PRODUCTIVITY

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PRODUCTIVITY

• Diversified Career Preparation
• The Academy of Irving ISD
• 2005

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Take This Job
Why do so many Americans throw so much into their
work? One surprising reason, writes sociologist
Seymour Martin Lipset, a Wilson Center Senior
Scholar, in The Public Interest (Winter 1990), is
that they like their jobs. Beliefs
about the work ethic vary over time and place.
There is, however, a general inclination for
older people to believe that things were
better--or at least more moral, more decent--when
they were young. As Adriano Tilgher, a historian
of work, wrote in 1931, "Every country resounds
to the lament that the workforce does not burn in
the younger generation, the postwar generation."
The affluent generally complain that their
subordinates, the less privileged, do not work
hard and have lost the work ethic. A survey of
members of the American Management Association
found that 79 percent agreed that "the nation's
productivity is suffering because the traditional
American work ethic has eroded." But this is an
old story. Harold Wilensky notes that in 1495
the English Parliament passed a statute on
working hours and justified it in the following
preamble "Diverse artificers and labourers . . .
waste much part of the day . . . in late coming
unto their work, early departing from there, long
sitting at breakfast, at their dinner and noon
meal, and long time of sleep in afternoon."
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The idea that people should work hard--because
doing so is virtuous, because it advances the
common good, or even because it lets them
accumulate wealth--is, in historical terms, a
relatively recent one. Since work is difficult,
the question is not why people goof off, but
rather why--in the absence of compulsion--they
work hard. . . While I have few doubts that
the work ethic is less prominent now than it was
in the 19th century, the available facts do not
justify bad-mouthing it. As the March 1989 issue
of Psychology Today notes, in the 1950s a number
of sociologists predicted that Americans would
increasingly choose to emphasize leisure and to
abandon work--and were proven entirely wrong. To
quote George Harris and Robert Trotter "Work
has become our intoxicant and Americans are
working harder than ever before. In the past 15
years, the typical adult's leisure time has
shrunk by 40 percent--down from 26.6 to 16.6
hours a week. And the work week, after decades of
getting shorter, is suddenly 15 percent longer."
They note that "the average adult now pumps 46.8
hours per week into school, work, and
com-muting--way above the 40.6 hours logged in
1973." It is true that people worked 53 hours per
week in 1900, whereas they now average around 39,
but this number has remained fairly constant
since 1945.
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One reason that more Americans have not
substituted leisure for work may be that most of
us like our jobs. In a 1973 Roper survey, 85
percent of the respondents said that they were
satisfied with their field of work, whereas only
14 percent were dissatisfied. The corresponding
figures for 1980 and 1985 show virtually no
change. The National Opinion Research Center
(NORC) reports almost identical results in
response to the question "How satisfied are you
with the work you do?" The same average
percentage was up a bit in 1988, when 87 percent
gave this answer. NORC has also posed a tougher
question "If you were to get enough money to
live as comfortably as you like for the rest of
your life, would you continue to work or would
you stop working?" On average, 70 percent of the
respondents questioned during the 1972-1982
period claimed that they would continue to work
the figure for 1983-1987 rose to 74 percent, and
in 1988 it jumped to 85 percent. Daniel
Yankelovich reports similar results. Almost
all surveys indicate that the vast majority of
Americansover 80 percent--are satisfied with
their jobs. There has been no significant change
in these figures over time. Many people, of
course, do object to specific aspects of their
jobs, complaining about boredom, pay, opportunity
for advancement, the way that work is organized,
and so forth.
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Take This Job
Yankelovich reports that almost 90 percent of all
American workers say that it is important to work
hard 78 percent indicate an inner need to do
their very best. His research also suggests that
the motives driving people to work have changed
the proportion saying that they work primarily or
solely for money has declined, while the younger
and better educated emphasize the expressive
side of work. To summarize Yankelovich, such
workers increasingly believe that work, rather
than leisure, can give them what they are looking
for an outlet for self-expression as well as
material rewards.
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Productivity

• Must follow safety procedures, conserve materials
• Keep the work area neat and clean
• Follow directions properly
• Stress affects productivity
• A safe workplace is a more productive workplace

If a person is physically, emotionally or
mentally stressed, they cannot perform job duties
with 100 capacity.
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Food For Thought
This is a story about four people Everybody,
Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an
important job to be done, and Everybody was asked
to do it. Everybody was sure Somebody would do
it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did
it. Somebody got angry about that because it was
Everybodys job. Everybody thought Anybody could
do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody
wouldnt do it. It ended that Everybody blamed
Somebody when actually Nobody helped
Anybody. MORAL Getting the job done is
Everybodys job, but if Somebody never helps
Anybody, Nobody gets the job done!
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Productivity

• Extremely important in the work place
• Stay on task and use time efficiently
• Not a social event that you go to everyday
• Get paid to do a job, not goof off and not waste
  time

