Coordination, efficiency, effectiveness and productivity

We’ve grouped coordination, efficiency, and productivity together here because good coordination increases efficiency and productivity.

Coordination

Coordination is about the timingof actions. One of the biggest jobs for a manager is to coordinate the actions of people and resources to get the best result.

Efficiency and effectiveness

So what’s the difference between the two? Efficiency is ‘doing things right’ and effectiveness is ‘doing the right things’. It is no use being efficient if you are producing the wrong things!

Efficiency is the relationship between outputs (benefits) and inputs (costs). Something is considered to be efficient when the output is great but the input is small. Efficiency is therefore about the best useof resources, including staff.

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Effectiveness is related to efficiency. Effectiveness means that the outputs (benefits) are worth the inputs (costs).

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Productivity

An efficient team is productive if it is doing the right things (being effective) and contributing to the results the owner wants.