Assessing the Effectiveness of an Organizational Subunit: A Reputational Approach.
Abstract
Integrating the concepts from the organizational effectiveness literature, the open systems theory, and Thompson's (1967) contingency assessment framework, a reputational approach is proposed for assessing the effectiveness of the human resource submit. Reputation is defined as the fulfillment of performance expectations from each constituency's unique perspective. This approach is especially meaningful for this subunit because of its interdependence with multiple clients and because of imperfect information on both its output standards and the transformation technology involved in some of its activities. The nature of reputational effectiveness among three constituencies (executives, managers, and non-management employees) and the conditions associated with it were examined using 150 resources subunits in three large organizations. The results show that the subunit did not have the same reputation with all the constituencies and that its effectiveness was associated with both strategic actions by the subunit and the condition of its constituency environment. Further, reputational effectiveness of the human resource subunit is related to several indices of organizational effectiveness. These results suggest that reputation could be enhanced by adopting certain strategic actions and by exploiting certain environmental conditions.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 31, 1986
- Accession Number
- ADA176278
Entities
People
- Anne S. Tsui