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KNOBBY AND KNOBLESS SURVEY ITEMS
The Problems Facing Management
By far, the most widely used type of item on an Employee Opinion Survey (EOS) is a Likert Scale with an ordinal scale. Typically there is a statement such as "I am satisfied with my total compensation" to which the respondent is offered these choices: 1 (Strongly Disagree), 2 (Disagree), 3 (Neutral), 4 (Agree), and 5 (Strongly Agree). Each respondent chooses the answer and these are averaged and processed using standard statistical methods.
The EOS results are outcomes. However, if the EOS results are dependent upon factors not covered in the data, then there are no clear cause-effect relationships to effect improvements. Absent the understanding of the implicit causes of the EOS results, their interpretation is "hit and miss." EOS results are "knobless" in that there is no identified procedure or process available which can be "turned" in order to improve the results. The user of such results is, in fact, flying blind.
EOS item results provide facts which can serve as catalysts for organizational change. However, the meaning of these results and what should be done by the organization to improve them is often ambiguous. Thus, while EOSs provide valuable employee information, the use of this information to effect remedies is problematic. It should be possible to improve the use of EOS results by finding and then controlling the knobs representing the processes under the direct influence of managers.
Management is not passive; it can and will attempt to control many processes within the organization. Exercising these controls provides management the means for improving results. The problem is to match that which management can control and the EOS results in order to improve these results.
A knob is a process that establishes and defines a causal and functional relationship between the process cause and its outcome. Analog devices, such as an old-fashioned radio, came with knobs that could be turned to change volume, tone, frequency, etc. Think of a process or procedure for improving an organization as a sort of knob. Knobs, when activated by events and under the control of management, can change how the organization operates. Knobs define a causal and functional relationship between the processes they represent and their outcomes (80, for a general description of processes and their frameworks). Assessing knobs requires one to employ a knobby scale. A knobby scale is a 5, 7, or 9-point rating scale in which the opinions (judgments) of the respondent is measured on a continuum for the degree to which a process is a property of an organization. When a judgment is sought regarding to what extent a process described by an item is working in the organization, the knobby scale looks like this: (1) Never, (2) Rarely, (3) Sometimes, (4) Often, (5) Always, (?) Don't Know.
A knob with a knobby scale provides direct and explicit information for how to improve the score. Namely, deploy the process more consistently across the organization. A set of knobby items is also knobby. That is, the knobby items can be combined into higher order processes. Conversely, higher order processes can be disaggregated into constituent sub-processes.
Knobless Items and Knobless Scales
A knobless item is one in which an opinion is sought about the state of a property or characteristic of an organization (e.g., satisfaction with compensation) without information about the state of the set of processes that account for its value. Essentially, a knobless item asks for an opinion about the state of the outcomes of some set of unknown processes. Knobless items have ambiguous antecedents.
Most EOS items are inherently knobless in that they ask for an opinion about a property or characteristic of an organization. The property or characteristic is actually an outcome of some unknown process or processes. While in some cases there may be ample understanding of the set of processes that bring about the observed result, in most cases the causes, because they are unsought in the EOS, are problematic. In short, EOS items are usually knobless.
Let x represent a causal process, as measured by a knobby item, and y represent a property or characteristic of an organization, as measured by a knobless survey item. A knobless survey item is essentially a measure of y = f(y), as represented in Figure 1a. A knobby analysis of a knobless survey item provides a relationship or function relating the x-axis, representing the knob, and the y-axis, representing the knobless EOS item. In principle: y = f(x), as shown in Figure 1b. Thus, if the EOS item result is y1, it would represent a knob at the level of x1. If management desired to increase y1 to y2, it would have to turn the knob from x1 to x2.
Ideally, knobs should represent processes under the control of management. That way, if there is a strong link between a knob, x, and a knobless survey item, y, this enables management to match that which it can control with a desired EOS result. By comparing the relationships between those knobby items over which management has some control and knobless EOS items, one can establish a plausible causal-chain between that which is under the control of management with the desired organizational outcomes or properties. This association can be done by using standard statistical methods provided that one simultaneously collects both knobby and knobless survey items.
The challenge, therefore, of performing knobby analyses of knobless survey items is to have a generic set of knobs which are derived from a holistic theory of organizations, such as the theory of the organizational hologram (Mackenzie, 63, 81). Because of the immense variety of possible EOS questions, it is necessary that this generic set of knobs cover most major aspects of an organization's environments, strategic direction, organizational processes and technologies, and results. A holistic organization theory provides the set of knobs. Knobs based on such a holistic theory can be used to reveal possible strong, statistically significant relationships to "explain" EOS results. These theory-based knobs of the processes under the control of management can be turned to improve both the underlying processes and the values of the results of the knobless EOS survey items.
Customized Organizational Inquiry (COI) Items are Knobless
The COI instrument collects the opinions and judgments that employees of an organization have regarding important properties and characteristics. By itself the COI results are essentially knobless; there is no method for systematically explaining the results because there is no identified underlying cause or knob.
Put another way, a COI result can be depicted on a vertical line or axis. What is needed is a "Why?" to offer an explanation for the COI item result. Take a look at Figure 1a, a representation of a Knobless COI Survey item. Now compare it with Figure 2 with its explanatory "Why?" axis.
Suppose the average response on the COI item, "I am satisfied with my treatment by management," is 3.42. This means that there is slight agreement with the item statement. For most managers 3.42 is not good enough. What knob does he or she possess to effect the improvement? Being knobless, there is no way to know what to change in order to improve the employee's opinion. Lacking a solid basis (the "Why?" axis), the effectiveness of the solution is "hit or miss." If the knob was known, one could improve the COI result more reliably.
The advantage of ODS On-Line is that we use another survey called the Organizational Diagnostic Survey, which provides a set of possible knobs. Employees complete both the Customized Organizational Inquiry (COI) and the Organizational Diagnostic Survey (ODS). The ODS has items, each of which is a knob. These knobs are ordered into sets of items in ascending order of generality. We have invented the "Knobby Analyses Process" to explain the variance in the COI item responses. We can investigate each COI item data against a series of possible knobs in order to determine which knob offers the most complete explanation for the variance in the COI item data. The Knobby Analyses Process can go beyond statistical explanations to uncover the knobs and can accomplish two things simultaneously: First, improve the process representing the knob to improve the desired COI result; second, improve the organization by improving the process.
Main Sources of Information Underlying the Knobby Analysis Process
The items in the Organizational Diagnostic Survey are derived from a new theory of organizations, the Organizational Hologram. The ODS has been applied in over thirty organizations. The theory was first published as a book (The Organizational Hologram: The Effective Management of Organizational Change, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1991). It has been thoroughly tested as part of our organizational consulting since 1989. The theory and application have been widely published in the scientific literature. We feel confident that the Knobby Analyses Process will improve the assessment and value of your Customized Organizational Inquiry results. Publication of the Knobby Analyses Process can be found in articles published in 2000 (84, 85).
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