The term ‘productivity’ is widely used, it appears daily in our national press and frequently on the TV news channels. Members of parliament, leaders of industry, commerce, and trade organisations, all repeatedly refer to the need to increase the level of productivity,

The word is is far easier to use than to define. Among those who can define it, only a few can do so so in terms precise enough to evaluate the level of productivity in a given work situation. However, this is more usually attempted in a manufacturing industry than in those whose end product is a service.

Essentially a Ratio

Productivity is the ratio between input and output: the measure of the amount gained from a process, in terms of quantity and quality of a product or service, in return for a given input of resources.

These  resources may be:-

• Land and Buildings

• Materials

• Plant, Machines, Tools and Equipment

• Human Resources

or, as is generally the case, a combination of all four