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DIAGNOSING

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•  Process of understanding how the organization iscurrently   functioning, and it provides theinformation necessary to   design change

interventions

•

  Provides a systematic understanding oforganizations so that appropriate interventions maybe developed for   solving problems   andenhancing effectiveness

DIAGNOSIS

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Recognizes that organizations exist in the context of a

larger environment that affects how the organization

performs, and in turn, is affected by how the

organization interacts with it

OPEN-SYSTEMS MODEL

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1) ENVIRONMENT

-   Everything outside of the system that can

directly or indirectly affect its outputs

OPEN-SYSTEMS MODEL

COMPONENTS

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2) INPUTS, TRANSFORMATIONS, AND OUTPUTS

a)   INPUTS – human capital or resources

b)   TRANSFORMATIONS – processes of converting inputs into

i.   Social Component: people and their work relationships

ii.   Technological Component: tools, techniques, methodsof production or service delivery

c)   OUTPUTS – results of what is transformed by the system andsent to the environment

OPEN-SYSTEMS MODEL

COMPONENTS

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3) BOUNDARIES

-   The borders or limits of the system to protect the

organization’s   transformation process from

external disruptions, determined not only by

physical locations but also by managerial,

technical, or social purposes

OPEN-SYSTEMS MODEL

COMPONENTS

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4) FEEDBACK

-   Info regarding the actual performance or the

outputs of the system to control the future

functioning of the system, to maintain the systemin a steady state, and to help the organization

adapt to changing circumstances

OPEN-SYSTEMS MODEL

COMPONENTS

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4) ALIGNMENT

-  Relationships between the organization and its

environment, and among the components that

comprise the design of the organization

-  Extent to which the features and operations of

one component support the effectiveness of

another component

OPEN-SYSTEMS MODEL

COMPONENTS

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ORGANIZATIONAL-

LEVEL DIAGNOSIS

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1) INPUTS – ENVIRONMENTAL TYPES

a)   General Environment – all external forces thatcan directly or indirectly affect an organization

b)   Task Environment   –   supplier power, buyerpower, threats of substitutes, threats of entry,

and rivalry among competitors

c)   Enacted Environment – organization members’perception and representation of the general and

task environments

ORGANIZATIONAL-

LEVEL DIAGNOSIS

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1) INPUTS – ENVIRONMENTAL DIMENSIONS

a)   Rate Of Change  –  environments characterizedalong a dynamic-static continuum

b)   Complexity   –   number of different elements inthe general and task environments that can

significantly affect the organization

c)   Information Uncertainty   –   degree to whichenvironmental info is ambiguous

ORGANIZATIONAL-

LEVEL DIAGNOSIS

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2) DESIGN

a)   Strategy   –   the way an organization uses itsresources (human, economic, or technical) togain and sustain a competitive advantage

b)   Technology – the way an organization converts

inputs into products and services

c)   Structure   –   how attention and resources arefocused on task accomplishment

ORGANIZATIONAL-

LEVEL DIAGNOSIS

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2) DESIGN

d)   HR Systems   –   the mechanisms for selecting,developing, appraising, and rewardingorganization members

e)   Management Processes   –   methods for

processing information, making decisions, andcontrolling the operation of the organization

ORGANIZATIONAL-

LEVEL DIAGNOSIS

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2) DESIGN

f)   Culture   –   the basic assumptions, values, andnorms shared by organization members;represents both an   “outcome”   of organizationdesign and a   “foundation”   or   “constraint”   tochange

ORGANIZATIONAL-

LEVEL DIAGNOSIS

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3) OUTPUTS

a)   Organization Performance   –   e.g., profits,profitability, stock price

b)   Productivity   –   e.g., cost/employee, cost/unit,error rates, quality

c)   Stakeholder Satisfaction – e.g., market share,

employee satisfaction, regulation compliance

ORGANIZATIONAL-

LEVEL DIAGNOSIS

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4) ALIGNMENT

a)   Does the   organization’s   strategy fit with theinputs?

b)   Do the organization design components fit witheach other to jointly support the strategy?

