Organizational Assessment

As the seasonal holidays loom, some of you may be looking at the transition from one annual cycle to the next and wondering how it could be that “things are so messed up.” Maybe you started the fall excited about the possibilities, only to approach Thanksgiving with the question of “how did we get to where we are now!?” If this question is on your mind, then you might well consider engaging in the process of an organizational assessment.

Organizational Assessment and Weisbord’s “Six-Box Organizational Model”

There are a number of helpful ways to do an organizational assessment – or “diagnosis,” as the exercise is sometimes described. One of the methods used at OD180 is the “Six-Box Organizational Model” developed by Marvin Weisbord in his classic book, Productive Workplaces (1987).  In essence, the method offers a way by which to look at an organization as a living system and identify not only where the problems are but also – just as importantly – how they inter-relate. Here are the six boxes he identifies:

1. LEADERSHIP,
2. PURPOSE,
3. STRUCTURE,
4. REWARDS,
5. MECHANISMS, and
6. RELATIONSHIPS.

If you are content with how your organization is operating, then now is not the time to invest in the process of an assessment. However, if you enter this season with some anxiety about where you are headed, we can help by walking with you through the exercise of looking at the six boxes of your agency