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Frequently Asked Questions

'HAPPY@WORK?'
HAPPY@WORK® measures organisational resilience and identifies, quickly and cost effectively, the causes of organisational under performance. This is a web based data collection programme based on staff observations. It identifies performance-blocking issues. It provides measures in each of 15 outputs, the causes of which have been thoroughly researched to produce a superb diagnostic tool. Graphical reports are generated for the whole target population, by function, by level and level within function. Interpretation of differences, and identification of developmental actions needed is produced through dialogue with the people involved.
'Why are organisations non-responsive to change?'
The 2003 Best Practices in Change Management report has 6 key findings :
  1. The #1 contributor to project success is strong, visible and effective sponsorship.
  2. The top obstacle to successful change is employee resistance at all levels: front-line, middle managers and senior managers.
  3. Employees want to hear messages about change from two people: the CEO or their immediate supervisor (and the messages are not the same).
  4. When asked what they would do differently next time, most teams would begin their change management activities earlier in their next project, instead of viewing it as an add-on or afterthought.
  5. The top reasons for employee resistance are a lack of awareness about the change, comfort with the ways things are and fear of the unknown.
  6. Middle managers resist change because of fear of losing control and overload of current tasks and responsibilities.

Quality Associates recommends HAPPY@WORK® to produce staff-proposed changes that will not only help alleviate the root causes of stress etc. but will help the workforce to become more enthusiastic about their work and to develop a higher personal commitment to the organisation. This in turn will make it much easier to introduce changes in the future and indeed many essential changes may be suggested by the workforce.

'Performance-blocking issues' - how are they identified?

The observations of the workforce will help identify performance blocking issues and usually how to overcome them.

'Staff Levels' - what are they?

Staff level begins with the most senior manager in the organisation, which is set at level zero.


Either the Chairman, if the organisation is a PLC, General Manager in a division of a PLC, or CEO or whatever is the appropriate job title. The key issue we are trying to understand relates to reporting distance from 'the boss'. All direct reports to level zero are level 1, and so on. Please note that this makes the boss's secretary level 1. The level is nothing to do with seniority or salary. It is about communications, hence the 'reporting distance' model.
'Client Team?'

We usually appoint a client team of two individuals, identified as internal change agents.


They would help with the design of the sample, in the preparation of briefing notes, the initial review of the database and its interpretation, and setting up the final feedback. They can also help us understand the organisational culture and the commercial pressures under which it is operating. We will educate them on the philosophy of our system so that they can continue after we have gone.
'Relationship between the questionnaire and the outputs?'

There are no direct relationships between the inputs and outputs. There is a many-to-many inference engine that links the two sets of data. We use the outputs to frame conversations with respondents in groups to explore what the outputs are telling us and give them the opportunity to articulate other insights.

'Pre-project Meeting' what is it?

The Pre-project meeting is when we meet with the clients face to face to make sure they understand what we need in terms of sample etc. with a request for them to supply the data in an Excel spreadsheet. The client team may also be introduced at this meeting.

'Preliminary Meeting - what is it?'

The preliminary meeting is after the initial analysis, and the purpose is to provide feedback to the client (sponsor). It will, therefore, be after administering the questionnaire and after the initial analysis. The relevant graphical reports will be presented to highlight significant factors and a preliminary discussion of the implications for the business and what can be achieved by shifting the various scores in a positive direction.

'Workshops' - what are they?

These involve sharing outputs with cross functional groups in order to flush out the issues and get them fixed. A senior manager should brief these groups at the start of each workshop to encourage them to be as challenging and innovative as they wish and not to disappoint by limiting their thinking. If this is not done, with the type of messages as outlined, many employees will simply not believe that the exercise is anything but cosmetic.

'Goals' - should I set them?

The organisation may set a number of Goals. One goal, however, should be to increase happiness at work since, when achieved, it will facilitate the other goals. People will become more open, will assume more responsibility, be more creative, and be more productive.

'Are top managers part of the problem?'

They may be because they are sitting in an organisation that does not respond to their direction in the way that they expect, and they do not know why. HAPPY@WORK® offers a way of understanding and sorting out the mystery.

'Who can help organisations to improve?'

At every level in any organisation, from shop floor up, there are people who know what's wrong and can see ways of doing it better.

'Index of Resilience - what is it?'

Management should set out to develop a 'Resilient Organisation' i.e. one that constantly re-invents itself in an unending dynamic process.


A resilient company will be able to make sense of its environment, generate strategic options, and realign its resources faster than its rivals. Such a company will enjoy a decisive advantage. The 15 outputs are weighted according to the strength of their connections with the resilience of the organisation, and that produces a new set of weighted scores that are then used to calculate the index for the whole company as a percentage of the 100% maximum score for a perfectly resilient company.
'Data' - what information do I have to provide?

Name of individual - in the format the client wishes to see it at login. For example, it could be Initial + Surname, Given Name + Surname, Surname, Initial. Whatever the client provides we will use. E-mail address as login name for our web site Department with not too fine a gradation please Level = reporting distance from the most senior manager, who by default is at level 0. Direct reports of the boss are level 1 and so on.

'Permissions' - what are they?

The 'permissions' idea is both simple and powerful. Quite apart from formally stated policies and practices, organisations send very powerful messages to employees about what is and what is not acceptable behaviour.


The sources of these 'permissions' are organisation structure design decisions, process design decisions and the behaviour of top managers. To illustrate: The top manager who went overboard on Equal Opportunities (EO), to the point where every manager and supervisor attended a 2 day EO course. Then the boss's assistant moved on, and the boss immediately appointed a replacement without interview, advertising or any possibility of other employees expressing an interest in the vacancy. 3,700 employees instantly got the message that EO might be for other people, but not for the boss, confirmed when all the other top managers emulated the boss's behaviour. EO died an instant death.

'Who is the Project Sponsor?'

There is always a 'Project Sponsor' who will be a senior manager and who will brief groups to ensure that the employees believe that the exercise is anything but cosmetic.

'Sample Size Required?'

From the point of view of the technology there are no limits to the size of the database that can be accommodated. Hence we would tend to err on the side of 'if in doubt, include them' Our rule of thumb is 100% samples of senior people with the percentage reducing somewhat as we go farther down the various levels.

'Type of Questions in the Questionnaire?'

We have worked on the basis of peoples' experiences of 'what it is like working here', recorded as observations and not judgements as being more useful than perceptions.


The latter always carries the risk of the cause of those perceptions being as much internal to the person as external, sourced in the (organisational) environment. This gets us away from the attitude survey type of questions, which generally end up producing lots of graphs but little action or change.