A Systems Model for Organizational Effectiveness

Organizational Effectiveness reflects the internal functioning of an enterprise: the commitment to goals, objectives and ethical standards, the efficiencies of practices and processes, and the seamless flow of work and information.

Mainsail Associates, Inc. encourages the use of a systems model for planning and designing strategies and/or interventions to improve the effectiveness of an organization or its component parts.

At the center of the model is the objective, an articulation of the performance patterns or level of effectiveness necessary for the business to achieve its goals and objectives. Sometimes these exist; often they need to be stated in appropriate behavioral terms to help guide employee performance.

Direction, facilitation and support for the desired outcomes are provided, respectively, by the systems model components identified as LEADERSHIP, STRUCTURE and SUPPORT.

LEADERSHIP elements and activities include:

• Communicating a vision
• Communicating performance expectations via word and deed ("walking the talk")
• Educating employees about the business equation (market constraints, competition, cash flow, inventory costs, etc.)
• Ensuring clear goals at all levels.
• Sharing any other information that would help employees make appropriate decisions about how they use their time and resources.

STRUCTURE elements include:

• Organization design (reporting levels and layers, linkages between components, etc.)
• Team structures and configurations
• Process re-engineering activities
• Policies regarding delegated authority and decision making.
• Aligning structure so that it facilitates the desired performance patterns

SUPPORT includes subsystems such as:

• Performance management
• Compensation
• Staffing
• Training and Development
• Recognition plans
• Information systems and, in particular, employee access to them

Clearly, when the basis of reward, recognition and achievement is inconsistent or incompatible with the desired patterns of performance, employees get a mixed message.

To establish and sustain a desired pattern of performance, it takes a combination of LEADERSHIP, STRUCTURE and SUPPORT. All three must work in concert.

• You cannot, nor do you have to, do everything at once, but initial steps must involve LEADERSHIP, STRUCTURE and SUPPORT.
• There needs to be a reasonable alignment of LEADERSHIP, STRUCTURE and SUPPORT. Too much attention to one, or too little attention to another, can have a disconcerting effect on the work force and thus impede progress.

The whole process of moving toward the desired state of organizational effectiveness is like progressing up an organizational learning curve. At first the desired performance patterns must be nurtured and encouraged, then given an opportunity to get well established, and finally, modified and honed on an on-going basis to meet changing demands of the business.