inroduction to od

8/9/2019 Inroduction to OD

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Organization development

Organization development (OD) is a planned, organization-wide effort to increase an

organization's effectiveness and viability.Warren Bennis, has referred to OD as a response to change, a complex educational

strategy intended to change the beliefs, attitudes, values, and structure of organization so

that they can better adapt to new technologies, marketing and challenges, and the

dizzying rate of change itself.

OD is neither "anything done to better an organization" nor is it "the training function of

the organization"; it is a particular kind of change process designed to bring about a

particular kind of end result.

OD can involve interventions in the organization's "processes," using behavioural

science knowledge as well as organizational reflection, system improvement, planning,

and self-analysis.

Kurt Lewin (18981947) is widely recognized as the founding father of OD, although he

died before the concept became current in the mid-1950s. From Lewin came the ideas of

group dynamics, and action research which underpin the basic OD process as well as

providing its collaborative consultant/client ethos.

The term "Organization Development" is often used interchangeably with

Organizational effectiveness, especially when used as the name of a department within

an organization. Organization development is a growing field that is responsive to many

new approaches including Positive Adult Development.

Overview

At the core of OD is the concept oforganization, defined as two or more people working

together toward one or more shared goal(s). Development in this context is the notion

that an organization may become more effective over time at achieving its goals.

OD is a long range effort to improve organization's problem solving and renewal

processes, particularly through more effective and collaborative management of

organizational culture, often with the assistance of a change agent or catalyst and the use

of the theory and technology of applied behavioral science.

Although behavioral science has provided the basic foundation for the study and practice
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of organizational development, new and emerging fields of study have made their

presence known. Experts in systems thinking, leadership studies, organizational

leadership, and organizational learning whose perspective is not steeped in just the

behavioral sciences, but a much more multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary approach

have emerged as OD catalysts.

These emergent expert perspectives see the organization as the holistic interplay of a

number of systems that impact the process and outputs of the entire organization. More

importantly, the term change agent or catalyst is synonymous with the notion of a leader

who is engaged in doing leadership, a transformative or effectiveness process as

opposed to management, a more incremental or efficiency based change methodology.

Organization development is a "contractual relationship between a change agentand a

sponsoring organization entered into for the purpose ofusing applied behavioral

science and or other organizational change perspectives in a systems contextto improve

organizational performance and the capacity of the organization to improve itself"

Organization development is an ongoing, systematic process to implement effective

change in an organization. Organization development is known as both a field of applied

behavioral science focused on understanding and managing organizational change and

as a field of scientific study and inquiry. It is interdisciplinary in nature and draws on

sociology, psychology, and theories of motivation, learning, and personality.

WHY IS ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT IMPORTANT?

Profitability,productivity, morale and quality of work life are of concern to most organizations

because they impact achievement of organization goals. There is an increasing trend to

maximize an organization's investment in its employees. Jobs that previously required physical

dexterity now require more mental effort. Organizations need to "work smarter" and apply

creative ideas.

The work force has also changed. Employees expect more from a day's work than simply a

day's pay. They want challenge, recognition, a sense of accomplishment, worthwhile tasks and

meaningful relationships with their managers and co-workers. When these needs are not met,

performance declines.


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Today's customers demand continually improving quality, rapid product or service delivery;

fast turn-around time on changes, competitive pricing and other features that are best achieved

in complex environments by innovative organizational practices.

The effective organization must be able to meet today's and tomorrow's challenges.

Adaptability and responsiveness are essential to survive and thrive.

WHAT DO ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANTS DO?

OD consultants custom tailor established social science theory and methods to organizations

seeking to improve profitability, productivity, morale and/or quality of work life. Examples of

activities which are facilitated by OD consultants are:

Teambuilding

Goal Setting

Group Facilitation

Creative Problem solving

Strategic Planning

Leadership Development

Management Development

Career Management

Conflict Resolution

Developmental Education

Interpersonal Communication

Human Resources Management

Managing Workforce Diversity

Organization Restructuring

High Involvement Work Teams

Sociotechnical Systems Design

Technical Training

Total Quality Management

Often described as "change agents," OD consultants come from varied backgrounds with

experience and training in organization development, organization behavior, psychology,

education, management and/or human resources. Many have advanced degrees and most have

experience in a variety of organizational settings.

There are both internal and external OD consultants. An internal OD consultant is a full-time

employee with a given organization. External consultants may be self-employed or on the staff

of a consulting firm. "Externals" work with one or more clients contracting for specific

projects.