ORGANIZATIONAL-

LEVEL DIAGNOSIS

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5) ANALYSIS

a)   What is the company’s general environment?b)   What is the company’s task environment?

c)   What is the company’s strategy?

d)   What are the   company’s   technology, structure,management processes, human resourcessystems, and culture?

ORGANIZATIONAL-

LEVEL DIAGNOSIS

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GROUP-LEVEL

DIAGNOSIS

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1) INPUTS

a)   Organization Design   –   Consist of the design

components characterizing the larger organization withinwhich the group is embedded:

i.   Technology

ii.   Structure

iii.  Management Processes

iv.   Human Resources Systems

b)   Organization Culture

GROUP-LEVEL

DIAGNOSIS

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2) DESIGN COMPONENTS

a)   Goal Clarity – Involves how well the group understands

its objectives

b)   Task Structure – concerned with how the group’s work isdesigned

•   Two key dimensions: Coordination of members’ efforts

and Regulation of their task behaviors

c)   Group Composition – concerns membership of groups

•   Involves demographic variables and people’s internal

needs & personal traits

GROUP-LEVEL

DIAGNOSIS

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2) DESIGN COMPONENTS

d)   Team Functioning   –  basis of group life; involves with

how members relate to each other

e)   Group Norms   –  member beliefs about how the group

should perform its task and include acceptable levels of

performance

GROUP-LEVEL

DIAGNOSIS

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3) OUTPUTS

Two dimensions of group effectiveness:

a)   Performance – measured in terms of the group’s ability tocontrol or reduce costs, increase productivity, or improvequality

b)   Quality Of Work Life – concerns work satisfaction, team

cohesion, and organizational commitment

GROUP-LEVEL

DIAGNOSIS

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4) ALIGNMENT

a)   Group design should be congruent with the larger

organization design  –  supports overall integration within

the company.

b)   When the   organization’s   technology results in

interdependent tasks, coordination among members

should be promoted by goal clarity, task structure, group

composition, performance norms, and team functioning.

GROUP-LEVEL

DIAGNOSIS

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4) ALIGNMENT

c)   When the technology is relatively uncertain and requires

high amounts of information processing and decision

making, then task structure, group composition,

performance norms, and team functioning should promote

self-regulation.

GROUP-LEVEL

DIAGNOSIS

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5) ANALYSIS

Diagnosis of the   team’s   design components answers the

following questions:

a)   How clear are the group’s goals?

b)   What is the group’s task structure?

c)   What is the composition of the group?

d)   What are the group’s performance norms?

e)   What is the nature of team functioning in the group?

GROUP-LEVEL

DIAGNOSIS

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INDIVIDUAL-LEVEL

DIAGNOSIS

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1) INPUTS

a)   Organization Design   –   concerned with the larger

organization within which the individual job is thesmallest unit

b)   Culture – represents the values and norms shared byorganization members

c)   Group Design   –   concerns the larger group ordepartment containing the individual job

d)   Personal Characteristics of Jobholders   –   age,

education, experience, skills and abilities

INDIVIDUAL-LEVEL

DIAGNOSIS

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2) DESIGN COMPONENTS

a)   Skill Variety  –   Identifies the degree to which a job

requires a range of activities and abilities to performthe work

b)   Task Identity – measures the degree to which a jobrequires the completion of a relatively whole,

identifiable piece of work

c)   Task Significance – Identifies the degree to which a job has a significant impact on other people’s lives

INDIVIDUAL-LEVEL

DIAGNOSIS

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2) DESIGN COMPONENTS

d)   Autonomy   –   Indicates the degree to which a job

provides freedom and discretion in scheduling the workand determining work methods

e)   Feedback about Results   –   Involves the degree towhich a job provides employees with direct and clear

information about the effectiveness of taskperformance

These five job dimensions can be combined into anoverall measure of job enrichment.

