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Comprehensive Model for Diagnosing Organizational Systems

As open systems, organizations can be diagnosed at three levels. The highest level is the overall
organization and includes the design of the company's strategy, structure, and processes. Large
organization units, such as divisions, subsidiaries, or strategic business units, also can be
diagnosed at that level. The next lowest level is the group or department, which includes group
design and such devices for structuring interactions among members as norms and work
schedules. The lowest level is the individual position or job. This includes ways in which jobs
are designed to elicit required task behaviors. Diagnosis can occur at all three organizational
levels, or it may be limited to issues occurring at a particular level. The key to effective diagnosis
is to know what to look for at each level as well as how the levels affect each other.
For each level, a comprehensive model for diagnosing different organizational systems it shows:
the inputs that the system has to work with, the key design components of the transformation
subsystem, and the system's outputs. The larger environment is an input to organization design.
Organization design is an input to group design, which in turn serves as an input to job design.
These cross-level relationships emphasize that organizational levels must fit with each other if
the organization is to operate effectively.
Organization-Level Diagnosis:
The organization level of analysis is the broadest systems perspective typically taken in
diagnostic activities. Two key inputs affect the way an organization designs its strategic
orientation: the general environment and industry structure. The more uncertainty there is in how
the environment will affect the organization, the more difficult it is to design an effective
strategic orientation. An organization's general environment or industry structure can be
characterized along a dynamic or static continuum. Strategic orientation is composed of five
major design components: strategy, technology, structure, measurement systems, and human
resources systems and an intermediate output culture. Effective organizations align their design
components to each other and to the environment. The outputs of a strategic orientation can be
classified into three components organization performance, productivity and stakeholder
satisfaction.
Group-Level Diagnosis: Organization design is clearly the major input to group design. It
consists of the design components characterizing the larger organization within which the group
is embedded: technology, structure, measurement systems, and human resources systems, as well
as organization culture. Groups have five major components: goal clarity, task structure, group
composition, group functioning, and performance norms. Group effectiveness has two
dimensions: performance and quality of work life. The diagnostic model shows that group design
components must fit inputs if groups are to be effective in terms of performance and the quality
of work life. Group design should be congruent with the larger organization design.
Individual-Level Diagnosis:
The lowest level of organizational diagnosis is the individual job or position. Three major inputs
affect job design: organization design, group design, and the personal characteristics of job
holders. Organization design is concerned with the larger organization within which the
individual job is the smallest unit. Organization design is a key part of the larger context
surrounding jobs. Individual jobs have five key dimensions: skill variety, task identity, task
significance, autonomy, and feedback about results. These five job dimensions can be combined
into an overall measure of job enrichment. Enriched jobs have high levels of skill variety, task
identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback about results. They provide opportunities for
self direction, learning, and personal accomplishment at work. Many people find enriched jobs
internally motivating and satisfying.

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