Feeding Back Diagnostic Information &

Designing Interventions

Introduction
This module discusses criteria for developing both the content of feedback
information and the processes for feeding it back. If these criteria are overlooked, the
client is not apt to feel ownership of the problems facing the organization. More so, it
describes criteria that define effective OD interventions and identifies contingencies that
guide successful intervention design.

Student Learning Objectives (SLO)

• Determine the content of the feedback
• Describe the characteristics of the feedback process
• Discuss how to design effective interventions
• Give the types of interventions

Content

I. FEEDING BACK DIAGNOSTIC INFORMATION

Determining the Content of the Feedback
Several characteristics of effective feedback data have been described in the literature.
They include the following nine properties:
1. Relevant. Organization members are likely to use feedback data for problem solving
when they find the information meaningful. Including managers and employees in the
initial data collection activities can increase the relevance of the data.
2. Understandable. Data must be presented to organization members in a form that is
readily interpreted. Statistical data, for example, can be made understandable through
the use of graphs and charts.
3. Descriptive. Feedback data need to be linked to real organizational behaviors if they
are to arouse and direct energy. The use of examples and detailed illustrations can help
employees gain a better feel for the data.
4. Verifiable. Feedback data should be valid and accurate if they are to guide action.
Thus, the information should allow organization members to verify whether the findings
really describe the organization. For example, questionnaire data might include
information about the sample of respondents as well as frequency distributions for each

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item or measure. Such information can help members verify whether the feedback data
accurately represent organizational events or attitudes.
5. Timely. Data should be fed back to members as quickly as possible after being
collected and analyzed. This will help ensure that the information is still valid and is
linked to members’ motivations to examine it.
6. Limited. Because people can easily become overloaded with too much information,
feedback data should be limited to what employees can realistically process at one
time.
7. Significant. Feedback should be limited to those problems that organization
members can do something about because it will energize them and help direct their
efforts toward realistic changes.
8. Comparative. Feedback data can be ambiguous without some benchmark as a
reference. Whenever possible, data from comparative groups should be provided to
give organization members a better idea of how their group fits into a broader context.
9. Unfinalized. Feedback is primarily a stimulus for action and thus should spur further
diagnosis and problem solving. Members should be encouraged, for example, to us

Characteristics of the Feedback Process

Ownership of the feedback data is facilitated by the following five features of
successful feedback processes:
1. Motivation to work with the data. People need to feel that working with the
feedback data will have beneficial outcomes. This may require explicit sanction and
support from powerful groups so that people feel free to raise issues and to iden tify
concerns during the feedback sessions. If people have little motivation to work with the
data or feel that there is little chance to use the data for chan ge, then the information
will not be owned by the client system.
2. Structure for the meeting. Feedback meetings need some structure or they may
degenerate into chaos or aimless discussion. An agenda or outline for the meeting and
the presence of a discussion leader can usually provide the necessary direction. If the
meeting is not kept on track, especially when the data are negative, ownership can be
lost in conversations that become too general. When this happens, the energy gained
from dealing directly with the problem is lost.
3. Appropriate attendance. Generally, people who have common problems and can
benefit from working together should be included in the feedback meeting. This may
involve a fully intact work team or groups comprising members from different functional
areas or hierarchical levels. Without proper representation in the meeting, ownership
of the data is lost because participants cannot address the problem(s) suggested by
the feedback.
4. Appropriate power. It is important to clarify the power possessed by the group.
Members need to know on which issues they can make necessary changes, on which
they can only recommend changes, and over which they have no control. Unless there
are clear boundaries, members are likely to have some hesitation about using the
feedback data for generating action plans. Moreover, if the group has no power to make
changes, the feedback meeting will become an empty exercise rather than a real
problem-solving session. Without the power to address change, there will be little
ownership of the data.

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5. Process help. People in feedback meetings require assistance in working together
as a group. When the data are negative, there is a natural tendency to resist the
implications, deflect the conversation onto safer subjects, and the like. An OD
practitioner with group process skills can help members stay focused on the subject
and improve feedback discussion, problem solving, and ownership.

Survey Feedback
Survey feedback is a process of collecting and feeding back data from an
organization or department through the use of a questionnaire or survey.
Steps:
1. Members of the organization, including those at the top, are involved in preliminary
planning of the survey.
2. The survey instrument is administered to all members of the organization or
department.
3. The OD consultant usually analyzes the survey data, tabulates the results, suggests
approaches to diagnosis, and trains client members to lead the feedback process.
4. Data feedback usually begins at the top of the organization and cascades downward
to groups reporting to managers at successively lower levels.
5. Feedback meetings provide an opportunity to work with the data.

Limitations of Survey Feedback

1. Ambiguity of purpose.
2. Distrust
3. Unacceptable topics
4. Organizational disturbance.

II. DESIGNING INTERVENTIONS

What Are Effective Interventions?

The term “intervention” refers to a set of sequenced planned actions or events
intended to help an organization increase its effectiveness. Interventions purposely
disrupt the status quo; they are deliberate attempts to change an organization or
subunit toward a different and more effective state. In OD, three major criteria define
an effective intervention:
(1) the extent to which it fits the needs of the organization;
(2) the degree to which it is based on causal knowledge of intended outcomes; and
(3) the extent to which it transfers change management competence to organization
members.

How to Design Effective Interventions

Two major sets of contingencies that can affect intervention success have been
discussed in the OD literature: those having to do with the change situation (including
the practitioner) and those related to the target of change. Both kinds of contingencies
need to be considered in designing interventions.

Contingencies Related to the Change Situation

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 Researchers have identified a number of contingencies present in the change
situation that can affect intervention success. These include individual differences
among organization members (for example, needs for autonomy), organizational
factors (for example, management style and technical uncertainty), and dimensions of
the change process itself (for example, degree of top-management support). Unless
these factors are taken into account, designing an intervention will have little impact on
organizational functioning or, worse, it may produce negative results. They include
situational factors that must be considered in designing any intervention: the
organization’s readiness for change, its change capability, its cultural context, and the
change agent’s skills and abilities.

Contingencies Related to the Target of Change

OD interventions seek to change specific features or parts of organizations.
These targets of change are the main focus of interventions, and researchers have
identified two key contingencies related to change targets that can affect intervention
success: the organizational issues that the intervention is intended to resolve and the
level of organizational system at which the intervention is expected to have a primary
impact.

Overview of Interventions

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 Assessment and Evaluation
Read the module and the reference book with understanding. Feel free to ask
questions. Be ready for graded recitation.

References

Cummings, T. & Worley, C. (2009). Organization Development & Change (9 th ed.).

Cengage Learning

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