INDIVIDUAL-LEVEL

DIAGNOSIS

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3) OUTPUTS

Individual-job effectiveness includes two kinds of outputs:

a)   Those related to how well the job is performed (interms of the quantity, quality, time, and costproduction)

b)   Those having to do with how people experience their job (job satisfaction, absenteeism, and personaldevelopment)

INDIVIDUAL-LEVEL

DIAGNOSIS

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4) ALIGNMENT

a)   Job design should be congruent with the largerorganization and group designs within which the job is

embedded.

b)   Job design should fit the personal characteristics of the

 jobholders if they are to perform effectively and derive

satisfaction from work. Generally, enriched jobs fit

people with strong growth needs.

INDIVIDUAL-LEVEL

DIAGNOSIS

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5) ANALYSIS

Diagnosis of individual-level inputs answers the followingquestions:

a)   What is the design of the larger organization withinwhich the individual jobs are embedded?

b)   What is the design of the group containing theindividual jobs?

c)   What are the personal characteristics of jobholders?

INDIVIDUAL-LEVEL

DIAGNOSIS

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5) ANALYSIS

Diagnosis of individual jobs involves the following jobdimensions:

a)   How much skill variety is included in the job?

b)   How much task identity does the job contain?

c)   How much task significance is involved in the job?

d)   How much autonomy is included in the job?

e)   How much feedback about results does the job contain?

INDIVIDUAL-LEVEL

DIAGNOSIS

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Collecting, Analyzing,and Feeding Back Diagnostic

Information

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•

  OD practitioners play an active role in  gathering datafrom organization members for diagnostic purposes.

•   It is vital that OD practitioners  clarify   for organization

members who they are, why the data are being

collected, what the data gathering will involve, and how

the data will be used.

•   Establishing the  diagnostic relationship  between the

consultant and relevant organization members is similar

to forming a contract.

THE DIAGNOSTIC RELATIONSHIP

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The answers to the following questions provide thesubstance of the diagnostic contract:

1.   Who am I?

2.   Why am I here, and what am I doing?

3.   Who do I work for?

4.   What do I want from you, and why?

5.   How will I protect your confidentiality?6.   Who will have access to the data?

7.   What’s in it for you?

8.   Can I be trusted?

THE DIAGNOSTIC RELATIONSHIP

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THREE (3) GOALS OF DATA COLLECTION

1.   To obtain valid information about organizational

functioning2.   To rally energy for constructive organizational

change; and

3.   To help in the development of a collaborativerelationship necessary for effecting organizationalchange

COLLECTING DATA

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FOUR MAJOR TECHNIQUES FOR GATHERING

DIAGNOSTIC DATA

1.   Questionnaires

2.   Interviews

3.   Observations

4.   Unobtrusive measures

COLLECTING DATA

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COLLECTING DATA

1) QUESTIONNAIRES

•   Typically contain fixed-response queries about variousfeatures of an organization and can be administered to

large numbers of people simultaneously

•   Can be analyzed quickly - data can easily be fed backto employees

•   Can vary in scope: specific aspects of organizations ormore comprehensive

•   Can vary in the extent as well: either standardized ortailored, depending on the needs of a particular

organization

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COLLECTING DATA

1) QUESTIONNAIRES

Drawbacks

a)  Responses are limited to the questions asked in theinstrument

b)   Questionnaires tend to be impersonal

c)   Questionnaires often elicit response biases

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COLLECTING DATA

2) INTERVIEWS

•   Most widely used technique for collecting data in OD

•   Permit the interviewer to ask the respondent directquestions, further probing, and clarification

•   May be highly structured or highly unstructured

•

  Structured interviews typically derive from aconceptual model of organization functioning

•   Unstructured interviews are more general

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COLLECTING DATA

3) GROUP INTERVIEWS

•   Group interviews save time and allow people to buildon   others’   responses. However, these may inhibit

some people from responding freely.

