‘Organizational Linkages: Understanding tho Productivity Paradox (1984) iptv ng edinperoneD009045042hra 14 Hl copy 1884, 2060 The Ral Academy of Seles ih ese 184 + Roverrp, pearcuseo policy across levels are made clear. Where possible, they are resolved and a new, more congruent policy is developed. If agreement is not possible, at least people know where the disagreements are and why they exist. This seems to make it easier to cope with the conflict. ‘The process of developing the system also helps resolve conflicts Detween units that must coordinate with each other. When the system is developed, it becomes clear where objectives are not consistent. Ia the design and manufacturing units in the example above, it would be clear from an examination of each unit's products and indicators that the two units are evaluating themselves differently. It then becomes the responsibility of higher management to work with the two units to bring products and indicators more in line with the objectives of the broader organization. One way this can be done is for each unit to have its own products, indicators, and contingencies as usual, but to have additional indicators that are a function of the joint efforts of the coor- dinating units. In the example, the common measures could be time to complete the final prototype, number of changes in the original design, and number of prototypes needed. These measures can only be highly favorable when the two units work closely together in developing the new product. ‘These common measures would be added to the mea- surement system of each unit. If the two units want to look good on their measures, they must work together effectively. ProMES and Aggregation ‘The point has been made that one way of avoiding the productivity paradox is to aggregate only measures that are influenced by the same set of causal factors. The ProMES method- ology offers a way to do this through the percentage-of-maximum mea- sure, This is the index that is the unit’s actual overall effectiveness divided by the maximum possible effectiveness for that unit. It is a metric that is common across all types of units, no matter what work they are doing One could calculate the percentage of maximum for a variety of different units. The mean percentage of maximum across the units would be the overall index of how well personnel are performing the organization's work. TOWARD A COMPOSITION THEORY OF LINKAGES. ‘While it is important to decompose the productivity parades and suggest solutions for dealing with it, the larger objective must be kept in sight: Jearning about productivity linkages. ‘The paradox is only an example of the importance of studying and understanding linkages be- tween organizational subsystems. What is really needed is greater