Running Head: ENHANCING ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS
ENHANCING ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS WITHIN THE PROJECT
MANAGEMENT OFFICE FOR MEDIUM TACTICAL VEHICLES
MSA 600: Foundations of Research Methods in Administration
Submitted by:
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Project Instructor:
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March 29, 2018
ENHANCING ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS 2
Chapter 1
Introduction
Organizational effectiveness is the concept of how successful an organization is at
achieving the outcomes that organization intends to produce. In other words, does the
organization have the ability to take the steps needed to produce the desired effect vice taking
steps deemed unnecessary or detrimental? Organizational effectiveness is critical to an
organization’s success as success is defined by the achievement of those intended outcomes.
Although there are competing demands and contradictions when examining the proposed
values necessary for an organization to exhibit a high degree of effectiveness, some common
themes appear to exist. First, a clearly communicated strategy sets out a clear plan and structure
in terms of organizational hierarchy, mission statement, and goals. This strategy seeks to
improve productivity through its direction and defines how an organization executes and makes
decisions. Secondly, a positive culture, which encourages participation, discussion and
employee growth and engagement should exist. Organizational culture consists of the behavioral
trends of employees and the unwritten rules of conduct and behavior. Having a positive culture
which improves morale and achieves commitment increases an organization’s effectiveness.
Thirdly, leadership encourages an open dialogue to gain insight, innovation and adaptation as a
path towards external recognition, support, acquisition and growth. Leaders form strategies and
modify internal processes to achieve stability, control and continuity, and oversee decisions
within an organization. Fourth, an organization’s work processes and systems must be flexible
enough to deal with changing conditions. Effective organizations remain open to change.
Lastly, people contribute not only labor, but intellectual capital. People should be encouraged to
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collaborate and participate in order to increase employee engagement; ultimately people form the
backbone of any organization.
Organizational communications and employee engagement serves as a foundation for the
previously listed themes. An organizational strategy is clearly communicated, a culture and
leaderships style that encourages open communication and engagement, the flexibility needed to
deal with changing conditions, and people who collaborate. Effective communications and
employee engagement are essential for organizational effectiveness. Organizations that do not
excel in these two areas struggle to produce the organization’s desired effects.
Background of Problem/Situation
The Project Management Office for Medium Tactical Vehicles is responsible for
overseeing the life cycle management of the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV). Life
Cycle Management entails the implementation, management, and oversight of all activities
associated with acquiring, developing, producing, fielding, sustaining, and ultimately disposing
of vehicles within the FMTV program. The FMTV program itself is composed of fifteen
different variants of vehicles based on a common chassis with varied payload and mission
requirements. During the previous eighteen to twenty-four months, the office has seen a
decrease in organizational effectiveness as indicated by a duplication of efforts within the
organization, not achieving the support of external stakeholders, and instances of the
organization’s efforts not achieving the desired result.
Purpose of Study
The purpose of this study is to document strategies that will positively impact
communications and employee engagement. The findings may help organizational leaders
determine if employee-employer communication and employee engagement are contributing
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factors to organizational effectiveness and if so how may they be optimized to increase
effectiveness.
Questions to be answered/Objectives to be investigated
The research objective of this study is to identify techniques to increase organizational
effectiveness. The following research questions will be addressed in this study:
1) What management techniques can be used to improve organizational communications?
2) What management techniques are available to increase employee engagement?
Rationale and Theoretical framework
For this study we will use the competing values framework as the theoretical framework
with which to measure organizational effectiveness. This model incorporates theories ranging
from organizational hierarchy introduced in the early twentieth century to the notion of
teamwork as seen in Japanese organizations in the late twentieth century. Rather than dismissing
some approaches as dated or contradictory, the framework draws upon the advantages of each.
Robert Quinn’s competing values framework “integrates present findings on managerial
performance and past theories of organization into a multidimensional model” (Rogers, 1990, p.
395).
Definition of Terms
Employee engagement describes the extent to which employees think, feel, and act in
ways that represent high levels of commitment to their organization (Hogan Assessments &
Sirota, 2015)
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References
Hogan Assessments & Sirota, Sample Engagement Report (2015). The engaging leader report.
Retrieved from info.hoganassessments.com/hubfs/EL_Updated_8.28_A4.pdf
Rogers, P. S. (1990). Review 1 -- no title. Management Communication Quarterly : McQ (1986-1998),
3(3), 394. Retrieved from http://cmich.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-
com.cmich.idm.oclc.org/docview/232856103?accountid=10181
