The Competing Values Model:

Redefining Organizational
Effectiveness and Change

Shahla Borjalilou
Sharif University of Technology
School of Management
 How to Organize?
• In the abstract , the question seems very straightforward.
In reality ,it is often the difficult one to answer or even to
discuss.

• Each of us tends to have unconscious values,that tell us

the “right” way to organize and manage.these values can
lead to much confusion.

• In every organization there are at least four general

perspectives on what “good” organizations are and what
“good” managers do. At the perceptual level these
perspectives are contradictory.
 Reframing the question
• The old question : what are the characteristics of effective
organization?
• many studies produced lists of variables that characterized
effective organizations . The problem was that these variables
differed from one study to another.

• The new question : how experts think about effective

organizations ?
• This would allow us to get to the assumptions behind the
studies and perhaps make sense of what was causing the
confusion.
 Competing Values Framework
• In a series of studies ( quinn and Rohrbaugh,1983) ,we
had organizational theorists and researchers make
judgments regarding the similarity or dissimilarity
between pairs of effectiveness criteria.

• The data were analyzed using the technique called

multidimensional scaling.

• Results of the analyses suggested that organizational

theorists and researchers share on implicit theoretical
framework or cognitive map.
The framework as the diagnostic tool

• The first task in this diagnosis was administration

of a questionnaire measuring the concepts in the
competing values framework. Scores from the
management team were averaged to create the
group profile of the organization’s orientation.

• The second task in the analysis involved using

this organizational profile to generate a list of
possible steps for future action.