Organizational Effectiveness and Development
Demonstrating Value
Any OED initiative needs to be evaluated for its effectiveness. One way to show effectiveness is to have an accurate analysis at the beginning of the initiative, which is accompanied by metrics with which to measure the initiative. These metrics are used to measure change over the course of the initiative. That change is compared to the investment made for the initiative to demonstrate the return on investment (ROI). -Sample returns. Average value of increased production or service units; increased quality of units; proficiency; reduced occurrence of errors, accidents, waste, damage, repetition, and downtime; reduced absenteeism; reduced time spent by other employees instructing or waiting for others; improved customer/employee/public relationships. -Sample investments. Finances (costs of delivery and lost opportunities); time (time invested versus time spent); reputation; relationships.
Group Dynamic
In 1948 Kenneth Benne and Paul Sheats proposed that there are three basic types of roles individuals play within groups: -Task roles help get the work done. Those performing this role propose solutions or collaborate in group problem solving. They share task information and perform their assigned tasks. -Social roles help maintain relationships and positive group function. This role recognizes the importance of social and interpersonal ties within a group. Group members playing a social role promote harmony, conflict resolution, and involvement of all group members. -Dysfunctional roles weaken the group and reduce its productivity. In a dysfunctional role, a group member may attack others, dominate discussions, resist others' ideas, or damage group focus and energy through negativity.
HR's Support of Change *Consultation Compenetency
In their role of managing the organization's people resources, HR professionals can contribute a more in-depth and detailed picture of how people will be affected by changes, how they are likely to react, and what they need to come through to the other side of the change. HR professionals can support change created as a result of OED interventions by: -Involving everyone. Ineffective change initiatives often begin and end with leaders and top-level managers. Effective change recognizes that people are more likely to accept what they themselves have participated in creating—solutions they have helped develop, new roles they have defined, processes they have designed. -Using their Communication competency. HR professionals can use their knowledge of the organization's communication channels and, most importantly, the needs of a varied audience to make sure that information is delivered truthfully and completely and is fully understood. -Recognizing emotional reactions to change. People cannot be hurried through the change process. They need time to master their own fears and develop their own strategies for coping with the new normal. Organizational leaders may want to push for rapid change—to return to productivity quickly and to show that the organization is highly skilled at change—but HR leaders can monitor reactions and make the pace of change more realistic. And while a sense of urgency ("We need to change to survive") is needed to convince resistant employees of the necessity of the change, HR professionals can advise leaders when creating urgency creates fear and stress. HR professionals are skilled at recognizing signs of stress and can recommend including stress-reduction mechanisms in change initiatives. -Creating a vision. HR professionals can help support the change by providing specific examples of how the change will improve the organization and the employees' own situations. -Building support. HR professionals can use their Leadership and Navigation abilities to find champions for change and influential allies—employees who, once they have been convinced, can change their coworkers' perceptions of the change. HR can help negotiate changes to roles and processes. -Making sure that the change is fair. No one group should be made to bear a larger share of the inconvenience and loss associated with the change. -Building required performance. There are two purposes here. First, change is rooted in behavior, not words. For permanent change, employees need to begin to perform as required. To do this, they need to be equipped to succeed, supported with needed skills, knowledge, tools, resources, and processes. Second, confidence in the change and in the organization's and the employees' ability to survive will come through performing in the new environment.
Domain Box #3
Metrics should be used to measure the effectiveness of the OED change effort itself, but eventually the impact of the change should be noted (positively or adversely) in the metrics the organization uses to measure its performance (financial performance, quality, time to market, innovative practices, customer satisfaction).
Understanding the Problem
OED intervention is triggered in response to organizational problems that are seen as interfering with the organization's strategic performance. Problem solving starts with a thorough understanding of what must be corrected and why the problem is occurring. The OED team must understand the problem that is being perceived by the intervention client and also all underlying issues that may be causing the problem or amplifying the problem's impact. The problem may need to be reframed to get at root causes. In addition to understanding root causes, at this stage the intervention team must also identify potential obstacles or influences that will shape the eventual OED plan. Common issues are the organization's readiness for change and cultural factors that can affect acceptance of certain solutions.
