European Journal of Studies in Management and Business

Every organization strives for success, but it is not easily definable or measurable. For many, the key success indicators mean just financial performance (e.g. turnover, profit, cost-effectiveness etc.) but, more and more often contemporary and TOP organizations are describing success through “soft factors” as organizational sustainability, employee engagement, loyalty, trust, and other people-centered indicators. There is still no universal system that allows effective assessment of an organization’s success. The aim of this article is to identify organizational success criteria, organizational measurement capabilities and outline the principles for developing a general organizational success assessment model. Using an extensive literature review, a universal model for success assessment of an organization that can easily be adapted according to the goals and specificity of the organization is developed. The theoretical model was adjusted according to the expert pool feedback, as well as due to the top-managers assessment. As a result, the model with five success metrics categories and measurement principles is proposed. The originality of the research stands in following that the model takes into account also the “soft” success metrics - bridging the literature focused on the financial factors view and on human-centered factors view on success and this research opens several possibilities for further research and practical implementations and implications.