ORGANIZATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
What is Organizational Development?
Organizational development is the continual process of developing
and maintaining a strong organization through deliberate and
meticulous planning as well as periodic and purposeful
assessment.
Why is Organizational Development Important?
Organizational development is important because it determines
the identity and focus of an organization by carefully considering
its assets, resources, circumstances, and goals. Without
organizational development, an organization would be lacking
direction and operating blindly.
How to Use This Resource
A large portion of the "Organizational Development" topic is
devoted to online resources for student leaders to use at their own
convenience, share with their peers, and refer back to when
questions, concerns, and issues arise throughout the year. In
addition to the online resources, there may also be related
workshops hosted by the Multicultural Center during the year.
Resources for Organizational Development > vision & mission ||
goals & objectives || constitution || SWOT analysis || needs assessment || executive board
|| leadership transition || programming
Vision & Mission
What is a Vision?
A vision is a statement that expresses the ideals of an
organization. In other words, a vision describes what an
organization stands for or believes in.
What is a Mission?
A mission is a statement that expresses the purpose of an
organization. In other words, a mission describes what an
organization does.
How are Vision & Mission Related?
Although each is distinct, vision and mission are related in
that the latter explains how the former will be accomplished.
Visions tend to be more idealistic while missions tend to be more
realistic. Both describe the same organization, of course.
Keys to a Strong Vision
* Concise: A vision statement should be succinct (i.e.
1-2 sentences).
* Reciteable: You should be able to say the vision easily
from memory and without excessive elaboration.
* Inclusive: While still being concise, the vision should
include all significant aspects of your organization.
* Idealistic: The vision should have an idealistic tone or
nature to it, in comparison to the mission.
Keys to a Strong Mission
* Concise: A mission statement should be succinct (i.e.
2-3 sentences). Mission statements tend to be longer than vision
statements.
* Reciteable: You should be able to say the mission easily
from memory and without excessive elaboration.
* Inclusive: While still being concise, the mission should
include all significant aspects of your organization.
* Realistic: The mission should have a realistic tone or
nature to it, in comparison to the vision.
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Goals & Objectives
What are Goals?
Goals describe general intentions of how an organization is
going to accomplish its vision and mission.
What are Objectives?
Objectives describe specific measures or plans of how an
organization is going to accomplish its goals.
How are Goals & Objectives Related?
Generally, each goal has a corresponding objective or set of
objectives. Since goals are general in nature, objectives specify
in more detail how goals will be accomplished. An organization with
just goals and no objectives will have less direction but more
flexibility than an organization with both goals and corresponding
objectives.
- For example (a goal and corresponding objectives):
* Goal: To offer the campus opportunities to view and participate in student-produced broadway plays.
* Objective 1: To show at least one play per semester.
* Objective 2: To offer open auditions for the entire community.
* Objective 3: To sell videos of past performances.
* Objective 4: To teach monthly clinics on producing and performing plays.
Keys to Strong Goals
* General: Goals should state general intentions, not
describe specific measures or plans.
* Concise: Goals should be succinct (i.e. 1 sentence only).
If you are describing a goal in more than one sentence, then you
are either being wordy, starting to explain the corresponding
objectives, or combining two or more different goals.
* Relevant: Goals should be relevant to the vision and
mission. Along the same lines, goals that are for window-dressing
or lip-service purposes should be omitted since they are
functionally irrelevant. In other words, don't have goals that just
look good but serve no purpose or won't ever be accomplished.
* Realistic: Goals should be realistic. Again, goals that
you know you are unable to achieve or do justice to should be
avoided.
Keys to Strong Objectives
A common way to develop objectives is to make them SMART:
* Specific: Objectives should state specific measures or
plans.
* Measurable: Objectives should be able to be measured in
one way or another.
* Achievable: Objectives should be realistic in the sense
that they are relatively easy to accomplish.
* Relevant: Objectives should be relevant to the goals they
are corresponding to.
* Time sensitive: Objectives should have deadlines. In
addition, objectives should take into account the busy schedules of
students.
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Constitution
What is a Constitution?
A constitution is a document that outlines who your
organization is and how your organization functions.
Why is a Constitution Important?
A constitution is important because it is what binds an
organization to its stated vision, mission, goals, and objectives
and keeps the organization accountable. In addition, a constitution
is often what is referred to when the organization's existence is
being questioned or is lacking focus.
What Should Be in Our Constitution?
See the OSAF SOAR
website for an initroduction to writing a constitution.
Who Should Read Our Constitution?
Every leader or executive board member of your organization
should read the constitution. In fact, each organizational leader
should have a copy of the constitution. The constitution should
also be accessible to anyone who wants to read it.
