Increasing Organizational Productivity Essay Example for Free

Increasing Organizational Productivity Essay There is a great challenge in increasing the productivity of organizations particularly to the managers who properly have turned to be experts in their specific fields. Basing on an organizational challenge that is tending to ubiquity, the productivity of the organization is the ratio that evaluates the efficiency of the resources used in the production of services. Production refers to the ratio between outputs and inputs. There are some particular companies that manage to produce more after using less as compared to other companies even when the conditions for productions are quite the same. Two companies may happen to be working in the same industry, deal with the same suppliers and resources, and work in similar business environment and after all, show some differences in organizational productivity. It means therefore the greatest challenge for managers of specific organizations is to have ideas on how to increase productivity. This is one of the manager’s responsibilities that lead to increasing the market share of an organization as well as maintaining profit (Smith, 1995). Goal setting A manager of an organization has to clarify the goals of the organizations, device processes so as to achieve them and in addition control the processes. A Service oriented organization basically shares the same goals with the peer organizations. The goals include developing a service that seems superior as compared to those offered in the marketplace. The second goal involves increasing the market share for the organizations. Sustain the profits and at the same time increase sales volume should be included. Moreover, offering suitable return on investment and using the available technology to increase productivity are also included. The goals also include eliminating waste, fostering the morale of the employees, reaching the best level of functioning efficiency and enhancing the image of the organization. It should be noted that the goals are related to each other and more importantly, their major intention is to increase the productivity of an organization. In all organizations the efforts of the employees basically determine the effectiveness of the organization. Generally, productivity happens in correlation to the interest and concern employees portray to a specific input component. Thus the human resource manager should be actively involved in developing and putting into practice practices and policies which encourage employees’ productivity (Maanen, 1998). Coping with factors that affect production There are some factors that have a great effect on productivity in service oriented companies. These are organization factors, environment factors, factors related to employee and management factors. The management of an organization have the obligation of examining the factors correctively to find out how one factor affects the other. This is because failure to examine a particular factor may lead to lowering of productivity. Since nobody can have a control on the environmental factors, the organization must always strive to be flexible so as to adapt to them. The structure of the organization is influenced by the environment it operates on and the environment has a significant impact on the employees. It is obvious that the style of the management establishes the effectiveness of the organization simply because it affects the reaction and attitude of the employee. Considering the relationship that exists among the factors have an ultimate effect on the productivity of an organization (Smith, 1995). The changing conditions in the economy have intense effect on the productivity of an organization and hence the degree of the stability of the company in terms of economy has effects on decisions concerning growth and staffing. As a result the labour union may change the benefits, wages and work rules and therefore the human resource department have to be cautious of the changes in the labour market conditions. An organization ought to be in a position that it can adapt easily to changing work environment. The organization factors which include structure, climate and technology also affect the profitability, efficiency and more particularly productivity (Smith, 1995). The application of management approaches of economy, efficiency as well as effectiveness as productivity measurement in a service oriented company have been noted not to increase productivity significantly (Bass Avolio, 1998). There is need to incorporate the use of ethical approaches such as empathy and evaluation to increase the production of the organizations to a greater extent. There are limits that seem practical in the level of formalization and specialization of an organization. It may be national, privately owned or publicly owned and to increase productivity, the human practices and policies must match with the complexity and size of an organization. The makeup as well as size of the Human Resource department ought to echo with the organization’s structure. Another thing to consider is the degree of specialization or in other words technology. This involves the technical level of the processes in an organization. To sustain market viability, there is need for a particular scope of development and research. Employees should have the necessary skills basing on varying degrees. An organization ought to focus on whether it wishes to be employee-centred hence encourage employees to attain results. It must bear in mind its reward systems, communicating information, decision making and offering a positive climate for all employees. The Human Resource professionals ought to involve themselves in determining the climate of the organization. If it happens that they do not get involved, it means they lack the power to command a position that seems strong to lead to the implementation of policies created by the climate. Each organization has a basic management style that may be naturally evolved or consciously adopted. Whether democratic, task-oriented, authoritarian, laissez-faire, whether it strives to be reactive or chooses to be proactive or innovative, the managerial style for a particular organization has intense effect on the ability of the HR department in developing and implementing procedures and policies as well as on the employees. The function of the Human Resource is also highly affected by the manner in which resources are attained and used, the question regarding who makes decisions and sets the goals, how communication is communicated and the style of motivation used (Warrwick Organizational Behaviour Staff,2001). Employee attitude is another factor that has effect on the productivity of an organization. It is through the employees that the goals of an organization are attained and as a result they drive the failure or