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Organizations have long used surveys to gather information about issues affecting their employees, customers, and overall performance. Unquestionably, surveys can provide valuable insights regarding the attitudes, knowledge levels, and behaviors of organizations’ internal and external organizational stakeholders.

However, much is unknown regarding how to use such diagnostic tools to their fullest potential; specifically, what is the best method to translate insights gleaned from organizational surveys into tangible action?

Getting Action from Organizational Surveys edited by Allen I. Kraut seeks to fill that gap. This text is part of the professional practice series by the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP). As organizational survey pioneer Kraut notes:

“Although surveys are popular as a methodology, not every survey results in action, and not all practitioners understand the critical importance of leveraging their data to make real changes.”

The book is not intended to be an updated version of the highly popular and well-respected Organizational Surveys: Tools for Assessment and Change (1996), also edited by Kraut. Instead, Getting Action is a companion piece designed exclusively to discuss ways to get the most from surveys, not necessarily how to create them.

The book is a collection of essays written by well-respected academic scholars and practitioners. The target audience includes industrial or organizational psychologists and human resource professionals—people who are often required to analyze data from surveys to generate concrete organizational action and change.

Three Sections, Three Issues
The text covers a wide range of issues related to getting action from organizational surveys, as the title implies. The 24 essays are divided into three sections: (1) new concepts, (2) new technologies, and (3) new applications.

The new concepts section defines and explains new concepts recently added to the survey lexicon such as linkage, pulse, nonresponse, relative weights, oversurveying, and organizational health (how many can you define?). This section also explores how respondents’ attitudes about the organization and its mission can bias survey results. Such inherent biases are often overlooked or underestimated when administering surveys and interpreting the collected data.

The second section—new technologies—reviews the latest technological advancements, techniques, and methodologies for administering surveys and analyzing data. This section offers some valuable information regarding best practices for conducting online surveys, innovative statistical approaches (e.g., calculating ROI), and strategies for using a “pulse” survey—an overlooked but simple diagnostic tool. The section also provides strategies for presenting survey results in a cogent and elegant style to decision makers and relevant stakeholders.

The final section—new applications—examines how surveys can be beneficial in a variety of organizational settings. Practitioners are cautioned not to overuse surveys and utilize them in an appropriate manner, i.e., in the right situations and for the right reasons.

This section also illustrates how surveys can be appropriately and effectively applied in various contexts such as organizational mergers and acquisitions, managing turnover, driving change, enhancing organizational quality and effectiveness, and adapting to the unique needs of diverse, global organizations.

Strengths
The collection has several strengths. First, the large volume of comprehensive essays is exhaustive. No detail has been overlooked or unexamined. It is also refreshing that each essay threads academic research throughout each of its guidelines, principles, and lessons learned. While Getting Action from Organizational Surveys is focused on hands-on application, the advice is grounded in academic research, a hallmark of the texts included in SIOP’s professional practice series.

Each essay does an exceptional job at translating dense organizational science into easy-to-understand guideposts that can be used to shape and inform practitioners’ decisions about translating survey insights into organizational results. These scholarly touchstones add validity to each essay's conclusions and recommended actions. This is definitely a best practice that should be modeled by other business texts. Also of merit are the case studies included in the third section. The real life organizational scenarios illustrate what the best in class are doing to turn survey results into action.

Limitations
Curiously, some of the pros of this book can also be limitations. The essays are extremely rich in both theory and praxis. Although this richness may be attractive to some readers such as professors and students, it may seem dense, overwhelming, and difficult to navigate to others such as industry practitioners. Indeed, this collection of essays is not a quick reference guide. At 600 pages, it is not intended for those looking for quick answers.

Instead, it is designed for a curious audience looking for a thoughtful and thorough analytic examination of the intricacies involved in survey data application. Instead of bulleted lists, this text offers detailed analyses of different facets of the said problem. For that reason, the book is not likely to easily hold the average reader’s interest.

It requires a great deal of focused concentration and patience to digest the complex material. Also, because of the obvious overlap between the issues presented in the collection of essays, there are some inevitable redundancies. Some readers, especially those who have limited time to deal with theoretical complexities, may wish this text we more shorter.

However, while a condensed version may prove more “user-friendly,” it would undoubtedly miss some of the nuances and intricacies. For this reason, this text as it stands may appeal more to an academic audience than an applied one.

Recommendation
Overall, Getting Action from Organizational Surveys offers great value in terms of instructional content. However, it does require a significant investment of time. The book is for individuals who want to be ahead of the curve regarding the next generation of thinking on organizational surveys.

The editor of the collection believes it offers “a fresh look at organizational surveys, in a way that builds on what we have learned in recent decades and uses our growing sophistication to build a new understanding of the power and use of surveys.” If you are one of these individuals, these essays are definitely worth the investment of your time and intellect.

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