Case Studies - Organisational Development

Business Audit Case Study

The Project

A Business Audit was conducted for a traditional heavy engineering company to review the effectiveness of it's internal communication processes, and to identify any inherent barriers to the involvement of the workforce as a whole in the development and improvement of the business.

The subsequent findings were used to assist the Management team in assuring that the aims and objectives of the communication process were achieved and that any barriers to effective two-way communication were removed.

Methodology

An audit report was compiled following a series of interviews with 30 members of the workforce. The employees were selected to ensure a fair reflection of views from different areas of the business and different shifts.

A standard questionnaire was used for all interviews and the responses of the participants recorded for later analysis. The individual interviews were treated as confidential and only aggregated data was included in the report. Where specific quotes were used to emphasis or demonstrate a point then the identity of the source was not revealed.

Outputs of the Audit

The Audit concentrated on the following areas:

Roles and Responsibilities - Did everyone have a clear understanding of his or her job responsibilities?

Information - Did all employees have the information they needed to complete their jobs effectively?

Authority - Was the appropriate level of authority given to them by their line managers?

Policies and Procedures - Were employees aware of the policies and procedures in place and were they appropriate to the needs of the business?

Feedback and Support - How was this provided and was it provided in a consistent and constructive manner?

Accessibility - Was the Management of the business accessible to the workforce?

Communications - Were the communication channels clear and used effectively throughout the organisation? What methods of communication were employed?

Company Objectives - Were these clear and understood by the workforce as a whole?

Health and Safety - How well was health and safety managed and what perceptions did the workforce have of how seriously it was regarded by the company management?

Competitive Pressures - How well did individuals identify any of the competitive issues that the company was facing?

Encouragement to Participate - What level of encouragement did employees feel they received from the management and what were the perceived barriers to participation?

Encouragement to Communicate - How actively was the workforce encouraged to communicate with others in the organisation in the knowledge that they would not be identified as carriers of "bad news"?

Confidence in the Management Team - What was the level of confidence in the management team to take the business forward?

Benefits Derived From The Audit

Following the completion of the Audit the company was able to plan it's mid to long term strategy for increasing the involvement of the workforce in improving the performance of the business.

These plans included the following:

A revised communication strategy and the introduction of training for line managers in briefing and presentation skills.
The introduction of a structured feedback loop for the management of improvement ideas.
Agreement on a plan to introduce team working into the business.
The redefinition of the roles and responsibilities of the majority of the workforce.
The introduction of a structured performance review system for the entire workforce.