Improving Productivity of a Workstation
Productivity in the Workplace
Owen Harvey
December 2010
www.policyprogress.org.nz
Foreword by David Choat (Director, Policy Progress)
We all know that New Zealand could do better and be more effective in its economic performance. But when we discuss solutions, too often we gravitate to ‘big-picture’ macroeconomic ‘fixes’, which may (savings rates) or may not (tax cuts) have anything to do with the problem at hand. Owen Harvey doesn’t. His has been a consistent voice, urging to us to look at and think carefully about what happens within the workplace – and what we can do to improve that. Owen brings together the best and most progressive work in the ‘management’ literature with an appreciation of public policy settings and the contribution they can make. This short pamphlet provides a useful introduction to his ideas and their implications, which extend to achieving a more environmentally sustainable way of working.
1
The case for the “workplace” as a locus for productivity improvement
Almost all of what constitutes national “debate” about how to lift New Zealand’s productivity, and characterises our various attempts to improve it, focuses on macrolevel inputs such as capital investment, new technology, and skill development. These inputs, together with our obsession with removing regulatory impediments (ala the Brash Productivity Report), have historically constituted the sum total of our national strategies to improve our productivity performance, and as the “headbanging” metaphor goes: “if you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you always got.” This remains true for previous governments of every hue, apart from some small investment in workplace productivity initiatives by the last Labour Government. Even when researchers and commentators, such as the New Zealand Institute, pinpoint labour productivity as an issue, they add a few more intangibles to the list, but essentially still come up with the need for
Owen Harvey
December 2010
www.policyprogress.org.nz
Foreword by David Choat (Director, Policy Progress)
We all know that New Zealand could do better and be more effective in its economic performance. But when we discuss solutions, too often we gravitate to ‘big-picture’ macroeconomic ‘fixes’, which may (savings rates) or may not (tax cuts) have anything to do with the problem at hand. Owen Harvey doesn’t. His has been a consistent voice, urging to us to look at and think carefully about what happens within the workplace – and what we can do to improve that. Owen brings together the best and most progressive work in the ‘management’ literature with an appreciation of public policy settings and the contribution they can make. This short pamphlet provides a useful introduction to his ideas and their implications, which extend to achieving a more environmentally sustainable way of working.
1
The case for the “workplace” as a locus for productivity improvement
Almost all of what constitutes national “debate” about how to lift New Zealand’s productivity, and characterises our various attempts to improve it, focuses on macrolevel inputs such as capital investment, new technology, and skill development. These inputs, together with our obsession with removing regulatory impediments (ala the Brash Productivity Report), have historically constituted the sum total of our national strategies to improve our productivity performance, and as the “headbanging” metaphor goes: “if you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you always got.” This remains true for previous governments of every hue, apart from some small investment in workplace productivity initiatives by the last Labour Government. Even when researchers and commentators, such as the New Zealand Institute, pinpoint labour productivity as an issue, they add a few more intangibles to the list, but essentially still come up with the need for