The year 1970 saw the publication of two books, Kuznets' "Economic Growth of Nations" and Solow's Economic Growth" in 1971. Unwittingly, it marked the start of a rare professional consensus on economic growth.

In his book, Kuznets summarized his decades of empirical research. Solow's work meanwhile contained his own summary of his decades of theoretical research. 

Solow's theory, Kuznets empirical studies

For the economists, Solow's neo-classical theory of economic growth, especially his analysis of steady states with constant rates of growth, provided conceptual clarity and sophistication.

Kuznets, for his part, quantified the long sweep of historical experience of the United States and 13 other developed economies. He combined this with quantitative comparisons among developed and developing economies during the postwar period.

Same topic

Without knowledge of each other's work, both authors worked independently on their books without any connection from one another. Evidence of this was the total absence of cross-references between their works. Strangely, they were working on the same topic, within the same framework, and even within the same vicinity at Cambridge, Massachusetts.

After being challenged by Denison, Kuznets recognized Denison's approach to measuring labor input and presented his own version in 1971.

Solow, on the other hand, made extensive references to Denison's findings on the growth of output and capital stock. However, he adhered to hours worked (or ?man-hours' as it was termed in the 70s) as a measure of labor input.

Kuznets showed that ".the contribution of the factor inputs per capita was a minor fraction of the growth rate of per capita product'. According to his estimates, the contribution of increases in capital input per capita over this extensive period was negative.

Relevant to these, Tinberger in 1942 analyzed the sources of U.S. economic growth a century ago. He found that efficiency accounted for only a little more that a quarter of growth in output, while growth in capital and labor inputs accounted for the remainder.

This was precisely the opposite of the conclusion that Kuznets (1971) and Solow (1970) reached 30 years later.

Total factor productivity

The ?total factor productivity' (or efficiency) was introduced independently by Stigler and became the starting point for a major research program at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

This program used data on output of the U.S. economy from earlier studies done by the bureau including the pioneering estimates of the national product by Kuznets.

However, much of the data was generated by Kendrick who used an explicit system of national production accounts. These include measures of output, input and productivity for national aggregates and individual industries.

In Solow's article "Technical Change and the Aggregate Production Function" he identified "technical change" with shifts in the production function.  Like Abramovitz, Kendrick, and Kuznets, Solow attributed almost all of U.S. economic growth to the "residual" growth in productivity.

Kuznets later reinforced the findings of Abramovitz, Kendrick and Solow. It declared that economic growth was largely attributable to the Solow residual (productivity) between the growth of output and the growth of capital and labor inputs.

World business conditions notwithstanding, many companies nowadays are filled with apprehension and anxiety as to their future. Businesses are cutting back their employees' work hours. Productivity is not only at a standstill in some places, it actually had gone down in some, too.

Some businesses had their employees take one paid day off every pay schedule. Others have their office days only from Monday to Thursday while still others shortened their work days.

Impact on productivity

There were two interesting reactions to these cost-cutting methods done by businesses. The first outcome was totally unexpected.

While there was some lost productivity because of fewer working hours and also because of the negative working environment that it created, many businesses discovered that productivity during working hours was actually higher than before the cuts were implemented.

There were two reasons forwarded as to why business productivity may be higher as a consequence of decreased hours in the work place.

The first was the employees' perception that they have lesser time available to them to complete the same amount of work as they did before. It moved them to put extra efforts to get everything done, and worked harder than they had in the past.

Moreover, the motivation of fear was strong. People were worried that the cutbacks were just the beginning and that more layoffs were soon to follow.

In an effort to keep their jobs, the people worked harder than before to at least put on a picture that they are worth keeping as employees.

Negative motivations

On the other hand, both of these motivating factors are unfortunately short-term situations. After the workers adapted to the shorter work hours, their stress levels decreased in regards to their perceived amount of time to get the job done.

Soon, they reverted back to their old coffee breaks and Internet surfing instead of working.

Regarding the motivation of fear, it did not take long for the working environment to become highly negative. Negativity in the office tends to decrease productivity.

Some businesses have seen more employees spending more time at the proverbial water cooler. They are griping about the fact that they do not have enough money because of the present cutbacks.

Because of the negative atmosphere around, nobody wants to contribute anymore to the overall good of the business (which decreases productivity). After the fear stopped motivating these employees, the result is lower productivity in the office.

Some suggestions

Companies that may discover themselves to be in this situation need to do some damage control on the employees' morale. The goal would be to maintain a positive working environment.

