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

Goals & Strategies Outputs

Input Culture
Resources Behavior & Processes
Technology
Structure

Environment
 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
Strategic
Inputs Orientation Outputs

General Strategy Organizational

Environment Performance

Industry Organizational Productivity

Structure 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 Outputs

Task Team

Organizational Team
Structure Function
Design Effectiveness
-ing

Group Group
Composition 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 Outputs

Organizational Autonomy
Task
Design
Individual
Identity Effectiveness
Group
Design

Personal
Feedback
Characteristics Task
Significance 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.