Assessing Organizational Effectiveness

Systems Change, Adaptation, and Strategy

By Raymond F. Zammuto

Subjects: Organization Theory
Paperback : 9780873955539, 181 pages, June 1982
Hardcover : 9780873955522, 181 pages, June 1982
Out of print (Paperback)

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Table of contents

Preface

1. Performance and Legitimacy
Public Confidence in Societal Institutions
American Business and Public Confidence
Corporate Responses to Changing Public Preferences
Effectiveness and Legitimacy

2. Theory and Research on Organizational Effectiveness
The Element of Value in Effectiveness Theory and Research
"Whose Values" Approaches
"Value-Free" Approaches
"Multiple Values" Approaches
Meta Criteria and Social Legitimacy

3. An Evolutionary Model of Organizational Effectiveness
Evolutionary Process
Requisite Variety and Variety Matching
Constituent Preferences and Variety
Constraints and Niches
The Element of Time
The Evolutionary Meta Criterion

4. Case One: An Evaluation of Physician Extender Training Programs
Program Evaluation From a Managerial Perspective
Other Perspectives on Program Performance
Constraints on Performance
Program Evaluation and Organizational Effectiveness

5. Case Two: Managing Strategic Choice - The Automotive Industry During the 1979s
The Automotive Industry
Energy, Government Regulation, and the Imports
The Automakers' Responses to Strategic Change
Variety and Strategic Decision Making

6. Implications for Evaluation and Managerial Practice
Implications for Evaluative Research
Implications for Strategic Behavior

References
Index

Description

In this study, Raymond Zammuto has cast the concept of organizational effectiveness within the framework of societal evolution. He thus takes into account evolving needs, expectations, and environmental constraints and examines the continual process of becoming, rather than being, effective.

In this study, Raymond Zammuto has cast the concept of organizational effectiveness within the framework of societal evolution. He thus takes into account evolving needs, expectations, and environmental constraints and examines the continual process of becoming, rather than being, effective.

Raymond F. Zammuto is Senior Research Associate in the Organizational Studies Program, National Center for Higher Education Management Systems, Boulder, Colorado.