The Partners for Organizational Success Newsletter
Volume Two | Issue Two | Summer 2009 | Past Issues
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Case Study: Linking Survey Results to Organizational Change
My survey clients range widely in size and operate in a variety of industries. No matter what size or industry, the difference in the level of success and usefulness of their surveys lies in the commitment from leadership to support the process and pay careful attention to the results. This commitment is the starting point for using the results to support positive change. One client decided that after repeated surveys over the years, the time was right to combine a number of organizational change efforts; including using the results of their employee survey to get leadership and employees focused on improvements in the workplace. Market pressures, changes in technology, growth, government regulation, and employee turnover all pointed to a need |
to change the way that the organization was structured and how people approached their work.
Leadership committed to using their survey results to respond to employee concerns. The survey results told them that the employees were very aware of a need for change, and contributed many ideas for improvements, some of which were implemented immediately. Managers and supervisors created simple action plans to respond to their employees' top three concerns in their specific departments; the idea was to make reasonable progress rather than respond to every issue raised. Process improvements were made and communicated based on these action plans. The survey also pointed to employees' extreme dedication to their customers, which became the foundation for changes in organizational structure, management development, and policies and procedures. |
So far, the organization has found new energy and focus; and the new structure is functioning well. The idea was to pay closest attention to their core strengths and change only a few things at a time, with a plan in mind. So far, these efforts have begun to yield positive results in terms of better communication and reductions in unnecessary costs.
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