Keep open all lines of communication with everybody. Airing things out soothe nerves and can bring back people to their ideal selves.

Make it apparent to everyone that you are all working together to get through the present difficult times. This is better than fighting each other all the time for petty things. In such a relaxed atmosphere, people tend to calm down and become their productive selves once again.

Productivity, as it is commonly understood, means many things in many other different fields. Even in business where it has its nearest relations, productivity is defined variously according to the aspect that is studied. (Reportedly, there are around 20 definitions of productivity related to business.)

Productivity concepts

Most of these concepts relate to productivity as a relationship between output and input to the studied systems. It contains variables and other inter-relationships within the precise group it belongs to (office, manufacturing plant, machinery systems, etc).

It is also regarded as a stimulus-response model that an input causes an output. Universally, for purposes of simplicity, it is output divided by input. However, there is some confusion to this view.

Formally, in most circles productivity is "strictly a relationship between resources that come into an organizational system over a given period of time and outputs generated with those resources over the same period of time."

Variables

In a factory, for example, productivity measures connected with input factors (labor, capital, etc) are inadequate and can be misleading sometimes.

On one hand, input factors cannot be studied while isolated by themselves. Productivity improvement in one aspect is generally at the cost of the other. Also, labor as an input factor is present in all phases. On the other hand, managerial resource (another important input factor) is not counted in such measures. 

However, the rest of the many concepts consign productivity in an output-input relationship, mostly relevant to a production system. This implies that there is an organization that works as a physical system with variables and other inter-relationships within.

Objectives

Experts Sardina and Vrat declared that those who will undertake productivity measurements should have three objectives.

One, potential improvements must be identified. Two, a decision must be made to reallocate resources. And three, it should present how well the previously established goals were determined.

Performance and financial productivity

There is a difference between these two factors. Performance productivity is based on the number of produced outputs.

For example: company X had produced 100 units of products in one week, and in the next, was able to come with 120 units. The performance productivity would have increased by 20%.

In comparison, the focus on the output value is grouped as a financial productivity. Suppose that company X had produced 100 units of products in the first and second week.

However, the selling price was raised from $1.00 to $1.20 per unit in the second week. The financial productivity would have been increased by 20% but with no increase in output.

This is misleading, too. If, on the other hand, the company sells 120 product items at $1.20 each but in the second week the price is dropped by 16.7%, the result is still $120 in sales.

From a financial viewpoint, there is no change while from a performance point there had been change. (They had to produce 20 more items.)

Definitions

Thus far, managers cannot pinpoint productivity's definitions, measurements and improvements. On the same vein, they cannot define the performance's concepts, measurements, and improvements as well.

This demonstrates that there might be a number of perspectives in viewing productivity. Following that viewpoint, there could also be a number of different measures in assessing productivity.

As defined, physical productivity is the quantity of output produced by one unit of production input in a unit of time. In layman's terms, it could be equipment which can produce 10 tons of output per hour.

Economic productivity, on the other hand, is the value of output acquired from one unit of input. For example, if a worker produces an output of 2 units in an hour (with a price of $10 each), his productivity is $20.

Both technological and market elements (output quantities and prices, respectively) interact with one another to determine economic productivity.

Calculations

One gets the average economic productivity by dividing output value and (time or physical) units of input. In addition, if the production process uses only one factor (labor, for example), the procedure gives the productivity name of that factor. (In this case, labor productivity).

If there is more than one input used for each factor, it is possible to compute by the same procedure its productivity. (In this case, it is termed "partial".)

Total factor productivity tries to construct a productivity measure that will encompass an aggregation of factors. How it means is still under hypotheses, and therefore, not yet assured in a general framework.

Indicators 

To date, it had been determined by current technology that the maximum physical quantity of output can be reached together with the number and quality of inputs needed.

In turn, adopted technology is an economic choice. Today's wide array of concurrent technologies is influenced by available innovations and compatibility with the adopter.

Most cannot be reversed because of the high cost of switching.

Technology

Technological changes sometimes happen fast in some industries while in many others the changes are more gradual. Technology, however, always improves.

Economic productivity will depend on pricing and demand. If the consumers require fewer products that can be produced potentially, plants will not work at full productive capacity. Economic productivity can fall together with decreasing demands and prices.

At the macro-economic level, labor productivity (GDP per worker) depends on the corresponding dynamics of two factors: GDP and employment. In short, productivity rises if the GDP (gross domestic product) increases faster than employment.

