Organizational communication are the topic for this part of our guide to organizational management…

The structure and pattern of communications within it has a significant influence on the accuracy of decisions, the speed with which they can be reached, and the satisfaction of the people involved. These are the standard patterns of communication: chain; wheel; star; all-channel.

Formal information flow will generally follow a chain, such as with the military, and represents a hierarchal pattern.  An example of the wheel type of communications would be an autocratic organization, where there is one person making the rules and limited, or no, input from anyone else.

An all-channel network encourages all members of a group to provide input related to decisions that must be made, while the star is the preferred structure in many organizations, and encourages a free-flow of information from a limited number of group members.

It’s thought that in patterns with positions located centrally (such as the wheel and the star), an organization quickly develops around the people occupying these central positions. In such patterns, the organization is more stable and errors in performance are lower than in patterns having a lower degree of centrality, such as the all-channel. However, the morale of members in high centrality patterns is relatively low and this could, in the long run, lower the accuracy and speed of such networks.

In networks in which the responsibility for initiating and passing along messages is shared more evenly among the members, the better the group’s morale in the long run. They also draw on the skills, knowledge and experience of more people, which is preferable to the few people that have input in higher centrality patterns.

Which pattern is best for a particular organization is dependent on it’s size, the speed and accuracy at which it must reach decisions, and it’s room for error in judgment. However, the fact that the majority of organizations operate using the star pattern indicates that, in practice, it returns the best all-round results.

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Management structure is the topic for this part of our guide to organizational management…

To achieve an organization’s affirmed goals, management is key, and is defined as the process of leading and controlling the efforts of staff, as well as planning, arranging and using resources in a way that allows the achievement of company goals.

Typically, a company will be set up to include different types of managers, which can include managers with responsibility for a specific department or division of the entity, as well as regional managers who supervise activities in a particular geographic region. The types of management positions will vary in accordance with the size of the business.

The way regions, divisions, departments and people link together and interact is set out in a management structure (sometimes also referred to as an organizational structure). The two main types of such structures are flat and hierarchal.

A flat management structure is in place when there are few or no levels of intervening management between the head(s) of an organization and the members of it who perform its day to day functions. It promotes worker involvement through a decentralized decision making process.

A flat management structure is dependent on a more frequent and personal relationship between the entity’s staff and managers, affording the workers a higher level of responsibility by encouraging feedback and comments to those leaders who will ultimately make decisions. Having such feedback and commentary available on an on-going basis also speeds up the decision-making process.

A hierarchical management structure operates so that every entity in the organization, except one, is subordinate to a single other entity. Members chiefly communicate with their immediate superior and with their immediate subordinates.

This is the dominant mode of organization among large organizations, with most corporations, governments, and organized religions using it. Structuring organizations in this way is useful partly because it can reduce the communication overhead by limiting information flow; this is also its major limitation.

To determine the most beneficial management structure for an organization, the size and complexity of the entity must be considered. Complexity is impacted by geographic dispersal – are there offices and units scattered all over a country or even the globe? The more complex and substantial a company is the less effective a flat management structure will be, and while a company may be able to keep a streamlined structure, it will be unable to maintain that personal staff-to-manager relationship that is inherent in the flat structure once it reaches a certain size or complexity.

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In this part of our guide to organizational management we cover organizational performance management…

Performance management plays a key role in ensuring that an organization, including its subsystems such as employees, teams, departments and processes, are working in a way that achieve the overriding goals of the company. Performance management comes in the form of general reviews, or more specific reviews of quality, quantity, time-frame relevance, or cost.

Performance management reviews are generally conducted at regular intervals that have been pre-determined, but should also take place if it suddenly becomes apparent that a specific subsystem is not performing up to par. While most often a company will follow a standard procedure, the functional steps can vary a great deal based on the focus of the review and the preferences of the individual performing it.

A documented performance plan is the first step in the process and needs to lay out the standards the desired performance is based on, as well as the desired results and how those results will be measured. It should be structured to include first-level targets with more specific targets to support those, if necessary. It will be a fruitless exercise, however, if the results are not realistic and achievable, and if the expectations are not clearly communicated to key stakeholders.

Continuing feedback throughout the process is important, as is ongoing observation and the application of measurement tools used to determine the level of performance.

A performance review or appraisal should be conducted once the time-frame for review has passed. This appraisal should analyze the results of the review in order to determine if the performance has met the stated expectations, or if it has fallen below (or even exceeds) what is anticipated.

