How to Diagnose Problems

¶ … Management

Diagnosing Organizational Systems

Each level of the organization has different functions and processes that they follow to complete various objectives. The basic process on all levels include some variation of taking some input, transforming it some way, and then producing an output that is different is some fundamental way than the original input. However, in some cases, the transformation process is not physical. Rather, the transformation is a design transformation. For example, a human resources professional may transform a HR process design for others to implement in the actual transformative process. Therefore, their addition to the overall organizational objectives would be more consistent with strategy or tactical design transformations that some sort of physical transformation that is applied to a product, service, or organizational function. However, despite the fact that the form of the transformation can take various forms, something is transformed in either a strategy, in the attempt to improve effectiveness or efficiency of the organization, or tactical, whether some value is added an input and transformed in some way. This paper will briefly discuss some of the differences that are present in the transformation of inputs and outputs in an organization at different levels.

Inputs

At the organizational level, the inputs represent some combination of the general environment and the industry structure. The organization must create value to a consumer in some way to stay competitive and there are a variety of ways that they can do this. The design components that they can work with consist of their strategy, technology, structure, human resources, management systems, and culture to produce an output that is more valuable than the input from a consumers' perspective in some way.

For example, a company such as Apple uses a combination of all these design components to produce technologically sophisticated goods that are well-designed and easy to use. At the group level, the inputs represent this combination of design components at the organizational level. They take this combination and transform the inputs in a more tangible way. Finally, at the individual level, the inputs are even more specific, more tangible, and this is typically where the inputs are the most tangible.

Design Components

In the same manner that inputs become more specific and more tangible as they are cycled from the organizational level to the individual level, the design components follow a similar trend. For example, at the organizational level must decide on a design component which includes which organizational structure should be used. Some strategies might be more effectively carried out with a project-type organizational structure, while others might be better fulfilled by a more traditional organizational structure. Whatever the case may be, at the group level to structure decision is more specific.

At the group level, the structure designs revolve around what type of structure would be the best form to carry out more specific transformations. A group might decide that they need weekly meetings to carry out some tasks, or in other cases maybe daily or even monthly meetings might be required to most effectively complete the objective. On the individual level, the design component that deals with structure might represent a decision how to best design the physical transformation process to carry out a process on a manufacturing line.

Outputs

The outputs are the final manifestations of the combination of the inputs and the design components that are carried out. From the organizational level, you can identify all the potential inputs that can be used, and then identify all the design components that are available and a design can be chosen, and then the output represents that planning that has been carried out to that point. Furthermore, each of the different stages builds on the previous stage. Once the outputs are produced at the organizational level, then they can be handed off to the group level. Then once the group level completes the input-transformation-output process, it can then be transferred to an individual level for the more tangible value added processes to be carried out by the employees.