Organisational Culture Inventory

Description

• A technique developed and marketed by Human Synergistics International (HSI), which assists in identifying the current and desired future thinking patterns of the organisation. The technique is a structured way of  analysing how people describe both the current behavior of the organisation and the preferred, future behavior of the organisation.
• The gap between the current and future thinking patterns provide a clear focus for the cultural change that the organisation will need to undergo, and assists in identifying the challenges associated with implementing the Shared Values and Guiding Principles. It subsequently helps the joint project team in the development and fine-tuning of project management, organisational change and human resource deliverables.

When to use

• The Organisational Culture Inventory (OCI) can be used in developing the Shared Values and Guiding Principles.
• The OCI provides a very effective way of identifying some of the underlying thinking patterns that help to clarify whether or not the currently agreed shared values are actually shared in reality.  For instance, many organisations that are publicly committed to customer service have thinking and behavior patterns that are defensive and task-oriented, with little actual thought given to the best way of managing relationships with people.
• The OCI sharpens the project team’s focus upon these kinds of inconsistencies, which are often at the core of the organisation’s poor performance. It is important that these inconsistencies are identified early in the BPI initiative, and that a strategy is developed for ensuring that the Shared Values and Guiding Principles for the future of the organisation will not be undermined by similar inconsistencies in the future.

Approach

The use of an OCI needs to be carefully framed in the context of the overall BPI initiative. It is important that the OCI is supplemented with other data collection processes such as:

• Interviews with the leadership team and a sample of opinion leaders.
• An analysis of reports and surveys relating to cultural change during the previous two to five years.
• Interactive processes such as focus groups, where more experiential group processes can be used to explore the critical cultural change issues.

Once this context is clearly established there are typical steps for using an OCI.

1. Introduce the project team and the project sponsors to the OCI, explaining its conceptual underpinning and language, and how it will assist the overall BPI initiative, particularly during the process of developing the Shared Values and Guiding Principles.
2. Select a representative sample of employees for surveying purposes.
3. Conduct the survey.
4. Develop a report on the findings.
5. Feedback the results to relevant sponsors.

Provide employees who participated in the survey with a clearly written summary of the results of the OCI, and the opportunity to respond to any of the subsequent findings.

Guidelines

Problems/Solutions

• Some people are resistant to the OCI and may express this by engaging in lengthy debate about its validity. They can sometimes be hard to convince, and time spent trying to do so can be wasted.  Encourage the participants to complete the OCI first, and then facilitate discussion about the issues that emerged from completing it afterwards. In most cases, people become supportive of the use of the OCI as a result of using this strategy, because it allows them to talk about issues such as conflict avoidance, relationship management, aggression, competitiveness and defensiveness, which they may feel are at the bottom of the organisation’s difficulties.
• Since OCI is based on some assumptions about the most effective thinking patterns for maximum organisational performance, attempt to fully understand these assumptions and believe that they are appropriate for the organisations situation. If this is not the case, tailor the use of the OCI, so that it better responds to the reality of the client. Ensure that recently accredited OCI users seek advice from the vendor or from more experienced, accredited OCI users on the best way to tailor the OCI.

Tactics/Helpful Hints

• Get the leadership team and the internal change agents to complete the OCI first. In most cases, they identify similar organisational thinking profiles to those later identified by employees. This often leads into useful discussion about their views about the underlying values, beliefs and assumptions that are holding the organization back. It may also help them clarify what current underlying values, beliefs and assumptions are very positive, and will stand the organization in good stead in the future.
• Some organisations become very attracted to the diagnostics and want to conduct large-scale surveys with them. These can be costly, are slow to generate results and can be logistically complex.  If the organisation is committed about going ahead with such an approach, ensure that there are mechanisms in place to manage communications, to manage the project within tight time and budget parameters, and to keep key opinion leaders on side.
• It is imperative that people are appropriately trained and accredited before they use the OCI. Contact the local/ national office of Human Synergistics International for details.

Tools

• There are a number of related tools that address individual, and group- or team-level thinking patterns. These also require that strict training and accreditation guidelines be met. This was the preferred tool used by KPMG when I was working with them as Business Performance Consultant.

Logical Data Modelling

Description

• A method of identifying the critical entities (or general categories of information) required by the business processes that need to be supported by information technology systems.  Elements of a logical data model include an entity relationship diagram (ERD) that pictorially defines relationships between  entities expressed in terms of cardinalities (i.e. the number of occurrences of one entity relative to another entity) and supporting information, usually generated from a CASE (Computer Aided Software Engineering) tool, which contains definitions for each entity, as well as detailed definitions of all of the data elements—or attributes—which must be captured to fulfil the business requirements of the application.

When to Use

• The technique of building a logical data model is utilised during the Build phase of the BPI methodology and is preceded by the Data Architecture in the “To-Be” Technology Architecture (also commonly called a Conceptual or Enterprise Data Model) and is followed by the design of the physical database(s), if applicable, and their implementation during the Business Solution Roll-out in the Implement phase.