Ideally, when beginning the process, an incentive should be established for performance that meets or exceeds the applicable standard(s). That incentive needs to be given once the review has concluded.  In cases, however, where performance is judged to be inferior, then the performance plan can be tweaked to act as more of performance improvement plan.  The process must then start over and be repeated until the performance meets the stated goals or until the subsystem or standard has changed.

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Change management is the topic for this part of our guide to organizational management…

Organizational change is required at different points in an organizations life, such as strategy changes, additions or removal of products or services offered, or even the nature of the companys operations overall.

Effecting organizational change can sound more complicated than it really needs to be. A company should remember a few key principles for bringing about change in the best possible way, because avoiding changes can be a death knell to a business.

Changes will only happen if the employees of an organization embrace the idea of the change. Its easy enough to develop and distribute a policy, but it is of absolutely no use if your employees refuse to follow it by continuing to do things the way in which theyre most comfortable doing them. Any organization facing a change must take into account that the change has to be accepted at all levels of the organization.

The ivory tower approach by an organization to change is doomed to failure. People are not likely to embrace the idea of change unless they see it as having a positive benefit to them at some point. Human nature tends to cause people to focus on what they might be giving up, and that is particularly easy to do if the organization has not communicated the reasons for the change in a way that allows staff to see how they will derive a personal benefit from the change. The strategy can be the best one ever  on paper — but must be accepted by a companys employees before it can work.

When proposing changes to systems or processes within an organization, it is very important to solicit the feedback and recommendations of those who will implement the change. While different means of communicating to staff may be necessary (things such as newsletters, speeches, values statements, or corporate videos from senior management), there is no substitute for involving staff in the overall process. When people have an opportunity to participate, it provides them with a sense of ownership, and that can be extraordinarily beneficial when it comes to implementation.

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Leadership in organizations is the topic for this part of our guide to organizational management…

There are three generally-accepted leadership styles that organizational leaders will use to carry out their duties and responsibilities; autocratic, democratic and laissez-faire, or a combination of any of these styles.

Autocratic leadership is where a leader exerts high levels of power over his or her team. People within the team are given few opportunities for making suggestions, even if these would be in the organizations interest. Most people tend to resent being treated like this. Because of this, autocratic leadership usually leads to high levels of absenteeism and staff turnover. For some routine and unskilled jobs, however, this style can remain effective where the advantages of control outweigh the disadvantages.

Within a democratic leadership, although the leader will make the final decision, he or she invites other members of the team to contribute to the decision-making process. This not only increases job satisfaction by involving employees or team members in whats going on, but it also helps to develop peoples skills. As participation takes time, this style can lead to things happening more slowly than an autocratic approach, but often the end result is better.

In situations where an organization has a team of workers who are highly skilled and experienced, and who are self-motivated, a Laissez-faire leadership style can be very effective. French for leave it be, laissez-faire leaders do not typically micro-manage their employees, but instead allow them to work toward organizational goals on their own. A good laissez-faire leader will continually monitor staffs progress and achievements and provide good communication to his or her team. The downside is where a laissez-faire type leader does not exert sufficient influence and loses control over where his or her team is heading.

No leadership style is right, wrong, or best for all situations. The most effective approach for a particular organization being dependent on:  the skill levels and experience of the members of the organization; the type of work involved; the organizational environment (stable or radically changing, conservative or adventurous).

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In this part of our guide to organizational management we cover decision making…

Decisions, big and small, need to be made every day, and for an organization to be effective, its managers need to be able to constantly solve problems and make decisions that are of benefit to it.

The first step in doing so is to prioritize problems according to the effect they have on the organization, ensuring that decisions are made first on the ones of most significance to the organization. Having prioritized, each problem should then be worked through systematically before a final decision is made on it.

Knee-jerk decisions can be harmful, and to avoid them, one must gather and assess all information available about an issue. It is risky to rely on just one source when collecting information and facts as the source may be biased. Further, only verifiable information should be used to make a determination.

Brainstorming possible solutions with one or more individuals, after receiving all relevant information, can provide a few different perspectives, which can be beneficial to coming up with an elucidation that will work. Potential options can be wide-ranging in the beginning and narrowed down and tweaked until the best possible fix is determined.

Once possible solutions have been nailed down, then it is important to consult with others, particularly those individuals who the final decision will affect, in order to get feedback as to feasibility for implementation. Drawing on a pool of knowledge, skills and experience is infinitely preferable to an autonomous decision.

Tools, techniques and analysis methods (such as: Pareto Analysis; Paired Comparison Analysis; Grid Analysis; PMI; Six Thinking Hats; Starbursting; Decision Trees) can then be applied. These are not conclusive, but they do offer an objective and somewhat scientific approach to decision making. Theyre particularly useful when the decision-makers judgment is liable to be clouded by being too closely involved with the issue at hand.

The final step will be to weigh the positive benefit of each proposed solution against any negative impact such decision may incur, as few solutions can be implemented without some draw-back. The best solution will be the one that offers the most positive benefit, with the least likelihood of negative side-effects.

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If a building’s broken window is not repaired promptly it doesn’t take long for many of the building’s other windows to be broken. Problems that are fixed when they are small will stop them from developing into more serious problems.

The same is true when considering the level of employee satisfaction. Dissatisfaction spreads like wildfire and in a surprisingly short period of time you’ve got morale problems of the kind that are notoriously hard to fix.

To be confident that your employees are content you need to be aware of what their day to day problems are and you need to deal with them before they get out of hand. It is important to keep the initiative and a good tip is to give a little and often.

This turns out be a vicious circle. Fixing problems when they are small is also when they are at their cheapest to fix. If management wait to introduce change until they are prompted by employees then they risk having to implement change from a weak position. Employees like strong, confident management and a proactive approach generates respect not least because someone has taken the time to understand some of the employees’ issues.

Compare that with those managers who are out of touch. If they are late in addressing problems they are always on the defensive, having to concede to demands they run the risk of losing credibility which in turn can lead to having to agree to less reasonable demands. It’s not big and it’s not clever.

How then can organizations monitor the morale of the employees without a big budget and an abundance of spare time?

An online employee survey would appear to offer the perfect solution. They offer a quick, easy and cost effective solution. Surveys can be written and deployed in seconds, using email, web links and social networks invitations can be sent out immediately and for free and the results are collated and displayed in real time.

A corporate internet is the ideal delivery mechanism.

By linking through to an online survey website a company can regularly conduct surveys so they become part and parcel of the daily operations.

With the ability of an online survey to produce real-time results the mood of the workforce can instantly gauged, concerns highlighted both on a collective and individual level.

Companies can use survey results to highlight problem areas and then use follow-up surveys to target specific concerns. With good information managers are able to identify specific problems and prepare a considered response.

By conducting regular surveys a company is able to address small problems before they grow into much bigger problems that are then more difficult to address.

It should not be forgotten that most employees appreciate being consulted and asking their opinion is not seen as a sign of weakness but an indicator of good decision making.

Very occasionally management problems can be solved with something that is quick, easy and won’t break the bank; this is fortunately just one of those occasions.

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I never was any good with computers and maybe that’s why I always had a job that involved a lot of travelling and talking to people, instead of sitting in front of a desk, using a computer. But, there comes a time when technology catches up with you, and there’s not a whole lot you can do about it. That’s just what happened to me.

We were shown how to use it, and we were expected to note everything down in it, all contacts, appointments, meetings we had during the day. As I said, I’m not skilled with these devices, so it wasn’t easy for me at first, plus I often forgot to charge it, but after I have understood how it works, and I have found a car charger for it, everything went on smoothly.

We were shown how to use it, and we were expected to note everything down in it, all contacts, appointments, meetings we had during the day. As I said, I’m not skilled with these devices, so it wasn’t easy for me at first, plus I often forgot to charge it, but after I have understood how it works, and I have found a car charger for it, everything went on smoothly.

 That’s how I got my hp ipaq 211 handheld, the gadget that knows everything. Everything we do, I mean, as we have to keep it updated daily, so that the company could check the amount of work each of us does. Due to the HP PDA people started working extra hard. I have always worked really hard, so nothing has changed in my daily schedule.

Actually, this PDA has changed something. My bosses took notice of the hard work I have always done for the company, so I got a promotion. That was something I owe to my iPAQ, just as my new car is owed to it, too.

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The benefit of deploying an employee survey on an annual basis has for a long time been widely accepted but many organizations are reluctant to conduct them due to the amount of effort that is required.

Many organizations who have bit the bullet and conducted their own internal employee satisfaction surveys have often relied on word-processors to allow them to design and compile a survey, then gone through the effort of printing and distributing the survey and spent time chasing and collecting the completed surveys and then even more time transferring the survey response information into a meaningful management report.

