Consultant’s Diagnostic Guide for Performance Issues – Questions and Rationale
Delve has created the following guide to aid our consultants in diagnosing issues that affect organizational performance. A set of questions and accompanying rationale will assist with interviews for the organization and will also help you compare responses for compatibility with organizational strategy. This guide is based on Rummler and Brache’s (1995) Nine Performance Variables.
Organizational
Level - Goals, Design, and Management Needs: Questions and Rationale
What are the mission and the goals of the organization, and are the goals aligned with organizational strategies that have been developed? Has the strategy been articulated and communicated? Most importantly, are the goals aligned with the culture of the organization (Hofrichter, 1999)? To determine the culture of the organization, use a suitable framework, such as the one presented and defined by Kaliprasad (2006) and Niemann (2007). The strategies that are laid out should identify the following items: what the organization will do; who it will do it for; why customers will use services / products; where we will concentrate our efforts; and how will the organization implement their plan. In particular, you should identify quantifiable customer and financial goals that the organization will set and track.
Do organizational charts and relationship maps illustrate design of functions in the organization and show inputs and outputs between functions? Does the structure accurately depict the organization’s structure? Are all functions necessary and / or appropriate? Do the functions and associated inputs and outputs on the chart and map support strategy and strengthen the efficiency of the system? Are there internal customer-supplier links that should be added or changed on the organizational charts and maps that will allow us to achieve desired competitive advantages? Charts “are first steps for organization control” (Sarasohn and Protzman, 1998. p. 91). Charts alone are inadequate for organizational navigation in today’s business structure, and relational maps are required. Structures within the organization have become more flexible and companies depend more on alliances and partnerships (Linder, 2005).
Are goals, performance, resources, and interfaces being managed properly? Each function on the organizational map should have established sub-goals which have been developed from overall strategies of the organization. Strategies were developed based on organizational goals, which, in turn, have been aligned with organizational culture. Performance should be managed on the organizational level by: obtaining customer feedback, providing for internal performance measurements and feedback, and periodically re-assessing organizational and functional goals. Resource management entails allocating sufficient personnel and funds to reach established goals. Using a systems view of the organization, interface management ensures that flow between functional areas of the map is efficient (Rummler and Brache, 1995).
Process
Level - Goals, Design, and Management Needs: Questions and Rationale
Are there existing process goals? What are process goals that give the organization a competitive advantage? How do goals influence strategy? How is resulting strategy linked to customer needs and organizational goals? A process lies between every input and output on our relationship map. Examining process goals is an important step in employing a systems view of how output is produced because processes are the “key links” (Rummler and Brache, 1995, p. 22) to the customer. Process goals should be derived from and measured against organizational goals by focusing on: customer needs (external processes); needs such as planning, budgeting, and recruiting (internal processes); and benchmarks. Functional areas which have been set up at the organizational level affect external customers, and maximizing performance of processes depends on seamless operation between the organizational and process levels.
How do you ensure that processes are designed to produce maximum effectiveness and efficiency? “Process mapping can be a powerful tool for both identifying performance improvement needs and determining the underlying causes of performance problems” (Marrelli, 2005, p. 41). Process mapping provides a detailed description of the process being examined, which could include processes within the following areas: organization; function; division; department; workgroup; or individual worker. Through process mapping an itemized list of steps are produced that detail all inputs and outputs. Applications for process mapping include: performance and cause analysis; job analysis; competency modeling; instructional needs analysis; organizational development; communication; and evaluation.
Are critical processes being managed? Are critical processes that are associated with goals, performance, resources, and interfaces being re-evaluated on a periodic basis? The process map tool within the process level shows steps taken between the input-output stages. This can be equated to a relationship map at the organizational level which shows input-output relationships between departments. Sub-goals should enhance attainment of functional goals. Through the use of customer-driven benchmarks, processes should be regularly re-assessed to see if performance needs to be improved. If resources are insufficient for reaching goals or being squandered in ways that are not associated with goal attainment, there is room for process improvement. Focus on areas between individual steps of the process map.
Job
/ Performer Level - Goals, Design, and Management Needs: Questions and Rational
Do job goals at the job / performer level support attainment of process goals? As we reported above, process goals support organizational goals. Job goals should give focus to the job. Job goals should also be linked to process level goals. In addition, goals at all levels (organization, process, and job / performer) should be aligned with overall strategy. Goals at the job / performer level tell individual workers and teams what they are required to do and how well they are required to do it. According to Rummler and Brache (1995, p. 68) “the best way to build understanding of and commitment to Job Goals is to involve people in the process of establishing goals for their jobs”.
Are jobs designed and structured so that they can maximize success of the organization by contributing to attainment of job goals, given the strategy that has been developed? Factors affecting job design are: allocation of responsibilities; sequence of activities; job procedures; and ergonomics. Associated responsibilities involved in performance of a job can affect the primary process for which the job was designed to address. This, in turn, can affect the quality and quantity of job production. The sequence of steps that are taken in performance of a job task or process could retard job performance. Unnecessary or ill-designed policies and procedures can also negatively affect performance of processes. Ergonomics is the scientific application of object design for application to human performance.
What is job management? How is the environment enhanced to maximize job contribution? What types of things are being done to maximize the worker’s job contribution? What is being done to motivate and utilize individual talents? Capable people should be placed in an environment that allows them to reach job goals. This is done by providing: 1) Standards for performance; 2) Task support (also, read job design); 3) Consequences (both positive and negative); 4) Feedback (specific and individual); 5) Skills and knowledge, and; 6) Individual capacity. Eighty percent of performance improvement resides in the environment (items 1 – 4) while only about twenty percent lies in the performer (items 5 and 6), according to Rummler and Brache (1995). Only about one percent of performance issues are associated with individual capacity. With proper diagnosis the six factors causing performance problems can be treated.
References
Hofrichter,
D. A. (1999). Secrets of the rich and famous. The Journal of Business Strategy, 20(4), 22-26.
Kaliprasad,
M. (2006). The human factor II: Creating a high performance culture in an
organization. Cost
Engineering, 48(6), 27-34.
Linder,
J. C. (March, 2005). How do things really work around here? Retrieved October
4, 2007
from http://www.accenture.com/Global/Research_and_Insights/
Institute_For_High_Performance_Business/By_Subject/Organization_and_Culture/ HowAroundHere.htm
Marrelli, A. F. (2005). The
performance technologist’s toolbox: Process mapping. Performance
Improvement, 44(5), 40-45.
Niemann, A. P. (2007). What is organizational culture? Retrieved on October 6, 2007 from
http://www.tonyniemann.com/611_classwork/organizational_culture.htm
Rummler, G. A. & Brache, A. P.
(1995). Improving performance: How to
manage the white
space on the organizational chart.
Sarasohm, H. M. & Protzman, C.
A. (1998). The fundamentals of industrial
management: CCS
management course. Retrieved October 6,
2007, from
Blackboard web site: https://blackboard.louisville.edu/webapps/portal/
frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=/bin/common/course.pl?course_id=_236235_1