Organizational Assessment

Corben Davis
 What is Organizational Assessment?

Before we can start with an assessment module, we need to understand what organization
assessment is and why it is important to the health of an organization. In my own terms,
organization assessment is a way to assess or analyze an organization's performance.
organizational assessment can consist of four parts: measuring organizational
performance, understanding the external environment, determining motivation, and
examining organizational capacity (Lusthaus, 2002, p. 9).
 Organizational Assessment Origins

When companies performed organization assessments in the past, they would use the
common sense method and measure their success by profits (Lusthaus, 2002, p. 5).
Although this is a good indicator for success, organizations started to realize other
factors play a part in success. It became clear that organizational assessment needed
to go beyond scientific measurement of work and work methods (Levinson, 1972). As
a result of evolving efforts to analyze organization success, new practices emerged
that really analyze individual parts of an organization other than just profit,
effectiveness, and efficiency. The framework of organization assessment evolved.
Most assessment modules would focus on projects supported by organizations. They
then started to look at an assessment for the organization as a whole and the
environment in which the organization operated.
 Benefits

An important note is as organizations try to succeed, they adapt to their environment.

To sum it up, organizations are constantly trying to adapt, survive, perform, and
influence (Lusthaus, 2002, p. 3). Some will succeed at this and some won’t. An
organization assessment can help organizations understand what changes need to be
made in order to survive. As time changes, an organization's goals can change. How
do you know if the organization is still moving the right track? Organization
assessment also helps identify what is working
 Good to Great Method

Out of the many organization assessment models to choose from, I have chosen
the Great-to-Good method. Throughout this presentation I will discuss the main
focuses of this model and I will demonstrate each one to you. Hopefully, we will all
understand organizational assessment better after this presentation
 Why Good to Great?

This method will show us how to take an organization to the next level. This
method focuses on understanding what it takes to be a good leader and the
importance of hiring the right people. Throughout this demonstration, I will touch
on all chapters.
 Disciplined People

Acquiring the right employees and maintaining their focus on achieving greatness.

- Level 5 Leadership
- First Who Then What
Level 5 Leadership Qualities

- Will & Humility

- Ambitious
- Driven
- They build successors
- Take the blame
- Come from within the organization
 First Who, Then What

Finding the right people first is more important than strategy, vision, and
everything else. It’s exactly as the title states, once you find the who, the what and
everything else will come into place.
 Disciplined Thought

Being honest and avoid being sidetracked.

- Confront the facts

- Hedgehog concept
 Confronting the Facts

To make good decisions, we have to face the facts even if they are uncomfortable.
This can be done by creating an atmosphere where the truth is welcomed.

- Lead with questions and not answers

- Learn from mistakes rather than blame
- Debate don’t argue
 Hedgehog Concept

Stick to what we’re best at to avoid distractions. Don’t try to be too complex.
 Disciplined Action

Understanding what is important and what isn’t.

- Culture of discipline
- Technology accelerator
 Culture of Discipline

It is important to have an organization full of people that will action similar to the
hedgehog principle. A culture of freedom and responsibility with a defined
framework needs to be established.
 Technology Accelerator

Only invest in technology if it aligns with the hedgehog concept.

 Overall

To take an organization from good to great, you need:

- Disciplined people
- Disciplined thought
- Disciplined action.
 References

Collins, Jim; Brickman, D a n. Good To Great by Jim Collins| Quickie Book Summary Kindle Edition.

Good to great by Jim Collins. Expert Program Management. (2018, May 16). Retrieved October 1, 2022, from

https://expertprogrammanagement.com/2018/05/good-to-great-collins-summary/

Lusthaus, C. (2002). Organizational assessment: A framework for improving performance. Inter-American Development Bank.