Organizational Linkages Understanding the Productivity Paradox (1994) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
5 MEASURING AND MANAGING INDIVIDUAL PRODUCTIVITY
5 MEASURING AND MANAGING INDIVIDUAL PRODUCTIVITY
Pages 105-130
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 105... ...
A multitude of micro studies of individual work behavior exist, but the measure of productivity used is seldom comparable to those developed in industry. Organizational studies generally focus on the total performance of the organization, but even those that are centered on organizational productivity rarely attempt to disaggregate findings to the business unit, work group, or individual level in any systematic way.
|
From page 106... ...
PRODUCTIVITY MEASUREMENT AND GOAL ALIGNMENT In industry, the measurement and analysis of individual-level productivity serves the following five major functions:
|
From page 107... ...
4. Facilitate planning and control: Productivity measurement provides information on costs, time, output rate, and resource usage to allow decision making with respect to pricing, production scheduling, purchasing, contracting, delivery scheduling, and many other activities in the industrial cycle.
|
From page 108... ...
The secondary question is, what set of individual productivity measures will direct the behavior of employees to meet those objectives as they work toward their own personal goals? The aim of the organization is to align work behavior with organizational goals.
|
From page 109... ...
These relationships are depicted in their ideal state in my Goal Alignment model, Figure 5-2. Across the top of the model, the organization attempts to make business unit goals (at all intermediate levels)
|
From page 110... ...
Higher Level Organizational Goals Goals 1 Business Unit ~Organizational Measures Measures 1 ' Business Unit I- ~ Organizational Performance Performance the compatibility of individual goals with group goals, or the resultant effects on performance, but it assumes that the behavior of one or the other, individual or group, is the basic unit of analysis determined by the process. Productivity measures at the individual or group level direct behaviors to the business unit goals, if properly aligned.
|
From page 111... ...
The Goal Alignment model, as well as many of the other models and concepts in this chapter, represent targets toward which organizations should strive. The degree to which they can achieve these targets, resolve the related issues, and design perfect productivity measurement systems determines their probability of survival and success.
|
From page 112... ...
as a basis for explaining the principal influences on the productivity of the individual worker. In this Conceptual Productivity model, productivity is a function of four major factors: task capacity, individual capacity, individual effort, and uncontrollable interferences.
|
From page 113... ...
Finally, individual effort is a function of attitudes and beliefs covering all of the cognitive characteristics of the individual that motivate a person to productive behavior on the job. In the original model from which this version is derived, Ruch and Hershauer (1974)
|
From page 114... ...
The Productivity Servosystem Model Whereas the Conceptual Productivity model attempts to relate a few major antecedents of productivity but with little emphasis on the nature of their relationships, the Productivity Servosystem model developed by Hershauer and Ruch (1978J attempts to present a normative model that illustrates the interaction of factors influencing worker performance (see Figure 5-41. As with the previous model, I use a simplified version of the Servosystem in this discussion.
|
From page 116... ...
The factor interaction block in Figure 5-4 indicates that the functional effort of individuals is a complex phenomenon representing more than a simple addition of the levels of factors that are direct inputs to the individual. It is some function of the effort/satisfaction and effort/ pay ratios, the individual's personal goals and general level of energy, and work-related elements (e.g., working conditions and supervisory methods)
|
From page 117... ...
Summary The Servosystem model is intended to provide a theoretical foundation for understanding and analyzing worker performance. Because of the complex interactions represented by the variables and relationships in the model, it may never be totally validated, nor is it likely that "the formula" for the factor interaction block will ever be expressed as an equation.
|
From page 118... ...
associated with a specific job. At the organizational level, total productivity measurement systems demand that all inputs be considered.
|
From page 119... ...
Strategic planning involves ensuring that the goals at one level of the organization are consistent with those at each higher level so that the elements of the organization do not work at cross-purposes. An ideal productivity measurement system for an organization would align individual behaviors with group and organizational goals.
|
From page 120... ...
Often, the quality or quantity of their performance is about what the second best member's ability would predict. Steiner considers the combined abilities of individual members~ombined according to whatever rule is suitable for that type of task, disjunctive, conjunctive, or additive~s representing the group's potential productivity.
|
From page 121... ...
3. Productivity measures at the individual level concentrate on the number of repetitions of a job within a time period Encumber of buckets passed per hour)
|
From page 122... ...
. For example, a team formed to create computer software may be composed of six programmers, two clerical support personnel, and a project manager.
|
From page 123... ...
, the productivity of the workers can be measured, but the linkage to organizational productivity is difficult, if not impossible, to establish. RESEARCH NEEDS Despite the widespread use of productivity measurement systems in all types of organizations today, many unresolved problems remain.
|
From page 124... ...
Price weighting, using discounted prices, may be the most common form of combining dissimilar outputs. Identifying intangible outputs common to many white-colIar and service jobs requires ingenuity and a clear knowledge of objectives and process parameters.
|
From page 125... ...
Limiting individual productivity measures to the labor input is commonly accepted. However, it must be understood that the productivity of labor can be profoundly influenced by changes in capital, material, or energy, which are not captured by the measure.
|
From page 126... ...
Productivity Versus Performance At the individual level, productivity measurement tracks how well the worker applies talents and skills, using materials and equipment, to produce products and services within a specified time period. A1though this is fundamental to success, it is not total performance.
|
From page 127... ...
Productivity researchers, however, should continue their efforts to develop individual-level productivity measurement systems that can be integrated with these new developments in unit cost analysis. Measurement Error No measurement system is perfect; a variance between actual and measured results will likely always exist.
|
From page 128... ...
CONCLUSION The challenge before researchers and practitioners is to develop internally consistent and comprehensive productivity measurement systems that account for the productivity of individual workers, work groups, business units, and organizations. The degree to which this goal can be achieved will determine the ability of organizations to manage resources effectively and direct human effort toward organizational goals.
|
From page 129... ...
The complex interactions that take place in cooperative productive behavior, however, are seldom captured in common productivity measurement systems. In their efforts to understand and control work group behavior, managers any researchers alike are hampered by inadequate measurement systems.
|
From page 130... ...
Ruch 1978 A worker productivity model and its use at Lincoln Electric. Interfaces 8:8089.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.