Worldwide Norms

Why Use Comparative Norms?

One of the first questions often asked after reviewing survey results is, "How do we compare with other companies?" In today's global economy, executives who are responsible for the success of an organization need to know how they compare with other organizations throughout the world. Without a frame of reference or a relevant comparison, a score of 5.4 on a 7-point scale or a 60 percent favorable response holds little meaning.

Normative data provides the comparison to relevant groups from around the world, which is tremendously helpful to leaders vying to stay ahead in their industry. Foresight Survey Support International has surveyed over 1.5 million people around the globe. Because of our unique worldwide data collection, we can offer you norms to which you can compare your results.

NORMS BY INDUSTRY

Normative data are available by major industry categories. Available industry-group normative data includes:

Energy
Engineering/Aerospace
Entertainment/Hospitality
Financial Services/Banking
Manufacturing
Retail
Service
Telephone/Telecommunications

NORMS BY DEMOGRAPHIC GROUPS

Normative data are also available by major demographic profiles. By comparing demographic groups such as senior managers or long-service employees, you can spot trends in your survey data that may flag opportunities for improvement.

Job Type

Hourly
Technical
Administration/Support
Professional/Non Supervisory

Lower Management
Middle Management
Senior Management

Tenure/Length of Service

Less than 1 year
1 - 5 years
6 - 10 years

11 - 15 years
16 - 20 years
21+ years

Gender	Union Status
Male Female	Union Non Union

Functions/Departments

Customer Support
Engineering/Research and Development
Facilities/Maintenance
Finance/Accounting
Human Resources/Training
Manufacturing/Production
Quality
Sales/Service/Marketing

Region/Country

High Performance

Organizations that have displayed excellent growth, financial return and brand performance are considered "high performance" organizations. Norms of this type allow you to see how your organization compares with the most respected companies.

Transformational

Organizations which are in the midst of dramatic change from a merger, acquisition, new senior management, etc., are considered "transformational" organizations. Norms of this type allow you to compare your organization to other organizations experiencing major change.

SAMPLE NORMATIVE DATA

The following charts demonstrate how normative data can be used to gain a better understanding of survey issues across demographic populations. As you can see, employees in Thailand, India and the Philippines feel more valued than employees in Japan, the United Kingdom and France. Employees in Thailand, Brazil and the Philippines are more satisfied with the companies they work for than employees in Germany, France and Japan. When viewing surveys by country, you can see if your scores are high or low compared to others who work in the same part of the world. This helps to "normalize" the data and to provide a frame of reference for understanding cultural differences.

How to obtain normative data for your survey.
How to participate in the worldwide normative benchmarking group.
How to obtain a copy of the 2002 Worldwide Norm Report.