The self-assessment instrument purpose is to ascertain a public agency’s culture
towards its clients or customers and whether the agency’s leadership and staff provide
culturally and linguistically appropriate services and programs. A self-assessment
instrument may be viewed as a kind of cultural audit (Rice, 2004); a tool that “examines
a public organization’s values, symbols, rules, and routines which maintain its purpose
and existence to uncover counterproductive activities and barriers that may adversely
impact its public service mission and service delivery process” (Rice, 2005, p. 77). The
goal of the public agency self-assessment is to answer many questions about the
agency’s cultural views toward its clients and recipients including