Organizational Type, Organizational Success, and the Prediction of Individual Performance. Research Report No. 6.

The benefits of clustering organizations into types were discussed, and a method for clustering life insurance agencies by climate profiles was presented. Clusters of life insurance agencies were identified on the basis of manager, assistant manager, and already-employed ("old") agents' climate perceptions. Agency success, including production of old agents, production ranking of agencies, and success probability (turnover and production) of newly contracted agents were examined in the different clusters. The effects of climate as a moderator of new agent aptitude--new agent performance relationships were also explored. For each agency success variable and in the moderator variable analyses, some differences between agency clusters were found. Implications of these results for a taxonomic approach to defining organizations, for research on organizational climate and for personnel selection practices were discussed. (A five-page list of references is included.) (Author)