HOW TO USE THIS LEADERSHIP TOOL
“Ever since Elton Mayo found that worker productivity can be affected by human as well as technical considera-
tions, employee attitudes, opinions, and behaviors have been closely examined in the workplace.”
—Leland G. Verheyen, “How to Develop an Employee Attitude Survey,”
TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL136 SECTION 4 TOOLS FORDESIGNINGPRODUCTIVEPROCESSES ANDORGANIZATIONS
Act on survey results and changes promptly.❑ After it’s been collected, analyze the data quickly (e.g., within a week or two).
❑ Considerable value is lost if you don’t provide a feedback and discussion process. Have an objective facilitator(s) lead
mini focus groups or interviews to understand the data patterns and cross-validate survey findings.
❑ Coach managers to receive and act on survey results quickly and nondefensively. [☛12.4 Feedback]
❑ Share all the data, not just a summary (e.g., use an internal Web site). Report response rate, positive responses,
negative responses, and exceptionally high and low responses.
❑ Use pictures to support conclusions (e.g., graphs, bar charts). Don’t overwhelm employees with statistics and
analysis.
❑ Act on survey results quickly. Focus on implementation, not analysis. Analysis paralysis is the bane of survey
projects.Questionnaire design❑ Make questions as concrete as possible. Base questions on behaviors (what you can see or measure). Minimize
questions about attitudes and feelings.
❑ Target for 50 to 60 items. Make it easy to administer, easy to respond to, easy to analyze, and easy to resurvey in the
future.
❑ Target completion time for less than 45 minutes.
❑ Test the questionnaire design using focus groups (12 to 15 employees). Several drafts are usually required before
systemwide use.
❑ Ask more than one behavioral question to survey complex topics like morale and leadership.
❑ Before asking a question, ask, “If the responses to this question are negative, are we willing to do something about
it?” If the answer is “no,” don’t ask the question.
❑ Organize questions into sections. (This makes completion, analysis, and feedback easier.)
❑ Consider including space for write-in comments. Although difficult to analyze, they allow participants to say what
they want, and they generate considerable interest.
❑ Consider using a captive survey process whereby employees are scheduled to complete the survey in a designated
room during the workday. This increases response rates from around 50% (when surveys are returned by mail) to
90% (for captive surveys).Questionnaire demographics❑ A demographic is a group of participants sharing a set of characteristics. One such group might be “all engineers
with over 15 years of experience.” Demographic information greatly enhances interpretation of survey results.
❑ On the downside, the more demographic information that is requested on a survey, the more employees may fear
being personally identified. Anonymity is best ensured when demographic group size exceeds ten. However, in
demographic groups that are larger than 250, findings can become overgeneralized and meaningful information can
be obscured.
❑ Attitudinal data is social data, influenced by culture and history. As such, the major value of attitudinal data lies in
comparisons among workgroups; hence the importance of demographic categories on the survey instrument. For
example, the biggest influences on morale and job satisfaction are almost always the department you work in and
the boss you work for. After them come your job and your peers.