Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Productivity

Read the views by Dr. Wong Wee Nam.
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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rex comments as follows,

I don't agree wtih Dr. Wong Wee Nam.

Dr Wong alludes that Mr Goh Chok Tong's example of productivity is incorrect e.g. the productivity of the popiah seller is doubled if he makes double the number of popiah in the same time.

Dr Wong quotes from another source which basically states that productivity means creating something different, something from scratch.

The point is BOTH GOH CHOK TONG AND DR WONG's EXAMPLES are correct examples of increased productivity; neither is wrong.

Productivity is output divide by input. Mathematically, if you increase output whilst not increasing input you CAN increase productivity. Mathematically also if you produce something from nothing ie. being creative, you are increasing output from zero to some value, so productivity is increased from zero to some value too.

Having said that, I do agree that producing something from zero, i.e. "creativity" genre of productivity, is something sadly lacking in Singapore. But that is not to say, producing something faster than before, is a virtue not to be admired or sought after.

Both approaches are laudable, although creativity appears to be more sustainable in the long term as expounded in the soruce articles of Dr Wong.

REX

March 10, 2010 6:41 AM
Anonymous said...

上梁不正下梁歪, period. (and I am not referring to 梁自强)

There is no point talking about productivity when the PAP leaders are utmost unproductive.

March 10, 2010 11:30 AM
C H Yak said...

I think boosting productivity by re-training workers or even mechanising it is already out-dated "brick-and-mortar" strategy for boosting productivity.

More important is we have to improve processes. This is more of a top down approach because a worker has limited scope to improve the process...which may leads to innovation and greater outputs or even new products...the managment has a greater scope and role.

A cultural change is also desired. And quite often the wrong culture actually prevent "CHANGE" and leads to failure in this strategy.

March 10, 2010 11:33 AM
Anonymous said...

hmm, there is such thing as effective productivity and ineffective productivity. Seems that our multi-million dollar paid ministers are barking up the ineffective route --- what's the point of telling workers to work cheaper better faster, or produce more widgets in same amount of time or less time? We should not be productive just for the sake of being productive. There must be a positive purpose that is realistic and achievable.

At the end of the day, workers are motivated by higher salaries, better job conditions and a higher quality of life. Companies are motivated by higher levels of profit and revenue growth.

So far all the talking and posturing by ministers, MPs and Straits Times reporters do not address the prime motivations of workers and companies.

March 10, 2010 3:34 PM

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