DUDP LEARNING CENTRE 8. Organisational Assessment December 2004 Course adapted from Henley Management College’s material, “Strategic Management” by John Tompson and “The Search of Excellence” by Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Watermann DUDP Learning Centre: 8. Organisational Assessment Dong Hoi Urban Development Project 1 ORGANISATIONAL ASSESSMENT Every organisation must adapt to an ever-changing environment. Before going through complex changes process, it is crucial to know where the organisation stands, and what are its Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. In this course, you'll learn how to assess strategically the position and direction of your own organisation and how to summarize them into a SWOT matrix. This course is mostly destined to public or administrative organisations. 1. Why an Organisational Assessment? An organisation is constantly under pressure to adjust its structure, strategy, etc., to respond to external influences. Changes can be responsive and adaptative to influences or the organisation can adjust itself to anticipate expected changes. Before going through a transformation process that will orient the organisation to a different direction, the actual location and direction must be known. An organisational assessment can make use of different and useful frameworks that help “locate” the organisation within external and internal contexts. An assessment intends to answer to the following questions: DUDP Learning Centre: 8. Organisational Assessment Dong Hoi Urban Development Project 2 • How are we doing?” • “Where are we?” • “Where are we going?” An assessment is often the foundation for strategic decisions, which answer to another question: • “How are we getting there?” The four questions form the bases for the Strategic Management Process. Strategic Management involves awareness of how successful and strong the organisation and its strategies are, and of how the circumstances are changing. Figure 1: The Strategic Square • Stakeholders Analysis • Citizens demand and expectations • Environmental assessment (Political, Economic, Social, Technological) • Citizens satisfaction • Environmental fit Strategic Direction Strategic Decisions How are we doing? Where are we going? Where are we? How are we getting there? Situation Appraisal Situation Assessment • Implementation • Monitoring • Internal assessment (Mission, Objectives, Strategy, Tactics) • Organisational model