Keys to a Strong Constitution
* Archived: The constitution should have multiple copies
one of which should be on a disk (or two) in case hard copies are
lost.
* Accessibility: The constitution should be readily
available for anyone who wants to view it. If you have a website,
post a link to your constitution.
* Clarity: The constitution should use simple language to
avoid vagueness and ambiguities.
* Organization: The constitution should be arranged in a
logical fashion to make it easy to read.
* Updated: The constitution should be revisited at least
once a year so that it reflects the current state of your
organization.
* Enforcement: The constitution should be enforced in its
entirety to ensure that your organization is accountable and doing
what it's supposed to be doing.
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SWOT Analysis
What Does SWOT Mean?
SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and
threats. Strengths and weaknesses are internal to the organization
while opportunities and threats are external to the
organization.
* Strengths: Those aspects of the organization that are strong (i.e. leadership).
* Weaknesses: Those aspects of the organization that are weak (i.e. funds).
* Opportunities: Those aspects in the environment within which the organization exists that have the potential to make the organization stronger (i.e. funding sources).
* Threats: Those aspects in the environment within which the organization exists that have the potential to make the organization weaker (i.e. other similar organizations).
What is a SWOT Analysis?
A SWOT analysis is an assessment tool used by organizations to
determine their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Such an analysis is typically a brainstorming session. Once all
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats have been
identified, the next step is to determine how to:
* Maximize strengths
* Minimize weaknesses
* Take advantage of opportunities
* Avoid threats or decrease their impact
Why is a SWOT Analysis Important?
A SWOT analysis is important because it allows an organization
to survey itself and its environment in order to understand past
and current successes and failures in order to position itself for
future progress.
When Should We Do a SWOT Analysis?
There are two general times when you should do a SWOT
analysis:
1) During leadership transition: When organizational leadership is changing from old to new, both the old executive board and the new executive board should meet to perform a SWOT analysis so that progress from the previous year is continued into the upcoming year.
2) During a period of stagnation: When progress of your organization is stagnant (i.e. low attendances, lack of ideas, decreased sense of community, etc), organizational leadership should meet to perform a SWOT analysis so the organization can inventory what it's doing well and what it needs to work on.
Keys to a Strong SWOT Analysis
* Involvement: An analysis should involve as many people
as possible. At least the leaders of the organization should
participate. Non-leaders are critical as well because they offer
different perspectives.
* Brainstorm: An analysis should begin with a brainstorming
session where those involved can say whatever they want without
immediate feedback or criticism. There will be time for that
later.
* Thoroughness: An analysis should be as thorough as
possible so that all aspects of the organization and the
environment within which the organization exists are taken into
account.
* Follow-up: An analysis should progress from brainstorming
to a discussion then to a detailed plan of action. The discussion
should focus on what was brainstormed and culminate into ideas to
make the organization better. These ideas should be documented in
the form of a plan of action.
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Needs Assessment
What is a Needs Assessment?
A needs assessment is a process of determining the needs of your
members or community that you represent. Needs assessment methods
vary from being formal to informal, simple to complex, and one-time
to on-going.
Why is a Needs Assessment Important?
A needs assessment is important because it allows an
organization to learn how to best use its resources by knowing what
members need or are interested in. Without knowing what exactly the
needs of members are, an organization is essentially allocating
resources aimlessly to produce programs and services that members
may or may not need. A needs assessment focuses resource allocation
so that members needs are adequately met.
When Should We Do a Needs Assessment?
There are two general times when you should do a needs
assessment:
1) During leadership transition: After organizational leadership is changes from old to new, the new executive board should develop a needs assessment plan so that resources can be allocated in a way that meets the needs of members as well as the goals of the organization.
2) During a period of stagnation: When progress of your organization is stagnant (i.e. low attendances, lack of ideas, decreased sense of community, etc), organizational leadership should meet to develop a needs assessment plan so the organization can reconsider the needs of its members. Needs may change from year to year so be ready to address any changes.
Modes of Needs Assessment
There are two general modes of needs assessment:
- Informal, simple modes:
* Talking to members individually
* Making observations at meetings, programs, etc
* Reading old emails from members
- Formal, complex modes:
* Conducting an email, online, or paper survey
* Conducting focus groups
* Conducting interviews
Online surveys are becoming more popular amongst student groups.
They are relatively easy to develop and monitor. SurveyMonkey and Zoomerang are two popular
online survey resources.
Keys to a Strong Needs Assessment
* Thoroughness: A needs assessment should be thorough in
terms of whose opinions are considered. Generally, every member of
the organization, not just a select group, should have the
opportunity to voice themselves.
* Variety: A needs assessment should include a variety of
different modes. This will ensure thoroughness in terms of whose
opinions are considered but in terms of types of opinions gathered
as well. In other words, opinions gathered from a survey may be
different from opinions gathered from a focus group or from reading
old emails.
