Business e-Book Collection September 2013 | Page 8

Improve your effectiveness
When looking at efficiencies, you should also be considering effectiveness. There
is no point in improving a process if the process isn’t the best one to be followed
to get the job done.
Effectiveness is about doing the right task – dictionary.com defines being effective
as being “adequate to accomplish a purpose, producing the intended or expected
result”.10
Each part of your business should be considered in the context of your vision for
your business, and how it aligns to not only the overall business, but also the other
parts.
It’s a little like a wagon wheel – each of the spokes needs to be balanced with the
others, and connected to both the rim on the outside and the hub in the middle. It
would make for a pretty bumpy ride if all of the parts weren’t working together!
So, what can you look for when examining operational effectiveness?
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Quantity of outputs
Quality of outputs
Work life quality for employees
Work effort and commitment (absenteeism, turnover)
Employee health and safety
Motivation
Organisational image
Citizenship behaviour
Goal and procedural consensus
Co-operation within and between units
Smooth work co-ordination
Adequacy and quality of information
Trust
Empowerment
Alignment of internal systems
Quantity of resources – human, financial, operational
Quality of resources
Ability to cope with external change and uncertainty11

As you can see, effectiveness takes many forms and covers every aspect of your
business. It may be a better use of your time and resources to get a professional in
to assess the effectiveness of your business.

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http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/effectiveness
http://www.citehr.com/18345-how-measure-effectiveness-od-programs.html