Eleven Organizational Diagnosis Models
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Discuss the eleven organizational diagnostic models, evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, and how they could best be applied.
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Solution Summary
Why do we perform organizational diagnosis? Salvatore Falletta says we diagnose in order to confirm that a problem actually exists, and to begin the process of organizational change. He also compares organizations diagnosis to a physical diagnosis of the human body ... to better understand the individual/organization in order to investigate why it is not operating as efficiently as expected. (Falletta, 2005) Personally, I believe that a diagnosis should be accomplished periodically, much like the human physical examination, in order to get a better understanding of what is normal and what is not. However, organizational diagnosis is usually performed when something is going wrong, or is not quite right within a business. In the next few pages, I will discuss the eleven organizational diagnostic models, evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, and how they could best be applied ... especially in my organization.
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INTRODUCTION
Why do we perform organizational diagnosis? Salvatore Falletta says we diagnose in order to confirm that a problem actually exists, and to begin the process of organizational change. He also compares organizations diagnosis to a physical diagnosis of the human body ... to better understand the individual/organization in order to investigate why it is not operating as efficiently as expected. (Falletta, 2005) Personally, I believe that a diagnosis should be accomplished periodically, much like the human physical examination, in order to get a better understanding of what is normal and what is not. However, organizational diagnosis is usually performed when something is going wrong, or is not quite right within a business. In the next few pages, I will discuss the eleven organizational diagnostic models, evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, and how they could best be applied ... especially in my organization.
FORCE FIELD ANALYSIS
Force Field Analysis is a model developed in 1951 by Kurt Lewin. (Falletta, 2005) This model is not used for diagnosing the whole organization, but a management technique for diagnosing situations, or problems within an organization. According to Lewin, every situation (or push for change) have both driving forces and restraining forces. The driving forces are those forces that are driving for change, and restraining forces are those that are resisting the driving forces. An example of a driving force could be pressure from a supervisor or competition, and an example of a restraining force could be hostility or poor condition of equipment. (Accel-Team, 2008) Both of these forces point towards each other, and meet at the point of equilibrium, or the current level of productivity. When driving forces are greater than restraining forces, productivity goes up, and productivity goes down when restraining forces overcome driving forces. The basics for using this method is to either strengthen the forces supporting a decision, or weaken the forces against it. Optimally, though, one should really accomplish this diagnosis before the decision is made ... thus one of this model's weaknesses ... it is best used before a decision is handed down. Force Field Analysis is a better proactive tool for decision making than reactive tool.
LEAVITT'S MODEL
Leavitt's Model (a.k.a. Leavitt's Diamond) was developed by Harold Leavitt in 1965. (Falletta, 2005) This model is very simple ... all elements of an organization can be put into one of four interdependent categories: tasks, structure, technology, or people. A ...
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