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WHO DO ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANTS SERVE?

OD consultants work with all levels of employees. Examples include:

The Board of Directors, CEO or Vice Presidents -- during changes in corporate strategy,

mission, leadership development, technology or organization structure.

Middle Managers -- within specific areas or across functions to identify sources of conflict

and barriers to performance, or help build a broader vision and more effective leadership.

First-line supervisors -- improve operations and employee involvement, establish high

involvement work teams, improve organizational communication, install statistical process

control (SPC) develop supervisory training or new reward systems.

Line workers -- to facilitate job redesign improved performance, teambuilding or

improvement in the work environment.

WHAT TO EXPECT:

You can expect an organization development consultant to conduct an OD project in a timely,

cost-effective, well-coordinated and ethical manner.

In reaching an agreement or written contract with a consultant, you may want to discuss these

kinds of questions:

What approach will be taken?

Strategy for implementation? Anticipated schedule? How results will be measured?

Project team members?

Resources to be made available to the consultant?

Pricing of consultant's services; payment schedule?

Confidentiality?

OD SERVICES

Organization Development (OD) consultants provide services to improve organization

effectiveness and/or individual employee effectiveness. The purposes are to increase

productivity, work satisfaction and profit for the client company. The strategies appearing

below "Organization" and "Employee" Effectiveness are defined to help you become an

informed user of OD consultant services.


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Organization Effectiveness

Consultants apply organization effectiveness strategies such as those shown below when there

are needs for assessment, planning, growth, quality improvement, teamwork and other

organizational changes.

Action Research - An assessment and problem solving process aimed at improvedeffectiveness for the entire organization or specific work units. The consultant helps the client

organization identify the strengths and weaknesses of organization and management issues and

works with the client in addressing problem opportunities. (Some form of action research is

generally applied as a foundation for other consulting strategies.)

Conflict Management- Bringing conflicts to the surface to discover their roots, developing a

common ground from which to resolve or better manage conflict. Consultants serve as

facilitator in a conflict situation or train employees to better understand and manage conflict.

Executive Development- One-on-one or group developmental consultation with CEO's or VP's

to improve their effectiveness.

Goal Setting- Defining and applying concrete goals as a road map to help an organization get

where it wants to go. (Can also be applied to employee development.)

Group Facilitation - Helping people learn to interact more effectively at meetings and to apply

group guidelines that foster open communication, participation and accomplishment.

Managing Resistance to Change - Helping clients identify,understand, and begin to manage

their resistance to planned organizational change.

Organizational Restructuring- Changing departmental and/or individual reporting structures,

identifying roles and responsibilities, redesigning job functions to assure that the way work gets

done in the organization produces excellence in production and service.

Project Management- The general management of specific work,blending diverse functions

and skills, usually for a fixed time and aimed at reaching defined outcomes.

Self-Directed Work Teams - Developing work groups to be fully responsible for creating a

well defined segment of finished work.

Sociotechnical Systems Design - Designing and managing organizations to emphasize the

relationship between people's performance, the workplace environment and the technology

used to produce goods and services in order to effect high level productivity.


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Strategic Planning- A dynamic process which defines the organization's mission and vision,

sets goals and develops action steps to help an organization focus its present and future

resources toward fulfilling its vision.

Teambuilding- Improving how well organization members help one another in activities

where they must interact.

Total Quality Management- Through work process analysis, teambuilding, defining quality

and setting measurable standards, the consultant assists the organization in becoming more cost

effective, approach zero-defects and be more market-driven.

Employee Effectiveness

Consultants use employee effectiveness strategies such as those below when there are needs for

employee improvement in skill, commitment and leadership.

Career Counseling- Focused attention on goal setting, career selection and job seeking helpindividuals make career decisions.

Coordination & Management of Multi-Disciplinary Consultants - One or several different

technical specialists team up with an OD consultant to design and install new equipment, work

processes, work methods, or work procedures.

Creative Problem Solving- Organization members use practical problem solving models to

address existing problems in a systematic, creative manner.

Customer Service Training- Creating interpersonal excellence in public contact positionswhere the individual and the organization are expected to meet or exceed customer

expectations.

Developmental Education - Training in basic requirements like, reading, writing and grammar.

Interpersonal Communication Skills - Increased skill in exchanging needed information

within the organization and providing feedback in a non-threatening, non-judgmental way.

