The Practical Use of Survey Data

Friday, August 8, 2008

8:30 AM

Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center

6000 West Osceola Parkway
Kissimmee, FL 32746

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Description

A Joint Meeting Between the Greater Orlando Organization Development Network and the Central Florida Chapter of the American Society of Training & Development Many organizations engage in the periodic administration of surveys in order to examine associate satisfaction, engagement, morale, commitment, or any number of other dispositions held by associate. Ideally, these data are used to make changes in policy or protocol in order to improve the disposition of associates with the ultimate goal of improving organization-level functioning and profitability. In between the administration of the survey and the decision to implement changes or intervention lies the difficult task of identifying “real” issues and separating them from the “red herrings”. This is not a simple statistical exercise driven by blind application of statistical tests; instead, the data must be examined in a holistic fashion and in context of both the current state of the organization, practical limitations with regard to changes in organizational policies and protocols, and an understanding of practical and statistical relationships between variables. This presentation will use real-world data to illustrate how data from the same survey can be interpreted and used to support fundamentally different outcomes. Working groups will be asked to evaluate specific pieces of information and present conclusions to the other working groups. The anticipated outcome is that the conclusions and recommendations of the working groups will substantially differ even though similar data have been evaluated. The presenters will then recap the real-world findings and discuss how limitations of the survey, statistical issues, and practical limitations at the organizational level intersected to drive our decision making process.