Team or Unit Interventions
OED interventions aimed at teams or units are often triggered by reports of poor performance. Team interventions focus on processes and interactions within and between teams. Common targets for team interventions include: -New groups that must develop a team identity. -Dysfunctional groups that must identify and resolve conflicts that are hurting productivity. -Existing groups that must redefine processes and relationships to be more productive or to align with the needs of a new strategic direction. -Virtual teams that must learn to trust each other and communicate and collaborate over distances and sometimes across different languages and cultures.
Setting Objectives
Objectives are necessary, of course, to evaluate the intervention, but they are also useful in defining the expectations of the client organization and the OED team. Clear objectives can help avoid conflicts and disappointment later. Objectives can be part of an informal "project charter" that defines assumptions, roles, and deliverables. Objectives should conform to the SMARTER criteria for effective performance objectives: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, timebound, evaluated, and revised. Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Timebound Evaluated Revised
Planning the OED Project
Of particular importance in planning an intervention are: -Identifying and involving stakeholders:These individuals will be involved in or affected by changes that might result from the intervention. Including them in data gathering and in designing solutions will result in stronger solutions that are more likely to be accepted and implemented successfully. -Defining achievable intervention objectives. This will be critical to maintaining the organization's confidence in the OED process and demonstrating HR's value. -Plan appropriate ways to gather information. Different types of information require different approaches. The data set must be sufficiently large to support reliability and should reflect multiple perspectives to avoid bias.
Are we ready to change?
The team must consider and assess the organization's, group's, or individual's readiness to change. Issue to consider: -What is the nature of the change? -What is the expected duration? -What key milestones are associated with the change? -Where is the organization in the change process? -Who will have primary responsibility for implementing the change? -What language and cultural factors will impact the change? -What role will HR play in implementing the change? -How will the organization deal with the temporary drop in productivity that may result from the change? -What benchmarks will be established? -How will local interests and needs be gathered and considered during change planning and implementation?
Departmentalization
The way an organization groups its jobs and aligns effort. There are several possible structures. -Functional structure. In a functional structure, departments are defined by the services they contribute to the organization's overall mission, such as marketing and sales, operations, and HR. Line units are work groups that conduct the major business of the organization, such as the production or marketing functions. Staff units assist the line units by performing specialized services for the organization, such as accounting or HR. -Product structure. In an organization with a product structure, functional departments are grouped under major product divisions.Each division will have its own marketing, sales, manufacturing, and finance functions. More employees are required to staff this type of organization, but presumably this is offset by accumulated experience and expertise. -Geographic structure. A geographic structure is very similar to a product structure, with the exception that geographic regions or countries—rather than products—define the organizational chart. -Hybrid (front-back) structures combine elements of the functional, product, and geographic structures. n the front-back structure, the organization is divided in two types of functions: "Front" functions, defined by geographic locations or customer types "Back" functions, defined by product or business unit. The "front" functions provide a single point of contact with customers or market groups, while the "back" functions design and develop products and services. The "front" units are close to customers and can bring reports of customer dissatisfaction and emerging needs to the "back" units. Front-back organizations may therefore be more responsive to customer needs. -Matrix structure combines departmentalization by division and function to gain the benefits of both. It creates a dual rather than single chain of command. As a result, some employees report to two managers rather than one, with neither manager assuming a superior role.
Effective Feedback Presentation
-It is a good practice to review research findings and recommendations with a few key individuals within the organization before presenting the data to the entire group. -The team should also be prepared for different audience reactions to the findings. -The best strategy is to help the audience move through these stages by acknowledging and validating their reactions, providing necessary information, and emphasizing in an optimistic manner what can be done to reach the agreed goal.
