Clapton Munongerwa

>>thank you for stopping by and please do not forget to leave a comment... UNDERSTANDING NATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY ORGANISATION (NPOs) LESSONS FOR ZIMBABWE Introduction Productivity has become a topical issue in the recent years and has generated huge interest in many countries world over. The endeavour to increase the quantity of output produced per unit of input employed has triggered extensive research on this subject which has the potential to turn around the fortunes of organisation and economies at large. In order to harness the potential gains which can be derived from improved productivity, there has been recommendations to consolidate the productivity initiatives within various sectors and organisations of a given country.      This then led to the formation of various organisations to cater for productivity issues, referred to as productivity centres in a number of countries. In Africa for example, countries such as Botswana, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Burki

>>thank you for stopping by and please do not forget to leave a comment... Why should we Measure Productivity? In this issue we delve into the measurement of productivity and the importance of measuring productivity by organisations. We interrogate the critical role productivity measurement plays especially in relation to productivity improvement within companies. Whilst there are a number of performance indicators which can be used to evaluate a business such as profitability, return on capital employed and gearing ratio among others, productivity remains the most useful indicator particularly in determining the long run growth path of any company. There are various ways in which productivity is measured within organisations and these may be partial, multifactor or total factor productivity. Partial or single factor productivity is where output is expressed as a ratio of one input factor. These inputs can be   labour, capital and materials. A simple illustration for si

>>thank you for stopping by and please do not forget to leave a comment... PRODUCTIVITY EXPLAINED The National Productivity Institute of South Africa define productivity as, “ converting resources (inputs) into products and services (outputs) efficiently, effectively and with optimum utilization of human capital and physical resources for the benefit of society, the economy and the environment.” This definition is quite comprehensive as it includes the element of human endeavour and development as factors affecting productivity. A simplified definition of productivity however is generally stated as the quantity and/or quality of output per unit of input produced. For example if a company involved in producing handmade shoes employs 5 people and earn a total revenue (Price X Quantity) of $ 5 000 per month, then its productivity per worker per month is     $ 1 000. This definition however becomes inadequate given a situation where various factors of production such as