Productivity and Teamwork

Definition of 'Productivity'

An economic measure of output per unit of input. Inputs include labor and capital, while output is typically measured in revenues and other GDP components such as business inventories. Productivity measures may be examined collectively (across the whole economy) or viewed industry by industry to examine trends in labor growth, wage levels and technological improvement.

Read more: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/productivity.asp#ixzz21S3i3NeN

The Importance of Productivity

Productivity is a key measure of supply-side economic performance and labour efficiency.

Output per person employed.

PRODUCTIVITY LESSON

Of all the cases in the world we learnt about the productivity through a small copyrighted video for training purpose which I will call the “three monks”. Showcasing the video is not possible anyhow I will describe that very much.

Scene 1-

A monastery located on the top of a hill and the only water source (river/lake) is at the bottom. To collect water one needs to get it from the bottom of the hill in buckets. His daily routine was shouldering water, chanting sutras, knocking the wooden fish, adding water to the holy water bottle on the table honoring the Goddess of Mercy, and watching over the mice from stealing food at night. His life was smooth and comfortable.

The Players-

 

Initially there are 2 monks. Soon after, a tall monk came. He drank half of the jar’s water as soon as he arrived at the temple, so the little monk asked him to fetch water.  They could only carry one bucket a time, and they would only feel content when the bucket was placed in the middle of the shoulder pole. Anyway, they still had water to drink in this way. Who after lot of fighting with each other, decided to carry the bucket together using a rod/log, and share the load equally – THE TEAMWORK.

 Scene 2 –

When they collected enough water, they were joined by the third monk the big fat one, tired from all the climbing and finished all the water in the monastery.

Everyone chanted his own sutras and knocked his own wooden fish. As nobody would add water to the holy water bottle, the plant in the bottle withered soon.

Scene 3

FIRE FIRE FIRE

Later that night, At night, a mouse came out stealing, but everyone pretended not to see it. As a result, the mouse was so rampant that it knocked over the candleholder and caused a fire. There was a fire in the monastery. Ina desperate  attempt to save the monastery all the 3 monks forgot their differences and started working together. Dividing the path in three parts.

Methodology In FIRE – The Teamwork and Productivity Lesson

1.First monk filled the buckets from the source and give it to the second monk.

2. Second monk run the middle section and gives the bucket to the third monk.

3. The third monk takes the bucket to the monastery and pour the water on the fire. 

The OUTCOME –

With lot of effort they were able to extinguish the fire and save the monastery.

Lesson Learnt -

This made them realise to have a proper way of bringing water up to the monastery.

The Sustenance

 So next morning they came up with a simple solution. They installed a pulley on the cliff, through which one monk can lower a hook to the river.  Another monk can hang the bucket filled with water to the hook, which can be pulled up using the pulley. The third monk can carry the bucket from pulley to the monastery.

Something about the VIDEO

The film tells a simplest story with simplest lines and a simplest form. There is no dubbed voice. Even the background music is reduced to the occasional sound of wooden fish. But it is this simplicity that makes people unwilling to miss a single scene. When we review the Three Monks after seeing numerous Japanese, Korean, European and American cartoons, we will be shocked. We will even smugly say, look at our Chinese “silent movie”. Maybe, only Chinese water-and-ink painting has such a magic to depict a figure with distinct personality with just a few strokes. The film is based on a folk proverb. It has national features, a complete scene of mountain, water and temple drawn with traditional painting skills, and figures with strong characters. Although it is meant to reason things out, the film is humorous and void of rigid sermon.  

INDIVIDUAL Vs COLLECTIVE APPROACH

To put out the fire each monk got panicked and tried his best to run down to the river and bring the bucket full of water. But this process was ling and tiring, and also had to many glitches on the road. So it proved to be ineffective.

Coordinated effort dosed of fire very easily and without being tired.

Productivity is Important

Productivity is about how well an organisation converts resource inputs into goods or services.

Workplace productivity is about how firms can utilise labour and skills, innovation, technology and

organisational structure to improve the quantity and quality of their output.

Basically it's about exploring all the ways that can make a working environment more efficient.

Why is productivity important?

• Basis for improvements in real incomes and economic well-being.

• Monetary policy (inflationary pressures)

• Fiscal policy (financing of health, education, welfare)

• Slow productivity growth = conflicting demands for distribution of income more likely