Diagnosis in organizations can be done using a number of different techniques. Clients typically understand the problems, but they need to understand the underlying causes of the problems. Some of the methods are freestanding diagnostic studies and self-diagnosis. The former often focuses on a single problem, but it can focus on multiple problems as well. The authors note that there are three steps to success diagnosis: process, modeling, and methods. Some methods for gathering data are questionnaires, interviews, observation, workshops and group discussions. These methods allow the consultant to gather information about the organization in order to make their diagnosis. I do not think that I have been involved in any sort of change process. However, there were situations where a diagnostic process would have helped, because the organization did have some issues that needed to be resolved. In such situations, the lack of diagnostic process was a hindrance to managerial decision-making. Either the decisions were...

The benefits of having a proper diagnostic process were not realized.
One of the major benefits of the diagnostic process is that it allows the consultant to get feedback from many different areas of the organization. The feedback therefore reflects multiple views of the problem, so there is greater clarity with respect to what the problem is. Having been in a dysfunctional organization where such things were not done definitely makes me appreciate this form of organizational diagnostics more. My recommendation would be that management performs self-diagnosis occasionally, and certainly when outcomes fall short of expectations. The authors note that this is common -- organizations use benchmarks and when they fail to achieve these that is when they call in the consultant.

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Kouzes & Posner (2012) write about Barby Siegel at Zeno, a public relations firm. When she…