Organizational Design,

Diagnosis, and Development

Session 11
Organizational Diagnosis, I

Objectives
To understand the open systems model and
its usefulness in diagnosing organizations
To be familiar with diagnosis at varying levels
of the organization
To be familiar with useful data at each level of
analysis
To review factors related to the assessing the
feasibility of change in an organization

The Open Systems Model

Input
Resources

Goals & Strategies

Culture
Behavior & Processes
Technology
Structure

Environment

Outputs

Key Features of the Model

Environments affect inputs, internal
operations, & outputs
Organizational inputs can be used as
inputs for maintenance and growth
Organizations are influenced by
members as well as environments
System elements are interrelated and
influence each other

Key Feature, Continued

Organizations are constantly changing
Organizational success depends on
ability to adapt to or to final a favorable
environment, tie people into their
organizational roles, and manage
operations
Any level or unit within an organization
can be viewed as a system

Issues in Gathering and

Analyzing Data
Level appropriate data and measurement
problems
Choosing effectiveness criteria
types of criteria (outcomes, processes,
structures)
comparison standards

Problems in measuring effectiveness

How to choose criteria

Model for Organizational

Diagnosis
Inputs

Strategic
Orientation

Outputs

General
Environment

Strategy

Organizational
Performance

Industry
Structure

Organizational Productivity
Design
Stakeholder
Satisfaction

Data for Organizational Level

Diagnosis

Environmental data
Industry structure data
Goals & strategies
Organizational design & structure
Organizational performance
Productivity
Stakeholder satisfaction

Model for Group Level

Diagnosis
Goal Clarity

Inputs
Task

Organizational
Structure
Design

Group
Composition

Outputs
Team

Team
Function
Effectiveness
-ing

Group
Norms

Data for Group Level

Diagnosis

Organizational design & structure

Goal clarity
Task structure & technology
Team functioning
Group processes
Group norms
Team effectiveness

Model for Job Level Diagnosis

Skill Variety

Inputs
Organizational
Task
Design
Group
Design

Autonomy
Individual
Effectiveness

Identity

Personal
Characteristics Task
Significance

Outputs

Feedback
About
Results

Data for Job Level Diagnosis

Organizational design
Group design
Personal characteristics
Skill variety
Task identity

Data for Job Level, Continued

Task significance
Autonomy
Feedback about results
Individual effectiveness

Assessing Feasibility of
Change

Does organization need strategic change

Is there readiness for change
How will stakeholders react to change
Does organization have capacity to
implement change
Will proposed change achieve desired results
Methodological issues

Backwards & Forwards

Summing up: Today we examined the
open systems model and its implications
for analyzing organizations. A model for
analysis was presented which provided for
assessment at the organizational, group,
and job level
Looking ahead: Next time we continue to
explore diagnosis by examining
techniques of collecting data.