The Survey of Organizational Excellence is revolutionizing the operation of Texas state agencies and other governmental and private organizations. Developed and refined over the last twenty years by a team of researchers led by Michael Lauderdale, the survey is a proven tool for improving the effectiveness of state government services through surveys of employee attitudes toward their organizations.

In this book, Lauderdale gives a history of the survey and its use under four governors, including George W. Bush. He explains what the survey is, how to use it, and how to apply its results to organizational change and improvement. Step-by-step instructions for planning, implementing, and evaluating the survey are enhanced with real-life case studies from the 140,000 surveys that have been distributed and used by more than 75 different organizations. Lauderdale also sets the survey in a broader perspective by identifying some of the forces currently impelling change in organizations throughout our society and exploring where this push for change is taking us.

Michael L. Lauderdale holds the Clara Pope Willoughby Centennial Professorship in Social Work at the University of Texas at Austin.

• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Change in Texas
• 1. History and Development of the Survey of Organizational Excellence
• 2. The Survey Concept in Organizational Development
• 3. Guidelines for Understanding the SOE Data
• 4. Procedures for Organizational Assessment and Intervention
• 5. Using the SOE in Changing the Organization
• 6. Some Results from Organizations Using the SOE
• 7. How the Pursuit of Quality Undermines the Mass Production /Bureaucratic Model
• 8. Creating the New Paradigm: Thinking Organizations
• Appendix A. Survey of Organizational Excellence
• Appendix B. Examples of Custom Questions and Use of Additional Demographic Options
• Appendix C. Survey Checklists
• Appendix D. Survey Customers
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index