Productivity increase

Many factors help buoy up productivity increase. They include capital accumulation via investments, dissemination of new technologies, domestic innovative efforts, enhanced division of work, higher levels of education, organizational and technological production modes from world-class models, and the development of physical and social infrastructures,  

Impacts of productivity increase

Higher productivity will first make its presence on profits and ultimately on people's wages. If production costs do not exceed productivity increase, there is a possibility of a price fall or stability. It is also conducive to lower inflation.

In other countries, productivity has grown. In rich countries, GDP soared mainly because of the increase in productivity. The poorest countries in the world are typically with a low productivity increase.

So far, there is a marked inter-relationship between increase productivity and the rise of GDP at all levels: country-wide, companies, organizational groups, even down to the individual himself.

Do you aim to boost your productivity? You should start with your goals. Goals are sometimes very simple and sometimes very complicated and hard to achieve. Nobody would ever say attaining a goal would be easier than setting it. It is true. Achieving or realizing goals would prove to very hard and ardent than actually setting and formulating them. But you need to ramp them to start bolstering your overall productivity.

That is why further focus and deliberation should be done when setting the goals. Keep productivity on your mind. Achievability and efficiency of goals should be properly set. Start at planning and formulation of goals stage. There are a handful of goal setting tips that would certainly help you get done with the sensitive and ardent task of setting your goals, be it for the long term or even for the short-term. In the end, you would realize you are also increasing your productivity. Here are several useful guidelines.

* When setting goals for yourself, consider and know yourself really well first. That is because you should take into consideration your various skills, ability, talent, capacity, competency, and knowledge in achieving or executing your goals. If you run short of any of the mentioned concepts, chances are realizing your goals would be as hard as you could never have imagined.

* To observe clarity and organization, it would be helpful to write down your goals in a piece of paper. In doing so, make sure to include the time frame or when you want the goal to be achieved or completed and what measures you can do to achieve or accomplish such goals. That way, it would be clear to you how and for how long your efforts in achieving such goals would be.

* Make sure your goal is specific. To do so, specify or have a clear picture or idea what it is you really want to get done. If the goal is still too broad or general, simplify it further and further until you get to the specifics.

* Make sure the goal is measurable. To make it so, make it easily comparable to several set of activities or to other simpler and achieved goals. By that, the progress and development of your efforts to achieve the goals would be measurable and comparable.

* Of course, being realistic is part of the game. You would not set goals that are too impossible to achieve, right? Otherwise, it is not a goal you are setting but an impossible and impractical dream, which could only be achievable by mere chances and luck. Being realistic makes up for practical and logical goal setting.

* Set time frames. If possible, deadlines should also be imposed. You know how your body does wonders when subjected to adrenaline rush. Sometimes, deadlines are helpful because they kick you to get going and make some things done. Of course, it would no always be helpful, but try it for once. You would be surprised how your productivity is boosted because of your motivation to beat deadlines.

Productivity is basically defined as the measure of "the output from a production process per unit of input". In labor, for example, it is typically a measure of "output per labor-hour."

One area of great concern to industrialists and capitalists is related to labor productivity and the impact of the many factors around it - workplace practices, the advent of computers, capital infusion, education and training, and many others.

The main reason is the fact that while the impact of human capital investments on the workers' wages had been studied extensively, there had been little information on the direct effect of human capital on productivity.

Labor productivity

To date, however, there had been new studies conducted and published. These studies examined the link between labor productivity and a variety of workplace practices, capital and computers, both in the manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors. 

In the conducted studies, the other issues factored in included the size and age of the business, material inputs, capital stock, workers' experience, and capacity utilization.   

Findings

The studies were done to check the factors that determine labor productivity for a given period, the size of capital stocks needed for material use, the equipments, and the workplace practices. They also included computer use, human capital investments, high performance work systems, profit sharing, and recruitment practices.

One standout data, however, showed that increasing the educational level of employees by at least a year increases productivity as well. (8.5% in manufacturing and 13% in the non-manufacturing sector)

Training and decision-making

It demonstrated that formal training (done offsite, meaning from schools etc.) increased productivity in manufacturing. Computer savvy also enhanced productivity, especially in the non-manufacturing sector (sales, services, etc).

Other findings include that unionization or employee participation in decision-making also raised productivity. Also, it was found out that TQM (total quality management) system did not have much significant effects on productivity.

Rather, it was raising the proportion of workers in making decisions in the work place (regular meetings, etc.) that showed a positive impact on labor productivity.

Profit-sharing

In manufacturing plants with profit-sharing schemes for non-managerial workers, there was a 7% higher labor productivity shown compared with their competitors in the same field. Those with R & D (research and development) had an average 6% increase.

