PRODUCTIVITY

Productivity is a commonly used concept that can be applied to various types of activity, such as production o goods, services, administration, information processing, etc. It is also a term that applies to systems on different levels, for example: national economy, specific region, trade, enterprise, or even a single work position.

In the organizational context, productivity can be tested by the following five elements:

• Level of realizing of basic tasks and organizational goals
• Effectiveness of present production in a relation to used resources, as well as the quantity of used resources in a relation to the quantity of resources administered
• Determining the level of aims being achieved in a relation to what could be achieved in the production as well as determining the level of used resources
• Comparing indicators estimated for analyzing a given system with productivity indicators reached by other organizations
• Trends determining the changes in productivity indicators and their observations in time

Generally speaking, such analysis enables an organization to determine what its present condition is, how much better it could be and what should be done in the future in order to survive and continuously develop.

The main assumption for productivity is measurement of present efficiency of a given system and a continuous search for ways of a present situation improvement. In many countries productivity is seen as a general social goal and together with philosophy it is defined as:

• the state of consciuosness
• continuity of improving what already exists
• improvement of a present state, no matter how good it really is
• continuous changing together with changing economic and social conditions
• belief in human progress
• continuous desire for applying new technologies and methods