Communicating OED Changes
-Leadership does not get involved. Sometimes decisions about major organizational changes are made at the top management level and then news is allowed to trickle down to employees. As a result, why and how the organization is changing may be unclear. Leaders and HR professionals should roll out a clear, universal, consistent message to everyone in the organization at the same time, even across multiple sites and locations. -The wrong messengers are used. Studies have found that employees tend to trust information from managers. Understanding the organization's culture will indicate who is the best messenger for hange—the manager, the senior executive team, or HR. Middle and front-line leaders are the primary communicators to employees; communication from them should be frequent and consistent. Everyone affected by the change needs to know what it entails, why and how it is happening, and what's in it for them. Don't impose change; engage employees in a conversation about it. Ask them what they think and how they are feeling. They will talk if you listen. -Communication is too sudden. Leaders and managers need to prepare employees for change, allow time for the message to sink in, and give them an opportunity to provide feedback before a change is initiated. -Communication is too late. If anxieties are not managed in a timely manner, it will take longer for changes to be accepted, and during this period productivity and employee engagement will suffer. To avoid this problem, HR should be involved in change planning early to help motivate employees to participate. While the solution is being developed, HR needs to develop a plan for communicating the program to the organization—both the content of the message and the way in which it will be communicated. Change-related information should be communicated to employees via multiple forms (e.g., e-mails, meetings, training sessions, internal social media, press releases). -Communication is not aligned with organizational realities. Messages should be honest and include the reasons behind the change and the projected outcomes. -Communication is too narrow. If the communication focuses too much on detail and technicalities and does not link change to the organization's goals, it will not resonate with employees.
Why Interventions Fail
-The most commonly cited reasons for the failure of interventions are lack of senior management buy-in and support and poor planning by the intervention team. -Some fail because they never get started. Those involved may be afraid of the effect of change on the organization and may hold back. They collect data, they analyze it, they discuss possible actions, but in the end they fail to act. This is often called "analysis paralysis," but the analysis is not the problem. The real issue is a reluctance to take reasonable risks. -Other interventions fail because their objectives are too grand or the number of changes necessary is too great. -Some interventions fail because the planners focus on their solution and not on the people who will make the solution work. Reactions need to be anticipated and communication planned accordingly. Leaders must present a compelling reason why the intervention is being introduced and why everyone's work lives are being disrupted.
Team Formations
A certain amount of conflict and dysfunction is inevitable as teams form. Bruce Tuckman defined four stages of group or team development Forming. Individuals come together around common activity and shared goals. Members are polite, but there is little sense of trust, shared experience, or common values. Storming. Individuals move past politeness, and there may be higher levels of discord as perspectives, styles, and agendas clash. This may be painful, but valuable communication is occurring. Norming. Over time, effective groups build trust and establish relationships. They create rules that guide behavior. They begin to establish a group identity and to identify "outsiders." This can sometimes take a negative form. "Groupthink" can impel members to adopt the same positions and reject outside views; this can dampen innovation and creative problem solving. Performing. The group becomes fully productive, collaborative, and mutually supportive.
Providing Feedback
Data must be summarized and made available to internal clients in an oral presentation and/or written report. -Relevance. Researchers will probably uncover numerous issues, but they should focus on those issues that are related to the internal client's original direction. -Influenceable or manageable. The most impactful feedback will target conditions that can realistically be changed, given the organization's environment and resources and given the attitudes of the organization and the receptiveness of its members to change. -Fact-based and objective. The problem should be described neutrally, by referring to examples and statistics and avoiding blame. -Selective. The report should recommend areas of focus, prioritizing data findings by frequency and impact on strategic performance. Too many points of action may lead to client paralysis. -Sufficient and specific. Enough information should be provided to support action. General or vaguely described causes (e.g., low employee engagement) will not stimulate action the way specific diagnoses will (e.g., employee discontent with opportunities for development and advancement).
