Diagnosing Organizations

1. Diagnosing Organizations

2. Diagnosis Defined Diagnosis is a collaborative process between organizational members and the OD consultant to collect pertinent information, analyze it, and draw conclusions for action planning and intervention.

3. The Need for Diagnostic Models • Entry and contracting processes can result in a need to understand either a whole system or some part, process, or feature of the organization. To diagnose an organization, OD practitioners and organization members need to have an idea about WHAT information to collect and analyze. • Conceptual frameworks that are used to understand organizations are referred to as “diagnostic models”.

4. Open Systems Model Environment • Inputs • Information • Energy • People • Outputs • Goods • Services • Ideas • Transformations • Social Component • Technological • Component Feedback

5. Open Systems Model • This model 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. • This also suggests that organizations and their subsystems – departments, group, and individuals – share a number of common features that explain how they are organized and function.

6. Properties of Systems • Environments • Inputs, Transformations, and Outputs • Boundaries • Feedback • Equifinality • Alignment

7. Diagnosing Organizational Systems • The key to effective diagnosis is… • Know what to look for at each organizational level • Recognize how the levels affect eachother

8. Organization-Level Diagnostic Model Outputs Inputs Design Components Technology Strategy Structure HRMeasurement Systems Systems General Environment Industry Structure Organization Effectiveness Culture

9. Group-Level Diagnostic Model Inputs Design Components Outputs Goal Clarity Organization Design Task Structure Team Functioning Team Effectiveness Group Composition Group Norms

10. Individual-Level Diagnostic Model Inputs Outputs Design Components Organization Design Group Design Personal Characteristics Skill Variety Autonomy Task Identity Individual Effectiveness Task Significance Feedback about Results

11. Key Alignment Questions • Do the Design Components fit with the Inputs? • Are the Design Components internally consistent? Do they fit and mutually support each other?

12. Organization-Level Inputs • General Environment • External forces that can directly or indirectly affect the attainment of organizational objectives • Social, technological, ecological, economic, and political factors • Industry Structure • External forces (task environment) that can directly affect the organization • Customers, suppliers, substitute products, new entrants, and rivalry among competitors

13. Organization Design Components • Strategy • the way an organization uses its resources (human, economic, or technical) to gain and sustain a competitive advantage • Structure • how attention and resources are focused on task accomplishment • Technology • the way an organization converts inputs into products and services

14. Organization Design Components • Human Resource Systems • the mechanisms for selecting, developing, appraising, and rewarding organization members • Measurement Systems • methods of gathering, assessing, and disseminating information on the activities of groups and individuals in organizations

15. Organization Design Components • Organization Culture • The basic assumptions, values, and norms shared by organization members • Represents both an “outcome” of organization design and a “foundation” or “constraint” to change

16. Outputs • Organization Performance • e.g., profits, profitability, stock price • Productivity • e.g., cost/employee, cost/unit, error rates, quality • Stakeholder Satisfaction • e.g., market share, employee satisfaction, regulation compliance

17. Alignment • Diagnosis involves understanding each of the parts in the model and then assessing how the elements of the strategic orientation align with each other and with the inputs. • Organization effectiveness is likely to be high when there is good alignment.