When it comes to organizations, talking about diagnosis can sometimes become a bit complicated. Why undertake such a process? What are we going to learn that we don't already know?
Perhaps a full understanding of what we are talking about will, as always, help to understand the validity of the process.
First of all, what is an Organizational Diagnosis?
Diagnosing organizations is the process that allows us to understand the current functioning of the system and provides us with the information necessary to design any type of intervention based on the collection of relevant data. In short, an effective diagnosis will result in processes that are more and better adapted to each situation.
But when we talk about diagnosis… We remember the doctors!
Is it the same?
And the answer is yes and no.
There are at least two basic differences:
- The process of diagnosing an organization is essentially collaborative, meaning it is the product of interaction, dialogue, and reflection among many participants; it is distinct from medical diagnosis, in which the professional acts alone, armed with the necessary knowledge.
- Unlike medicine, organizational diagnosis doesn't operate under the preconception that something is seriously wrong and the role is to find the "cause of the illness." Often, the company simply wants to improve or change some practices to make them work even better than they do now.
But there is also an important similarity:
Like a doctor, it's very difficult for a consultant to understand how an organization is functioning solely from what a single person says. Therefore, to be able to address the truly important issues, it's necessary to approach reality from different perspectives.
A systemic view
At Action Group, we understand organizations as wholes or "systemic emergents," that is, as the result of the interrelationships between their parts. This means that every action, decision (or inaction) in one sector affects the entire organization in one way or another.
From this perspective, when we approach diagnosing an organization we basically look at it on 3 levels:
- The totality: includes the strategy (short, medium and long term vision), the structure (mode, distribution of resources, division of labor, etc.) and the processes.
- Sectors/areas/departments: we analyze the mechanisms that enable the construction of work teams and structure the interaction between members (culture, procedures, agendas, etc.)
- Individuals in their jobs: role design and matching of occupants to those requirements (selection, development, evaluation, and reward mechanisms that influence the mix of personalities and behaviors of the organization's members).
The diagnostic process can thus cover the entire company or only some of the aforementioned parts.
In summary
An external perspective on the organization, within a framework such as the one presented here, will have benefits for both the client and the professional: the intervention arising from the Organizational Diagnosis process will be the result of collaboration and a shared, uncontaminated analysis of the company's reality and, consequently, adapted to its particular circumstances.
Finally, without a doubt not everything that results will be new for those involved, but in light of this, we must not forget what Marcel Proust (novelist and essayist, 1871-1922) said: “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes but in having new eyes.”