Human Resource Management- Managing the function of hiring, compensation, benefits and

employee relations toward systematic goals of the organization's morale and productivity.

Labor Relations - Facilitation of conflict, planning and problem-solving among management

and workforce union representation.

Leadership Development- Training in select areas which change managers to leaders. Includes

visioning, change management and creative problem solving.


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Management Development- Training in various management skill areas with particular focus

on performance management, communications and problem solving.

Outplacement- Providing individual and group job search skills and services to employees

who have been affected by corporate downsizing. Typically paid for by the employer.

Sales Training- Training in the art of selling a product or service.

Stress Management- An individual growth workshop designed to arm and activate healthy

responses to stress. It enables participants to maximize positive stressors and minimize the

negative, both for themselves and others.

Technical Training- Training in a specific technical area, such as computers.

Time Management- An opportunity for individuals and organizations to effect higher levels of

productivity with the time they are allotted.

Training Evaluation - Systematic controlled inquiry grounded in sound statistical practice,

assessing on-line training effectiveness and/or business impact. Assessment focuses on course

relevance, transfer and cost value.

Workforce Diversity - Facilitating understanding between groups toward the goal where

differences among people in an organization become the strengths for competitive advantage,

productivity and work satisfaction.

Contractual relationship

Although neither the sponsoring organization nor the change agent can be sure at the

outset of the exact nature of the problem or problems to be dealt with or how long the

change agents' help will be needed, it is essential that some tentative agreement on these

matters be reached. The sponsoring organization needs to know generally what the

change agent's preliminary plan is, what its own commitments are in relation to personal

commitments and responsibility for the program, and what the change agent's fee will

be. The change agent must assure himself that the organization's, and particularly the top

executives', commitment to change is strong enough to support the kind of self-analysis

and personal involvement requisite to success of the program. Recognizing the

uncertainties lying ahead on both sides, a termination agreement permitting either side to

withdraw at any time is usually included.
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Change agent

A change agent in the sense used here is not a technical expert skilled in such functional

areas as accounting, production, or finance. He is a behavioral scientist who knows how

to get people in an organization involved in solving their own problems. His main

strength is a comprehensive knowledge of human behavior, supported by a number ofintervention techniques. The change agent can be either external or internal to the

organization. An internal change agent is usually a staff person who has expertise in the

behavioral sciences and in the intervention technology of OD.

The change agent may be a staff or line member of the organization who is schooled in

OD theory and technique. In such a case, the "contractual relationship" is an in-house

agreement that should probably be explicit with respect to all of the conditions involved

except the fee.

Sponsoring organization

The initiative for OD programs comes from an organization that has a problem. This

means that top management or someone authorized by top management is aware that a

problem exists and has decided to seek help in solving it. There is a direct analogy here

to the practice of psychotherapy: The client or patient must actively seek help in finding

a solution to his problems. This indicates a willingness on the part of the client

organization to accept help and assures the organization that management is activelyconcerned.

Applied behavioral science

One of the outstanding characteristics of OD that distinguishes it from most other

improvement programs is that it is based on a "helping relationship." Some believe that

the change agent is not a physician to the organization's ills; that s/he does not examine

the "patient," make a diagnosis, and write a prescription. Nor does s/he try to teach

organizational members a new inventory of knowledge which they then transfer to the

job situation. Using theory and methods drawn from such behavioral sciences as

(industrial/organisational psychology, industrial sociology, communication, cultural

anthropology, administrative theory, organizational behavior, economics, and political

science, ).The change agent's main function is to help the organization define and solve

its own problems. The basic method used is known as action research. This approach,
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which consists of a preliminary diagnosis, collecting data, feedback of the data to the

client, data exploration by the client group, action planning based on the data, and taking

action.

Systems context

OD deals with a total system the organization as a whole, including its relevant

environment or with a subsystem or systems departments or work groups in the

context of the total system. Parts of systems, for example, individuals, cliques,

structures, norms, values, and products are not considered in isolation; the principle of

interdependency, that is, that change in one part of a system affects the other parts, is

fully recognized. Thus, OD interventions focus on the total culture and cultural

processes of organizations. The focus is also on groups, since the relevant behavior of

individuals in organizations and groups is generally a product of group influences ratherthan personality.

