Overview

The difficulty in trying to analyze and evaluate an organization is to know where to start and what to consider. Most of the literature deals with specific topics such as management, finance, strategy or personnel and generally discusses only commercial businesses. It makes little mention of charities, central government departments, schools, colleges, museums, hospitals, sports clubs, or local government.  In addition existing models are either too simplistic, complex or industry specific.

Our generic model provides a single method of analysis, which is straightforward but comprehensive and at the same time applies to virtually every form of organization and their internal units or departments. In fact, the model holds true for organizations of all types, all sizes and all points in their development cycle. Thus the model can be used as an organization grows and develops, even if it changes its nature. The model has a three-layer structure:

• Aspects: An organization is defined in terms of ten 'aspects', which represent its major components  - its structure, participants, culture, deliverables, performance, etc. 

• Elements: The 'aspects' are composed of various ‘elements’; for example, the 'Participants' aspect consists of customers, employees, owners, suppliers and others. There are a total of 55 elements in the model.  

• Issues: Each element is assessed using three 'issues':  Analysis (what the element is composed of or how it is made up, and how well it is defined, understood and quantified);  Evaluation (how it contributes to or affects the organization and how it compares to a similar element in another organization);  Strategy (how the organization approaches, deals with, or uses the element and what plans there are for developing it for the future).

The model can also be used to assess management’s understanding and control of the organization. We call this ‘management grip’, and have developed a method for quantifying and comparing it in different types of organization. >>>