‘Organizational Linkages: Understanding tho Productivity Paradox (1984) iptv np edioperonesDO09045043hra 18 Hl copy 1684, 2060 The Ral Araseny of Seles igh ese 158 +b, soory sim AND OBORGE L. SMITH, sures, and (3) measurement-driven suboptimization poses a significant threat to organizational productivity. Further, we believe that (1) a common set of measures cannot be used to assess and compare perfor- ‘mance and productivity at all levels of the organization; (2) a particu- Jar system of measurement cannot serve the organization’s needs in- definitely; and (3) total system performance cannot be deduced from measures of individual performance. ‘Researchers and practitioners should rethink and eventually abandon the strategy of measuring, rewarding, and attempting to maximize the “productivity” of virtually all individuals and production subsystems. Rather, productivity drivers should be pinpointed and useful portrayal mechanisms introduced to ensure that managers and practitioners ac- complish the desired end of world-class organizational productivity. ‘The next steps to be taken include the following: + Investigate whether potentially useful interventions are being forgone as a result of the productivity paradox, ‘+ Determine if the reluctance to make performance improvement interventions is due to lack of information. If s0, concentrate on evalu- ating candidate performance improvement interventions from a sys- tems perspective. * Model organizational! linkages and analyze the productivity para- dox for a selected set of specific examples in an effort to generate tan- gible theories about cause-and-effect relationships and frame the prob- Jem in a manner susceptible to solution. The paradox of unrealized productivity improvements from IT in- terventions seems to us an example of incomplete systems thinking and failure to understand the nature of linkages at the individual, group, and organizational levels. Questions that need to be answered include the following: + At which level would one expect performance to improve as result of TT or any other productivity improvement initiative? * Which aspects of organizational performance will be quantifi- able and which will require qualitative assessments? ‘+ Towhat extent have researchers and practitioners clarified what they now versus what they believe or feel about cause-and-offect relax tionships as they evaluate the linkage issue? ‘These are central questions that have been stimulated by a systems