About the Book
This practically oriented book details both the factors to be considered and the steps necessary for developing a successful employee survey process - from administration to action. In doing so, the authors draw upon organizational psychology and survey methodology, as well as their wide practical experience with employee surveys in North America, Europe, and multinationally. This book not only shows how to plan and execute employee surveys, but also offers a host of models, methods, examples, and theory for what to do afterwards, including standard and nonstandard data analysis, presentations of results to top management, running workshops with managers and staff on the survey results, and planning and implementing actions. It also includes numerous practical tips and handy checklists that go far beyond simple "how-to" recipes. Rather, all recommendations are discussed so that their rationale becomes transparent and adaptations can be made to optimally fit the needs of the particular organization.
Table of Contents:
Preface ... xv 1 Characteristics and Types of Employee Surveys ... 1 1.1 Current Usage of Employee Surveys in Industry ... 1 1.2 Some Typical Cases of Employee Surveys ... 3 1.3 General Characteristics of Employee Surveys ... 5 1.4 The Purposes of Employee Surveys ... 6 1.5 Some Basic Types of Employee Survey ... 8 Employee Polls ... 8 Benchmarking Employee Surveys ... 9 Climate Employee Surveys With Feedback... 11 Unfreeze-and-Involve Management Programs ... 12 Systemic Employee Surveys ... 13 Employee Surveys for Measurement and Change ... 15 1.6 On the Evolution of Employee Survey Types ... 17 1.7 Potentials and Risks of an Employee Survey ... 19 1.8 Employee Surveys and Naive Models of the Employee ... 21 Five Models about the Employee ... 21 The Five Employee Models and their Corresponding Employee Surveys ... 23 Employee Models and Employee Surveys ... 25 2 Positioning an Employee Survey ... 27 2.1 Positioning the Employee Survey ... 27 Total Package Designs ... 27 Stakeholders, Explicit Goals, and Hidden Agendas ... 30 2.2 The Context of an ES ... 31 Project Antecedents and Apparent Needs ... 31 Introducing General Information about Employee Surveys ... 33 Considering the Benefits of an ES ... 35 First Thoughts on the Costs of an Employee Survey ... 37 Readiness of an Organization for an ES ... 38 Finding the Right Time to Administer the ES ... 41 2.3 Positioning the Employee Survey through Top Management ... 43 Goals ... 44 Risks and Dealing with Risks ... 44 Defining Minimal Requirements for Managers and Non-Managers ... 45 Top Management's Own Public Commitment ... 46 2.4 Further Facets of Positioning an ES ... 47 Content Considerations ... 47 Dissemination of ES Results... 49 Comparing Employee Survey Results across Organizational Units ... 49 2.5 Ethical and Legal Use of Individual Employee Data ... 51 Anonymity ... 52 Confidentiality ... 55 Allowing for Demographic Item Non-Response ... 55 Data Protection ... 56 Inadmissible Questions ... 57 vi Content 2.6 Census and Sample Surveys ... 57 Statistical Considerations ... 57 Cost Considerations ... 58 Psychological Considerations ... 59 Usability for Organizational Decision Making ... 60 3 Coordinating and Planning the ES Project ... 61 3.1 Architecture ... 61 Architecture of the Coordination Team ... 61 Tasks of ES Coordinators ... 63 Recruitment and Selection of ES Coordinators ... 64 ES Coordinators and ES Consultants ... 66 Time Consumed by Coordinators in an ES Project ... 67 3.2 ES Project Plan ... 67 The ES Master Plan ... 68 Differentiating Roles in the ES Project ... 69 Phases, Activities, and Roles of an ES Project ... 71 4 Content of Questionnaire ... 77 4.1 Approaches for Defining the Content of an ES ... 77 Existing Questionnaires and Instruments ... 78 Interviewing Senior Leaders to Create Survey Content ... 79 An ACE Hierarchy to Guide Questionnaire Construction ... 81 Using ACE to Construct Indices ... 83 From ACE to RACER ... 84 The Performance-Satisfaction Motor ... 85 Using Company Scorecards to Identify Measurement Fields ... 88 The Various Functions of ES Items ... 89 4.2 Standard ES Questions: The Individual Employee's Perspective ... 91 4.3 Extending Standard ES Topics: Performance and Strategy ... 