W1 - Chapter 5 Diagnosing

Question 1

What is diagnosing?

Answer 1

The process of understanding how the organization is currently functioning and provides the necessary info to design change interventions

Question 2

The need for diagnostic models

Answer 2

Diagnostic models: conceptual frameworks that OD practitioners use to understand organizations
Field knowledge: another source of diagnostic models that offers practical information about how organizations operate

Question 3

Open systems model

Answer 3

• Systems: A team of parts or groups working together to make the whole function, with each part playing a specific role.
• Organizations as open systems: Organizations are influenced by external factors like the economy, technology, and society.
• Within an organization, different parts or groups collaborate to keep it running smoothly.
• At a larger level, society is made up of systems, including organizations, groups within them, and individual roles, all connected.

Question 4

Inputs, transformations, and outputs

Answer 4

• Inputs: human capital or resources
• Transformations: processes of converting inputs into outputs (people and their work relationships, tools, techniques, methods of production)
• Outputs: results of what was transformed by the system and sent to the environment

Question 5

Boundaries

Answer 5

Help to protect or buffer the organization’s transformation process from external disruptions (to facilitate managerial control, a department’s boundaries could be all members reporting to a common administrator)

Question 6

Diagnosing organizational systems - 3 levels

Answer 6

1. Highest level: overall organization
2. Group or depratment: includes group design and methods for structuring interactions
3. Lowest level: individual position or job

Question 7

Organization-level diagnosis
3 key inputs

Answer 7

1. General environment: all external forces can affect an organization
2. Task environment: sensitivity to power, threats and substitutes
3. Enacted environment: organization members perceptions and representation of general task environments

Question 8

Organization-level diagnosis Design components

Answer 8

Strategy: how an organization uses its resources to achieve goals

Technology: How an organization converts inputs into products/services, involving interdependence and uncertainty.

Structure: How work is divided into subunits and coordinated to achieve goals.

Management Processes: Methods for processing information, making decisions, and controlling operations.

Human Resource Systems: Mechanisms for selecting, developing, and rewarding members.

Organizational Culture: Shared assumptions, values, and norms among members.

Question 9

Organization-level diagnosis
Outputs

Answer 9

1. Organizational performance (sales, profits, return and investment)
2. Productivity
3. Stakeholders’ satisfaction

Question 10

Organizational-level diagnosis
Alignment and analysis questions

Answer 10

Alignment: Does the organization’s strategy fit with the inputs?
Analysis: What is the company’s general environment?

Question 11

Group-level diagnosis

Answer 11

Inputs: organizational design and culture
Outputs: performance and quality of life

Question 12

Group-level diagnosis
Design components

Answer 12

Goal clarity
Task structure
Group composition
Team functioning
Performance norms

Question 13

Individual-level diagnosis

Answer 13

Inputs:
- Organizational design
- Culture
- Group design
- Personal characteristics

Output: how well the job is performed and how people experience the job

Question 14

Individual-level diagnosis
Design components

Answer 14

Skill variety
Task identity
Task significance
Autonomy
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