Organization Development Results From Actionable Insights
Much has been written about organization development (OD). Most practitioners agree that is a systemic process that can be planned to bring about desired change or performance improvement in an entity.
KFA believes that embarking on Organization Development requires in-depth understanding of the character, values and culture that an organization has acquired over time. Many organizations “start up” with little attention paid to why and how to develop. Just as people must understand their strengths and limitations to develop new habits or discard unhealthy ones, so too management of organizations must understand the status quo before planning to transform it.
KFA uses various established methods to study organizations:
- Employee Surveys
- Communication audits
- Observation
- Personal Interviews
- Focus groups
- Analyses of written communications, including newsletters, handbooks, brand materials, etc.
Consider the popular tool of using employee surveys. Typically, most organizations which engage in them want to compare themselves with others. For example, it may be reassuring to know that morale is about the same in the examined company as in so many others. However, the real benefit from an employee survey is learning what it will take to improve productivity. The initial study can shine a light on the organization, but the tracking research is the tool that measures outcomes from next steps and substantiates if management's actions are successful. Thus, employee surveys must be customized to identify cultural values and norms so that management knows to what extent employees enthusiastically embrace and act upon management's vision.
KFA brings to the table both the real-world management experience and the academic theory that is essential for a highly regarded practitioner in Organization Development. Transition is not easy, and KFA knows well how to assist.