Scientific Allegiance

Allegiance to the behavioral sciences, and particularly the field of industrial and organizational psychology, is a hallmark of our practice. Anyone can call themselves a consultant and many do, regardless of their academic or experiential qualifications. We consider it important not only to be continuous learners, but also contributors to the growing body of organizational science. Below are summaries of various contributions Jack Wiley has made to both the scientific and practitioner literature:

Strategic Employee Surveys: Evidence-based Guidelines for Driving Organizational Success

This book is a best practice guide to conducting employee surveys that can drive genuine organizational success.

With many real life examples and practical guidance, this book is divided into two clear parts:

  • Part One shows how a survey can achieve different objectives and how clarity of survey purpose is critical to success. It includes the Strategic Employee Survey Framework.
  • Part Two outlines the most effective process for moving from employee survey results to monitoring the success of corrective actions. It includes the Survey Feedback Organization Development Framework designed to maximize return on investment in employee survey systems.
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RESPECT: Delivering Results by Giving Employees What They Really Want

This book summarizes 25 years’ worth of research into what employees most want from their employer.

In their own words, employees from around the world indicated that the seven things they most want are: recognition, exciting work, security of employment, pay levels that are fair, education and career growth opportunities, condition at work that promote teamwork but show no tolerance for discrimination and bias, and finally, to be told the truth.

These seven factors form RESPECT. But the research does not stop there. Scores on a specially designed RESPECT index were obtained from over 200 companies worldwide and correlated with various measure of business success. The second step of this massive research undertaking demonstrated that those organizations that best meet employee needs achieve superior business results.

An array of tested and proven recommendations for how to build more “respectful” organizations is provided.

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Developing and validating a global model of employee engagement

Wiley, J. W., Kowske, B. J., & Herman, A. E. (2010). In S. Albrecht (Ed.), The handbook of employee engagement (pp. 351-363). London: Edward Elgar.

This chapter defines employee engagement and provides a survey research-based identification of engagement drivers for each of 12 countries and globally. Using the technique of linkage research, this chapter also provides evidence that employee engagement is related to organizational business success. 

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Using linkage research to drive high performance: A case study in organization development

Wiley, J. W., & Campbell, B. H. (2006). In A. Kraut (Ed.), Getting action from organizational surveys: New concepts, technologies, and applications (pp. 150-180). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

This chapter is based on a client case study from the financial services industry and demonstrates how linkage research can be used as the platform for high impact survey feedback organization development. Linkage research results are used to prioritize themes for follow-up from an employee survey. Individual and group interview techniques are used to clarify employee survey results and to identify appropriate corrective actions.

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The impact of corporate downsizing on employee fulfillment and organizational capability

Wiley, J. W., Brooks, S. M., & Hause, E. L. (2003). In K. P. DeMeuse & M. L. Marks (Eds.), Resizing the organization, managing layoffs, divestures, and closings (pp. 108-130). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

This chapter summarizes various models of organizational effectiveness and uses WorkTrends data to demonstrate the impact of corporate downsizing actions on employee engagement and confidence in the organization’s future performance. Specific recommendations are provided for how top leaders should communicate before, during and after downsizing initiatives.

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Linking survey results to customer satisfaction and business performance

Wiley, J. W. (1996). In A. Kraut (Ed.), Organizational surveys: Tools for assessment and change (pp.330-359). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

This chapter provides the first-ever literature review of the emerging domain of linkage research. From the studies reviewed, a linkage research model is developed that summarizes the currently existing linkage research. A case study from the financial services industry provides support for the emergent model. The chapter describes how properly designed employee surveys can serve as a diagnostic tool that predicts organizational performance.

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Inspire, Respect, Reward: re-framing leadership assessment and development

Wiley, J. W., & Francis, L. (2014) Strategic HR Review, 13(6), 221-226.  

Describes how a major financial services organization used the results of an independent research project to alter its approach to leadership assessment and development.

Using employee opinions about organizational performance to enhance employee engagement surveys: model building and validation

Wiley, J. W. (2014) People and Strategy, 36 (4), 38-49.  
Summarizes recent employee engagement and performance excellence literature; outlines the process for integrating these two constructs into a cohesive model; demonstrates the model’s validity using linkage research data from 200+ organizations; provides an illustrative client case study.

Achieving change through a best practice employee survey

Wiley, J. W. (2012), Strategic HR Review, 11(5), 265 - 271.
Summarizes research in 31 companies globally on the challenges with implementing survey follow-up practices; offers solutions for achieving measurable improvements via the employee survey technique.

Giving employees what they want can provide employers with what they want

Wiley, J. W. (2012). Employment Relations Today, 39(1), 45-53.

Summarizes what employees most want from their employer and how organizations that display these values outshine their competition in terms of employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and financial performance.  

Disciplined action planning drives employee engagement

Wiley, J. W., & Legge, M. (2006). Human Resource Planning, 29(4), 8-12.
Uses a long-term client case study to demonstrate proper methods for using survey feedback organizational development techniques to achieve measurable improvement in employee opinions.

First 3 professional practice articles listed on website