Organizational Effectiveness: An Empirical Comparision of the Goal and System Resource Approaches

Abstract

The goal and system resource approaches represent alternative conceptions of organizational effectiveness. The goal approach views effectiveness in terms of internal organizational objectives and performance. Organization‐environment relations are the focus of the system resource approach, though previous applications of this perspective have been limited to profit‐making organizations. This paper reconceptualizes the system resource approach for use in public agencies and examines the flow of organizational resources as an indicator of effectiveness. Goal approach indicators are matched with system resource measures in examining the convergence and consistency of the two approaches. The convergence of effectiveness measures is examined by observing the correlations between themselves and four organizational decision making variables that had previously been shown to be associated with effectiveness. An examination of the data collected through interviews with representatives of 110 public agencies reveals some consistency but no convergence between the two approaches.

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“…It is ironic, therefore, that no concrete definition of organizational effectiveness has yet emerged and that there is general lack of agreement as to the proper approach for assessing effectiveness (Cameron, 1978;. Debates about which definition is best continue in the literature (Molnar and Rogers, 1976;Price, 1972), and some writers have become so discouraged with the ambiguity of the concept of organizational effectiveness that they suggest dropping it from the academic vernacular altogether (Goodman, 1979;Hannan and Freeman, 1977;D. Baugher 1981).…”

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“…These various approaches reflect the differing approaches to the analysis of organizations and to conceptual definitions of effectiveness (Steers 1975;Cameron and Whetten 1983). One of these, the goal approach, focuses on performance vis-a-vis objecDownloaded by [New York University] at 10:54 14 May 2015 tives (Molnar and Rogers 1976) and requires clear task specification and criterion measures of the extent to which goals are being met (Campbell 1977;Van de Ven 1980). Price (1972) contends that assessment should be based on "intentions" (i.e., what the organization is trying to do) vis-a-vis "activities" (i.e., what the organization is actually observed doing).…”