a)   FOCUS GROUP OR SENSE MEETING

•   Frequently started by asking general questions

about organizational features and functioning

•   An economical way to obtain interview data

•   Effective in understanding particular issues in greater

depth

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COLLECTING DATA

3) GROUP INTERVIEWS

b)   ASSESSING THE CURRENT STATE OF ANINTACT WORK GROUP

•   Fast, simple way to collect data about groupbehavior

•   Allows members to discuss issues of immediate

concern

•   Limited to relatively small groups and to settingswhere there is trust among employees   andmanagers

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COLLECTING DATA

4) OBSERVATIONS

•   One of the more direct ways of collecting data

•   Can range from complete participant observation to

more detached observation

•

  Observations provide insightful data aboutorganization and group functioning, intervention

success, and performance.

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COLLECTING DATA

4) OBSERVATIONS

ADVANTAGES

•   Free of biases

•   Real-time data

•   Adaptive

DISADVANTAGES

•   Difficulties in interpretation

•   Sampling problems

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COLLECTING DATA

5) UNOBTRUSIVE MEASURES

•   Collected from secondary sources

•   Helpful in diagnosing the organization, group, andindividual outputs

ADVANTAGES

•   Objective and free from respondent

•   Consultant biases

•   Quantified

•   Reported periodically

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COLLECTING DATA

5) UNOBTRUSIVE MEASURES

•   Collected from secondary sources

•   Helpful in diagnosing the organization, group, andindividual outputs

DISADVANTAGES

•   May have their own built-in biases

•   May not include data in a form that is usable bythe consultant

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COLLECTING DATADATA COLLECTION

METHOD  PRIMARY STRENGTHS

  PRIMARYWEAKNESSES

SURVEYS ANDQUESTIONNAIRES

•   Member beliefs andattitudes can be quantifiedeasily

•   Can gather large amountof data from many people

•   Inexpensive on a per-person basis

•   Relatively impersonal

•   Mechanistic and rigid

•   Easy to “overinterpret”•   Response bias

INTERVIEWS

•   Very flexible

•   Data is “rich”•   Interview process builds

rapport and empathy

•   Relatively expensive

•   Interviewer responsescan be biased

•   Difficult to code andinterpret

•   Self-report bias

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COLLECTING DATADATA COLLECTION

METHOD  PRIMARY STRENGTHS PRIMARY WEAKNESSES

OBSERVATIONS

•   Collects data on actualbehavior

•   Real time

•   Adaptive and objective

•   Difficult to code andinterpret

•   Sampling may be

inconsistent•   Observer bias and

reliability can bequestioned

•   Can be expensive

UNOBTRUSIVEMEASURES

•   No response bias•   High face validity

•   Easily quantified

•   Privacy, access, andretrieval difficulties

•   Validity concerns•   Difficult to code and

interpret

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•   Critical to gathering valid diagnostic data

•   The following questions are raised:

1.   How many people should be interviewed and whoshould they be?

2.   What events should be observed and how many?

3.   How many records should be inspected and whichones?

SAMPLING

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TWO CLASSES

1.   QUALITATIVE

-   Do not rely on numerical data, so they areeasier to use

2.   QUANTITATIVE

-   Can provide more accurate readings of theorganizational problem

ANALYZING DATA

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ANALYZING DATA

1) QUALITATIVE TOOLS

Content Analys is 

•   Popular technique for assessing qualitative data,

especially interview data

•   Attempts to summarize comments into meaningful

categories

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ANALYZING DATA

1) QUALITATIVE TOOLS

Content Analys is 

Process is quite formal but can be broken down into

THREE MAJOR STEPS:

