Explain how ethical problems can arise when measuring organizational effectiveness,

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

• Many practitioners can testify that numbers and data can be produced to give the appearance of compliance to rules or to achieving organizational goals. The motivation to fudge data exist in practitioners if they are cynical about the value of attempts to evaluate their work, mistrust the evaluation process or evaluators, or fear that they will somehow be made to look bad or harmed in some manner as a result.
• Additionally, most experienced practitioners know better than most of us the complexity of their world and the gulf between official and operational goals. As a result they will doubt that they can be evaluated fairly. Hence, to protect themselves they may feel it necessary to manipulate data or the process to their benefit. Real or perceived competition among practitioners or supervisors if fostered through an evaluation process can also give rise to fudging data or altering reports.
• As a result, these issues must be addressed before the initiation of any formal effectiveness evolution is implemented. First, any evaluation process must be seen as making sense to those who will eventually be judged. Including the rank and file in designing planned effectiveness research can help in this regard as well as increase credibility toward the evaluators. Also, executives or evaluators need to set realistic goals by which to judge effectiveness. Being measured against unrealistic goals will justify falsifying data in the minds of many.
• Next, organizational members need to feel that heads are not going to roll and egos are not going to be bruised – at least badly - as a result of the process and outcomes. In addition, organizational members need to believe that they are being judged within their domain and the set of circumstances unique to the domains territories is being considered.