Approach

• Logical data models represent the data created or used by an organisation from the user perspective.  Through the later phases of  the BPI methodology, the audience for a logical data model shifts from the end users of the proposed system to the technical staff who will design and build it.  Consequently, as the model’s level of detail and complexity increases, the user presentation focus is also changing.  Process models are created, refined and completed in tandem with logical data models.  In the case of custom software development, these two models act as the primary inputs into the physical database design activity—the former showing how the end users work with (or process) their data, and the latter documenting the business requirements governing data creation, update, deletion and fundamental data relationships.  As with any structured modeling technique, the goal of designing a logical data model is to remove ambiguity and to promote consistent communication by utilising a commonly understood, standardised format.  

1. Complete the entity relationship diagram.
2. Normalise the data.
1. Define and document data elements of the data model
2. Define and document data entities
3. Define and document data attributes
4. Define and document data relationships
5. Define and document data volume estimates
3. Conduct a “walk though” of the completed Logical Data Model.

Guidelines

Problems/Solutions

• A common criticism of logical data models is that ‘analysis paralysis’ prolongs their completion.  Data modeling is an abstract process that is inherently non-deterministic.  Ensure that the project team and client discuss and document specific criteria by which the model will be judged ‘complete enough’.

Tactics/Helpful Hints

• Know that there is significant value in periodically updating the information in a logical data model to incorporate the data-related changes associated with corresponding application enhancements and fixes.  Keep logical data models  up-to-date to preclude significant rework  when systems are redesigned and/or integrated.
• Do some up-front research to identify the best approach to confirm the detailed information in a Logical Data Model with the client users.  The complexity of the diagramming notation and the volume of supporting documentation for the model is frequently confusing to the end-user.
• Periodically validate the logical data models that are developed against corresponding process models that have been previously developed.  This validation may result in the incorporation of detailed data requirements into process flows or detailed process requirements into data object definitions.
• Decide whether or not to use CASE (Computer Aided Software Engineering) tools.  If the choice is made for the automated CASE tool as opposed to a manual approach, make additional decisions about the scope of CASE tool usage.  For example, a full life cycle CASE approach would require trained project team staff, existing client data/database design standards, a preferably-networked CASE tool and supporting data-dictionary repository, a pictorial data/database diagramming and reporting capability, and database  script-generation functionality.

Resources/Timing

• Recognise that the same organisaion users who are targeted to explain an application’s business processes  are also needed to supply business data information for a logical data model.   Identify at least one client contact from each functional area (e.g. HR or Finance department) affected by the proposed application.
• Ensure that most application development projects have a lead project team member responsible for collecting, analysing and translating business requirements data into a logical data model, even though he or she may coordinate the efforts of other data analysts.  Since any application’s process and data requirements are closely intertwined, the project’s data analyst(s) and process analyst(s) work in tandem to synchronise and share their business requirements information.  Later in these projects,  ensure that the lead data analyst and the project team and/or client DBA (Database Administrator) work very closely to translate the logical data model into the physical database design

Examples

Sample Logical Data Model

Booking/Forecasting  System

• Introduction
• This data model represents all data produced as a result of capturing bookings in the Booking system module. The Booking module captures the details of a booking, notifies the region or area of the booking, obtains equipment-availability verification, confirms the booking for the customer and issues a release of equipment.  Since the Booking is a reservation for equipment, it will provide input for the Forecasting module.  The Forecasting module is a channel to provide consolidated customer and management forecasts to the Reposition/Optimization module.

Entity Descriptions

• Booking (shipping transaction)
• A set of past, present or future (a confirmation for a reservation of inventory) movement trans -     transactions for equipment under a specific booking associated to a particular contract.  A booking may be for equipment and/or service
• Booking Line Item
• The requested equipment on a Booking by booking ID, depot ID (origin and destination), inventory number and release number (the last two would be entered at a later point in time).  A line item exists in the database for “each” specific piece of equipment, even though it may be displayed as one line item (i.e. displayed as one line “10  20’ Dry Containers”  but stored as 10 separate records, since each will have it’s own equipment ID, depot location and release number)
• Booking State
• The past and present states of a specific booking.
• Company Organisation
• The organisation hierarchy of a company for a specific Company Classification Purpose (region, area, depot, location, container center, etc.)
• Contract
• An agreement between a company and a customer for a product or set of products.
• Inventory
• The equipment that exists within our company’s inventory systems (by serial number).
• Release Number
• An authorisation to the depot for release of equipment to a customer for a specific booking (there can be multiple Release Numbers per Booking Line Item).

Booking and Forecasting System Logical Data Model:

Templates

How to read an ERD:

Organisational System Model

Description

• Structured approach for describing how an organisation operates as a systemic whole.  It can be used both for the current analysis, and the future modeling, of an organisation.

