Reference no: EM133030310

Once the consulting contract is established, the next phase of the organizational development process is data gathering. Often seen as the most time consuming, cumbersome, and frustrating aspect of the process, data gathering typically involves a series of meetings, discussions and investigations to compile information that would illuminate the problems impacting an organization.

There are some consultants that may spend little time and effort in this phase of the process, erroneously assuming that the problem has already been determined by management. There are numerous fallacies about this belief. First, management may not know the true problem affecting the organization. Second, management may try to conceal their involvement or responsibility for the problem and thus deflect the research into another realm. Third, management may try to highlight other problems in the organization that may address their own political ambitions (for instance, diminishing the authority of a rival manager) rather than addressing the main problem. Finally, employees may be less than truthful in the interview phase since they may interpret the results of the consulting process as damaging to their own ambitions. Thus, the data gathering phase is often inherently problematic.

Argyris (1970) stated that, "without valid information it would be difficult for the client to learn and for the interventionist to help... valid information is that which describes the factors, plus their interrelationships that create the problem for the client system" (p.17). Good data more often leads to good decisions; if nothing else, it can help prevent bad decisions. Moreover, solid data gathering assists in the ability of management to change its organization. By identifying and highlight structural deficiencies - and then benchmarking this information within and against the industry - it can reduce the barriers and resistance to change, thereby enabling an organization to identify and recognize its advantages and disadvantages.

There are five common methods of data gathering, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. These methods are:

-Interviews - generally limited in scope, the intent is to gather personal perspectives of organizational employees.

-Focus groups - typically involving a small group of stakeholders, focus groups are asked specific questions and their comments or reactions are researched to identify feelings, perspectives, and motivations.

-Surveys/questionnaires - certainly one of the most common and misunderstood tools of data gathering. Surveys must be well-written and their responses must allow the researcher to identify intent, motivation, and understanding. In general, this is one tool that requires expert skills in creating.

-Observations - the intent of observations is to observe attitudes and behaviors. Similar to 'watching' a subject, the researcher spends time observing a subject in the chosen environment.

-Unobtrusive measures - Observations are often obtrusive methods of gathering information. This method can be more covert, meaning the subject may not be aware they are being observed - mainly because much of the data has already been created. Examples include databases and official document

Data Gathering

Once the consulting contract has been successfully negotiated and established, the next step of the process is to further explore the causes and consequences of the problems as described by the client.

Choose any two data gathering methods presented in the text readings. Compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of these two methods, including the data gathering limitations of each method. Finally, provide a brief scenario or example where each method would be best used (for example, a consultant investigating low morale in an organization may be prefer to use the "interview" data gathering process