Organization Effectiveness...!!!

Organization Effectiveness

An effective organization is one that achieves its purpose by meeting the needs of its stakeholders, matching its resources to opportunities, adapting flexibility to environmental changes and creating a culture that promotes commitment, creativity, shared values and mutual trust. The improvement of organizational effectiveness is an overall objective of strategic HRM, which addresses the organization-wide process issues discussed in this

chapter relating to organizational development and transformation, culture management, knowledge management, change management, developing a climate of high commitment and trust, quality management, continuous improvement and customer relations. The last three of these areas are the special concern of front-line managers, but the HR function can provide

support and help in developing and implementing the required strategies. A holistic approach is required that provides the basis for integrated HR strategies in the main areas of resourcing and talent management, learning and development, performance management, reward and employee relations.

STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING ORGANIZATIONAL

EFFECTIVENESS

Strategies for improving organizational effectiveness will focus on developing processes that support the achievement of business goals and a positive culture. There are no universal prescriptions for the development of strategies. Some of the areas that might be considered are listed in the box, but these are generalities and would have to be turned into specifics in accordance with an assessment of the particular business environment and needs. Rosabeth Moss Kanter (1989) noted that corporations are being pushed in ever less bureaucratic and ever more entrepreneurial directions, cutting out unnecessary layers of the hierarchy and forging closer ties with employees. She emphasizes, however, that the pursuit of excellence has multiplied the number of demands on executives and managers and described this as the

‘Post-entrepreneurial corporation’. This represents ‘a triumph of process over structure’. She suggests that relationships and communication and the flexibility to combine resources are more important than the formal channels and reporting relationships represented in an organization chart: ‘What is important is not how responsibilities are divided but how people

can pull together to pursue new opportunities.’

Areas for developing organizational effectiveness

1. Clearly defined goals and strategies to accomplish them.
2. A value system that emphasizes performance, productivity quality, customer service, teamwork and flexibility.
3. Strong visionary leadership from the top.
4. A powerful management team.
5. A well-motivated, committed, skilled and flexible workforce.
6. Effective teamwork throughout the organization, with win/lose conflict well under control.
7. Continuous pressure to innovate and grow.
8. The ability to respond fast to opportunities and threats.
9. The capacity to manage, indeed thrive, on change.
10. A sound financial base and good systems for management accounting and cost control.

In Managing on the Edge, Richard Pascale (1990) suggested a new ‘paradigm’ for organizations in which they are:

·        placing increased emphasis on the ‘soft’ dimensions of style and shared values;

·        operating as networks rather than hierarchies;

·        moving from the status-driven view that managers think and workers do as they are told, to a belief in managers as ‘facilitators’ with workers empowered to initiate improvements and change;

·        placing less emphasis on vertical tasks within functional units and more on horizontal tasks and collaboration across units;

·        focusing less on content and the prescribed use of specific tools and techniques and more on ‘process’ and a holistic synthesis of techniques;

·        Changing the military command model to a commitment model.

Linda Gratton (2004) has proposed the following six tenets of the democratic enterprise:

1. The relationship between the organization and the individual is adult to adult.

2. Individuals are seen primarily as investors actively building and deploying their human capital.

3. Individuals are able to develop their natures and express their diverse qualities.

4. Individuals are able to participate in determining the nature of their association.

5. The liberty of some individuals is not at the expense of others.

6. Individuals have accountability and obligations both to themselves and to the organization.