95 4.4 Extensions II: Further Psychological Topics ... 97 4.5 Topics Not Suited for an ES ... 100 4.6 Facets of ES Items ... 101 4.7 Importance as a Judgment Criterion ... 103 4.8 Typical Item Compilations ... 106 4.9 Demographic Items ... 107 5 Item and Questionnaire Design ... 109 5.1 Closed Items with Rating Scales ... 109 Number of Categories in a Likert Response Scale ... 111 The Middle Category of a Likert Response Scale ... 111 Using "Don't Know" Categories and no Middle Categories ... 113 Numerical Labels for the Categories of the Response Scale ... 114 5.2 Response Criteria in Items ... 115 5.3 On the Psychology of Answering Survey Items ... 117 5.4 Items with Qualitative Response Scales ... 120 5.5 Comments ... 123 5.6 Open-Ended Questions with a Focus ... 126 5.7 Formulating ES Items ... 128 5.8 Scales and Single Items ... 132 Content vii 5.9 Items in Different Languages ... 133 Back-Translations ... 133 Further Criteria for Questionnaire Translations ... 134 The TRAPD Approach ... 134 5.10 Collecting Demographic Information ... 135 5.11 The Structure of the Questionnaire ... 136 Reasons for a Questionnaire Structured by Content ... 137 Criteria for Sorting Items ... 138 5.12 Layout of Questionnaire ... 139 Cover Page and Introduction ... 139 Design and Layout of Demographic Items ... 140 Layout of the Blocks of Content Items ... 141 Alternative Layouts of ES Questionnaires ... 141 Total Design Method ... 146 5.13 Prognosis Questionnaires ... 146 5.14 Electronic Questionnaires ... 148 6 Processes of Questionnaire Development ... 153 6.1 Developing an Early Version of the Questionnaire ... 153 6.2 The ES Project Team's Role in Questionnaire Development ... 155 Coordinating Language Adaptation and Translations ... 155 Coordinating the Development of Group-Specific Items ... 156 Coordinating the Development of Demographic Items ... 158 6.3 Involving Stakeholders into Questionnaire Development ... 160 Involving Rank-And-File Employees ... 161 Involving the Organization's Executive Board ... 161 Involving the Works Council ... 162 Involving Middle Management and ES Advisory Boards ... 163 6.4 Pre-Testing and Pilot-Testing the Questionnaire ... 163 A Simple Pre-Testing Approach for Employee Surveys ... 164 Cognitive Pre-Testing ... 165 How Many Pre-Tests? ... 166 Pilot-Testing the Questionnaire ... 167 7 Sampling ... 169 7.1 The Population ... 169 7.2 Non-Random Samples ... 170 Convenience Samples ... 170 Typical Cases, Extreme Cases, Experts ... 171 Cut-Off Samples ... 171 Snow-Balling ... 171 Quota Sampling ... 172 7.3 Random Samples ... 173 Simple Random Samples ... 174 Systematic Random Sampling ... 174 Stratified Random Samples ... 174 Cluster Samples ... 176 Multi-Stage Sampling ... 176 7.4 Sampling Errors ... 177 Sampling Errors in Samples of Different Size ... 177 Sampling in Small Populations ... 179 viii Content Sampling Errors for Means and Other Statistics ... 179 Sampling Errors under Different Sampling Methods ... 180 7.5 Sample Size ... 180 7.6 Response Rates and Nonresponse ... 183 Nonresponse Bias ... 183 Dealing with Nonresponse ... 184 Item Nonresponse ... 186 7.7 Sample Construction in Practice ... 187 8 Information Campaign Before the Survey ... 191 8.1 Phases and Steps of an ES Information Campaign ... 191 8.2 Activities in Phase I of the Information Campaign ... 192 Informing Employees About the Survey ... 192 Motivating to Participate ... 193 Informing About Survey Administration ... 198 Bridging the Time of "No Action" After the Survey ... 198 8.3 Planning the Information Campaign ... 200 8.3 Style of the Information Campaign ... 200 8.4 Typical Questions and Answers ... 201 9 Data Collection ... 207 9.1 Survey Administration and Survey Logistics ... 207 9.2 Data Collection in Group Sessions ... 208 The Polling Station Method ... 208 Organizing a Polling Station Setting ... 212 Polling Station Data Collection and Other Group Sessions ... 213 Special Participation Requests for Unavailable Employees ... 214 Monitoring Response Rates and Using Reminders ... 215 9.3 Data Collection by Postal Mail ... 216 Monitoring Response Rates and Using Reminders ... 218 9.4 Online Data Collection ... 220 General Advantages of Online Surveys ... 220 Challenges of Online Employee Surveys ... 