Organisational diagnosis for effective functionality academic essay assignment -

Assignment No: 1 1

Analysis of the question, “what you think are the main things to look at or for in

an organization to assess or diagnose how effectively it is functioning.”

Name

University

Professor

August 10, 2009

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Assignment No: 1 2

Abstract

In this paper we have a study of the main things to look at or for in an organization to assess

or diagnose how effectively it is functioning. We focused on the organizational structure with

five major components like culture, people, performance measurement, processes and the

decision making structure. Based on these things we can clearly evaluate the efficient

functioning of an organization. In the paper we have deeply analysed the elements of efficient

functioning of an organization by having interviews from different organizational levels.



Assignment No: 1 3

Summarizes or lists what are your and their responses to the elements

involve in proper functioning of an efficient organization.

In order to determine if your organization is running effectively and efficiently, there

are certain factors that need to be considered. There are five major interrelated components

that determine the efficiency of an organization. The first component measures the clear

vision and the priorities in the presence of the cohesive leadership team. The second

component for an efficient company is the decision making and structure. This component

leads to the clear roles and accountability for the decisions an organizational structure that

should be aligned with the objectives and gives them a strong support. Third measure to

diagnose the effective functioning of an organization is the people related to that

organization. There should be necessary organizational and individual talent, strong

performance measure, feedback system, and incentives that should be aligned with the

organization‟s objectives. Fourth most important functionality that requires being monitor in

an efficient organization is the work processes, the systems of operations, and strong

communications. To be efficient they must be superior execution of programmatic work

processes, and the organization should have effective and efficient support processes and

systems. Finally, in these components, wheel culture should have „High performance‟ values

and behaviours. Organization should have a capacity to change according to the potential

environment.

Regarding the interviews responses, the CEO of an organization emphasizes on setting

objectives and achieving them leads to the success. He stated that an organization should be

competitive, cost effective, sensitive to the public opinion, and continuously innovative to

align with the rotating cultures and needs (Anonymous, personal communication, August, 02,

2009). The Academic Coordinator (A mid-level manager) responded that there must be

successful delivery of product and its features (EFL program), then it needs Accreditation by

the Commission (BOD), afterwards it should have strong feedback system for the purpose of



Assignment No: 1 4

the evaluation of the product and its services. And lastly the foremost component that is

essential for the efficiency is the retention of the potential customers and their loyalty

(Anonymous, personal communication, August, 04, 2009). At the supervisory level (Director

of Admission), she responded that there are countless measures for this purpose. It should be

the strong feedback system, bottom line focused and smooth operations and good

communications at different levels. Similarly it should also be profit oriented to have good

compensation for its services (Anonymous, personal communication, August, 04, 2009). The

final respondent from the contributor level (Security) was very straight forward to the

question and responded about rewards, compensations, appearances, etc (Anonymous,

personal communication, August, 06, 2009).

Compares and contrasts the different responses

I found some differences in the interviews by different levels, for example the CEO and

higher level management have major focus on the management, goals, objectives and strategy

while lower level management focuses on the attire, work management, pays, compensation

and equal employment opportunity etc. Some of other differences were like these, the CEO

focused on the innovation as well as the sensitivity to the public opinion that others didn‟t.

The middle level manager was more focused about his program rather than the overall

efficiency. As the CEO responded that an organization should focus on the objective and

goals setting and make a strategy that lead it to achieve it. These issues were only focused by

the CEO. But when it comes to the other levels, the academic coordinator responded that they

should retain students that are indirectly an objective to gain loyalty and its execution by

strategy is the retention of the students. By retaining students it leads to achieve defined

goals. When this question was asked from the supervisory level, director of admissions

responded many factors in which the most significant was the profits. Similarly, the CEO also

stated that an organization must be competitive and cost effective. In a nutshell we can say

that it also focuses on the profits that are the main charm behind every business.



Assignment No: 1 5

Then all of the hierarchical levels confirmed what I believe, that a focus on strong

feedback, communication and smooth operations to determine an organization‟s efficiency. It

is because the strong feedback system and communication make an organization more

customer focus. And the customer focus enables development of programs tailored to a

population‟s needs and able to get desired results. Similarly when you have clear focus by

objectives, it enables accountability for results by customer group and also enables it on most

important customers and markets. By these explanations we get that the words used by the

four different respondents from different organizational levels were different but the desired

results, theme or logic behind them was similar. As we see, no interviewee responded

comprehensively. If something is cover by one interviewee that was missed by other. But in

my response to the question, I tried to state all of the factors for an efficient organization that

it should possess. As a result if I want to diagnose effectively, I have to take all the five

components along each other and missing even one thing may betray us from the right track.

