An adaptation of a previous article for the book Interveniëren en veranderen. (Intervening and changing) edited by Jaap Boonstra and Léon de Caluwé. This book appeared in connection with the 2006 annual conference organized by the Dutch magazine M&O (Management & Organisatie). The book contains interesting contributions about new interventions aimed at promoting interaction and the development of meaning during changes.

 

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Original Dutch reference: Bennebroek Gravenhorst, K.M. (2006). Een leerproces vormgeven en veranderingen realiseren. Reflectie, interactie en samenwerking door survey-feedback. In J.J. Boonstra & L. de Caluwé (Red.) Interveniëren en veranderen. Zoeken naar betekenis in interacties (pp. 289-306). Deventer: Kluwer.

Survey research is popular in organizations. It is inexpensive and it provides an abundance of relevant information about things like how an organization is functioning or how satisfied the employees are. The results of survey research are easy to quantify and to compare. They give an idea of the current situation, of any differences between departments and organizations, and of the developments that have taken place since a previous measurement.

But what do you do once the situation in an organization has been measured? It is sad to see how much time and energy people put into survey research but then how little they do with the results. Measurement information turns out to be difficult to use, and the contribution of survey research towards actually improving problems is minor at best.

But there are alternatives. Survey feedback is a special way of working with surveys. The goal of this chapter is to show what survey feedback entails and how the intervention can contribute to organizational change. Survey feedback is a useful alternative to survey research. A clear added value of survey feedback is that the intervention initiates a learning process in which people reflect on the existing situation in the organization and then go on to develop solutions for problems together. That leads to a broad basis of support for improvements. Professional supervision from a consultant is one of the conditions for an effective use of the intervention.

English translation of book and chapter
Chapter (in Dutch)
Table of Contents (in Dutch)
Foreword (in Duch)
Order at managementboek.n (in Dutch)