221 Online Data Collection and Anonymity ... 221 Monitoring Response Rates and Using Reminders ... 224 Combining Online and Traditional Methods of Data Collection ... 225 9.5 Alternative Methods of Data Collection ... 226 9.6 Summary Comparison of Data Collection Methods ... 227 9.7 Measures to Increase Response Rates ... 228 What Response Rates can be Considered High Response Rates? ... 229 Persuasive Positioning ... 229 Reducing Anonymity and Confidentiality Concerns ... 231 Transparency and Visibility ... 231 Incentives ... 232 Monitoring Response Rates and Reminders ... 234 Questionnaire Design and Personal Invitation Letter ... 236 9.8 Data Entry and Data Coding ... 237 9.9 Data Cleaning ... 238 Content ix 10 Standard Data Analysis ... 241 10.1 Elementary Analysis of ES Data ... 241 Survey Results for Single Items ... 241 Comparisons of the Focal Group with Other Organizational Units ... 245 Placing Absolute Scores in the Context of Several Standards ... 246 Items, Indices, and Indicators ... 248 Using Interrelationships among Items to Determine Importance ... 251 10.2 Standard ES Reports ... 252 10.3 Focal Reports ... 253 The General Introduction of a Focal Report ... 253 Turning to the Focal Group ... 255 Tables of the Focal Report ... 256 Alternative Ways to Organize the Items in a Focal Report ... 257 Reporting Demographics in a Focal Report ... 258 Appendices of a Focal Report ... 259 10.4 Cross-Comparison Reports ... 259 Cross-Comparison Tables ... 260 Who Should Get Cross-Comparisons? ... 261 10.5 Prognoses Reports ... 262 10.6 Standard Reporting of Answers to Open Questions ... 263 10.7 First-Results Reports for Employees ... 265 10.9 How to Organize Report Ordering ... 266 Specifying Selection Rules ... 266 Automated Report Ordering ... 268 11 Designing Follow-Up Processes... 271 11.1 Basic Components of the Follow-Up Processes ... 271 Actions and Busy Work ... 271 Monday Morning Actions: Starting Small ... 272 Avoiding Unnecessary New Initiatives or New Goals ... 273 Types of Responses to ES Results ... 274 11.2 Approaches to Designing Follow-Up Processes ... 275 The Top-Down Approach ... 275 The Bottom-Up Approach ... 277 The Task-Force Approach ... 279 The Big-Bang Approach ... 280 Soft Varieties of the Top-Down Approach ... 280 11.3 Communicating the Organization's Official Response to ES Results ... 282 11.4 Creating Dialogue as a Response to Survey Results ... 284 11.5 Cultivating Individual Responses to Survey Results ... 286 11.6 The 7+7 Approach for Rolling-Out the Follow-Up Processes ... 289 11.7 Response Sequences for Individual Managers ... 291 11.8 Criteria for Planning and Evaluating Follow-Up Processes ... 292 12 Nonstandard Data Analysis ... 295 12.1 Interpreting ES Results ... 295 12.2 Experience-Based Hypotheses and ES Results ... 297 12.3 Benchmarking... 298 Types of Benchmarks ... 298 Benchmarking Single Items and Indices ... 300 x Content On the Validity of Benchmarks ... 300 Benchmarks from Different Countries ... 301 Benchmarking Against Industry and Job Norms ... 303 Benchmarking by Cross-Comparisons within the Organization ... 304 Upward and Backward Benchmarking ... 305 Benchmarking Against Prognoses ... 306 Benchmarking Correlations and Patterns ... 306 12.4 Using Theory to Interpret ES Data ... 307 12.5 Deep Statistical Analyses ... 310 The Psychological Map of the Respondents ... 310 Dependent Variables within MDS ... 312 External Dependent Variables and Linkage Research ... 313 Relating Internal Dependent Variables to Demographic Information ... 316 Interpretations and the "More is better" Fallacy ... 317 12.6 Business-Oriented Frameworks for ES Data Interpretation ... 318 ES Data and the Balanced Scorecard ... 318 SWOT Analysis ... 319 12.7 Triangulation and Other Views onto the Data ... 321 13 Presenting Survey Results to Management ... 323 13.1 Structuring an ES Presentation ... 323 Introduction of an ES Presentation ... 323 Facets/Dimensions of the Organization Climate ... 325 The Performance-Satisfaction Network: Core and Extension ... 327 A Simpler Alternative: ACE or RACER Structuring ... 327 Further Break-Downs of the Statistics ... 328 Empirical Structure of Items ... 329 Special Topics ... 329 Business Perspectives ... 329 Monday Morning Action Platforms ... 