Plan Tools understands the issues that contribute to a planning or community development department's performance. An organizational effectiveness study can ultimately help inform an effort on the part of a municipality to comprehend the effectiveness of its planning or community development department and how it can be improved.
While there are models for evaluating organizational effectiveness, their application to community development functions is very limited. Adapting a process solely used for improving one departmental function (development review), Plan Tools has created a framework for evaluating the business effectiveness of a planning department as a system consisting of five components:
- Core Activities
- Organizational Structure
- Regulatory Framework
- Information Technology
- Physical Space
For each component, Plan Tools has established a set of criteria for determining findings that provide a significant level of credibility for basing study recommendations. The findings and recommendations presented in an organizational effectiveness study can be instrumental in advancing the strategic choices required to restructure a planning or community development department into a more viable arrangement that embodies core municipal values.
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