* Resourcefulness: A needs assessment should not be
neglected because of lack of time or resources. Use the limited
time and resources you have and develop at least a basic needs
assessment plan. Any needs assessment plan is better than none at
all.
[ back to top ]
Executive Board
Issue A: Structure
Most executive boards of student groups are fairly basic:
president, vice president, treasurer, secretary, and a variety of
chair positions to cover different aspects of the organization.
However, many executive boards are relatively large and often have
co-chairs for certain positions, including president.
- A typical problem with exec board structure:
Lack of productivity results when positions are ill-defined and/or the particular people in certain positions are not fulfilling their duties effectively.
Solution 1: Clearly define the role and responsibilities of each position. Be as simple as possible and avoid embellishment of job responsibilities as this sets up unrealistic expectations.
Solution 2: Trim the fat. Don't be afraid to eliminate or combine positions. Discuss with the entire executive board how roles and responsibilities can be streamlined so that human resources are optimized, strengths are maximized, and weaknesses are minimized. Remember, any changes in the structure of the executive board must be documented in the organization's constitution.
Solution 3: Avoid shared positions. Unless there is a clear distinction between what one marketing co-chair does and what the other marketing co-chair does, there isn't a valid reason to have co-chairs. Co-chairs often result in one doing more work than the other, thus defeating the purpose of the shared position.
Issue B: Reporting
In order to function efficiently, it is important for
organizational leaders to know what each other is doing since all
individual work is interdependent. In addition to regularly
scheduled executive board meetings, reports are useful in keeping
everyone updated. For more information on reporting structures,
click
here.
- A typical problem with reporting:
Disenfranchisement and lack of interest result when organizational leaders and even members are not aware of what everyone is doing and/or how the organization as a whole is progressing.
Solution 1: Regularly share reports. Amongst leadership at least, each executive board member should develop a report to share with the rest of the board. Reports should be shared regularly (i.e. weekly or monthly).
Solution 2: Inform the general members. General members deserve to know what the organizational leaders are working on, how they can be involved, and what they can expect in the near future. General meetings are one way to inform members but beware that the information being shared can often be summarized in an email.
Issue C: Accountability
Accountability is a common issue in student groups because many
student leaders claim that a few of them are doing the work of the
entire executive board. In other words, certain leaders are not
fulfilling their duties and thus not pulling their weight.
Accountability is important because it does not overwork students.
More importantly, though, accountability strengthens team morale
and productivity because everyone is doing what they're supposed to
be doing to keep the organization on track.
- A typical problem with exect board accountability:
Team morale and low productivity result when certain executive board members are not fulfilling their duties assigned or ascribed to them.
Solution 1: Monitor progress. To-do lists and timelines are tools you can use to monitor progress of each executive board member. To-do lists outline job tasks while timelines provide a context of when tasks should be completed.
Solution 2: Confront slackers. Although not easy to do, it is important to speak to those leaders who are falling behind in their work or who are not doing any work whatsoever. The sooner you confront them, the better. How to confront slackers depends on your leadership style and personality. The more diplomatic and fair way is to ask the person if they need assistance or need to modify their to-do list and timeline due to certain circumstances. If a valid reason for slacking is not given, it is in the best interest of the organization to ask this person to either step up their effort or step down from their position.
Issue D: Delegation
Delegation is easy for some people than others due to
differences in leadership styles and personalities. Nonetheless,
delegation is important for projects that require multiple people
to help. Delegating tasks reduces the work that any one person
needs to do while creating a sense of teamwork and interdependence.
Work can be delegated amongst organizational leadership and/or
general members (i.e. committees).
- A typical problem with delegation:[ back to top ]
Overworked students result when tasks to complete a project are poorly delegated and/or accountability of teammates is low.
Solution 1: Delegate or re-delegate. Sometimes students are overworked because they did not delegate work in the first place. This should not happen, especially if there are fellow leaders and members who are willing to help. And sometimes students are overworked because the work was not delegated well. If this is the case, then delegation of work needs to be reviewed and revamped.
Solution 2: Create to-do lists and timelines. For any project, it helps to have at least a general to-do list and timeline for the project team. Individual to-do lists and timelines may also be developed for each team member. To-do lists help to clearly define who is doing what while timelines help to clearly define when tasks are expected to be completed.
Solution 3: Confront slackers (see Solution 2 to accountability problem above).
Leadership Transition
What is Leadership Transition?
Leadership transition is the period and process when an old
(previous) executive board hands over the leadership and
organizational responsibilities to a new executive board.
Such transitions can range from a simple change in leaders to a
symbolic ceremony to an intense training.
