"We don't need no self-assessment or concurrent engineering...and no collaboration either!"

Abstract

This paper reviews self-assessment survey approaches developed over the past six years as a management and consulting toolkit. The survey provides a common language across disciplines within an organization, as well as between that organization and an external consulting group. What is more, the toolkit acts as a staffing filter, ensuring that the most suitable staff resources address the most urgent priorities. This approach serves to shape and challenge the common assumptions and attitudes that often thwart long term business success. Brief comments on the typical limits of corporate strategic planning illustrate the benefits of a constructive skepticism in reconsidering widely held perceptions. Considering overall responses from nearly 200 participants with 98 corporate divisions, the participants generally rate themselves highly for competitive strategic planning, followed by process management and organizational approaches. Fulfillment declines in the last two categories-Methodologies & Techniques, and Technology and Tools.