Not so long ago (about a month & half to be exact) I began my quest to find a way of measuring organizational health. The deeper I delved into trying to define health, the more entangled I got. I realized I needed to get the definition right before I tried finding the right tool. What you see below are some definitions I’ve stumbled across. There are of course a lot more but they more or less call out similar parameters.
“OH describes occupational stress” – Miller, R.L., Griffin, M.A. and Hart, P. (1999)
“OH is more generally the wellbeing of an employee in the working environment” – Cotton, P. & Hart, M.P. (2003)
“OH is a state of convergence between management, operations, strategy and culture in an organization” – Lencioni, P. (2012)
“OH is an organization’s ability to function effectively, to cope adequately, to change appropriately, and to grow from within” – Organizational Health Diagnostic & Development Corporation (OHHDDC)
And then the World Health Organization says – “Health is the state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not only the absence of a disease or a disability”
| Parameter Included (Y) | OHHDDC | Fisher’s | Lencioni | Cotton & Hart |
| Health & Wellness | Y | Y | ||
| Goal Focus/Create Clarity/ Vision | Y | Y | Y | |
| Leadership Team/ Cohesiveness | Y | Y | Y | |
| Communication | Y | Y | Y | |
| Providing necessary resources | Y | Y | Y | |
| Rewards & recognition | Y | Y | Y |
In a nutshell, organizational health refers to an employee’s occupational well being in an organization which results in their organizational performance.
Has this definition helped? No! It’s only made me redefine my problem statement.
Here is what it is now – “Access org structural health and identify single points of failure”
How do I go about solving this problem? Stay tuned 🙂