330 Summary and Recommendations ... 330 Still Other Forms of Structuring an ES Presentation ... 331 13.2 The ES Presentation Process ... 332 Aligning the Final Presentation with Key Managers ... 332 Global Management Decisions as Input to the Follow-Up Processes ... 334 Overcoming Typical Psychological Barriers ... 334 13.3 Adding Punch to the Presentation ... 336 Positioning the Presentation in the Context of the Follow-Up Processes ... 336 Avoid Wasting Time on Side Issues ... 336 Avoid Over-Interpretation ... 338 13.4 Motivating Managers to Act ... 339 Motivating Managers to Get Involved ... 339 Building Platforms for Immediate Actions ... 340 14 Employee Survey Workshops ... 343 14.1 Foundations of ES Workshops ... 343 The Basic Goals of an ES Workshop ... 343 Feedback, Discussion, and Explanations ... 344 Proposals for Solutions ... 345 Alignment ... 346 14.2 Typical Design of an ES Workshop ... 347 Phase I: Introduction ... 347 Content xi Phase II: Discussing and Structuring the Results ... 350 Phase III: Action Fields and Ideal Scenarios ... 354 Phase IV: Outlook on Next Steps ... 356 Phase V: Wrapping Things up After the Workshop ... 356 14.3 The Participants of an ES Workshop ... 357 14.4 The Facilitator of an ES Workshop ... 357 14.5 Organizing and Preparing an ES Workshop ... 359 Participants, Time, Location, and Invitation ... 360 Room ... 360 Materials ... 360 Preparing an ES Workshop: the ES Coordinator's Role ... 361 A Facilitator's Personal Preparation for the ES Workshop ... 362 14.6 Discussing ES Results ... 363 Workshop Activities for a Particular Item Block ... 364 An Illustrative Item Block ... 364 Another Illustration with Items on the Supervisor ... 366 14.7 Tips and Hints for Facilitating an ES Workshops ... 368 Timing ... 368 Role and Behavior of the Facilitator ... 369 Presenting the Survey Results... 370 Discussing the ES Results ... 370 Behavior of the Participants in the Discussions ... 372 Discussing the Items on the Direct Supervisor ... 373 Brainstorming on the Fields of Action... 374 Behavior of Managers in ES Workshops ... 375 Giving Feedback to the Supervisor after the ES Workshop ... 375 14.8 Variants of the Traditional ES Workshop ... 376 ES Workshops with Managers Only ... 376 ES Workshops under Tight Time Constraints ... 377 14.9 Alternatives of the Traditional ES Workshop ... 378 14.10 Planning Batteries of ES Workshops ... 382 14.9 Additional Follow-Up Work on ES Workshop Results ... 383 Additional Statistical Analysis of the Survey Data ... 383 Consulting Additional Theory in the Literature ... 384 Understanding Opportunities ... 384 Cause-And-Effect Analyses for Problem Areas ... 384 Testing the Strategic Value of Possible Areas of Action ... 385 Summarizing how Workshop Participants Interrelate the Topics ... 386 15 Action Management ... 389 15.1 Developing Ideas for Actions ... 389 15.2 Organizing Actions ... 392 Level of Action ... 392 Roles in Action Management ... 393 Selecting Action Directors and Action Team Members ... 393 Action Management vs. Line Management ... 394 The Action Mission Contract ... 395 Defining the Action Director's Action Space ... 396 When to Begin Action Planning ... 397 15.3 Foundations of Action Planning ... 398 Planning Actions Hierarchically ... 398 The Timeline of an Action ... 399 xii Content 15.4 Simple Action Planning Tools ... 399 "W" Action Forms ... 400 "W" Action Forms with Status Indicators ... 400 15.5 Planning Complex Actions ... 401 Planning Milestones... 401 Planning Activities... 403 15.6 Controlling Action Implementation ... 404 Principles of Action Controlling ... 405 Reporting ... 406 Simple Reporting Forms ... 406 Reporting in Complex Actions ... 406 Adjusting an Action Plan ... 407 Online Action Planning Tools ... 409 15.7 Soft Factors in Action Management ... 409 Selecting the Right People ... 410 Delegating Actions Away ... 411 Remaining Open to Clarify the Action's Goals and Conditions ... 411 Accepting and Endorsing the Action Plan ... 411 Insisting on Discipline ... 411 Leading Action Team Members ... 412 Planning Realistically ... 412 Controlling Action Progress Constructively ... 412 Thinking About the Politics of the Action ... 413 Turning the Action Team into a Team ... 413 Keeping Technical Gimmickry Minimal ... 