What is productivity? And, why does it matter?Learn Management Articles on management-info.biz. What is productivity? And, why does it matter? article will help answer your questions on Management Articles.We at management-info.biz specialize in Management Articles. Management Articles at management-info.biz provides the most up to date news and articles. If you have questions please do not hesitate to contact us.
By: Robert F. Abbott When Phil hires a new helper for one of his construction projects, he first watches to see whether or not the newcomer has the right attitudes and habits to keep him as an employee. And, if the newcomer meets expectations,' Phil introduces him to his philosophy about work by telling him the woodcutters story. Two woodcutters who are working together for the first time, set off in the morning to cut down trees. One woodcutter works very hard, and aside from a couple of breaks, works steadily all day. The other woodcutter, though, seems to take many more breaks, at least one every hour. So the first woodcutter expects he'll have cut down many more trees by the end of the day. But, when they quit for the day, the first woodcutter finds, to his surprise, that the second woodcutter has done more, despite taking all those breaks. And, in his frustration, the first woodcutter wonders out loud how the second woodcutter did it. The second woodcutter couldn't help but hear the first woodcutter's question, and replies, 'Yes, I take many more breaks, but every time I take one, I sharpen my axe.' Phil uses this story of the woodcutters to explain his ideas about productivity, and he doesn't relate it to the productivity which economists refer to in their statistics. Phil thinks of productivity in a very immediate way: how many nails you can drive in one hour, for example. The economists are talking about the same thing, only they're talking about it as the sum of many millions of businesses and organizations, so they're talking about productivity in an abstract way. Whatever the case, productivity simply refers to the amount of value you can get from labor, land, or capital (invested money). As we'll see in the next section, Phil's income goes up when he (and his helper’s) productivity goes up. Increasing productivity across a whole nation is also good news. It means everyone in society becomes more prosperous, that everyone (or almost everyone) will have more money to spend or save. Increased productivity can also mean lower prices. For example, if carpenters and home building companies increase their productivity, then house prices will go down. Generally speaking, though, consumers, owners of businesses, and workers in those businesses all share productivity gains. And what about people without job? Well they often gain, too, because when businesses owners and workers make more, they pay more in taxes. In turn, that makes more money available to governments for social programs. Having heard all that, you may be skeptical, thinking your prosperity hasn't gone up much, if at all. But you'd be wrong. Productivity has gone up, and gone up a lot over the past two hundred years, and especially over the past 50 years. It may be invisible to most of us, but productivity is one of the silver bullets that have given us our prosperity and so many of our choices.
|
More Articles:1. Productivity Through Positive Reinforcement By D.M. Giolitto Most people just want to be appreciated. If you're a manager, that's something to seriously think about as you set the tone for maximum productivity.Ever work for someone who preferred a 'bullying and intimidation' managerial style? This type of bullying doesn't involve spitballs and shiners in the schoolyard, but it might as well because it produces the same feelings of inferiority, worthlessness and mistrust among peers. It turns workers disloyal, dishonest, and downright disgusted. The bull… 2. Hollander Consultants Symposium Sets Standard for Client Delivery Hollander Consultants Symposium Sets Standard for Client DeliveryCLEARWATER BEACH, FL: Hollander Consultants is holding its annual Florida symposium in Clearwater Beach with over 350 people in attendance. Doctors of veterinary, dentistry and optometry are being given useable and workable tools to help their patients and clients achieve better care and excellent service.Hollander Consultants’ clients flew to Clearwater Beach from all over the country and even from Canada to attend the symposium.… 3. Innovation Management – Selecting Good Ideas By Kal Bishop Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation. There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea generation and, similarly, distinct processes that enhance idea selection, development and commercialisation. Whilst there is no sure fire route to commercial success, these processes improve the probability that good ideas will be generated and selected and that i… 4. New UK Laws on Staff Dispute Resolution and Disciplinary Procedures By David Miles October 2004 saw the introduction of the Employment Act 2002, which has brought a new approach to staff dispute resolution.It has long been acknowledged that disputes in the workplace are disruptive, stressful, and costly – both for employers and employees. Once time and legal expenses are taken into account, the average cost of an employment tribunal for a UK employer is £2,000. In addition, it is said that 50% of employees who take a case to a tribunal end up in lower paid or lower sta… |
||||
