ABSTRACT

The stakeholder approach to the evaluation of organisational effectiveness is based on the notion that an organisation can be judged effective if its stakeholders are at least minimally satisfied with their experience of the organisation and its performance. The Treuhandanstal’s stakeholders, in particular buyers, employees, and the representatives of society-at-large, had a range of expectations concerning the results of the Treuhands operations. The interview transcripts, which themselves form part of the oral history record, are a rich source of information, both hard and soft, about the functioning and effectiveness of the Treuhandanstalt. The Treuhandanstalt was solely responsible for implementing economic change at the structural and organisational levels. Their assessment was made in recognition of the Treuhandanstal’s courage in making unpopular decisions and enforcing unpopular privatisation policies in the chaotic environment that prevailed. The main aim has been to apply the stakeholder theory in the analysis of Treuhandanstal’s effectiveness as an instrument of economic change at the structural and organisational levels.