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Article: Norm Setting - - Free
A FIO PARTNERS PERSPECTIVE: Norm Setting: Key to Shaping Organizational Culture
What is culture and how can it be influenced? This article explores organizational culture and recommends a proactive collaborative approach for determining and implementing the culture of an organization.
Learning Survey for Organizations - $75.00
Organizational learning is a key element in continuous improvement for all aspects of organizational functioning. FIO Partners has created this tool to assess both how an organization obtains new knowledge, and whether it disseminates and uses it. The OLS tool measures organizational performance in these areas: the most common ways that staff learn new information; how and whether that information is shared; whether management has created a context for learning; whether the organization uses new knowledge to improve practice; the near term priority areas as perceived by staff where the organization needs new knowledge. These are key factors critical to an organization’s ability to institute performance improvement. If you are interested in building more of a learning organization, using this assessment periodically can help to measure change in this area. This assessment is of critical importance in pacing major change initiatives since it will reveal whether your organization is open and permeable to the entry of new information or closed and resistant to innovation. This largely depends upon the organization’s track record to date in allowing new information to influence practice, and that is largely the result of the context for learning created by management. This survey can be administered online and interpreted by FIO Partners for an additional fee.
Climate Survey - $100.00
FIO Partners’ Climate Survey is designed to create a snapshot of organizational health. This tool gathers information about such topics as the quality and timeliness of decision making, the availability of information for decision making, the clarity of authority and responsibility, and the clarity of job descriptions, realism of performance objectives, and fairness and equity. Section F of the survey will help you gain insight into how staff views the culture of your organization. If you don’t understand the culture types that are listed or want to know more about culture and how it evolves, download our article on Cultural Norms, available for free on this website. The survey also assesses staff views of management effectiveness and views of the organization as a whole. This tool can be used to conduct an initial assessment of climate health, to identify specific areas for improvement, and can be used periodically to measure progress. It is not recommended for organizations with fewer than seven employees. This survey can be administered online and interpreted by FIO Partners for an additional fee.
Internal Norms Basic Instrument - $75.00
Nonprofit organizations often struggle to evolve the behaviors of staff that will best support mission accomplishment. The norm setting process, a unique intervention shaped by FIO Partners, is based on the concept that organizational culture stems from a series of agreements between management and employees about specific behaviors that are useful and relevant to the work being done. This basic instrument provides the basis for norm discussion for those organizations for which working with us on a customized version is financially out of reach. This instrument comes with full instructions for use and covers the following foundational areas for norm development, including: Decision-making, Communication, Recognition, and Feedback on Performance, Inter-staff Disagreements, Interpersonal Problems, Respect, and Integrity & Ethics. Instructions for administration are included. This tool can be very helpful in resetting norms in situations where groups of employees have developed dysfunctional ways of interacting. FIO Partners will work with you to develop a customized version of this tool to intervene in these more difficult situations. Please contact us for further information. Customized norms instrument and on-site administration: FIO Partners will conduct a series of interviews with a selected group of staff to identify areas that the group feels are important to their work as well as any problem areas that may exist. Once the areas for norm development are defined, a unique instrument to guide discussion is developed. The norms that emerge are then adopted by management and employees and norm adherence can be integrated into performance appraisal. Periodic norm checks allow the group to adjust their agreement over time, evolving an ever clearer culture. Organizations may choose to facilitate the norm development process on their own using their customized norms survey or may contract with FIO Partners for on-site administration. For customized norm instruments or on-site administration, contact us.
External Norms Instrument - $75.00
When considering how to approach relationships with other organizations, whether these relationships are collaborations or more formal strategic alliances, it is useful for an organization’s leadership to consider its own values and principles in seeking partners, how it will conduct negotiations, and manage these relationships over time. This basic instrument provides the basis for norm discussion for those organizations for which working with us on a customized version is financially out of reach. This instrument comes with full instructions for use and covers the following foundational areas for norm development: clarity of purpose, co-planning, vision for success, knowledge of partners, procedures and ground rules, roles and responsibilities, conflict management, and decision making. Customized norms instrument and on-site administration: FIO Partners will conduct a series of interviews with a selected group of staff to identify areas that the group feels are important to their strategic alliance work as well as any problem areas that may exist. Once the areas of norm development are defined, a unique instrument to guide discussion is developed. The norms that emerge are then adopted by management and employees and norm adherence can be integrated into performance appraisal. Periodic norm checks allow the group to adjust their agreement over time, evolving an ever clearer culture. Organizations may choose to facilitate the norm development process on their own using their customized norms survey or may contract with FIO Partners for on-site administration. For customized norm instruments or on-site administration, contact us.