Fortunately with the introduction of the Internet and hosted survey websites what was once a time consuming, resource hungry, long winded and cumbersome process is now slick, quick and easy.

This document provides a step by step guide to help implement a survey that will bring considerable benefits to any organization.

Step 1 – Identifying The Need

The reasons an organization would need a survey are as wide and they are long. The following are a few of the common reason why employee satisfaction surveys are conducted.

Event Driven Drivers

If your organization is about to embark, or is going through, a process reengineering program a series of employee surveys can assist in managing the change program, measure the effectiveness of the change, help to deliver a ‘message’ and gather valuable feedback throughout the change cycle.

Where an organization is experiencing a period of rapid growth employee surveys can make sure that the employees are aware of their reporting and management responsibilities.

If an organization is suffering from poor moral stemming from either internal or external influences an employee survey can be used to identify what the specific concerns of employees are so that those concerns can be properly addressed.

An employee survey can help an organization identify the underlying cause of employee unrest that may results in an increase of staff turnover and through the survey findings help find solutions.

Periodically

As part of a periodic assessment, surveys will help an organization review their personnel and monitor on an individual level job satisfaction, training and career development.

Employee surveys will allow the senior management team the opportunity to look at what makes their organisation tick and confirm, or not, that their ‘top down’ view matches the reality and ‘bottom up’ perspective of their employees.

With the help of employee surveys an organization can establish good employer/employee communication that will in turn bring both direct and indirect benefits.

Step 2 – Management Buy-In

Management buy-in is always desirable for any initiative and many will argue that it is essential to ensure a successful employee survey, however, in some instances the findings of an employee survey can lead to kick-starting a management that has grown complacent and detached from their employees.

Some organization may be fortunate in that the senior management recognize and drive the need for employee surveys, while in others the management may need to first be convinced of the direct and indirect benefits an employee survey will bring.

The degree that management commit to an employee survey will have a bearing on the nature of the survey and to some extent will help determine what questions.

A management that is supportive of the initiative may have specific areas of concern that they require feedback on or they may give the go ahead simply because they have no reason to think that the level of employee satisfaction throughout the organization is anything other than high.

It is good practice to get management to buy-in to the employee survey from the start as it is they who have the most to gain and it is also they who are in a position to make any change that is later identified as being required.

Step 3 – Designing The Survey

Good surveys will take some time and effort to write but providing the basic rules of survey design are followed and a concerted effort is made to include the ‘need to know’ questions and omit the ‘nice to know’ an effective survey will begin to take shape.

Determining the exact questions that should be asked will be entirely dependent on the individual organization, its structure and the previously identified primary need and objectives of the employee survey.

At the same time as considering what questions to ask consider how the results are to be analyzed. For example there may be a desire to ask for individual comments but these types of answer formats can be very time consuming and cumbersome to analyze and should therefore be avoided or used sparingly.

Online surveys make it practical to conduct multiple smaller surveys than one very long survey and avoid the higher the drop out rate that are associate with longer surveys.

Step 4 – Checking And Testing

Spelling, Grammar and Clarity

Before the survey is published carefully check that there are no spelling and typing mistakes or incorrect grammar. It is recommended that you always have a colleague who has not been involved in the survey design to proof read the survey with clean eyes before the survey goes live, if no colleague is available try to take a break before checking through the survey again.

Say What You Mean and Mean What You Say

When checking the survey you need to consider the survey from the viewpoint of the respondent, you may know what you mean by each question but will the questions be clear to the employee?

Allow The Employee To Answer Truthfully

Where the employee will be required to choose from a number of available responses, closed questions, have you allowed the employee to answer accurately? Make use of answer response options like ‘Don’t know’, ‘No comment’ or ‘Not Applicable’ where you have made the question mandatory but the employee may not be able to answer.

Give consideration to allowing the employee to include an ‘Other’ answer but be mindful that ‘Other’ answers add to the complexity when analyzing the survey results.

Don’t Require A Response To Questions That May Not Have One

Check that for any questions that you have made mandatory you do require an answer, for example open questions such as asking for additional comments should be made optional unless you definitely require the respondent to write a comment.