success of the organization. It is important to have employees with the proper educational levels or knowledge and skill concerning the job. Moreover, the employees’ motivation and abilities are also important factors to consider. The organization should avoid setting practices and policies that intensify negatively the employees’ social, personal, religious and political factors since this is likely to affect the workers’ effectiveness hence influencing productivity (Warrwick Organizational Behaviour Staff, 2001) What matters most? Productivity is concerned with what can be derived from the organizations’ resources and hence it is important to clearly list the most significant resource. For example in labour-intensive industries, the major input could be total number of hours worked by an individual and in steel plants could be the equipment. To increase productivity it is good to benchmark the operations in an organization to avoid being left behind in competition. An organization should invest in resources and this does not imply that there is need to use large sums of money. Investment could entail training employees on skills, operations as well as procedures. Training employees help impact in them vital skills that would help them to avoid making mistakes in customer service and manufacturing. For example, investing in technology may assist the organization to speed up in production and reduce the head count hence leading to less wastage. Paying the employees for work done would not bring the best for an organization. There are so many factors that affect the employees’ behavior. The organization needs to carry out an analysis and determine what has been missing in the list of motivating employees. To set things straight, there is need for a balanced approach and studies have revealed that doing away with pilferage of efforts could result to increased productivity (Warrwick Organizational Behaviour Staff, 2001). Best practices Increasing revenues and lowering costs are the major fundamental goals for service oriented organizations. At the same time as a businesses strives to attain its goals and objectives, IT organizations are pushed forward to accomplishing more with less. IT organizations have an added obligation of assisting other organizations comply with the regulatory requirements. Apparently, in the past years, reducing risk in organizations has assumed a different meaning and has become the most significant goal for organizations. For an organization to succeed in increasing productivity, it needs to examine the other perspective of reducing risks. This means that the need to manage and reduce risks is intertwined to increasing productivity. Managing risks involves reliability, compliance and security (Kelly, 2005). From the compliance point of view, development organizations ought to make sure that business processes as well as applications data consistently adhere to the regulatory guidelines and requirements. Failure to do this may imply that many IT departments could be exposing the organization to regulatory and legal risks. Organizations need to meet the requirement of the SOX-type reporting and hence organizations need to perfectly ensure that any alterations in their applications do not interfere but rather meet with other regulations including those of SOX. Basing on the reliability perspective, it is better that organizations continue with the attempts of increasing availability and reliability of the internal and facing customers’ applications. The key component to ensuring reliability is testing. However, many organizations fail in the procedure as they test what they perceive as important since they have little testing time at their disposal. This means that the organization leaves what is most important in real sense. Therefore, to become a bit more efficient and effective, organizations are required to perfect their effectiveness in the testing process and this means that testing should including testing the most important aspects or components and not the easiest components. From a security point of view, this is the real meaning of business in organizations. A breach in the application raises the risks involved in the organizations and therefore there should be a good thought on matters to do with reducing possibility attacks and this henceforth reduce risks linked to data access and applications (Kelly, 2005). The issue linked to managing risks is developer productivity. There is a lot of pressure on service oriented organizations to execute more while utilizing less. There is more job security if there is consequent greater effectiveness and developer’s productivity. It does not count much if organizations purpose to increase productivity without the proper tools as this will not show the practicability of the set goals. This is like purposing to work smarter but not harder. To increase organizations’ productivity, developers ought to come up with new ways of minimizing the time that is not utilized in benefiting the business value. For instance, the time utilized in testing does not particularly give business its value, but instead gives support on the release of an application that is complete which focus on a business need. Looking for ways to effectively and efficiently test will lead to an increase in productivity hence affect positively the delivering of the business value. The best way for efficient testing is creating a good level for best practices and not waste time in rebuilding standards from the grassroots (Kelly, 2005). Nothing comes easy and therefore if in an organization there will be addressing of challenges and risks, more effort and may be more time will be used. This implies that more money will be needed for executing the process. There is no way an organization can increase quality without having to increase time and cost. Organizations need to think on the best manner of reaching quality in the current world in the available time in a manner that is cost effective. This is the challenge that organizations face today. The best practices assist organizations to have a good improvement in the performance and efficiency of the organizations (Kelly, 2005). In the past years organizations considered the top down approach as the best in increasing productivity. However, this can also be achieved by using the bottoms up approach and this helps organizations to define, capture and apply the best practices in particular portions of the cycle of development. For instance, a particular organization may put into practice a limited performance of code of review for specific forms of services or applications. On the other hand, the organization may apply development tools and automated testing that streamline the identification of errors and also educate developers on the appropriate modes of solving errors as well as accomplishing a given job.