Building Performance
Gaps in Required Knowledge and Skills: A gap analysis must be performed between the skill set needed now or in the near future and the skill set as defined in current job descriptions. These problems may be addressed through different types of training, coaching, and mentoring. Job descriptions must be revised to align with current needs. Technology Requirements: Inadequate technology can prevent employees from performing efficiently. These issues may be addressed through new or expanded technology. Process Requirements: Over time, work processes can become detached from customer needs, changing technology, or changed work conditions. Obstacles that cause serious delays can develop. Work can be duplicated by multiple groups. Separate groups may work with different objectives. The resulting conflicts may not be apparent until late in the process. Processes must be routinely audited for efficiency and the need for updating and then redesigned and tested. Organizational Culture Requirements: As a result of organizational evolution or a change in strategic focus, the organization's culture may no longer support the organization's vision of its future and its values. An intervention aimed at cultural transformation can include the following steps: Step 1: Describe the current culture. This involves observing language and leadership and decision-making styles; mapping communication paths and choices; identifying meaningful objects, stories, people, and behaviors; and gathering evidence of values in action. Step 2: Identify the aspirational culture. The OED team researches exist. Step 3: Identify gaps and conflicts. Leadership must acknowledge these discrepancies and decide that the aspirational culture is in fact what they need and want. The OED team can help leaders understand how culture is affecting factors such as performance, employee engagement, and employer brand. Step 4: Organizational culture can be changed in various ways: -Correcting managers who do not support necessary cultural traits (such as employee involvement in decision making) or model organizational values, and punishing or replacing those managers if necessary -Aligning reward systems with desired behaviors and values -Replacing old cultural artifacts, which may require creating new rituals and identifying new heroes -Greater emphasis on leader behavior—on communicating and modeling desired values and actions
HR Roles
HR's roles and responsibilities in organizational design should include: -Providing leaders with a structural diagnosis by identifying the root causes of organizational performance issues. -Helping leaders evaluate a range of clear design options. -Ensuring that leaders align organizational design decisions with short- and long-term strategic goals by identifying critical activities, strengths, and weaknesses. -Helping leaders understand their roles and responsibilities that ensure that the structure is properly implemented. -Continually monitoring the structure for alignment with the organization's business strategy and highlighting challenges as needed. -Planning for internal or external resources to deliver appropriate short- or long-term development interventions and activities and ensuring that those resources have the appropriate subject matter expertise and credibility to be effective or have the appropriate background, relationship-building skills, and cultural familiarity to quickly build credibility.
Aligning Roles and Responsibilities to New Structures
Lack of clarity about authority and coordination of communication can cause highly integrated structures, such as matrix or team-driven structures, to fail. This is often addressed simply by better defining the roles and responsibilities of each member in the structure. The RACI matrix is commonly used for this purpose. -A responsible member will perform the activity. -The accountable member is in charge of the activity and answers to management for the activity's performance. This individual approves and allocates resources. -A consulted member provides advice or information necessary to perform the task. -Members to be informed receive communication about activities but do not perform or consult.
Domain Box #2
Leaders should explain the change and why it is needed, be truthful about its benefits and challenges, listen and respond to employees' reactions, and then ask and work for individuals' commitment.
Intervention Design and Implemenation
OED interventions can be generally divided into team or unit interventions designed to improve team performance and structural interventions designed to increase strategic performance through changes—possibly in multiple areas—at an organizational level. The OED strategy should include the correct number and type of interventions, aimed at the correct audiences and sequenced and scheduled for the maximum effectiveness. For example, improving a dysfunctional team's performance may require first a workshop to reach consensus on shared vision, roles and responsibilities, and ground rules. This may be followed by individual coaching with the team's leader and team workshops on conflict resolution. Those interventions may be followed by redesign of processes, The OED strategy should include the correct number and type of interventions, aimed at the correct audiences and sequenced and scheduled for the maximum effectiveness. For example, improving a dysfunctional team's performance may require first a workshop to reach consensus on shared vision, roles and responsibilities, and ground rules. This may be followed by individual coaching with the team's leader and team workshops on conflict resolution. Those interventions may be followed by redesign of processes, such as communication.
