Founded nearly 70 years ago, Plan is one of the largest child centred community development organisations in the world, working in 62 countries on projects and initiatives that address the causes of poverty and its consequences on children’s lives.
This means working in partnership with children, their families and communities, at both national and international level, to bring about sustainable change. At a local level, Plan works directly with all groups in a community to identify the priority issues affecting children. They also campaign for children to realise their rights and work at national and international level to influence policy decisions in favour of improved resources for children and their communities. In this, Plan creates and exploits all opportunities for children to speak out on their own behalf and participate in decision-making that affects their own development.
The Burke-Litwin Model
Roffey Park worked in partnership with Plan to carry out an employee opinion survey based on the Burke-Litwin model of Organisational Performance and Change. The model provides a comprehensive view of the organisation, examining the external environment; leadership; mission and strategy; culture; structure; management practices; team climate; systems; skills/job match; motivation; individual needs and values; and performance.
Plan CEO Tom Miller says: “As part of our global transformation process we wanted to have a comprehensive understanding of our staff ’s perceptions of the current organisation.This would then act as a baseline as we move through the transformation. We wanted to be able to identify strengths and weaknesses and to target actions which need to be put in place in order to improve organisational performance”.
Plan had already used the Burke-Litwin model as part of their transformation process and so wanted to use the same tried and tested model for their employee opinion survey, allowing them to not only look at financial reports to measure the organisation’s performance but to look at issues such as:
- How well people are organised around and within Plan’s core business processes to fulfil the mission efficiently and effectively
- How leadership practices may be influencing (adversely or positively) employees’ ability to execute their day-to-day work responsibilities effectively
- How key human resource management systems and practices such as performance management and strategic compensation are used to reinforce a climate of high performance.
The Survey
Communicating with over 7,000 staff across 62 countries, from different cultures and speaking many different languages is always a challenge.
Based on the Burke-Litwin model the survey was designed, reviewed and tested across a broad range of staff roles and locations across Plan to ensure questions were seen to be relevant and clearly and consistently understood across all levels of staff.
The survey was launched on-line (in English only) and in hard copy in local languages in all 62 countries on June 26, 2006.
Plan ran a four week promotional campaign in three languages, using both posters and e-promotions to generate interest and enthusiasm for the survey.The exceptional response rate of 86% clearly showed staff ’s engagement and commitment to having their voice heard and being able to influence change within Plan. 1,200 people completed the survey on line and a further 4,799 completed hard copies.
The results were mapped onto the Burke-Litwin model and multiple regression analysis was used to examine the key relationships between the various organisational factors. This enables Plan to assess where development interventions will have the greatest impact on the organisation’s performance.
Plan is now working to ensure that actions are put into place and improvements in performance become a reality by making the process transparent and sharing results with all staff through face-to-face briefings and via the Plan intranet. Action plans and quarterly progress reports will also be shared and the survey repeated biennially to monitor progress through the transformation.
Director of HR, Clive Moore adds, “These results enable us to have a targeted conversation with staff about specific areas that they have indicated as being of concern to them. We must now use this opportunity to have those conversations”.