Briefly reflects on why there may be similarities and/or differences

As described above the responses taken from the different level have a strange feature

that the all the responses were different in words and structure of the explaining but the roots

of all of them go to the same central point. There are certain reasons for these similarities of

the logic and the difference in the structure of the words. When we go to a hierarchical

organizational level, we find different level of authorities and expertise. It is for sure that in a

given situation, it differs considerably among various levels in an organization or various

types of enterprises. But the focus of all the levels remains to same root or point. Because

organizations and the hierarchical levels operate differently, they have different strategies.

They may differ in problems and operations. For example the top managers have conceptual

and design abilities and human skills, but there is relatively little need for technical abilities

as compare to the middle level management. Take a look on this difference for a better

understanding that the CEO focused on the innovation that others didn‟t. The middle level



Assignment No: 1 6

manager was more focused about his program rather than the overall efficiency. In the middle

level, they need a high level of expertise in the field and innovative thoughts but when it

comes to supervisory and individual levels they simply have limited context. At lower level

people have just responsibilities of the work assigned to them. But the root remains same for

all. Lower level individuals also contribute to achieving company‟s efficiency, profits and

attain objectives. That is why we get different sets of words and they were all having same

root and results. So the organizational levels lead them to answer different set of words

according to their scenario but they all try to contribute to their main objectives.

Comments on what you may have learned from this assignment

I got a lot of suggestions and advice from the interviewees and learned a lot from this

assignment. After completing this assignment, I have learned a lot to look for an

organization‟s factor that leads it to the efficient functionality and its optimal approach. I got

different views. When I analysed by reading about efficient organizations structures, I come

across these potential principals for an efficient organization, first of all there are five major

component of the efficient design of the organizations that are: leadership, decision-making

and structure, people, work processes and systems and culture. These are the potential

component that reflects the efficiency of an organization that I got from my readings.

According to first principle one organization must consider all five components of the

“wheel” because some organizations have a common misstep to focus on structure alone as

the solution. While one should give equal importance to every component. Second main point

is this that all of the five components must align to one another because one element that

“doesn‟t fit” can limit the performance of the whole system and finally according to my point

of view that it should have perfect alignment with the strategy and objective to the

organization. It is because every Organizational strength and weakness influences the range

of feasible strategies; in turn, organizations should evolve with any new strategic direction.

So they should go along with each other.



Assignment No: 1 7

Appendix

The following are the responses of the individuals from the four different levels

mentioned in the assignment:

Near the “top” of an organization or major division of a large, complex

organization (CEO): One should look at the organization's set of objectives, and the degree of success made in

achieving them. An organization must be both competitive, and cost effective. It must

ensure its own survival through constant innovation and periodic evolution. It also should be

sensitive to the public opinion. An assessment of the organization bearing in mind the above

factors can provide a good indication of its effective functioning. Employees and customer

feedback to products is also mandatory to have a look for our wrong and good ways of

businesses. A flow of good communications among different level of an organization also

keeps it efficient.

A mid-level manager (Academic Coordinator):

Ways to Assess the Effectiveness of the EFL program:

Successful delivery of English language instruction

Successful delivery can be determined at the end of a semester by:

o how well students meet the performance objectives stated in the curriculum;

o comparing students‟ entrance and exit test scores;

o Tracking students‟ success when they enter a university program.

Accreditation by the Commission on English Language Program Accreditation

Program Questionnaire and Student Evaluation of Teaching

At the end of each semester both the program and individual teachers are evaluated by

the students. Results are given to the faculty after the semester has ended.



Assignment No: 1 8

Student Survey as a component of Curriculum Reviews.

Each year the program conducts a curriculum review and as a part of that review,

students are asked to complete a survey on a particular component of the curriculum.

Student retention rate

Typically about ¼ of our students are continuers, but that percentage has been on the

increase over the past few semesters. For our summer program about 50% of the

students were continuers.

The supervisory level (Director of Admission):

In order to determine if your organization is running effectively, you could take countless

measures. As a supervisor, I believe you have to listen to your employees‟ comments and

ideas within the organization and know what other similar organizations are doing. Smooth

operation and good communication are essential. In organizations that are not bottom line

focused, this can be seen by evaluating the customers that they serve by surveying for

customer feedback. However, in organizations that are bottom line focused, you need to look

at its balance sheet which will normally lead to its financial statement.

The individual contributor level of an organization (Security):

Supervisory of staff

Rules and regulations

Appearance

Evaluation of a worker

Communications

Productivity

rewards



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