‘Organizational Linkages: Understanding tho Productivity Paradox (1984) iptv ng edioperoneDO09045042hra 1 Ml py 1884, 2060 The Ral Academy of Seles igh ese Decomposing the Productivity Linkages Paradox Robert D. Pritchard ‘The productivity paradox can be stated as follows: How can im- provements in performance that occur at one level of analysis seem to disappear when performance is measured at broader levels of analysis? ‘Many interventions developed by behavioral science and the more technological disciplines are geared to improving the performance of individuals and groups. Those disciplines have frequently been satis- fied with claiming success for an intervention when it can be shown, that measures of the performance of the users have improved. Thus, if a group-based intervention shows that group output has improved, the claim is made that the intervention will help organizations function better. The assumption is that if the group performs better, the organi- zation will funetion better. ‘The productivity paradox calls this assumption into question. In- deed, it calls into question the very foundation of much of the work done to improve organizational functioning. Typically, the ultimate justification for work in such areas as personnel selection, training, equip- ‘ment design, motivation, task design, group structure, and feedback systems is that it will help the organization function better. The para- dox suggests the possibility that “successful” interventions ean actu- ally have no effect. on organizational funetioning in that the positive effects of the intervention are somehow being absorbed or negated some- where in the organization, ‘The panel's focus on organizational linkages is based on the premise 161