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
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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
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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
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Organizational design
Group design
Personal characteristics
Skill variety
Task identity
Data for Job Level, Continued
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Task significance
Autonomy
Feedback about results
Individual effectiveness
Assessing Feasibility of
Change
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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.