In order to have a proper communication about effectiveness in organizations, it is critical to understand what an effective organization actually is. If you look at the definition of effective at the top of the page, you will see a few different definitions from dictionary.com:

• Producing the intended result, or adequate to accomplish the purpose
• functioning or in force
• producing a vivid or striking image

Wikipedia defines organizational effectiveness as:

the concept of how effective an organization is in achieving the outcomes the organization intends to produce.

It is my belief that an effective organization is one that has a competitive advantage by accomplishing its intended outcomes and achieving its stated goals through delivering on its processes.

There are many moving parts that all need to come together in order to be an effective organization. Some of these parts include:

• Having clearly defined goals and mass understanding of those goals
• Hiring and developing employees who are fully engaged in their work
• Creating processes that are easily repeatable and accomplish their intentions
• Understanding by employees of how they contribute to an organization reach its goals and how it relates to effectiveness
• Properly structuring and designing the organization so that it contributes positively to being efficient and effective

These topics, along with leadership, group dynamics, talent management, organizational change, employee motivation and corporate culture, all play a vital role in an organization reaching its full potential – i.e. being an effective organization.