Improved organizational performance

The objective of OD is to improve the organization's capacity to handle its internal and

external functioning and relationships. This would include such things as improved

interpersonal and group processes, more effective communication, enhanced ability to

cope with organizational problems of all kinds, more effective decision processes, more

appropriate leadership style, improved skill in dealing with destructive conflict, and

higher levels of trust and cooperation among organizational members. These objectives

stem from a value system based on an optimistic view of the nature of man that man

in a supportive environment is capable of achieving higher levels of development and

accomplishment. Essential to organization development and effectiveness is the

scientific method inquiry, a rigorous search for causes, experimental testing of

hypotheses, and review of results.

Organizational self-renewal

The ultimate aim of OD practitioners is to "work themselves out of a job" by leaving the

client organization with a set of tools, behaviors, attitudes, and an action plan with

which to monitor its own state of health and to take corrective steps toward its own

renewal and development. This is consistent with the systems concept of feedback as a

regulatory and corrective mechanism.


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Case history

The Cambridge Clinic found itself having difficulty with its internal working

relationships. The medical director, concerned with the effect these problems could haveon patient care, contacted an organizational consultant at a local university and asked

him for help. A preliminary discussion among the director, the clinic administrator, and

the consultant seemed to point to problems in leadership, conflict resolution, and

decision processes. The consultant suggested that data be gathered so that a working

diagnosis could be made. The clinic officials agreed, and tentative working

arrangements were concluded.

The consultant held a series of interviews involving all members of the clinic staff, the

medical director, and the administrator. Then the consultant summarized, the interview

data to identify specific problem areas. At the beginning of a workshop about a week

later, the consultant fed back to the clinic staff the data he had collected.

The staff arranged the problems in the following priorities

1. Role conflicts between certain members of the medical staff were creating

tensions that interfered with the necessity for cooperation in handling patients.

2. The leadership style of the medical director resulted in his putting off decisions on

important operating matters. This led to confusion and sometimes to inaction onthe part of the medical and administrative staffs.

3. Communication between the administrative, medical, and outreach (social

worker) staffs on mutual problems tended to be avoided. Open conflicts over

policies and procedures were thus held in check, but suppressed feelings clearly

had a negative influence on interpersonal and intergroup behavior.

Through the use of role analysis and other techniques suggested by the consultant, the

clinic staff and the medical director were able to explore the role conflict and leadership

problems and to devise effective ways of coping with them. Exercises designed to

improve communication skills and a workshop session on dealing with conflict led to

progress in developing more openness and trust throughout the clinic. An important

result of this first workshop was the creation of an action plan that set forth specific

steps to be applied to clinic problems by clinic personnel during the ensuing period. The

consultant agreed to monitor these efforts and to assist in any way he could. Additional


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discussions and team development sessions were held with the director and the medical

and administrative staffs.

A second workshop attended by the entire clinic staff took place about two months after

the first. At the second workshop, the clinic staff continued to work together on the

problems of dealing with conflict and interpersonal communication. During the last half-day of the meeting, the staff developed a revised action plan covering improvement

activities to be undertaken in the following weeks and months to improve the working

relationships of the clinic.

A notable additional benefit of this OD program was that the clinic staff learned new

ways of monitoring the clinic's performance as an organization and of coping with some

of its other problems. Six months later, when the consultant did a follow-up check on the

organization, the staff confirmed that interpersonal problems were now under better

control and that some of the techniques learned at the two workshops associated with the

OD programs were still being used.

Understanding organizations

Weisbord presents a six-step model for understanding organization:

1. Purposes: The organization member are clear about the organizations mission

and purpose and goal agreements, whether people support the organization

purpose.2. Structure: How do we divide up the work? The question is whether there is an

adequate fit between the purpose and the internal structure.

3. Relationship: Between individual, between units or department that perform

different tasks, and between the people and requirements of their job.

4. Rewards: The consultant should diagnose the similarities between what the

organization formally reward or punished for doing.

5. Leadership: Is to watch for blips among the other boxes and maintain balance

among them

6. Helpful mechanism: Is a helpful organization that must attend to, in order to

survive which as planning, control, budgeting, and other information systems that

help organization member accomplish.


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diagnosis is to establish a widely shared understanding of a system and based upon that

understanding to determine whether change is desirable.

Concept of system

System can be viewed as a linkage of input flows (energy, materials, information,

human resources, economic resources) from sources in the external environment, a

transforming mechanism (a machine or a technical-human organization), and flows of

outputs or outcomes provided to users. System may include one or more feedback

mechanisms for self-regulation.