In effect, the studies showed that profit-sharing extended to non-managerial employees had increased productivity more than what the profit-sharing scheme with managerial workers did. Benchmarking also raised labor productivity by 6%.

Computers

To date, computers have also played a significant role in productivity increase (12% output) compared in the 80's when equipment investments accounted for 7% output growth.

Investments in computers and other IT equipments were about 1/3 of total investments in the 90s.

Investments

All in all, investments in education and training generate higher productivity. Moreover, it promoted higher wage growth. Studies had shown that raising the workers' educational level resulted in around 8 to 13% higher labor productivity

It had been found that investments in computer training (especially in the non-manufacturing group) resulted in higher productivity (and wages) of employees. Workers who use computers are paid 15% more than their counterparts who don't. 

However, the remaining challenge is to enable more workers equipped with skills to allow them access to better jobs. In such a scenario, they can enjoy a higher standard of living as well as contribute to higher productivity growth.

Productivity gets people moving. This is one thing that helps them achieve goals that they have set for themselves. Experts say that to be able to succeed and live a comfortable life, everyone needs constant productivity. This is because when people are aim to be productive, they become more aggressive in achieving their goals and dreams in life. If you want to get started in increasing your productivity, you should:

- Always have a dream and hold on to it. Since productivity is a not an easy task to start with, it would be best if they start now by having a dream that they could hold on to. The scale or the size of that dream doesn't matter, it can be a big thing or a small thing, what's important is the person is willing to do everything to achieve that dream. For some people, having big dreams work on them because they are looking forward to big rewards in the future that is why they are giving their best this early.

- avoid too much thinking. If possible, stop thinking at all times over something. This is because thinking would only bring in a mix of emotions that could be harder to handle and manage later on. To keep constant productivity, one must try to veer away from negative thoughts and only think of the things where he or she could something good.

- let go of the past. Experts say that the first step to be productive is to forget the failures and mistakes that you've had in the past. This is because if you already accepted that there are things that are beyond your control, you will be able to forgive yourself and start anew. If you just keep thinking of the past, this will serve as a reminder of your failure. And if you keep thinking about your defeat, you will undergo a never ending cycle of blaming yourself for the things that you did not really opted to do.

- set your own pace. While it is true that being competitive is a key in terms of achieving goals, there would always be times when you will get tired of running after so many things because you don't want other people to finish before you. To be able to increase productivity, it is best if you run a race at your own pace so you won't get tired. This will also be good for you because you can rest whenever you want to since nobody is breathing down your neck to finish something.

- think and take one step ahead. To be able to increase productivity, you need to plan ahead and do things ahead of time so you will be given more opportunity or chance in case the first plan did not work. Taking and thinking one step ahead are the best foundations of being productive because if you were able to develop these, it would be easier for you to take tougher and bigger problems or challenges along the way.

Because of the problems that come along the way, it is oftentimes hard for a person to maintain a certain level of productivity. This is because more often than not, that person would only experience failure because he or she wasn't able to meet the goals and expectations that are set.

Despite the discouraging times, experts say that this not enough reason not to be productive. In fact, for many people, this can be a good opportunity to start anew. Studies show that hard times like these can serve as an inspiration to motivate a person to be productive.

When one learns the concept of productivity, that person will be equipped to overcome difficulties and triumph over life's adversities. When practiced religiously, productivity can help people learn lifelong lessons and use these to live a good and contented life.

How to be productive

Experts say that it is only common for people to feel depression, anxiety and defeat if life has been giving them so many tests and trials. However, instead of feeling depresses and sulking into the taste of defeat, people can use this as an opportunity to make themselves stronger. This is by using these emotions and experiences to increase their productivity.

Productivity is indeed one of the best ways to live a good life. This is because if one is productive, he or she can set goals that are within his or her reach. He or she can also find ways to deal with defeats without having to feel anxious or depressed over something that may be beyond his or her control.

To be productive, it is best if one never stops learning. Experts say that once people realize that life is never-ending journey to learning, they will be able to find ways to their successes. To increase productivity, it is best never to stop learning because this opens up to new worlds of possibilities that are waiting to be explored. If one continues learning through read or by trying different things, he or she can gain more confidence to do things and start with new projects. Also, when one continues learning, he or she will acquire newer skills that can add up to the things that he or she can do.

Having a positive outlook in life is also aids success in life. Seeing things in a positive light might seem easy for some people but many people are having a hard time in appreciating the brighter side of life. Maybe because people just have different personalities and different upbringing that affect the way they see life in general.