1.   Responses to a particular question are read to

determine whether some answers are repeating

2.   Themes are generated from the recurring comments

3.   Answers to a question are placed into one of the

categories

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ANALYZING DATA

1) QUALITATIVE TOOLS –

Force-Field Analysis

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ANALYZING DATA

2) QUANTITATIVE TOOLS  –

  Means,Standard Deviations, Frequency Distributions

•   One of the most economical and straightforward ways to

summarize data

TYPE REPRESENTS

MEAN   Average score

STANDARDDEVIATION

Spread or variability of the responses

FREQUENCYDISTRIBUTION

Graphical method for displaying data that shows the

number of times a particular response was given

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ANALYZING DATA

2) QUANTITATIVE TOOLS  –

  Scattergramsand Correlation Coefficients

•   Measures of the strength of a relationship between

two variables

SCATTERGRAMS

•  A diagram that visually displays the relationshipbetween two variables

•   Constructed by locating each case at theintersection of its value for each of the two being

compared

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ANALYZING DATA

2) QUANTITATIVE TOOLS  –

  Scattergramsand Correlation Coefficients

•   Measures of the strength of a relationship between

two variables

CORRELATION COEFFICIENTS

•   A number that summarizes data in a scattergram

•  Value ranges from +1 to -1 (+1 means that there is aperfectly positive relationship; -1 means otherwise)

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ANALYZING DATA

2) QUANTITATIVE TOOLS –

Difference Tests

•   Compare a sample group against some standard ornorm to determine whether the group is above or

below the standard

•   Determine whether two samples are significantlydifferent from each other

•

  Assess whether two or more groups differ from oneanother on a particular variable

•   Determine whether some variable has changed overtime

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•   The most important step in the diagnostic process isfeeding back diagnostic information to the clientorganization

•   Information useful in devising appropriate action plans

can have an impact on organizational change

•   Key objective of the feedback process is to be sure thatthe client has ownership of the data

•   Helpfulness of feedback depends on:

  Content of feedback

  Process of feedback

FEEDING BACK DATA

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•   Data fed back to the client organization must be concise

and easily understandable so that clients can draw action

implications from it.

CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE FEEDBACK DATA

CONTENT OF FEEDBACK

1.   Relevant

2.   Understandable3.   Descriptive

4.   Verifiable

5.   Timely

6.   Limited

7.   Significant8.   Comparative

9.   Unfinalized

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•   Typically, data are provided to organization members in a

meeting or series of meetings

•

  Feedback meetings sometimes discuss sensitive data ormaterials, thus, OD practitioners need to manage the

feedback process so that constructive discussions and

problem solving occur

•   The most important feedback process is to ensure that

organization members own the data

PROCESS OF FEEDBACK

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•   Ownership of feedback data is facilitated by the following

FIVE FEATURES OF SUCCESSFUL FEEDBACK

PROCESSES

1.   Motivation to work with the data

2.   Structure for the meeting

3.   Appropriate attendance

4.   Appropriate power

5.   Process help

PROCESS OF FEEDBACK

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•   It is a process of collecting and feeding back data from an

organization or department through the use of

questionnaire or survey

FIVE STEPS

1.   Preliminary planning of the survey

2.   Administration of the survey

3.   Analysis of survey data

4.  Data feedback

5.  Feedback meetings

SURVEY FEEDBACK

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•   Traditionally, little attention was paid to organization work

groups and units

TWO TYPES OF ORGANIZATIONAL DEPENDENCIES

1.  Relatively Independent

2.   Dependent

SURVEY FEEDBACK AND

ORGANIZATION DEPENDENCIES

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1.  Ambiguity of purpose

2.  Distrust

3.  Unacceptable topics

4.  Organizational disturbance

LIMITATIONS OF

SURVEY FEEDBACK

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•

  Used widely in business organizations, schools,hospitals, federal and state governments and

military

•   Depending on the organization, the results of

survey feedback vary

RESULTS OF

SURVEY FEEDBACK

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EFFECTIVENESS DEPENDS PARTLY ON

1.  The quality of those leading the change effort

2.  Member’s understanding of the process

3.  Extent of focus of the survey

4. Degree of the values expressed by the survey

RESULTS OF

SURVEY FEEDBACK