In my current organization, we are thinking big to grow by year 2016 and as part of the goal set, align ourselves to excel in all the fields that we are involved in through an Operational Excellence exercise. One thing which struck me is the common factor – Productivity Improvement - where we all can contribute, to make the world we are in better and competitive. Also, it is this time of the year in our organization, when the appraisals come into reality monetarily. Hence, it is even more important to realize the significance of productivity.
One question always comes to my mind post the appraisal process – how productive are we while we call ourselves excellent and outstanding. I‘m sure most of us would have rated ourselves no less than being outstanding. If you have not, I appreciate the honesty.
Productivity is the measure of how specified resources are managed to accomplish timely objectives as stated in terms of quantity and quality. Productivity is a measure of the efficiency of all activities that aim directly or indirectly to satisfy customer. Productivity is a ratio of production output to what is required to produce it (inputs). The measure of productivity is defined as a total output (goods and services) per one unit of a total input (labor, infrastructure etc). Improving the quality-price-ratio is an essential way to enhance the productivity.
I understand that the above definitions are too general and insufficient to make the phenomenon productivity understandable. Productivity cannot be examined as a phenomenon independently but it is necessary to identify the entity it belongs to. In the IT industry, which is a service based industry, productivity is directly linked to labor productivity which in turn is connected with the availability of human hours, a primary and essential raw material.
It is impossible to find a solution to a problem when you are unaware of its exact existence. As managers it is easy to say, “we need to increase employee productivity.” However, we will not be able to implement a strategy for increasing work force productivity until we are aware of the specific productivity snags our employees face.
A basic study revealed the following reasons which reduced our work force availability during working hours for the organisation:
- Reaching late to office and leaving office early citing public transport, company bus timings and traffic jams as the reason
- Having breakfast after coming to office
- Not limiting the lunch hours to the permissible limits
- Multiple Tea or Coffee breaks, before and after lunch
- Smoker’s breaks
- Sick leaves misuse
- Desk and cellular phones for personal use
The reasons might sound silly but note that the organizational productivity loss stands 2% to 6% of the productivity for the above said reasons. While the organization allows flexibility in our working hours by letting us take breaks and rejuvenate, which helps to concentrate and be more focused, we all take it to our advantage.
Now, you can ask me whether being available alone improves productivity. No! it does not. Along with availability other equally important aspects of Productivity are quality, agility, periodicity and reusability, investments, technology, work methods including systems, processes and procedures. But one must understand that availability is the primary ingredient for being productive in a service based industry. Also, do not confuse productivity with efficiency. Efficiency is a narrower concept that pertains to getting the most out of a given set of resources; while productivity is a broader concept that pertains to use of overall resources.
The only reason I can think of why any effort to improve productivity fails is very simple – our mindset. While we want flexibility to maintain our work - life balance, we don’t want to be flexible on the organizational matters and thereby not wanting to get more done. Therefore, let us ensure that we stay committed and focused that we won’t bring the leisurely comfort in the name of flexibility and make ourselves more available for our organizations and improve its productivity.
The benefits of higher productivity are manifold. Productivity growth is important to any organization because more real income means that the organization can meet its (perhaps growing) obligations to customers, suppliers, workers, shareholders, and governments, and still remain competitive or even improve its competitiveness in the market place.
