How Can Managers Use O.I. To Improve Performance?
This work is still at an early stage, and so we are continuing to interview scholars and managers to improve our understanding of O.I., to refine methods for measuring it and explore the causal relationships involved. We're not yet ready to provide O.I.Q. scores for individual companies.
But it is clear already that measuring each of the components of O.I.Q. can determine the relative contribution of each to performance. From this we can gather a detailed analysis determining which systems are strong or weak. A low O.I.Q. could be traced to some particular problem, such as a hierarchical structure, suggesting precise improvements that could be made to raise O.I. and improve performance. The subsystems making up O.I. are relatively fixed, but unlike I.Q., O.I.Q. can be improved if managers will devote time, resources and effort to restructure them.
Obviously, there are limits to any measurement system, and all ratings can be misused if one does not bear these limitations in mind. However, we believe the ability to study O.I. may become as important as our present ability to study human intelligence.