stocks, Fidelity, organizations, business, psychology, personal finance, investment research, etrade, MSN
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 Consulting
Psychonomics provides consulting in a variety of business, industrial, management and behavioral finance areas. Yet, whatever the situation or problem,
our approach is to help businesses and organizations succeed by showing how necessary changes that
underlie future development, or a change in thinking, can be made.
Just because something has 'always been done that way' doesn't mean it has to continue being done that way.
Nevertheless, when we talk about change or development, it can apply to both small organizational needs, such as a minor policy change, or large organizational needs, such as a change
in corporate culture. At Psychonomics we are experienced in working with all kinds of needs, so ensuring that the required intervention is the correct one, will have the desired effect,
and fits in with the organization's business strategy.
Consulting for organizational development often involves identifying and developing the talent of people.
The process to accomplish this, as well as finding out what needs to be done to facilitate change, begins by building an informal yet professional relationship with our client. In particular, we build strong links with senior executives.
This allows us the opportunity to listen and to compose a picture of the real situation. We are then able to base our interventions on client's primary needs and overall business objectives.
As the relationship becomes established, there are several stages to the consulting process, the main focus of which will vary depending on the need:
1. Assessment |
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We determine the current state of the organization, what its goals are, the specific problem being experienced (eg. a need to hire specialist staff, absenteeism, quality improvement concerns), what functional, structural or managerial changes need to take place, what skills are lacking, what competencies, skills and abilities of key employees there are, and whether these existing skills can meet objectives - often, despite its apparent obviousness, any mismatch between the skill base and business objectives is a vital component of an inability to achieve organizational effectiveness.
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2. Design
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Based on the information gained, we determine a course of action and design an appropriate intervention. This includes the development of job specifications, competency frameworks for determining key organizational strengths of employees, survey and questionnaire formulation for a variety of areas, assessment and development center design, recruitment and selection system design, training, workshop and seminar formulation, feedback mechanisms for elicitation of information and, where necessary, anonymous staff reporting systems.
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3. Implementation |
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During this stage we seek not only to implement our chosen course of action but also
to improve current organizational performance. In partnership with clients we support the
delivery of processes, tools and events. Processes include 360 degree feedback, appraisal and
performance review systems. Tools include computer based performance reviews, questionnaires,
surveys and databanks of development resources linked to specific competencies. Events include
experiential learning in workshops that simulate a 'day-in-the-life' of a job and
non-assessment based workshops where individuals reflect on their skills, interests and
organizational issues in group
and one-to-one sessions.
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4. Evaluation
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The evaluation process starts with statistical and non-statistical analysis of the data we collect. This is then reviewed together with our client. Based on initial discussions, any reporting, verbal or documented, is also customized to client needs for individuals, teams or the organization as a whole. Throughout, when we communicate our findings, we provide support in interpreting its meaning and on how to move forward with any proposed development plans, as well as its potential impact on the business or organization.
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Business objectives, strategic plans, organizational structures or short-term targets mean
little unless they are internalized by people and influence their behavior. We believe many organizations
pay lip service to the importance of people but often engage in activities which will have
little effect because the people component is missing. Changing organizational structure or putting into place a new strategic plan can give the illusion of progress but achieve nothing if people are not touched. Throughout the consulting process, we help businesses understand how to change the way people actually operate, think, and behave.
In the area of behavioral finance and investment psychology, our work is
not concerned with employees but with financial data and how the market behavior of investors
needs to be interpreted and used. Nevertheless, the consulting process is similar, proceeding through the major stages - assessment, design, implementation, evaluation -
but this is a far more data driven consulting process where each stage differs in content from that of the process for organizational development. It is also fundementally a research process. More information can be found about this here.
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