RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CONSENSUS ON CRITERIA OF EFFECTIVENESS AND RATINGS OF EFFECTIVENESS: A STRATEGIC CONSTITUENT APPROACH

There are many individuals who affect or are affected by an organization. These individuals have different criteria of effectiveness for an organization. This research examined two issues pertaining to criteria which university members and constituents use in judging organizational effectiveness. First, what is the relationship between consensus on criteria of effectiveness and the rating of the organization\u27s effectiveness by a key constituent. And, second, how is information on constituent\u27s criteria of effectiveness utilized. The college department was the unit of analysis for this study. For the first question, criteria were identified which college deans, department chairs, and key faculty value relative to judging college department effectiveness. Consensus among these individuals on the criteria was determined. These measures of effectiveness were then correlated with the rating of the department\u27s effectiveness by the dean. For the second question, department chairs were surveyed to identify the department\u27s strategic constituents, the information obtained from these constituents, and how this information was used. There was no significant relationship between consensus and the department\u27s rating. The questionnaire to department chairs identified the department\u27s constituents, the evaluative information obtained from these constituents, and the perceived usefulness of this information. The study reconfirmed findings of authors in the area of organizational effectiveness. Organizational effectiveness is a complex construct in which criteria are diverse and not easily measured. The need to examine strategic constituent\u27s criteria of effectiveness and organizational performance was reaffirmed. Colleges do have a variety of constituents, very divergent information on effectiveness is obtained from these constituents, and department chairs value this information. This study served to initiate and reformulate thought relative to research and theory on organizational effectiveness. The majority of research on organizational effectiveness has examined the issue from the perspective of organization members. This study examined organizational effectiveness from the perspective of external constituents and thus filled a valuable function in the theory development process