Conceptualizations of Organizational Effectiveness: A Review of the Recent Literature with Recommendations for Equal Opportunity Climate Linkages
Abstract
The recent literature on organizational effectiveness was examined and summarized. Current models of organizational effectiveness include the goal model, system resource model, internal process maintenance model, decision process model, and legitimacy model. Each model is seen to have its own set of problems. New considerations in the literature that might be useful include dichotomizing public versus private sector approaches, attending to the type of stakeholder in the organization, emphasizing longitudinal changes, attending to the perceptions of newcomers and managers, viewing organizations as value systems, viewing effectiveness as paradox, and defining organizational effectiveness as the absence of ineffectiveness. The conclusion is that, unfortunately, there is still no globally accepted conceptualization of organizational effectiveness. Managers are advised to take an eclectic approach and choose those aspects of various theories that best fit their situation. Recommendations for applying these recent ideas to equal opportunity climate include measuring the extent to which the unit has gained the confidence of its stakeholder groups, defining effectiveness in part as the degree to which the well-being of its members operating in a equal opportunity climate is met, measuring the perceptions of junior enlisted and officer personnel who have the unique perspective on organizational socialization as a primary indicator of effectiveness, measuring perceptions of key persons in the unit, and viewing the military unit as a traditional-functional value system with equal opportunity as one of its core values.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1990
- Accession Number
- AD1059766
Entities
People
- Stephen B. Knouse
Organizations
- Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute