This study was concerned with the identification of the concept of effectiveness in formal organizations and developing a better understanding of the conceptual and empirical domain of the organizational effectiveness construct. An effectiveness model was utilized in which organizational effectiveness was the dependent variable and various organizational characteristics were the independent variables. Data were obtained from three types of organizations. Regression as well as correlation analyses were performed across the organizations and two types of employees (supervisory and non-supervisory) for each of the organizations.

The results of this research can be summarized as follows: (1) selected organizational characteristics such as productivity, adaptability, and flexibility are closely related to organizational effectiveness, and (2) there were no significant differences in the emphases placed on the importance of the perceived selected organizational characteristics between the two types of employees or among the three organizations.

Implications of this study indicate that the organizational effectiveness construct is difficult to measure and compare it across organizations, because different organizations have different goals, needs, environment and other specific characteristics that are relevant to each organization.