Dearest colleagues, please herewith is a question I was asked in an interview that had me blabbing without arriving at any answer. Maybe u can help rectify d answer to it by injecting ur own view here. Thanks in advance as the question goes 'Differentiate between an effective and efficient staff; which one do u prefer to be in our firm'..i blanked really at dx..

digitalsimboja:
Dearest colleagues, please herewith is a question I was asked in an interview that had me blabbing without arriving at any answer. Maybe u can help rectify d answer to it by injecting ur own view here. Thanks in advance as the question goes 'Differentiate between an effective and efficient staff; which one do u prefer to be in our firm'..i blanked really at dx..

i will go for 'efficient' . Why? Because being an effective staff makes someone's capacity and capability concentrated in a section or department. A staff might be effective in adminstrative work while he won't be effective in finance. An effective staff is not flexible in terms of transfer of work. But an efficient staff is capable of doing different works, he is not effective in the adminstrative work alone but efficient enough to handle both adminstrative and financial work. He is efficient enough to perform very well under any given work condition. This would be my reply if I am being asked in an interview. Just my opinion

digitalsimboja:
Dearest colleagues, please herewith is a question I was asked in an interview that had me blabbing without arriving at any answer. Maybe u can help rectify d answer to it by injecting ur own view here. Thanks in advance as the question goes 'Differentiate between an effective and efficient staff; which one do u prefer to be in our firm'..i blanked really at dx..

You have to be both effective and efficient to get the job(s) done. In terms- Effectiveness is the ability to get the job done in the right way while efficiency is about being a reliable asset.
The job in hand (task) will require effectiveness to achieve the set goal, but in a rapidly changing business environment where market value, labour and capital demands are very dynamic, Efficient staffs will be assets in EFFECTING continuity and sustainable development of the firm.


If I was to answer that question I would say "I would be both effective and efficient in your company because I believe these competencies go together to assure excellence in the job. Effective staffs will help achieve short term goals, but efficient staffs will ensure long term goals are not compromised due to changes in the business.
Being both effective and efficient would help me work, learn and grow professionally by being an excellently reliable staff"

Depends on the interviewers body language, you should know when to stop talking and let him assimilate and understand what you've said.


This question test three or four things:
1. Listening skill: Does he understand and think before he responds?
2. Excellence: How will he stay excellent in the job?
3. Ambition: Is he after the short term or long term or both?
4. Orientation: does he know the difference between effectiveness and efficiency?


My view tho..other peeps might have superior arguments....

digitalsimboja:
Dearest colleagues, please herewith is a question I was asked in an interview that had me blabbing without arriving at any answer. Maybe u can help rectify d answer to it by injecting ur own view here. Thanks in advance as the question goes 'Differentiate between an effective and efficient staff; which one do u prefer to be in our firm'..i blanked really at dx..

Effectiveness in the world of management simply means doing the right thing while efficiency means doing things right.An employee is said to be effective when he or she often carry out tasks that are in alignment with the organizational or departmental goals while an efficient staff is a staff that seeks to perform assigned duties with the lowest possible cost.Hence, while effectiveness involves the understanding and achievement of set goals and objectives, efficiency on the other hand is concerned with how well resources are utilized to carry out assigned roles and responsibilities. A good employee must be both efficient and effective as the both terms are not mutually exclusive.

Note to job seekers:
In answering this kind of question, there are 3 paths to make the right impression
1.) Take some time to think about this and start by defining both terms ( if you really know them). Blabbing or waffling will give the opposite undesired impression. Then give real life examples of each attribute.
Thereafter, give the reason why you prefer one to the other
2) Tell the interviewer that it is desirable to have both attributes
3) Admit to little difference between the two terms but promise to research more into them

Someone is effective when he can get results. While efficient is making good use of resources to get those results.

Example GEJ empties our treasury paying middle men and contractors to fight Boko Haram in the end he defeats them, that's being effective. Results gotten.

But GMB avoids unnecessary expenses and instead uses our existing equipment and soldiers (after sacking the corrupt and cowardly ones) plus better intelligence analysis to defeat Boko Haram that's efficient. Results also gotten.

An efficient staff is better.

.. But at times though you have to settle for being only effective

From what I learnt in a management course I took a while back, Effectiveness is doing the right things while Efficiency is doing things right. Hope this helps

From what I learnt in a management course I took a while back, Effectiveness is doing the right things while Efficiency is doing things right but a staff should try asmuch as possible to be both. Hope this helps

@CHM11

I love the way you answered the question

digitalsimboja:
Dearest colleagues, please herewith is a question I was asked in an interview that had me blabbing without arriving at any answer. Maybe u can help rectify d answer to it by injecting ur own view here. Thanks in advance as the question goes 'Differentiate between an effective and efficient staff; which one do u prefer to be in our firm'..i blanked really at dx..