- Transition types:For more on the subject of leadership transition, see the resources @ OSAF SOAR.
* Simple change of leaders: The people in the positions merely change with little to no celebration or training.
* Symbolic ceremony: The old leadership is honored and the new leadership is inaugurated during a formal celebration such as a dinner or meeting.
* Intense training: The old leadership develops a detailed training session so that the new leadership is adequately prepared to fulfill their organizational responsibilities.
Issue A: Adequate Transition
On occasion, new executive board members or leaders are not
explicitly told what their roles and responsibillities are as well
as what the mission and goals of the organization are. Many new
leaders are strong enough to overcome this transitional deficit.
However, for those new leaders who are not able to overcome this
deficit, there is a slow learning curve that results in subpar
productivity. Essentially, these new leaders must "reinvent the
wheel" and start from scratch.
Solution A: Proper training of the new leadership by the old leadership during the transition period. Click here for transition considerations.
Issue B: Accessibility After Transition
A common problem with student groups is that after student
leaders finish their terms on executive boards, they sometimes
distance themselves from their organizations to the point of zero
contact. As a result, when the new leadership needs advice or
guidance from older, more experienced leadership, that help is not
accessible (i.e. calls and emails are ignored, responses are
delayed, etc).
Solution B: Student organizations should consider creating an informal board of advisors consisting of old leadership interested in serving on this board. The primary role of this board is to offer advice and guidance when called upon or when organizational situations warrant it.
Issue C: Leadership Differences
There may be times when the new leadership does things that the
old leadership does not agree with. The old leadership may even
voice its concerns or disapproval. This situation may create
conflict within the organization and may even lead to factioning.
Factions not only divide an organization but they also hinder
progress and develop negative perceptions of the organization by
others.
Solution C: During the leadership transition, any conflicting leadership styles and goals should be addressed and resolved. This should minimize, if not eliminate, future conflicts. However, if future conflicts do occur, a mediated meeting between the conflicting sides should be conducted. The mediator should be someone neutral to the organization such as your faculty/staff advisor.[ back to top ]
Programming
Issue A: Balance
Balancing programs is critical, especially for student groups
that serve multiple purposes. For example, many cultural
organizations are multipurpose in that they develop cultural,
educational, political, and social programs. Concentration of
resources on cultural programs does not satisfy the needs and
interests of students who desire social programs (and vice versa).
Thus, balancing programs allows an organization to adequately
satisfy the various needs and interests of its members as well as
those of the general student body.
- Balance considerations:
* Perform a needs assessment: To identify the needs and interests of your members. For more information, click here.
* Review your vision and mission: To ensure that all programs are in line with your stated vision and mission. For more information, click here.
* Review your goals and objectives: To ensure that all programs are in line with your stated goals and objectives. For more information, click here.
* Perform a SWOT analysis: To determine your organizational strengths and weaknesses as well as your environmental opportunities and threats. For more information, click here.
* Perform a cost-benefit analysis: To determine the feasibility of each program. For more information, see Issue C.
Issue B: Event Management
Event management is basically the managing of all aspects of a
program or event from start to finish. Aspects include, but are not
limited to, finances, public relations, marketing, transportation,
lodging, meals, hospitality, technical support, and
volunteers.
Event management is critical because if any of
these aspects are subpar, then it could lower the overall quality
of your program. Multiple failures to properly manage an event
could lead to disaster in not only the short-term but the long-term
as well (i.e. wasted budget, poor public image, etc).
- Event management resources:
* OSAF SOAR: Planning a Program
* OSAF SOAR: Host a Party/Sponsor an Event
* Stop by the OSAF office on the main floor of the Bryan Center and the staff will assist you with your event management needs and questions.
Issue C: Cost-Benefit Analysis
To help determine which programs are worth the effort and
resources, a cost-benefit analysis is an appropriate tool to use.
Basically, a cost-benefit analysis weighs the projected costs of a
program (i.e. financial resources, physical/material resources, and
human resources) against the potential benefits that the program
may generate (i.e. support, education, revenue, members,
etc).
- Analysis considerations:
* Forecasting: A cost-benefit analysis requires deliberate and careful forecasting.
* Multiple perspectives: A cost-benefit analysis should taken into account multiple perspectives.
Issue D: Program Evaluation
Ideally, all programs and events should be evaluated
immediately after their conclusion. The purpose of an evaluation is
to determine the aspects of a program that went well and that
didn't go well. Evaluations aid in such decisions as whether to
modify the program, keep it the same, or discard it
altogether.
- Methods of program evaluation:[ back to top ]
* Survey and/or comment sheet handed out or emailed to participants
* Conversations with participants
* Attendance
* Revenue generated
* Goals or benchmarks reached