The Concept of Efficiency

3687 Words15 Pages
The Concept of Efficiency

This article aims to give an analysis of the concept of efficiency. The importance of such an analysis lies in the fact that the role which efficiency plays in different sectors of our society leads to opposite evaluations resulting in a clash of opinions concerning this role. In order to clarify this situation, I first trace the historical roots of the concept. This brief historical reconnaissance shows that ‘efficiency’ is not a unitary concept. Moreover, I also argue that our use of the concept of efficiency presupposes the decisions which we make with regard to the kinds of costs we recognize. Such decisions do not come out of the blue; they relate to the opposite evaluations of efficiency mentioned above. The decisions concerning what we consider to be costly determine in part the actual content of the concept of efficiency. I argue that this content must be in harmony with the meaning of the different practices in which we are engaged, otherwise this concept can easily lead us astray. Therefore, a proper use of the concept of efficiency demands a clear and reliable view of these meanings.

1. Introduction

Efficiency is a concept widely used by economists, engineers, organization theorists, consultants, politicians, managers and others. It figures large in the many vocabularies that abound in the world today and it seems that 'efficiency' is one of the focuses of Western culture.

Efficiency has met with enthousiasm as well as critique. An early advocate of efficiency is Frederick Taylor (1911). (1) Shortly after, John Dewey made critical remarks on scientific management but considered efficiency to be a "servant of freedom" (Middle Works, Vol. 10, p. 119). Kotarbinsky (1968) defended e...

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R.Heilbroner An Inquiry into the Human Prospect. New York 1974.

———Business Civilization in Decline. New York 1977.

———Behind the Veil of Economics. New York 1988.

T.Hobbes The English Works of Thomas Hobbes, Vol.3. Aalen 1962, repr.London 1839-1845.

F.Klemm A History of Western Technology. New York 1959.

T.Kotarbinsky Praxiology. An Introduction to the Sciences of Efficient Action. Oxford 1968.

G.W.Leibniz Sämtliche Schriften und Briefe. Erste Reihe. Berlin 1950.

J.St.Mill Complete Works, Vol. II, III. London 1968.

H.Mintzberg Mintzberg on Management. New York 1990.

H.Simon Administrative Behavior. New York 19763. Reason in Human Affairs. New York 1983.

R.C.Solomon Ethics and Excellence. Oxford 1993.

F.W. Taylor The Principles of Scientific Management.19111, New York 1967.

Xenophon Memorabilia and Oeconomicus. London 1923.
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