productivity related to operations management

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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT AND PRODUCTIVITY
POSTING 71811

BASICS:

Managing a successful business requires healthy, ongoing leadership and management, planning, product and service development, marketing and financial management. An organization is basically a group of people intentionally organized to accomplish an overall, common goal or set of goals. Organizations have major subsystems, such as departments, programs and/or teams. Each of these subsystems have a way of doing things to achieve the overall goals of the organization. Often, these systems and processes are defined by plans, policies and procedures.

It helps to think of organization as systems. A system is an organized collection of parts that are highly integrated in order to accomplish an overall goal. Systems have inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes. The organizational system is defined by its legal documents, mission, goals and strategies, and its policies and procedures. The organization is depicted by its organization charts, job descriptions and marketing materials. The system is also maintained or controlled by policies and procedures, budgets, information.
One of the common ways that people manage systems is to work backwards from what they want the system to produce. This process is essentially the same as the overall, standard, basic planning process. This process typically includes:
a) Establishing overall goals
b) Associating smaller goals or objectives along the way to each goal
c) Designing strategies/methods or processes to meet the goals and objectives, and
d) Identifying what resources are needed, including who will implement the methods and by when.

PRODUCTIVITY

A simple way of looking at productivity in an organization is to think of it as a ratio to measure how well an organization converts input resources into goods and services. Improvements in productivity can be realized by:
• Achieving more output for the same input
• Achieving the same output for less input
• Achieving much more output for slightly more input, and
• Getting slightly less out for much less input.

To improve the productivity ratio, there are six lines of attack:
1. Improve basic process by research and development (long term)
2. Improve and provide new plant, equipment and machinery (long-term)
3. Imply product and reduce variety (medium)
4. Improve existing methods and procedures (short term)
5. Improve the planning of work and the use of manpower (short term)
6. Increase the overall effectiveness of employees (short term)

The Human Resource manager should concentrate on the short term. This is the area that most, if not all employees can contribute to, in a measurable way. If employees are properly motivated, coached, receive the right information at the right time, use simple productivity improvement tolls and techniques and are rewarded in an appropriate way, the organization will be productive.

There is no simple answer to how productivity should be measured. The type of measure that is most appropriate will depend on the purpose for which it is to be used. The following recommendations may serve as guidelines:

1. The simplest measure should be used, provided there is a clear understanding of the priorities for success of the company.
2. Because data is distorted when collected and used for incentive schemes, this information should be avoided for use in productivity measurement.
3. In addition to partial measures, try to obtain a systems ...