Surveys


Management Systems’ validated Organizational and Management Effectiveness Surveys help you identify your company’s and your leadership team’s current strengths and opportunities to improve; and provide a numerical baseline against which you can assess your progress in building a sustainably successful organization.  

All of our surveys are administered on-line in a manner that protects the anonymity of survey respondents.  Results are delivered to you either in a written report or in a presentation delivered by a member of our team.  We can provide you with specific “data cuts” of results – e.g., by management level, department, location, etc. and can customize the presentation of survey results – depending upon your needs.  We are also able to provide you with “benchmark” information on how your company and your team compare with others in our database (that consists of results we have collected from companies over the past three decades).

We have the capability of administering surveys to large and small organizations, as well as to individuals; and will work with you to determine the best approach for you, your company, and your team.  

 

Organizational Effectiveness Assessment Surveys

Organizational Effectiveness Surveys help you identify your company’s current strengths and opportunities to improve – a key ingredient to managing your business and building a sustainably successful organization.

 

Management Systems’ Growing Pains Survey© 

As suggested by the title, this survey assesses the extent to which your company is experiencing 10 classic growing pains.  Growing pains occur when internal systems, processes, and structures (what we refer to as “infrastructure”) are not sufficiently developed to support the organization’s size.  They are a signal that an organization is experiencing problems in making the transition from one stage of growth to the next.  

Similar to taking a person’s temperature, your Growing Pains Score can tell you if your organization is healthy and positioned for success or if there are some problems that need to be addressed.  The survey report will also show you how your results compare with the over 5,000 company results in Management Systems’ database.

You can take the Growing Pains Survey on a complementary basis by clicking on the “Growing Pains Survey” button at the left.

 

Management Systems’ Organizational Effectiveness Survey©

This 65 item survey provides you with an overall “Strategic Organizational Development Score” (or “Index”) that helps you identify:

  • The extent to which you are positioned to become a best of class or “business champion” over the long-term; and 
  • Specific aspects of your organization that need to be focused upon to position your company for sustainable success.  

Survey results provide you with an overall assessment of the extent to which you have developed the infrastructure of a champion company – overall and at each level in the Pyramid of Organizational Development™ (Markets, Products/Services, Resources, Operational Systems, Management Systems, and Organizational Culture).  This survey also includes an assessment of the extent to which you have the systems and processes in place to effectively plan for and manage Financial Results.  To further help you assess where you are, we compare your company’s results to those of the hundreds of companies in our database.

Scores on individual survey items can help you identify the specific aspects of your company’s infrastructure that warrant attention.

 

The Management Systems Corporate Culture Survey©

While Management Systems’ pioneering research suggests that all companies need to effectively manage five key dimensions of organizational culture (Customer/Client Orientation, Employee/People Orientation, Performance Standards and Accountability, Innovation and Commitment to Change, Company Process Orientation), we also know through our research and practical experience that every company’s culture is unique. 

Our culture surveys can be used to:

  • Assess the extent to which your “desired culture” (what you want or need your culture to be) is accepted or embraced by people (your employees);
  • Assess the extent to which your “desired culture” is  actually practiced or  reflected in the behavior of people; and 
  • Identify the “gaps” between your company’s current and desired cultures.

To gather this information, we ask each respondent to comment on the extent to which each survey item reflects:

  • What the company’s culture SHOULD BE (desired culture); and
  • What the current culture ACTUALLY IS (real culture).

Survey results of these two questions are presented for each of the five culture dimensions – Customer/Client Orientation, People/Employee Orientation, Performance Standards and Accountability, Innovation and Openness to Change, and Company Process Orientation – or, by company Value/Culture statement [in those cases where a company has a well-developed formal (written) statement of its Values/Culture that is used as the basis for creating a customized survey].  We also provide results for each survey item.

We have a standard validated culture survey that provides you with information on the extent to which you are effectively managing all five dimensions of culture.

We can also work with you to develop a customized survey that reflects your own unique culture and that is presented in a language that will have meaning for people on your team.  In designing the customized survey, we work with you and your team to develop survey items that define what your company’s culture is with respect to each of the five key culture dimensions.  If you have an existing written statement of your culture or company Values, we can also use this as input to creating survey items.  Our role in this process is to ensure that items are “technically sound” (meet the criteria of effective survey design) and that you have identified all of the aspects of culture which our research has found to be of critical importance.