Were you mandated to choose one out of the two options? I want to believe you weren't.
Anyhow sha! If I am asked such question, seriously I would say both and defend myself.
Reason is because, if you're not effective in a job role you CAN NEVER be efficient. Also effective means good in the job role while efficient means result. So both goes together.

In a nut shell, if you're not good at leading a team, your team can never produce result or meet target.

Goodluck in your interview.

I love threads like this. Quite insightful. I have learnt something.

Ok

Now lets roll this way.Here is the difference.

You are asked to come to work by 7am everyday to complete a daily task of collating data. The job rule states that you must collate atleast fifty data everyday before you leave for home. If you go to work by 9am which is like 2 hours later than the original time, and still complete the collation of the fifty data task given to you, you are not efficient but effective because you lack the discipline of coming to work earlier.

Efficiency involves an individual meeting up with the demands and completing the task given to him/her at the right time, right date and right manner while effectively involves completing the task even if it was not done at the right time and right date or manner.

Furthermore, if you are asked to wear your safety gears before performing your daily task in a company and you ignore such command and still went ahead to complete the task without your safety gear, you have worked effectively but not efficiently. Efficiency deals with doing things in an organized manner as directed by your organization while the other measures your ability to complete the said task assigned to you.

I hope i tried in the explanation.

Eepa

digitalsimboja:
Dearest colleagues, please herewith is a question I was asked in an interview that had me blabbing without arriving at any answer. Maybe u can help rectify d answer to it by injecting ur own view here. Thanks in advance as the question goes 'Differentiate between an effective and efficient staff; which one do u prefer to be in our firm'..i blanked really at dx..

Simple question. You should know that the spellings of both words are different na. Thats a great difference.

Efficiency all the way

digitalsimboja:
Dearest colleagues, please herewith is a question I was asked in an interview that had me blabbing without arriving at any answer. Maybe u can help rectify d answer to it by injecting ur own view here. Thanks in advance as the question goes 'Differentiate between an effective and efficient staff; which one do u prefer to be in our firm'..i blanked really at dx..

No difference, You cant be efficient without being effective.

Accumulated Effectiveness = Efficiency

An efficient staff performs satisfactorily and meets set individual targets using minimal resources and time.
An effective staff simply meets his personal targets and perfoms satisfactorily

grinx.

Jokay07:
i will go for 'efficient' . Why? Because being an effective staff makes someone's capacity and capability in a section or department. A staff might be effective in adminstrative work while he won't be effective in finance. An effective staff is not flexible in terms of transfer of work. But an efficient staff is capable of doing different works, he is not effective in the adminstrative work alone but efficient enough to handle both adminstrative and financial work. He is efficient enough to perform very well under any given work condition. This would be my reply if I am being asked in an interview. Just my opinion

SMH

ok

Effective.....achievie organizational goals
Effiecient .......achieving organizations goal with little or no wastage of resource

So an Effiecient staff is the best...

both

Efficient does it

hahah

digitalsimboja:
Dearest colleagues, please herewith is a question I was asked in an interview that had me blabbing without arriving at any answer. Maybe u can help rectify d answer to it by injecting ur own view here. Thanks in advance as the question goes 'Differentiate between an effective and efficient staff; which one do u prefer to be in our firm'..i blanked really at dx..

hmm

An efficient staff is better..why?

Simple.

Effective means Getting it Done...(having an overall effect at the end of the day)
Efficient means Getting it done with minimal losses, mininal effort and resources.

In fact, in physics;

%Efficiency = [ (work output) ÷ (work input) ] * 100%



So...
Every Efficient staff is effective...but not every Effective staff is efficient

digitalsimboja:
Dearest colleagues, please herewith is a question I was asked in an interview that had me blabbing without arriving at any answer. Maybe u can help rectify d answer to it by injecting ur own view here. Thanks in advance as the question goes 'Differentiate between an effective and efficient staff; which one do u prefer to be in our firm'..i blanked really at dx..

The starting point is understanding the 2 terms in question. Effectiveness is doing something to the required standard while efficiency is getting more than the usual result.

E.g if the set time for producing a unit of product is 5 minutes. Effectiveness is the ability to produce 5 units(of the standard quality) within 25 minutes. While effeciency is the ability to produce more than 5 units of same quality within 25 minutes. So with this, I believes efficiency is a step above effectiveness.

Dis is not my business, my business now is how to stop the 169000 mentions I have received in 2 days

From Dictionary meaning:

EFFECTIVE - Having power to produce required effect(s)

EFFICIENT - Making good, thorough, or careful use of resources, not consuming extra. Especially not consuming time and energy

With the above definition, everyone would agree that being an efficient staff covers all areas of effectiveness and more.

This question is very technical, am impressed

Sorry those interviewers can be funny at times that's why you just have to be extra prepared. Read and practice on anything you can think of.

Efficiency above effectiveness...

quests it depends on d job in question

An effective fellow is one who does what is required
But an effecient fellow is one who is effective at d all time.was once asked same question at a training

I love this.