Focus of attention

Diagnostic activities should focus its attention to two areas (a) subsystem areas (top

management, department, group, individual unit) (b) organization processes or

organizational health (decision-making process, communication patterns and styles,

relationships between interfacing groups, the management of conflict, the setting of

goals and planning methods).

Who will diagnose?

People cannot be diagnosticians in systems in which they are full-fledged members due

to overt or covert vested interests. Diagnosticians must maintain role of researcher

(systematic, objective and result-oriented investigation) and must establish some type of

liaison system between the researcher and the elements of the systems. The liaison may

be an individual or a group.

Internal researchers can work in parts of a larger system in which they have not been or

currently are not members. But they cannot study their own groups and they generally

have a great deal of difficulty with parts of the system in which they have recently been

members.


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Phases of organizational diagnosis

Entry

Primary objectives of entry are to determine which units of the system (individual, group

and organization) will participate in the diagnosis and to determine whether the

researcher and respondent can reach agreement about their respective roles during data

collection and feedback. Researchers may experience anxiety related to potential

acceptance or rejection by the respondent system. The more self-awareness and

experience the researchers have, the less these feelings will interfere with their

effectiveness during entry.

Data collection

The primary objectives of data collection are to gather valid information about the

nature of the system systematically and to prepare an analysis of that data for delivery to

respondents during feedback. Collection of data proceeds from less (unstructured

observation) to more structured methods (qustionnaires) to produce more valid data.

In unstructured observation, researchers will be concerned with the relevant documents

offered by the respondent, newsletters, chairman reports, roaming around relevant

selected places, interviewing individuals or group. He must decide how much emphasis

to give to theoretical concepts for understanding the observational data. Researcher

besides observation and theoretical concepts should pay attention to respondents own

explanation of the data. Repeated unstructured observation, explanation of respondents

and use of theory lead the researcher to develop hypothesis about the causal relationshipof the specific events, relationships among the independent, dependent and moderating

variables.

It is better to take a case history of the organization before observational data collection.

The case history should cover the followings:


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1. Identification data: It includes organization name, location, type of organization,

organization affiliation, size (financial condition, stockholders, employees).

2. Historical data: Cheap complaints, duration and possible determinants, short-

range and long-range problems, major crisis of the organization (naturalcatastrophy, loss of key personnel, labour problems, financial emergencies,

technological changes), product service history (change and development of

organizational goals, sequence of development in product or service),

organizational folklore.

3. Structural data: Organizational chart, formal job description, ecology of the

organization (spatial distribution of individuals, activities), financial structure,

personnel (size, various educational levels, average tenure, range or skills,

absentee rate, turnover rate, accident rate), structure for handling personnel

(recruitment, orientation, training, growth of the job, promotion, compensation,

performance analysis), rules and regulations (medical, safety, retirement,

recreation, other fringe benefits).

4. Organizational functioning: Organizational perceptions (alertness, accuracy and

vividness), organizational knowledge (acquisition, use and dissemination of

knowledge), organizational language, emotional atmosphere of the organization

and organizational action.

5. Attitudes and relationship: Attitudes towards the task agents, relations to things

and ideas, attitudes about self, inter-organizational relationships.

6. Analysis and conclusions: Appraisal of the effect of the environment on the

organization, appraisal of the effect of the organization on the environment,

reactions, appraisal of the organization, impairments and level of integration.

Feedback


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Primary objective of feedback is to promote increased understanding of the client system

by its members. Effective feedback design relates the content of the feedback to the

process by which the analysis is delivered to the system. The process of feedback is the

composition of feedback meetings (i.e., who is present with whom), the ordering of the

meetings (i.e., which groups receive information first, which is second, etc.), the

behavior of the system during feedback and the behavior of the researchers within and

between feedback meetings. feedback is probably the period of maximum anxiety during

the entire diagnosis. If the system could tolerate the anxiety, system could learn its self.

In sum, the methodology of organizational diagnosis calls for the researcher to be

competent in the conventional use of social science tools ( observation, interviews,

questionnaires and archives) ant to possess a sophisticated theory and the related

behavioural skills to enter, collect and feedback information to complex multigroup

systems.