There Are No Children Here Essays: Style -- There are No Children Here

Style of There Are No Children Here There Are No Children Here In Kotlowitz's description of the harsh realities of the Chicago projects, three stylistic elements stand out: his precise narration, his bluntness, and his questionable objectivity. These three elements blend to form a unique style that is particularly well-suited for There Are No Children Here. If there is one thing on which critics agree when discussing this book, it is that Kotlowitz is a brilliant narrator. He has a keen eye for the daily particulars of this dangerous neighborhood. Adding to this strength is the fact that he spent years in one particular Chicago project, earning the trust of his informants. What ensues is a story that is told masterfully. Kotlowitz conveys not only the hardships that Lafeyette and Pharaoh face, but the effect of those hardships on the boys, as well. For example, after the two children dive under cover during a drive-by shooting, both are visibly affected. The younger brother, Pharaoh, laments, "I worry about dying, dying at a young age." The older of the two, Lafeyett...

Fences †Tragic Hero Essay

In August Wilson’s play â€Å"Fences†, he presents a misguided yet accomplished character. The play’s protagonist Troy, creates conflict with every character because of his judgmental nature and contrived haughty perception of himself. Through numerous stories that he re-cants Troy embellishes his experiences to cast himself in a righteous light. Contrary, to the stories he tells, his behavior expose Troy as a foolish man that does irrational things. One moment he is lecturing his family members on how they ought to live their lives and the next he’s off frolicking like a child with no cares or responsibilities. Aside, from his hypocrisies Troy managed to become a talented professional baseball player. As a member of the Negro Baseball League (NBL), Troy was a pioneer and hero of his time. The men associated with the NBL endured the ignorance and hostility of many to advance the footprint of black Americans in professional avenues. Sadly, Troy’s tim e in a groundbreaking career and stable, loving household are overshadowed by the demons he tries to ignore. He struggles to accept the harsh realities of his life and the decisions that he’s made, leaving him to live within the confines of bitterness and denial. It is evident that life has made Troy a bitter man. He was once a talented young baseball player at the height of his career. However, when Major League Baseball began to integrate Troy was too old to become a member. That reality weighed resentfully with him, and influenced many of his relationships, in particular with his son, Cory. His son plays football and aspires to professionally some day. He has the opportunity to go to college on a football scholarship, but Troy won’t allow it and refuses to sign the papers to permit Cory to do so. Troy scoffs that â€Å"ain’t no need for nobody coming around here to talk to me about signing nothing†¦ The white man ain’t gonna let you get nowhere with that football no way† (Wilson 35). Troy’s comments are a direct reflection of his own shattered dreams. Holding Cory back from living to the full potential of his dream illustrates Troy’s pessimism and envy. He stands in an ideal position to encourage and mentor his son, but sadly, he doesn’t have the fortitude to do so. Troy’s wife Rose is another character who comes into conflict with Troy because of his bitterness and irrational decisions. Rose  is a faithful, compassionate and realistic wife. While she loves her family, she recognizes that there is a disconnect. So she asks Troy, with the help of his sons, one of whom she did not bear to build a fence in their back yard. She hopes that the time will be well spent together and the fence will stand as a symbol of the their unity. However, Troy seeks sanctuary through external means, being alcohol and another woman. Against the cautioning of his friend Bono, â€Å"she loves you Troy, Rose loves you† (Wilson 36), Troy maintains a relationship with a woman named Alberta. Alberta goes on to become pregnant by Troy, and sadly, dies in childbirth. With such discord within her marriage, somehow Rose manages to find the compassion to raise Troy’s illigetimate child. Although Troy had the opportunity to emotionally support his caring wife, and build a fence with his sons, he could not escape his own need for external validation correlating back to his time as a professional athlete. Troy is a tragic-hero who is unable to enjoy the fruit that his life bore him. He failed to provide the love and support that would mean the most to his loved ones. He was unable to relish in his time spent playing for the NBL, and encourage his son to follow his dream because Troy’s dream ended prematurely. Troy is also unable to appreciate the love of his wife because of the external adoration heâ€⠄¢d grown to know and desire from others. When his professional career ended he became bitter and began a cycle of irrational decisions because of his depressed outlook. Work Cited Wilson, August Fences Literature : an introduction to fiction , poetry, drama and writing. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Diana Gioia, 12th ed. New York: Pearson, 2013 1153-63

The Relativity Of Exceptionalism Donald Trump - 1118 Words

The Relativity of Exceptionalism Donald Trump: multibillionaire business man. Donald Trump has constantly maintained an awful reputation for being impudent and insulting. Trump displays his hatred for muslims and Mexicans to gain followers in his campaign for presidency. As awful as it may sound, American citizens are drawn to Trumps campaign because he believes that no one else belongs in America, besides Americans. Trump’s ethic to making â€Å"America great again† is by excluding every non-American from America. Donald Trump has gained this mentality because he sees America as a superior country. This mentality that Trump has is American exceptionalism. The idea of American exceptionalism is the thought of superiority which drives Americans to believe that they are unique amongst other counties. Many perceive American exceptionalism differently due to the political demographics of it. American exeptionalism is an opinionated thought that each individual has. Ameri can exceptionalism is all relative to the case. Some find American exceptionalism be an ideology, due to the system of ideas that are found in it. However, many believe that American exceptionalism is the â€Å"driving force† in American society which gives Americans the motivation to succeed. American exceptionalism is a relative thought that is a driving force, but it is used with negative context and discrimination. American exceptionalism is an ideology which politicians have adapted to express that America is