SKIP TO SITE NAVIGATION | SWITCH TO GRAPHICAL VERSION
By Ken Blanchard
People have been arguing about this for years. Peter Drucker offers a helpful distinction. He says managers typically either "Do things right" or "Do the right things." Doing things right means efficiency - getting the most from your resources, whether they're people or products. Doing the right things means effectiveness - setting the right goals and objectives and then making sure they're accomplished.
Social scientist Rensis Likert, who had a booth called The Human Organization at an expo, added an important perspective when he pointed out that it takes a combination of organizational efficiency and enlightened leadership to produce effectiveness.
Don't concentrate too much on the distinctions between the two words however. What's important is to determine what your own needs (or your company's needs) are, create categories for them, work to accomplish them, and then set up systems to measure your progress.
It's true that effectiveness and efficiency should be measured in this process, but we believe there are other, equally important things that need to be valued and, therefore, evaluated. They are:
So, to answer your question, efficiency and effectiveness are both important, but they're just two of the things on which you should be focusing.
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