Description of Assignment

In this assignment, you will select a community organization you are familiar with (small/medium size profit or non-profit business with a website) as a practice client and will conduct a current state to desired future state organizational assessment. In this assessment, you will create a preliminary plan of action to move the organization to the desired future state through a specific change initiative. This is a basic skill for an I/O Psychologist. You might also think of this as a Gap Analysis.

This assignment starts with an interview with your practice client to gather information about their company’s current state, desired future state, and the changes they identify as urgent, important, and nice-to-do. You will use the template provided to capture this assessment. This is Part 1. The full analysis and client deliverable will be completed in the Organizational Assessment Part 2 in Topic 7. As you conduct this assessment, be sure to revisit the Code of Ethics to ensure that you are adhering to Ethical Code. It is anticipated that this assignment, when finished, will be between 5-7 pages (1500-2000 words).

Template Requirements

1. Describe Your Practice Client: To protect your client organization’s identity, you will name your practice client something anonymous like ABC or XYZ. In this space you will describe the type of organization, industry, size of organization, department within an organization, and any other information that will be important to this assignment.

2. Research: Prior to interviewing your practice client, invest some time in looking at their online presence. You might examine sites like, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Facebook, their website, YELP, or other online opinion sites. Be sure to look for the organization’s vision, mission, values, principles, organizational mantras or slogans, etc. Document your findings in this section.

3. The Interview (60-90 minutes): The goal of your interview is to discover the current state of the organization and the desired future state, as described by your practice client and document your findings in the template. You will want to create a list of questions that you want to ask the client. Your research should help you format some of your questions. Here are a few open-ended questions/statements to get you started:

a. Thank you for agreeing to meet with me today. I have done some research on the company online, can you tell me a little about the history of the organization that I might not find online?

b. The organizational assessment requires a current state and a desired future state discussion. Please tell me anything you are comfortable with sharing.

i. How would you describe the organization today? (Possibly: Number of employees? Departments? Leader effectiveness? Changes? Technology? People Initiatives?). People, process, and technology are typically safe to explore.

ii. If you could change one or two things about where the organization is today, what might that be?

iii. If money, people, and time were not barriers to future successes – next couple of years, what would be the ultimate desired future state for the business?

iv. What is the most significant or urgent thing that would have to happen to move the organization from where it is to this desired future state?

v. I will be working on this project for the next four weeks, what would you hope I can do to help you move more toward your desired future state?

c. You can add additional questions or change these questions to customize them to your style or your client.

4. Documentation and Initial Solutions/Actions: In the template, document your findings to include some initial thinking about some of the possible solutions or actions to move the organization from the current state to the desired future state. Throughout the course, you will have an opportunity to explore and shape your thinking.

5. Discuss at least two theories, models, or conceptual frameworks that you may be able to use to help you create a theoretical foundation for this initiative (motivation, change, leadership, process, etc.).

6. Provide a reflective summary for this part of the process. What went well and you would do again and what you would not do again?

 

 

 

The Preliminary Organizational Assessment Template

Topic 3: Complete this template for your assignment. It is anticipated that this assignment will result in 5-7 pages of information about your ‘Practice Client’

1. To protect your client organization’s identity, you will name your practice client something anonymous like ABC or XYZ. In this space you will describe the type of organization, industry, size of organization, department within an organization, and any other information that will be important to this assignment. This section expands to accommodate for your documentation.

2. Research: Prior to interviewing your practice client, invest some time in looking at their online presence. You might examine sites like, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Facebook, their website, YELP, or other online opinion sites. Be sure to look for the organization’s vision, mission, values, principles, organizational mantras or slogans, etc. Document your findings in this section. This section expands to accommodate for your documentation.

3. The Interview (60-90 minutes): The goal of your interview is to discover the current state of the organization and the desired future state, as described by your practice client and document your findings in the template. You will want to create a list of questions that you want to ask the client. Your research should help you format some of your questions. This section expands to accommodate for your documentation.   Current State:         Desired Future State:         Other Information Captured:

4. Documentation and Initial Solutions/Actions: In the template, document your findings to include some initial thinking about some of the possible solutions or actions to move the organization from the current state to the desired future state. Throughout the course, you will have an opportunity to explore and shape your thinking. This section expands to accommodate for your documentation.

5. Discuss at least two theories, models, or conceptual frameworks that you may be able to use to help you create a theoretical foundation for this initiative (motivation, change, leadership, process, etc.). This section expands to accommodate for your documentation.

6. Provide a reflective summary for this part of the process. What went well and you would do again and what you would not do again? This section expands to accommodate for your documentation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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