Reference #492: Organizational Culture and Leadership

There are several issues with the use of surveys to measure culture:

Not knowing what to ask
Employees may not be motivated to be honest
Employees may differ in their interpretation of questions
What is measured may be accurate but superficial
An employee sample may not be representative of the key cultural concerns (for example, when dominant subcultures are not surveyed)
Survey reports do not reveal interactions between measured dimensions
The impact of taking the survey may have undesirable or destructive consequences. For example, it may build cynicism by forcing employees to make value judgements. Answering certain questions may also set unrealistic expectations for change.

Schein. Organizational Culture and Leadership, 2017. (274-276)