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Candy in Your Mouth?
When thinking about productivity, remember the
episode of I Love Lucy where she worked in the
candy factory. For those of you that havent
seen that episodeLucy and Ethel were working in
a candy factory together. The conveyer belt
moved chocolate candy to the workers who then
placed the candy in the box. At first
everything was going swell, and Lucy and Ethel
thought the job was a piece of cake. Then, the
candy starting moving faster, and they had to
work at a quicker pace. It then got so fast
that they couldnt put the candies in the box as
fast as they needed. They started grabbing
handfuls of the candy at once and putting it in
their clothes, mouth, etc. It was hilarious.
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ProductivityFollow Safety Practices

• Companies have safety guidelines for employees to
  follow
• Not designed to punish
• Designed to protect
• Safety is always important
• Everyones responsibility
• Following safety rules wont totally eliminate
  "lost-time accidents," but numbers will be cut
  down

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ProductivityFollow Safety Practices

• Failure to follow safety rules can result in a
  lost-time accident or even death
• When a "lost-time accident" occurs due to minor
  injury of an employee, everyone is affected
• Efficiency and profits goes down with each minute
  lost
• Co-workers see an immediate effect if paid on a
  group incentive plan and a team member is injured
• not always direct nor evident
• everyone suffers with injury

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ProductivityConserve Materials
Its not your money that is going down the drain
if you make a mistake and have to scrap part of
the materials, is it? Think againin the long
term it may actually be your money or at least
the continuation of your current paycheck.
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ProductivityConserve Materials
One might say, "How will my employer ever miss
the 500 sheets of paper and 100 staples that I
wasted by duplicating the wrong
information? That's not a lot of materials when
you consider what we use every day!" Well, what
would happen if your company has 100 employees
and each one made a similar mistake? Or, what
if we were talking about expensive chemicals
instead of paper and staples?
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ProductivityConserve Materials

• Use only materials necessary to adequately
  complete task
• Treat materials as if you were paying for them
  yourself
• Be conscientious
• Cut down on scrap by doing job right the first
  time
• Scrap costs money and decreases profit margin
• Decreased profit margin directly effects
  employees with less, if any, bonuses

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ProductivityKeep Work Area Neat and Clean

• Housekeeping is everyones job
• Custodians/maintenance workers handle heavy
  cleaning
• Employee responsible for maintaining own
  workspace
• Keep work area always presentable
• File information in an orderly manner
• not waste time looking for things misplaced
• more productive and efficient

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ProductivityKeep Work Area Neat and Clean

• Too busy to straighten up every day? Dont have
  time NOT to!
• Takes a few minutes each day if done correctly
• Do not leave workspace until
• work areas clear
• all trash discarded
• chairs and equipment properly put away

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ProductivityFollow Directions

• Read directions and procedures carefully before
  beginning a new task
• Consistently follow established procedures for
  routine, mundane tasks performed each day
• Failure to follow directions
• can be disastrous
• loss of a job

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ProductivityFollow Directions

• Developed by experts
• Designed for safety and expedience of work

Dont ever feel that you dont have to adhere to
the prescribed steps and that you can do things
your way.
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Productivity

• Good scheduling of time
• Follows safety procedures
• Conserves materials used
• A neat and clean work area
• Follows direction

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How can I be more productive?

• Follow safety practices
• Conserve materials
• Keep work area neat and clean
• Follow directions/procedures

IN SUMMARY
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Follow safety practices

• Safety is everyones job.
• Have good work habits
• Help to prevent injury on the job.

IN SUMMARY
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Conserve Materials

• Order only what you need
• Try to make to proper amount of copies and no
  extra.
• Do not get supplies for your personal use.

IN SUMMARY
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Productivity

• Follow safety practices
• Conserve material
• Keep work area neat and clean
• Follow directions/procedures
• STAY ON TASK!

IN SUMMARY
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Productivity

• Good work habits involve following rules and
  begin safety conscious
• Willing to become an active member of a group and
  participate when you have the opportunity
• To ensure productivity in the work place, you
  should always meet the objectives listed below
• Follow safety practices follow directions
  and/or procedures
• Conserve materials keep work area neat and
  clean

IN SUMMARY
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Driving for Results in Productivity

• Be persistent
• Have a can-do attitude rather than
  why-should-I have-to-do-that attitude
• Avoid negative self-talk and idle gossip
• Avoid saying it cant be done and focus on how
  to make it happen

IN SUMMARY
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Driving for Results in Productivity

• Get involved with activities that make you happy,
  at work and in your personal life
• Take on extra work to help the company meet its
  goal

IN SUMMARY
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PRODUCTIVITY Hows Your Productivity?
Describe your study area. Include details
about your areas size, equipment, lighting,
noise level, etc. Describe your study
habits. At what time of the day do you do your
online school work? For how long? Do you take
breaks? How often? How often do you check the
school/course site? How often do you check your
e-mail (be honest!)?
www.gvtc.org/workethicsonline
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PRODUCTIVITY

• Diversified Career Preparation