414 Showing Commitment to the Action and its Tasks ... 414 16 Information Campaign after the Survey ... 415 16.1 Information on Results and Management's Responses ... 415 16.2 Information on Actions ... 416 16.3 Planning and Organizing the Information Campaign ... 419 Architecture and Roles ... 419 Publications and Time Line ... 421 Communication Politics ... 423 16.4 Communication as Part of Planned Change Management ... 425 Creating Perceptions of what most People are Doing ... 425 Communicating what Employees are Ready to Hear ... 426 17 Evaluating Employee Survey Projects ... 427 17.1 Project Evaluation and Learning ... 427 17.2 Evaluating ES Projects ... 428 Positioning the Evaluation of an ES Project ... 428 Evaluation Criteria ... 429 Objective Business Criteria ... 431 Finding the Right Time for Evaluations ... 432 17.3 Evaluation Methods ... 433 Analyzing the Quality of the Survey Data ... 433 Studying Documentation Materials ... 434 Collecting Observations on the ES Project ... 435 Interviews to Evaluate the ES Project's Results and Processes ... 436 Surveys to Evaluate the ES Project's Results and Processes ... 439 Content xiii 17.4 The Practice of ES Evaluations ... 439 Sample ... 439 Organization ... 440 Items and Survey Design ... 441 Data Analysis and Interpretation ... 443 References ... 447 Author Index ... 463 Subject Index... 469
About the Author :
Ingwer Borg is Scientific Director at the GESIS-ZUMA academic survey research institute in Mannheim, Germany, Professor of Psychology at the University of Giessen, Germany, and Executive Consultant at the Kenexa Research Institute. He studied experimental psychology (MSc, Tulane), applied psychology (Dipl.-Psych., Dr. phil., University of Munich), and mathematical psychology (postdoctoral research, University of Michigan). Aveteran of some 30 years in employee surveys, mostly in German-headquartered companies of all sizes, he has been involved in all conceivable aspects of employee surveys as a cofounder and former partner of HRC (now Kenexa, Germany). He has authored or edited sixteen books and hundreds of articles on survey methodology, data analysis, scaling, theory construction, and various substantive topics of psychology. Paul M. Mastrangelo, PhD, specializes in the transformation of employee data into insightful pathways to change. He has over 15 years of experience in psychological assessment, organization development, and adult education. Paul works as a Senior Consultant and Director of New Service Development at Genesee Survey Services, where he has facilitated survey driven change efforts for companies such as Apple, Cisco Systems, Hewlett Packard, Johnson & Johnson, Lyondell, Raytheon, and Polaroid. Paul has over 20 original publications and is a regular presenter at the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology's annual conference. Paul received his PhD in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Ohio University in 1993 and his BA in Psychology from the University of Rhode Island in 1989, where he was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society. He cheers for the Boston Red Sox from Rochester, NY, with his wife, Kim, and his two children, Ally and Marc.
Review :
"This is a thorough, thoughtful, and wide-ranging work on employee attitude surveys. The book is a well-researched and comprehensive view of what it takes to do a successful survey in today's organizations. Based on solid data and the authors' practical experience, it is a must-read for all survey researchers and managers who want to benefit from employee attitude surveys." Allen Kraut, Professor of Management, Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College/CUNY, New York "This is the most complete guide to conducting employee surveys I have seen. The various phases of a survey project are discussed from both a theoretical as well as a practical point of view. That the authors are well-versed and deeply experienced in the subject matter will be immediately obvious to the reader. This book provides helpful guidance not only to the beginner but also to the highly experienced survey research professional. I will recommend this book to my colleagues and to my clients." Jack Wiley, Executive Director, Kenexa Research Institute
