Comprehensive Measures of Organizational Communication
Organizational Communication Development Audit  (OCD Audit)
Osmo Wiio

The Organizational Communication Development (OCD) Audit system was developed by Osmo Wiio and  his colleagues at the Helsinki Research Institute for Business Economics, during their research of more than 200 European organizations. 

Its major advantages include simple structure, brevity, and ease of use. 

The OCD Audit questionnaire consists of sixty-three perceptual and attitudinal items assessing an organization's communication system and ten demographic questions.  Fifty-seven items deal with communication environment; six items deal with issues of job satisfaction.

Fifty-one of these are to be rated on a five-point scale ranging from Very Little to Very Much: these include the amount of information the respondent receives from ten sources and media, the amount the respondent would like to receive from the same ten sources and media, the amount of information the respondent receives relevant to eight  categories, the amount of information the respondent would like to receive regarding the same eight categories; the degree to which the respondent would like to see improvement in communication in eight dyadic/intergroup relations (plus "somewhere else" to be identified by the respondent).   and the respondent is to select (from a list of eleven categories) the three worst communication defects in his or her organization.  

The respondent is then asked to select (from a list of eleven categories) the three worst communication defects in his or her organization.  

The six items dealing specifically with issues of job satisfaction are also measured on five-point scales ranging from "Very Dissatisfied" to "Very Satisfied."  . 

The OCD Audit has not only been used by some student research teams in Organizational Communication Analysis (the capstone course for the OrgComm program), it has also been used by a student team in one of my sections of our basic CJ 300--Research Methods course.  Students have found it easy to use and analyze. 

Although the OCD Audit Questionnaire is copyrighted by Osmo Wiio, it "may be used without permission for research purposes by scientific institutions. 

Recommended References

Goldhaber, G.M., et al. (1984).  Information strategies: New pathways to management productivity (2nd ed.).  New York: Ablex.        

Osmo Wiio is one of the four authors of Information strategies, which devotes a full chapter to the OCD Audit, and later summarizes some of Wiio's European research.  The chapter on the OCD Audit includes the questionnaire and explains how to most effectively administer it. The OCD was revised somewhat in 1987.

Greenbaum, H. H.; Clampitt, P.; & Willihnganz.  (1988).  "Organizational Communication: An Examination of Four Instruments.  Management Communication Quarterly, 2(2), 245-282.

Excellent article compares and contrasts the OCS, CSQ, ICA, and OCD2, assessing the strengths and limitations of each.  the OCD2 Audit is included as Appendix D. 

Downs, C. W.  (1994).  Organizational Communication Audit Questionnaire.  In R. B. Rubin, P. Palmgreen, & H. E. Sypher (Eds.).  Communication research measures: A sourcebook (pp. 247-253)  New York: Guilford. 

Very concise and informative explanation and analysis of the OCD audit; the complete OCD Audit Questionnaire (not OCD2) is included.