In your own opinion, what is the difference between effective and efficiency?

There are many differences between effective and efficiency.

Effective means producing or capable of producing an intended result, or having a striking effect. At the same time, effectiveness relates to reaching goals instead of the efficiency of work. Being efficient means producing results with little wasted effort while being effective means producing powerful effects. It's the ability to carry out actions quickly. Effectiveness allows you to accomplish the worthwhile goals you've chosen.

In total, effectiveness pertains to how well the task was done, and efficiency speaks on the speed it took.

An action is effective when it was able to achive the end result and it's effeciency talks more of how it was done. I will use a simple analogy to bring out my point. You can kill a mosquito just by a simple swatting or you can use a cannon if you wish. Both will be effective but the swatting is the most efficient way.

Hi rjvb26


I think effectiveness like the food that can digest easily......BUT.....efficiency is the most delicious food but sometime may create indigestion.

You may have enough efficiency but how you implement in the practical field is the effectiveness.

Efficiency like the ore and the effectiveness is the gems that is polished.

HI RJVB,

For me being effective is creating an impact in others lives and empowering them to become a better person while being efficient is responding to a complicated thing using all the necessary resources and skills to make it and deliver it with quality and on time!

Efficient and effective are both relative, and comparative terms. They both require specificity to have meaning. Effective means producing the desired result, where desired is the key specific. Efficient means producing the desired result with minimum input. Input is usually measured in terms of time, material, cost or effort utilized to produce the desired result. To illustrate, consider two students, Student A and Student B, who are given an assignment to write a paper. The paper must be a minimum of 1500 words in length and is due in two days. Both students are assigned the same topic. Both students desire a passing grade on this paper. Both students spend approximately the same amount of time researching and writing their papers. Both students turn their papers in on time. Student A receives an "A" on his/her paper, while Student B receives a "C" on his/her paper.

In this example, both students were equally effective in that they both produced the desired result...they both received a passing grade. And, they were both equally efficient in that they both spent approximately the same amount of time (input) producing their respective papers. However, can we say that Student A had a higher degree of effectiveness in that he/she received a higher grade than did Student B? And, can we also say that Student A was more efficient than Student B in that Student A produced a better result than Student B utilizing the same amount of input (time) as did Student B?