Incorporating Survey Feedback in OD Interventions. A CASEA Occasional Paper.

A meta-goal of organization development is that of helping participants establish appreciation for and skill in using objective data about themselves. The prominent method for soliciting and sharing such data has been survey feedback. An Organizational Development (OD) consultant should have at least three skills in order to use survey feedback effectively. First, he should be adept at collecting relevant, valid data and at putting the data into a form for feedback that is understandable by and energizing to the participants. Second, he should be able to raise the mundane data to a level of larger, essential significance, making the data worthy of notice by the participants. Third, the consultant should find ways of incorporating survey feedback into the natural ebb and flow of OD training. This paper discusses each of these three capabilities. Further, it illustrates ways in which questionnaires, interviews, and observations can be employed at five stages of OD training. Survey feedback can thus take its place as an integral and natural part of a larger macrodesign for organizational development in schools. (Author)