When to Use

• The model can be used in several ways:
• Selling tool for BPI projects - The model can create a positive impact during the influence phase. It is a relatively easy model to understand and, demonstrates that the organisation understands the complexity of the issues associated with a major change such as BPI.
• Means to create a common language with the organisation about the change agenda - The model can be used during the Awaken and Envision phases as a way of developing a common language of concepts and images that sum up in a powerful way the critical challenges confronting the BPI initiative.
• A framework for developing an Internal Organisational Overview, Holistic Business Model. (since the model is an inclusive model that covers all key elements of an organisation).

Approach

This technique facilitates the development of a high-level overview of what an organisation is like currently, and what it aspires to be like in the future. By comparing and contrasting the current and the future overviews, some of the key change issues are highlighted.

One of the particular values of the technique is that it focuses not only on the component elements of an organisation, but also on the interdependencies between different elements. This allows the client to see

• particular weaknesses in one or more of the elements (e.g.  core competencies are not defined; corporate performance indicators lack a customer focus); and
• poor relationships between different elements (e.g. reward systems that discourage  the adoption of corporate values, such as teamwork; limited delegations that lead to the disempowerment of customer-service employees).

Here are typical steps for effectively using this technique.

1. Present the model to the joint project team, and describe how it works.
2. Agree on a process for using the model either to:
1. Collect information about the current organisation, (see Internal Organizational Overview); or
2. Develop ideas about the desired future organisation
3. Agree on topics for data collection, or idea generation, under each element within the model.
1. Marketplace -  competitors, customers, industry regulators, lobby groups, etc.
2. Vision -  fundamental business purpose and business position
3. Strategy and goals - strategic plan, business plan and performance measures
4. Processes and systems - technology, process design, decision-making and control systems
5. Relationships and structure - accountability framework, customer relationships, and supplier/vendor relationships
6. Resources - core competencies, human resources, finance, and physical facilities
7. Culture and values - leadership/management style, shared beliefs, and norms and values
4. Implement data-collection and/or idea-generation processes.
5. Summarise and present findings

Guidelines

Problems/Solutions

• There may be debate about where, within the model, should a particular feature of the organisation be located.  Emphasise that it is more important to capture the feature (as opposed to omitting it) than it is to find the perfect placement for it.  Therefore, choose any appropriate spot, and remain open to ideas from the organisation about alternative placement.  The process of dialogue that will result from this can generate valuable insights into the internal dynamics of the client.
• An interesting debate may occur about whether culture and values are the result of the other elements, or vice versa. Allow this debate to occur, because it will eventually help to focus attention on the need for a co-ordinated approach to change.

Tactics/Helpful Hints

• Stress that the most important feature is the arrows.  These indicate the interdependencies of various elements.  The use of the model often highlights mismatches or disconnects between one part of the organisation and another.
• Stress that the arrows represent a web of interdependency, not a hierarchy.  Indeed, hierarchically lower-order elements can undermine the power or success of higher-order ones (e.g. untrained staff can cause an excellent business strategy, which has Board support, to fail).

Resources/Timing

• Introduce this model into the project at an early stage.  It then becomes part of the common language of the project team, and begins the process of helping them to see the organisation as a dynamic system.

Human Impact Analysis

Description

• Technique for identifying the specific impacts that a change will have upon the day-to-day working environment of employees including:
• Tasks performed
• Skills required
• Resource requirements
• Decision making
• Internal and external relationships
• Information requirements
• Culture, values and beliefs

When to Use

• The Human Impact Analysis is a critical component of all project-planning processes, particularly in relation to the Migration Plan and the Implementation Plans. It is particularly important to the Implementation Plans, as it helps to sharpen the focus of all project teams on the comprehensive nature of the changes that are required, the need for rigorous project management, and the need for clear communication both with employees as well as across all project teams involved with the implementation of the BPI initiative.

Approach

1. Define the area of focus.
2. For each category of impact (e.g. tasks performed, skills required, etc.), specify the following.
1. The current situation ("As-Is")
2. The future situation ("To-Be")
3. The positive impact of the change
4. The negative impact of the change
5. Suggested approaches for creating commitment to the change
3. Document the findings.

Guidelines

Problems/Solutions

• Ensure that employees accept the findings of the Human Impact Analysis, by involving them in the development of the models.
• Since there may be considerable debate about whether an impact is positive or negative, depending on the point of view taken, identify the source of each divergent perspective and attempt to identify why each subgroup is favorable or unfavorable. (e.g. employees, customers and management).

Tactics/Helpful Hints

• Ensure that there is a diversity of input to the development of the Human Impact Analysis, particularly with respect to positive and negative impacts. The process of involving employees in the Human Impact Analysis can actually speed up the process of buy-in to the change, as people will feel they have had an opportunity to “state their case”.
• Sometimes include customers and employees together in completing the Human Impact Analysis. This helps employees to see the external drivers for the change.