Approaches to the Study of Organizational Effectiveness

Approaches to the Study of Organizational Effectiveness:

There are several competing approaches to the study of organizational effectiveness. But there is hardly any agreement as to which constitutes the correct approach to judge and measure the organizational effectiveness of the organization.

Murford and his associates identify three approaches to the study of organizational effectiveness:

• Formal Goal Approach.
• System Resource Approach.
• Systems Approach.

As the terms indicate, the first one analyzes organizational effectiveness in terms of the degree to which the organization is in a position to secure its formal goals, the second one advocates the review of the resources used for securing goals, and the third one seeks to analyze it in terms of its operation as a system and its stability.

Perron identifies the following variables for analyzing organizational effectiveness:

(1) Social Goals- Society has certain expectations from the organizations operating in it. It expects better production and distribution of goods and services, social responsibility, maintenance of norms and values, etc. from them. The extent to which an organization is in a position to secure these expectations forms the basis for analyzing the effectiveness of the organization.

(2) Output Goals- Different sections of the people, particularly the consumer groups in society, expect different goals and services from the organization. Hence each group presses for the production of particular goods and services by the organization. In other words, organizational effectiveness can be analyzed in terms of the success with which the outputs or operation goals for the organization are attained.

(3) System Goals- The analysis of organizational effectiveness involves the evaluation of the degree of attainment of systemic goals. In this respect, the emphasis is on the evaluation of the growth, stability, and productivity of the organization.

(4) Product Goals- Product goals refer to characteristics such as quality, quantity, range, and variety of the goods and services delivered by the organization. It is also an essential value for the evaluation of the effectiveness of the organization.

(5) Derived Goals- Derived goals refer to the use of power and other resources of the organization in the process of accomplishing purposes other than its goals.

Several other scholars like Warren Bennes and Basil Georgopoulous advocate the analysis of organizational effectiveness in terms of adaptability and productivity. The former holds that adaptability in changing environment is the criteria for judging organizational effectiveness. On the other hand, Basil Georgopoulous views productivity in terms of ‘more output’ as the criteria for evaluating organizational effectiveness. To these variables, John Child wishes to add the factor of growth. He holds that organizational growth can be a variable for the evaluation of the effectiveness of the organization.

All these views reflect that different scholars advocate different criteria for analyzing the effectiveness of an organization and there is a lack of agreement among them. We can use their views for evaluating organizational effectiveness but we cannot accept any particular view as a totally valid view. Several writers, therefore, suggest a review of the possible determinants of organizational effectiveness.