OED Competencies
OED requires a distinct set of competencies, many of which overlap with HR competencies: -Relationship management, including the ability to build trust, emotional intelligence, political awareness, and influencing, negotiation, and conflict management skills -Personal characteristics, including honesty, openness to differences, objectivity, willingness to take risks, consistency, and imagination Professional skills, such as communicating results orally and in writing -Critical evaluation, including the ability to gather and analyze data -Consulting, including diagnostic and design abilities and managing the OED project -Business acumen, which spans the perspectives within the organization and includes awareness of the organization's environment -Expertise in various interventions, including quality management, team building, coaching and mentoring, restructuring, and business process analysis
Redesigning the Organization
Organizational design refers to elements that support an organization's functioning. These elements include structure but other factors as well, including: -The organization's mission and vision and the strategies it is pursuing to achieve its goals. -The way decisions are made. -The way information is communicated. -The processes used to perform work and the degree to which those processes connect parts of the organization's structure and the way in which those linkages are managed. -The processes used to perform work and the degree to which those processes connect parts of the organization's structure and the way in which those linkages are managed.
Organizational Intervention
Organizational interventions look at how the structure of the organization is helping or hindering its strategic progress. Organizational structure refers to the way in which work groups are related. -Redesigning -Realigning and refocusing -Building performance
Realigning and Refocusing the Organization
Organizations may move at different rates, often according to their industries, but the same five stages can usually be seen. -The first revolution occurs after leaders have emerged from the entrepreneurial chaos of creativity to provide direction and allow the organization to reap the rewards of its creativity. An OED intervention at this stage may help new leaders develop necessary skills and build more effective management processes. -The second revolution comes as the organization becomes larger and more complex. The leaders must begin delegating decisions and responsibility. An OED intervention may focus on developing transformational rather than directive leaders and in designing organizational structures that define decision-making processes. -The third revolution is a counterpoint to the trend toward dispersing power. The new centers of power created through delegation become increasingly autonomous, and the organization's leaders feel as if they have lost control. Organizations at this point must decide whether they want to step back and centralize authority or find some way to coordinate these centers of power. Greiner notes that centralizing management usually fails because organizations have simply grown too large. An OED intervention may focus on policy standardization/local adaptation, more effective communication networks and decision-making structures, and engagement and reward practices designed to strengthen employees' connections with the organization rather than a particular division or unit. -The fourth revolution is a reaction to the movement toward control and coordination. The processes that once created order now discourage action and innovation. Headquarters may be increasingly out of touch with local conditions. Organizations that survive this stage move toward collaborative and more flexible structures. The OED intervention may focus on creating a new organizational culture that emphasizes diversity and teamwork, building processes that incorporate collaboration, implementing policies and structures that support distributed decision making, and creating feedback loops for improved and faster communication.
Practices to Sustain Change
Periodic team meetings: -Support problem solving -Reinforce institutional character of initiative "Sensing" meetings: Monitor reactions and attitudes throughout organization. Periodic intergroup meetings: Evaluate and improve new collaborative processes. Dedicated renewal conferences: Allow leaders to evaluate and discuss organizational interventions from a strategic perspective. Goal-directed performance reviews: -Provide clarity in expectations -Institutionalize change in performance expectations for work groups and individuals Periodic third-party assessments: -Provide objective assessment of the effectiveness of change -Motivate organization by providing external recognition of success and achievements Rewards: Align rewards and recognition with new performance goals
Organizational Development
Process of enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of an organization and the well-being of its members through planned interventions. Organizational performance is assessed according to an organizations: -Efficiency in using resources to create value. A common metric here is the ratio of revenue or income to cost of sales and goods. -Effectiveness in achieving its strategic goals. Broader range of metrics that evaluate. OED interventions (structured activities) can be: -Proactive OED interventions identify and correct potential problems before they begin affecting performance. They may also prepare the organization to take advantage of anticipated opportunities. -Remedial OED Interventions make changes that bring an organization back on course toward its strategic goal. "Do more with less". -Diminished capacity, capability, and agility. -Misaligned organizational structure. -Broken work processes. -Declining workforce engagement.
