The differences between effectiveness and efficiency

Charles Channon

If 'effectiveness' is doing the right thing, and 'efficiency' is doing it the right way, why should the two be in conflict? The trouble is that efficiency ('getting more bang for your buck') is easier to measure, and can be made to seem the only measure; it is rational, functional and factual; but it can distort the true situation dangerously by being over-simplistic.

The differences between effectiveness and efficiency

Charles Channon

If effectiveness is doing the right thing, and efficiency is doing it the right way, why should the two be in conflict? The trouble is that efficiency ('getting more bang for your buck') is easier to measure – and can be made to seem the only measure. It is rational, functional, and factual – but not necessarily benign, because simplistic efficiency measures can so easily be abused – and can distort. The yawning gap between the two were highly visible at the Boston Anglo-American research leaders' seminar Last year.

Two 'guru'...

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