If one wants to increase productivity, he or she must start developing a positive outlook in life. This can be done by trying to see the good in bad at all times or whenever possible. If people are able to overcome these kinds of obstacles, he or she would soon develop the habit of looking for ways that would help him or her overcome that problem and will be able to succeed in life.

Do you often fail to meet deadlines at the office? Do you think you are completing less work? If you do, you should boost your productivity. Many employees do not recognize the need to increase productivity while working. If the day seems to be just a typical day, chances are, you would be procrastinating. Your motivation to get things done could be affected. It is time to be more productive so you could do more.

How could you increase your productivity at the office? There are practical ways to do so. For a start, you should learn how to properly set goals. It would be advisable to set goals everyday. For example, you should have goals for today. Those could include finishing a long-overdue paperwork, starting immediately on a new project, or completing usual tasks. Do not overlook simple and small goals. Work to achieve those goals on a daily basis. You would be surprised how much work you could get done in a week and in a month.

De-clutter your workstation. Is your office table always too crowded? There could be too many documents or piles of papers sitting on your table top. Getting your table clean is one gauge you are productive. Try to finish all the papers-to-do. Set aside or put out all unnecessary things like photo frames, figurines, books, or small ornaments. Such things could only accumulate clutter, which in turn could hamper your free and fast movement in your own work place.

Free your personal computer from many unnecessary files. Productivity is affected when your PC is full of many unnecessary files. The function of the machine could be slowed down. Finding and retrieval of important files could be harder as there would be confusion. Organize your computer files. Sort documents and categorize them properly. Delete unnecessary files or store them in your backup or removable disk.

Try not to get involved in informal chats with your officemates especially during office hours. This may seem hard but if you are truly focused on getting things done, you could easily do so. You do not need to be an anti-social. You could still enjoy your office mates' company during lunch or coffee breaks. You might as well join them at after-office get-togethers for some chit-chats. You are in the office to work, not to socialize.

Report to work on time. Punctuality is an important factor to productivity. If you come to the office on time, you could start working early. You would observe that at the end of each day, you are able to achieve and complete more tasks.

Lastly, maintain your focus. You should resist using the Internet for unnecessary activities. It would be better if you could work offline so you would not be tempted to surf porn or just chat with online friends using online messenger or real-time messaging services. Your productivity would be bolstered because there would be minimized distractions. At the end of the day, you would find yourself doing more work. 

All over the world, productivity is increasing by leaps and bounds. This development had been noted by CEOs and managers as due to the upswing of the business and technology trend referred as unified communications.

Basically, it is the streamlining of all types of communications in order to increase the efficiency of information-sharing.

Unified communications is a business and technology trend that has been on the upsurge for a few years now. The term refers to the streamlining of all types of communications in order to increase the efficiency of sharing information. Any business that wishes to improve productivity should consider learning more about the tools that are available to unify communications.

Unified Communications

As the name itself suggests, unified communications says it all: it is connecting all forms of communications so that you can easily integrate them. An example would be voice calls and email together so that you may receive a message in one form (voice mail) but answer in another form (email).

There is now a variety of different tools and software programs that are available to create unified communications. Some examples are the following:

VoIP

The VoIP service was one of the first tools to begin unifying communications. This is a phone service routed through the Internet. It allows for easy integration of online information with voice interaction.

With VoIP, it is possible to easily access and send files to someone you are speaking with.

Mobile phones

Today, mobile phones are now capable of playing a big role in unified communications because you can use them to retrieve calls, exchange information, and being able to access the web and IM programs.

Google and other web services

With Google Voice, it is easy to archive and retrieve information from voice mail messages. Phone calls are converted into text and can be saved and searched online. This service also allows you to use one phone number to be reached at all phones, which actually is another method of streamlining communications.

Solutions

The above services are examples that combine some aspects of communication. However, there are also true unified communications software solutions that offer much more integration of services.

These services can combine voice, email, IM, fax, collaboration, conferencing, file sharing and more to have completely integrated communication.

Goals

Unified communications sets to increase the efficiency of business communications. Information that can be received in various forms can now be responded to with more immediacy than information passed through only one form.

Communications with more than one person, communications while traveling and the easy archiving and searching of all types of messages are some of the ways that efficiency (productivity) may be increased with unified communications.

Productivity

When businesses are able to use their time efficiently, they are able to maximize their productivity.  Being able to communicate easily in various forms is the goal. Communications are now faster, delays are reduced, and organized archiving and retrieval of information are two of the biggest benefits of unified communications.