Structural Characteristics
Several characteristics can be used to describe organizational structure: -Work specialization. Work specialization refers to the degree to which tasks are performed as separate jobs. -Decision-making authority. This principle describes how decisions are made within the organization. Authority relates to the scope of responsibilities that define the area in which a manager or supervisor is empowered to make decisions. In a global organization, decisions may be made at headquarters (centralized) or delegated to other parts of the organization (decentralized). -Layers of hierarchy. The hierarchical layers of an organization range from the chief executive officer to the employee in a function. The trend in organizational structure has been to reduce the number of layers and waste within organizations. The result is flatter and, leaders hope, more efficient organizations with fewer staff support positions. Chain of command refers to the line of authority within an organization. Span of control refers to the number of individuals who report to a supervisor. -Formalization. This principle refers to the extent to which rules, policies, and procedures govern the behavior of employees in the organization. The more formal the organization, the greater the written documentation, rules, and regulations.
OED Process Model
Step 1: Define Problem: The OED team collects data to define the gap between desired and actual performance and identify possible causes for the gap (e.g., misalignment of competencies, leadership models, structures, or cultures). Information that will affect the eventual plan is also gathered. Information gathered at this point will help in the design of an effective and efficient initiative. Step 2: Design and Implement Solution: Objectives are defined and an appropriate tactic for development is chosen—for example, job assignments or a mentoring program. The team leader uses traditional project management skills to direct and control the initiative and make sure that it meets the defined objectives within the allocated budget and resources. Necessary changes in direction, scope, and resources are communicated to management and documented. Step 3: Measure Effectiveness: The solution's effects are measured to determine if the initiative's objectives have been met and if the change has had the desired strategic impact. The team's effectiveness is reviewed as well, and plans for improvement are made Step 4: Sustain Improvement: The team monitors activity and provides guidance to leaders about ways in which new values, attitudes, or practices can become institutionalized.
Characteristics of Effective OED Interventions
Strategically aligned: Helps ensure that plans reinforce, complement, and build on each other and support overall organizational goals and strategies Collaborative: Facilitates discovery of causes and development of solutions with critical input from those most closely involved (managers, supervisors, and employees) in intervention area Supported by top management: Supported by top management Producing sustainable results: Changes that can continue to deliver long-term results, perhaps because of management preparation or group involvement and acceptance of new processes and success criteria Supporting continuous improvement: Aims at strengthening the organization in an ongoing manner by identifying weaknesses and opportunities and engaging employees in performance improvement (Continuous improvement is a basic tenet of the quality management programs to which many organizations today have committed.) Using common tools: Allows for easy comparisons and collation of data Using common language: Avoids confusion and misunderstanding Explicit assumptions: Allow the validity of underlying assumptions to be challenged Fact-based: Clarifies the difference between what is known and what is supposed Oriented toward systems and processes: Uses systems theory and IPO model to analyze problems Flexibility: Recognizes and accepts that assumptions are likely to change Multiple perspectives: Provides access to diverse perspectives
Team Building
Team building involves a series of activities designed to help team members examine how they function now and how they could function better. Team-building activities may focus on: -Goals and priorities. The OED team may facilitate team meetings in which mission, vision, values, and norms are developed. -Role and responsibility of each team member. In new, merged, or existing teams, unclear roles can create conflict and loss of productivity. The OED team can facilitate role and responsibility negotiation and definition. -Processes for team activities, such as assigning tasks, monitoring progress, and evaluating results; for communicating and coordinating efforts; and for making decisions. The OED team can help diagram processes in terms of inputs, requirements, and outputs. These diagrams can be used to sequence activities more efficiently, identify potential obstacles and solutions, define communication requirements and channels, identify organizational systems that can support the team, and make sure all team members have what they need to perform their assigned tasks. -interpersonal relationships within the team, such as building trust, communicating more effectively, resolving conflict, negotiating, and cultural awareness. The OED team can advise team leaders on changes that can build trust (e.g., non-work team events that allow team members to learn about each other as human beings), facilitate workshops in which team members confront their disagreements, and guide them safely to effective solutions.
