If there was a choice presented to me to hire an efficient or an effective manager (with the condition that I am not allowed to choose one who is both efficient and effective) – I shall reject the efficient and choose the effective…. Want to know, why? Read on…
As a manager, you must be effective first and then efficient. Before I explain the meaning of these terms, let me give you few examples. John, the Production Manager at a bakery in Nasik, is busy rolling out buns even though he has the pressure of dispatching bread loaves against an order which is already delayed. Then, there is the example of Priyanka, a young entrepreneur managing her popular boutique in South Mumbai. She is busy with production planning for the next quarter while there are 7 serious customer complaints pending for over last 4 days. Even a routine E-mail has not been sent to these customers acknowledging their concerns! Finally, think of this example— a young student called Rohan has his accountancy examination tomorrow morning but he is putting his efforts on improving his English vocabulary. He believes that good English is necessary for his professional future.
None of the protagonists in the above examples (John, Priyanka, or Rohan) are wrong. They are faced with multiple urgent tasks to do. All of them are intelligent, hardworking, efficient, and sincere professionals. They are also focused towards their goals. But then the way they fix their priorities at any point of time is certainly wrong.
If I were to properly advise them – John should have been rolling bread loaves and not buns. Priyanka’s priority should have been attending to customer complaints first and doing production planning later and Rohan should have given preference to preparing for his tomorrow’s examination rather than focusing on improving his English vocabulary.
Now, let me get back to the terms I introduced earlier – effective and efficient. Being effective means that you clearly know what is necessary and important for you to do at any time. However, being efficient means working in the right manner so that you complete the work using minimum resources. In fact, efficiency has to do with economizing on resources and/or to bring down the cost of production or the cost of doing work in any manner whatsoever – like minimizing resources, improving production cycle, reducing down-time, cutting wastages and pilferages to a minimum.
Therefore, I urge you to always remember:
“While effectiveness is doing the right things, efficiency means doing things in the right manner.”
By the way, this is the bookish definition of these two extremely powerful words in business management commonly found in most management textbooks. However, this choice continues to perplex accomplished professionals and students alike!
Wow sir, this article is really informative!
Thanks Sriansh….
Sir very nicely explained the difference good information
Thank you Bhanumati. I am glad that liked the article.
Great article Sir. Insightful and informative.
Thank You for sharing
Divyanshu…
Thank you for your comments. You have a good reading choice…
I appreciate your thoughts and how you put them into words. All the best sir, keep it going.
I thank you for the nice comment….
Thank you for enlightening me about how important it is to be effective rather than just efficient with these simple yet effective examples;)
Keep writing!?
I am happy that you liked the article….thank you so so much….
Sometimes the most simple words are the most powerful. Thank you so much for sharing.
Thank you Jyoti…I am happy that you are following my blog and giving attention so every article….Great going….
Very interesting, a good one, and thanks for sharing such a good blog.
Thank you Snehal Chowdhary….Keep reading and giving me your good back…
Its an amazing writeup and very informative.
Thank you Tanya Sinha…
Such wonderful things explained in simple words ..!!! Really loved it sir.
Good choice of article…..thank you Sonali…
Very informative article Sir
Quiet thoughtful !!! Perfectly explained the thin line between “being effective” and “being efficient”. Liked the way how you related both of them to very simple real life examples which we as humans often fail to realize. Liked the way you articulated and presented the thoughts in simple words. Keep going and keep enlightening us.. !! 🙂
Thank you Harshal ….your comment has been very well articulated by you….
Perfection in everything you is what we always expect from you and would definitely try to be effective with efficiency.
Good, thanks!
An insightful, informative and interesting read. Keep helping us to keep learning through your words of wisdom and knowledge. Best wishes!
Thank you very much, Sayali…
Insightful, a good read!
Thanks dear Aviral….
Thank you, Aviral..
Reading such blogs always leaves you with a fresh perspective. Thank you for sharing your insights, Sir!
I am glad that you liked it and share the perspective presented there in…Thank you Diksha.
What a masterpiece,sir.
Thank you very much for your appreciation, Sneha..
Great work sir
#motivated
#keep going
Thank you for your good comment…
Srinath..
I remember you taking a class on efficiency and effectiveness and it’s one of those lectures that has stayed with me even now. All the examples you used made these two strong words so easy to learn.
Thankyou for telling us what’s important!
Two simple words having very thin line of difference but you explained with so much clarity.It reflects your years of experience .looking forward to more of such interesting topics.
Thank you for sharing the difference between the two. Very helpful 🙂
Happy to learn that you liked it…..thank you.
Very insightful post.
Thank you Ma’am…
This post was an easy way to understand the concept, thank you sir
I totally agree.. you have given a great perspective sir.