Efficiency And Effectiveness [Thread 140209]

Friends,
I understand all those are said above. But.....
Can an inefficient person be effective?
For example: How would we clarify a situation where in an uneducated technician comes up with smart technical solutions faster than the formally trained, educated... so called efficient technicians?
In some cases can't effectiveness come out without efficiency?

Hi

According to me EFFECTIVENESS OF PROCESS = Ability to achieve desired results and EFFICIENCY OF PROCESS = Results achieved vs resources used. Effectiveness is Qualitative and Efficiency is Quantitative.

Thanks
Pratibha

Well The difference in Effectiveness and Efficiency is the relation that "Quality" and "Quantity" have to each other.
Consider You are give 10 tasks to do, and you complete all the 10, but done in a very shabby manner = You are very efficient but not effective.

I think, efficiency is doing the right things only where as effectiveness is doing the right things at the right time too which produce the desired results. Hense one can be efficient but not effective where as an effective person is always efficient too.
Baiju

Hi shijit,
Efficiency is getting the most out of input. In put are resources which may be financial, time or people. In other words efficiency is a ratio of out put to input. So in order to increase efficiency we have to reduce the resource usage.
Effectiveness is measured in terms of the rightness of the product / service or whether the out put is acheived using the right method.We may be making the things efficiently (using least resources) but doing the wrong things then we are efficient but not effective.
Efficiency talks about resource usage where as effectiveness talks about goal attainment.
You are right that an effective person has to be efficient but not vice versa.
Hope this will be of some help
Regards
Mallianthan

Dear shijit, Happy new yr to your organization,
Every member in the forum has really given very definition on E & E. one more please....
suppose you have to board the train at 9 pm traveling an hour's journey and U have still done it U are efficient but if it is the wrong train than it is ineffective. means...
net result is zero. Efficiency is the CAUSE and Effectiveness is the EFFECT. Result oriented managers are EFFECT oriented.Hope I am clear.....

Hi Shijit,

Effectiveness = Achieving the intended result/goal

Efficiency = Inputs required to achieve the intended result

To evaluate effectiveness, the goal has to be set first without which all measurements will be vague.

Eg: Recruitment process: Manager to be recruited within 1 month time frame may be a goal. If the process is able to achieve the desired result of 1 month then we can say the recruitment process is effective else the process is ineffective.

Now comes efficiency which may be

1. Cost involved with this recruitment or 2. No. of hours spent by HR for this recruitment

Point No 1:

1. Associated cost may be limited to cost for the source of CV if the CV is from the job site. Cost may be different if a consultant was used for this recruitment. Cost will differ if you had to visit campuses for this recruitment.

2. Also how much effort has gone into this recruitment in terms of no. of hours by different people (HR round, Technical round,etc..). If number of candidates interviewed increase, cost involved in this recruitment will increase thereby reducing efficiency but to meet the effectiveness goal. So efficiency is always a comparative factor which will be measured as output/input where input will vary with the method adopted for recruitment.

In case of ineffectiveness, efficiency doesn't come into picture at all.

I hope this clarifies the definition. Feel free to contact me if you need more examples or explanation

Srini

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An effective job need not be efficient automatically. For example, you may produce an appointment letter correctly that meets all requirement of organisation, but you might have taken several days and several members of your organisation to correct it.
Efficiency reflects the amount of resources used to achieve the effective result. Yes there is no point in being "Effecient but Not Effective" That is like doing unnecessary thing correctly. One has to be first effective and then look at being efficient.
Hitting BULL'S EYE is being effective, number of bullets used to achieve this reflects efficiency.

Efficient means 'Able to do the things' and Effective means 'Result Oriented' for example, Sehwag is able to play 6 balls in a over without getting out is his efficiency in batting (though he hasn't scored a single run ) but hitting a run on every ball is 'EFFECTIVENESS' in batting.

Dear All,
Efficiency and effectiveness are two different things as quoted by Shijit, Efficiency means doing job rightly, however, effectivenes means doing the right job.
Efficeincy is related to way of doing things.
Effectiveness is related towards the way the targets are chosen to be achieved.
Both are different, and both are necessary to get a fruitful result. So, it is clear that an efficient person need not be always effective, also an effective person need not be always efficient.
Regards
Jyoti