Involving Stakeholders
The following are some tools that can be used to assist in group decision making. -SWOT analysis. This tool is used to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with an action or an entity. It is a qualitative analysis and does not provide a numerical score. When applied to decision making, team members would consider: Strengths the team currently possesses that could help ensure a positive outcome—for example, access to equipment needed to implement the action or a high level of trust with stakeholders. Inherent weaknesses that would prevent the team from properly implementing this decision—for example, lack of manpower or expertise. Additional opportunities that would be available to the team if they pursued this path. New external threats they might meet as a result of taking this step. -Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA). The team determines critical characteristics of a successful decision (e.g., ability to meet project requirements, likelihood of success, or least chance of causing secondary risks). A matrix is used to score each alternative and compare results. -Cost-benefit analysis (CBA). The quantifiable and nonquantifiable benefits are divided by the direct and indirect costs of implementing each alternative. The key to using this tool properly is to capture all costs, especially indirect costs, and to value nonquantifiable benefits accurately. The analysis can be made more complex by considering issues such as the time value of money. -Force-field analysis. Force-field analysis may be used to process some of the issues raised during a brainstorming session. It was designed to analyze the forces favoring and opposing a particular change. The factors that could influence an outcome in either a negative or positive manner are listed and then assigned weights to indicate their relative strengths. Based on this analysis, the group can decide to pursue opportunities with scores showing favorability for change, avoid changes that face very strong resistance, or decide how to allocate resources to mitigate negative risks and enhance opportunities.
Analyzing Data
The section on the Critical Evaluation competency in the HR Competencies module discusses some essential knowledge and analytical tools that will be useful in analyzing data collected during this phase of the OED intervention. The task facing the analysts is to: -Sort data into categories. Tools like affinity diagrams are useful here. An affinity diagram can be used to gather a large amount of data. Once collected, the data is grouped into similar categories or themes. -Plot statistical data. This allows analysts to identify the most common issues as well as data that appears to be a statistical "outlier"—for example, very rare reports of a certain behavior or event. -Conduct a root-cause analysis. For each significant issue identified in research, a cause-effect diagram can be used to identify possible problem areas. The diagram begins with the effect and then works backward to identify contributing factors. Generally, these causes relate to the work environment, the process (by itself and in the context of other processes), and the people involved. -Determine if data is trending in a certain direction. The frequency and severity of events can be plotted against time. Addressing emerging and rapidly growing issues will be a priority.
Domain Box #1
When teams/stakeholders are involved in a decision, apply a typical problem-solving approach: -Explore the decision to be made fully, so that all influences are understood. -Generate multiple options, define criteria for an effective choice, and analyze each. -Select the best solution and implement it. -Evaluate the decision and the decision-making process when the decision's outcomes are clear. Were there enough quality options? Were the right criteria used? Were key individuals actively engaged in reaching consensus?
Sustaining Improvement
While the intervention team checks in periodically, HR professionals can help leaders and managers develop the skills they need to sustain the improvements achieved through the intervention: -Maintain continuous vigilance and reinforcement of the new behaviors. The tendency to return to better-understood and more comfortable behaviors and attitudes must be detected and corrected. The organization must be guided and encouraged to persist in the changed behaviors until they become fully accepted. -Model a positive approach to problem solving. There will be issues as changes take root. Revised processes may need revision. Roles may need further clarification. Leaders and managers can help the organization see these issues as simple challenges that can be resolved through teamwork and creativity. -Identify and resolve unanticipated conflicts with existing systems and processes. As the new norms take hold, the organization may discover poor fits between the changed and unchanged ways of doing things. For example, career development paths may need to be revised to reflect the need for new skills.