Check you will be able to Analyze the Data

Check through the survey again but this time looking at how the results of the survey will be analyzed. Consider how you are likely to want to analyze the survey data, have you asked the right questions to be able to perform detailed analysis? For example if you want to be able to view the detailed response data from the perspective of the different departments, or maybe gender, check you have asked the employee to indicate their own department and/or gender.

Don’t Ask Anymore Questions Than You Need To

Consider all the questions in the survey and look for questions that are not ‘need to know’.

Test The Link And Try Completing The Survey

Publish the survey and then send the survey’s link to a number of people who will be willing to test the survey. By completing the survey yourself you will get a feel for how the respondent will view the survey. From your own and the feedback of your colleagues stop and fine tune the survey as required.

Continue to repeat this process until you are happy with the survey.

Check The Data

Take the time to view the online results of the test data and ensure that the data is being collected and can be analyzed in a manner that will give meaningful results.

Step 5 – Deploying and Promoting the Survey

Where all or the majority of employees have access to the internet or company intranet deploying the online survey is as easy as ABC, either via email or by establishing a link to the survey from your own website or Intranet.

Where there are some or many employees that do not have direct access to the internet there are a number of alternatives that can be used from issuing the survey in printed form, providing a shared terminal or giving them an incentive to complete the survey at home.

Allowing Anonymous Responses?

You have a choice to allow all surveys to be completed anonymously. A survey where respondents are allowed to be anonymous may encourage employees to speak their minds promoting ‘a warts and all’ approach, in turn giving management an opportunity to nip potentially serious problems in the bud.

However, allowing anonymous comments also allows employees to be more cavalier and flippant with their responses. Some organizations may only wish to take account of the views of those employees that are prepared to stand by their convictions and that will also allow the organization to follow up the specific concerns of individual employees.

Deciding to allow anonymous responses or not will mainly be down to the individual organization, the specific nature of the survey, the type of survey, the management style and the existing employee/employer relationship.

Step 6 – Monitoring The Survey

You are able to view in real-time the results online and the number of surveys that have been both started and completed.

If after a few days the number of completed surveys falls short of the expected target it is advisable to send periodic reminders to employees asking them to complete the survey.

Step 7 – Analyzing The Results

There are no hard and fast rules for analyzing the data. Much will depend on the specific survey, the questions that are asked and the number of responses that are received.

The majority of surveys will benefit from the results being displayed in graphical as well as tabular form.

Providing the right questions have been asked when the survey data is first analyzed often a number of ‘headline’ results will immediately stand out that will provide you with an overview and an instant assessment of the general mood of the organization.

In areas where the results indicate areas of concern a more detailed analysis may be advisable. For example if employees were asked if they felt the organization provided equal opportunities to both genders and 25% gave a negative response it would be useful to know the gender split of the organization and also to look at what the gender split was of the 25% that answered negatively. Was the negative view shared by employees of both genders, evenly spread throughout the organization, or of a particular gender from a particular department?

Reports can display the result data in tabular and/or graphical form allowing those who are interested in the results to view the raw data.

As a complement to the first, another method is to study the results and provide an analysis of the data and offer an opinion as to what the meaning is behind the results, what circumstances may have contributed to the results being as they are and in cases where the results have exposed negativity, propose initiatives that could address and resolve the problems . Such analysis if done by a single individual is likely to be very personal, if done by a committee it is still likely to be objective and therefore open to interpretation.

Step 8 – Further Action

The most important step is more likely to be the last. The results of an employee survey will either confirm that the perfect organization really does exist or, and more likely, it will by the individual and common concerns that are raised identify the areas that are less than perfect.

It may prove necessary to conduct further, more detailed surveys, to target specific areas. For example the survey may reveal that negative responses are received from employees working in a particular department but the reasons for their negativity may not be clear. A highly focused follow-up survey may help reveal the root causes.

When employee surveys are run on a regular basis an organization that has a track record of addressing the issues highlighted by surveys will see their efforts rewarded in the results of subsequent surveys. Almost all organizations have problems and it helps an organization’s moral to see that a channel exists that will identify problems that can then be addressed and resolved.

Summary

These guidelines are intended to help an organization conduct successful employee satisfaction surveys, they are however, only a guide.

Each organization is different in style and structure and that will directly influence the tone and nature of the survey and will also dictate what the primary and secondary reasons are for conducting a survey.

By utilizing existing technology and conducting surveys online you are now able to monitor the heart beat of an organization, quickly, easily and, by using websites like www.surveygalaxy.com, at minimal cost.

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