 

Management/Leadership Effectiveness Assessment Surveys

Management Systems’ four Management/Leadership Effectiveness Surveys provide the managers/leaders on your team with important information about their strengths and opportunities to enhance their effectiveness.  These surveys can be administered to the individual manager/leader (“Self-Only”) or to the manager/leader and his or her direct reports, peers, and supervisor (“Self-Other”) in a classic “360 process.”  If multiple managers/leaders from your company complete the surveys, Management Systems can provide you with a summary of your management team’s results.  

Please Note:  These surveys are intended to help people develop their capabilities, not as an evaluation tool.  Accordingly, we do not share individual results with anyone other than the manager/leader who completed the survey.  However, we do provide overall group summaries of survey results.  Our summaries provide average scores and other information that can help you understand the current state of your leadership team’s development, as well as their developmental needs.

These surveys can be done independently or as a part of a Leadership Development Program.

 

Management Systems’ Management Effectiveness Survey

This survey, built around Management System’ research-based unique three factor framework for management/leadership effectiveness, assesses the extent to which an individual has developed the appropriate:

  • Role Concept – approaches his or her role as a manager/leader and invests the appropriate amount of time in management/leadership (versus “doer”) activities;
  • Management/Leadership Skills – e.g., delegation, decision-making, planning, etc.;
  • The Inner Game of Management – has adopted and is comfortable with a management/leadership “mindset” (which, in turn, involves, effectively managing one’s need for control, source of self-esteem, and need to be liked).

Results are presented in an easy-to-understand graph that compares your results for each of the three factors with those of effective managers/leaders at your  organizational level (First Line Supervisor, Middle Manager, Senior Manager, and CEO/COO).  

 

 

Management Systems’ Leadership Effectiveness Survey

Management Systems’ research-based unique Leadership Effectiveness Framework – which defines effective leadership as choosing a style that “fits” the situation AND effectively performing 5 key leadership tasks (Goal Emphasis, Interaction Facilitation, Work Facilitation, Supportive Behavior, and Personnel Development) – serves as the underlying framework for this survey.

Survey results help you understand the extent to which you are focused upon “doing the things that effective leaders do” – that is, the extent to which you are effectively performing the 5 key leadership tasks:

  • Setting, communicating, reinforcing and managing individual and team goals (Goal Emphasis);
  • Helping direct reports work effectively and cooperatively with one another (Interaction Facilitation);
  • Providing direct reports with the resources needed to successfully achieve goals and complete tasks (Work Facilitation);
  • Effectively and regularly providing feedback to individuals and your team as a whole (Supportive Behavior);
  • Helping your direct reports focus upon and develop their skills and capabilities (Personnel Development).

Results also provide you with information about the leadership style that you tend to use overall and in the performance of each key leadership task.

 

Management Systems’ Time Management Effectiveness Survey

This survey is designed to assess your effectiveness at managing your time in your role as a manager/leader.  In Management Systems’ approach, time management effectiveness depends on:

  • What you do (what we refer to as Time Management Tasks); and
  • How you do it (what we refer to as your Time Management Style).

The Management Systems’ Time Management Effectiveness Survey helps you understand:

  • The extent to which you focus upon and regularly perform five time management tasks – Time Planning, Delegation, Prioritization (of project and tasks), Action Planning, and managing Interruptions; and
  • The extent to which you are using an effective style in managing your time overall and in performing each of the five time management tasks.

 

Management Systems’ Delegation Management Effectiveness Survey

Management Systems’ defines effective delegation in terms of:

  • What you do (what we refer to as Steps in the Delegation Process); and
  • How you do it (what we refer to as your Delegation Style) .

The Management Systems’ Delegation Effectiveness Survey helps you understand:

  • The extent to which you focus upon and regularly perform the four steps in the delegation process – Defining the Purpose/Problem (identifying what needs to done and who will do it), Explaining the Task (defining standards against which performance will be assessed), Relinquishing Responsibility, and Monitoring Progress; and
  • The extent to which you are using an effective style when delegating tasks, in general, and when performing each of the four steps in the delegation process.