CASE STUDIES

1. Improving organizational health and job satisfaction:


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A public sector plant interested to improve organizational health (adequate physical

environmnt, organizational climate and relations with the task environment)and job

satisfaction of managers, supervisors and staffs. Both organizational health and job

satisfaction questionnaire administered to the random samples of three organizational

hierarchies. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis shows managers gave more

importance to organizational satisfaction and organizational awareness. To supervisors,

autonomy in decision making, satisfactory relationship between organization and task

environment, awareness of changes in task environment, and organizational need

satisfaction were important for job satisfaction. To staffs, problem solving opportunity

and good interpersonal trust were important for job satisfaction. The results were

presented to the authority of the company. The authority of the plant discussed the

results with the colleagues and took some measures.

2. Improving organizational health of the hospital :

A government hospital is interested to improve present condition of its organizational

health. Organizational health scale was administered to the doctors and nurses following

random sampling procedure. Results show inadequacy in physical (inadequate machines

and equipments, high level of noise), mental(poor interpersonal trust, inadequate

awareness of safety rules and regulations, less autonomy in patient care, inadequate

financial growth) and social health (poor satisfaction level of organization with its task

agents) of the hospital. Hospital authority was suggested to (i) introduce quality circle

for efficient housekeeping and for awareness of safety rules and regulations (ii)

introduce sensitivity training programme for interpersonal conflict reduction (iii)

introduce vendor development programme in order to collect quality equipment andtools from various suppliers.

3. Improving organizational awareness:

A public sector plant is interested to improve present status of organizational awareness.

Organizational awareness questionnaire was administered to the employees. Results


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show relatively poor awareness of organizational objectives, production process, safety

rules. Suggestions were given related to (i) introduction of written job chart (ii) introduction

of suggestion box system in which employees could give suggestion regarding the

improvement of production process, controlling environmental pollution, safety programme

etc. (iii) both way quality circle programme (iv) organizing safety dramma, safety poem and

song writing and safety poster campaign.

Organisation climate

Organizational climate is a set of properties of the work environment, perceived directlyor indirectly by employees, that is assumed to be a major force in influencing employee

behavior

To understand the concept oforganizational climate, it is important to make some

distinctions. First, climate and culture are both important aspects of the overall context,

environment or situation. Culture tends to be shared by all or most members of some

social group; is something that older members usually try to pass on to younger

members; shapes behavior and structures perceptions of the world. Cultures are often

studied and understood at a national level, such as the American or French culture.

Culture includes deeply held values, beliefs and assumptions, symbols, heroes and

heroines, and rituals. Culture can be examined at an organizational level as well. The

main distinction between organizational and national culture is that people can choose to

join a place of work, but are usually born into a national culture.

Organizational cultures are generally deep and stable. Climate, on the other hand, is

often defined as the recurring patterns of behavior, attitudes and feelings that

characterize life in the organization (Isaksen & Ekvall, 2007). Although culture and

climate are related, climate often proves easier to assess and change. At an individual


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level of analysis the concept is called individual psychological climate. These individual

perceptions are often aggregated or collected for analysis and understanding at the team

or group level, or the divisional, functional, or overall organizational level.

There are several approaches to the concept of climate, of which two in particular havereceived substantial patronage: the cognitiveschema approach and the shared perception

approach.

The first approach regards the concept of climate as an individual perception and

cognitive representation of the work environment. From this perspective climate

assessments should be conducted at an individual level.

The second approach emphasizes the importance of shared perceptions as underpinning

the notion of climate (Anderson, & West, 1998; Mathisen & Einarsen 2004). Reichers

and Schneider (1990) define organisational climate as "the shared perception of the way

things are around here". It is important to realize that from these two approaches, there is

no best approach and they actually have a great deal of overlap.

Organisational Climate (sometimes known as Corporate Climate) is the process of

quantifying the culture of an organisation.

Most of the organisations use this model of Climate to survey staff to identify and

measure those aspects of a workplace which impact on: stress, morale, quality of

worklife, wellbeing, employee engagement, absenteeism/presenteeism, turnover and

performance.

While an organisation and its leaders cannot remove every stressor in the daily life of its

employees, Organisational Climate studies have identified a number of behaviours of

leaders which have a significant impact on stress and morale.

Theories of Cognitive and Neuropsychology and Emotional Intelligence provide

additional scientific rationale for why leaders should improve stress and morale in the
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workplace to achieve maximum performance. Climate surveys can provide concrete

evidence of how this works in action.

Organisational Climate surveying enables the impact of HR strategies to be evaluated to

create HR Return on Investment (HRROI) calculations. This data has been found to behighly effective in changing the perspective of people-based initiatives as being an

investment rather than a cost and transforming HR into a mission-critical strategic

partner from its perception of personnel administration.

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