmed its ability to predict behavioral outcomes, reinforcing its validity as a measure of employee-organization relationships.

Reliability

The internal consistency reliability of the three subscales was reported to be strong in the initial validation studies. Reliability was typically assessed using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. The authors found that each of the three subscales—Upward Mobile, Ambivalent, and Indifferent—demonstrated acceptable to high reliability coefficients, generally exceeding the standard threshold of 0.70, indicating that the items within each orientation consistently measure the same underlying construct.

Factor Analysis

The structure of the Organizational Orientations instrument was confirmed through Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (EFA and CFA) in the foundational research. The analysis successfully isolated the three hypothesized factors: Upward Mobile Orientation, Ambivalent Orientation, and Indifferent Orientation.

The statistical evidence supported the theoretical model, demonstrating that the items loaded clearly onto their respective factors with minimal cross-loading, thereby confirming the scale’s multidimensional structure and the distinct nature of the three organizational orientations.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report Questionnaire

Format: The scale uses a Likert-type scale format, where respondents indicate their level of agreement with each statement. The response options range from 5 = Strongly Agree to 1 = Strongly Disagree.

Language Available: English (Original research).

Population Group: Employees and working adults.

Age Group: Adults (typically 18 years and older).

Population Details: The scale is appropriate for use with individuals employed in various organizational settings, including corporate, government, and educational environments.

Test Methodology: Respondents are asked to rate 50 total items (18 for Upward Mobile, 20 for Ambivalent, 12 for Indifferent) based on their personal feelings and experiences regarding their current or past organizations. Certain items require reverse scoring, as indicated by an asterisk (*).

Keywords

Psychological scales, Communication Quarterly, Employee motivation, Job performance, Organizational communication, Organizational commitment, McCroskey, Communication research, Work ethic, Organizational psychology.

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Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not available in the source material.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not available in the source material.

Correspondence Address: Correspondence should generally be directed to the lead author, James C. McCroskey, based on the publication year.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Test Year: 2004 (Year of primary publication).

Permissions & Fee: The scale is typically made available for non-commercial academic research use by the authors, James C. McCroskey and Virginia P. Richmond. For specific permission regarding commercial use or translation, contact the authors directly. The instrument and associated research details are publicly available via the authors’ academic websites. The original PDF can be downloaded here: http://www.jamescmccroskey.com/publications/204.pdf.

Reference’s

McCroskey‚ J. C.‚ Richmond‚ V. P.‚ Johnson‚ A. D.‚ & Smith‚ H. T. (2004). Organizational orientations theory and measurement: Development of measures and preliminary investigations. Communication Quarterly‚ 52(1)‚ 1-14.

Additional documentation is available at: http://www.jamescmccroskey.com/measures/org_orient.htm

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Items of the Organizational Orientations

Upward Mobile Orientation Measure

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

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

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!”

Scoring Key: 5 = Strongly Agree; 4 = Agree; 3 = Undecided; 2 = Disagree; 1 = Strongly Disagree.