1.5 - About University

Act on survey results and changes promptly.❑❑❑❑❑❑After it’s been collected, analyze the data quickly (e.g., within a week or two).Considerable value is lost if you don’t provide a feedback and discussion process. Have an objective facilitator(s) leadmini focus groups or interviews to understand the data patterns and cross-validate survey findings.Coach managers to receive and act on survey results quickly and nondefensively. [☛ 12.4 Feedback]Share all the data, not just a summary (e.g., use an internal Web site). Report response rate, positive responses,negative responses, and exceptionally high and low responses.Use pictures to support conclusions (e.g., graphs, bar charts). Don’t overwhelm employees with statistics andanalysis.Act on survey results quickly. Focus on implementation, not analysis. Analysis paralysis is the bane of surveyprojects.Questionnaire design❑❑❑❑❑❑❑❑❑Make questions as concrete as possible. Base questions on behaviors (what you can see or measure). Minimizequestions about attitudes and feelings.Target for 50 to 60 items. Make it easy to administer, easy to respond to, easy to analyze, and easy to resurvey in thefuture.Target completion time for less than 45 minutes.Test the questionnaire design using focus groups (12 to 15 employees). Several drafts are usually required beforesystemwide use.Ask more than one behavioral question to survey complex topics like morale and leadership.Before asking a question, ask, “If the responses to this question are negative, are we willing to do something aboutit?” If the answer is “no,” don’t ask the question.Organize questions into sections. (This makes completion, analysis, and feedback easier.)Consider including space for write-in comments. Although difficult to analyze, they allow participants to say whatthey want, and they generate considerable interest.Consider using a captive survey process whereby employees are scheduled to complete the survey in a designatedroom during the workday. This increases response rates from around 50% (when surveys are returned by mail) to90% (for captive surveys).Questionnaire demographics❑❑❑A demographic is a group of participants sharing a set of characteristics. One such group might be “all engineerswith over 15 years of experience.” Demographic information greatly enhances interpretation of survey results.On the downside, the more demographic information that is requested on a survey, the more employees may fearbeing personally identified. Anonymity is best ensured when demographic group size exceeds ten. However, indemographic groups that are larger than 250, findings can become overgeneralized and meaningful information canbe obscured.Attitudinal data is social data, influenced by culture and history. As such, the major value of attitudinal data lies incomparisons among workgroups; hence the importance of demographic categories on the survey instrument. Forexample, the biggest influences on morale and job satisfaction are almost always the department you work in andthe boss you work for. After them come your job and your peers.H OW TO USE THIS LEADERSHIP TOOL“Ever since Elton Mayo found that worker productivity can be affected by human as well as technical considerations,employee attitudes, opinions, and behaviors have been closely examined in the workplace.”—Leland G. Verheyen, “How to Develop an Employee Attitude Survey,”TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL136 SECTION 4 TOOLS FOR DESIGNING PRODUCTIVE PROCESSES AND ORGANIZATIONS