UNIT – I Lesson 1 HRM – AN OVERVIEW Lesson Outline Nature of ...

is not paying above market rate and if it results in too drastic pay revisions within existing
structures. At times, the geographic isolation of an organization could also make it less
comparable to other employers. Employees’ Unions could totally reject or even nullify the
outcomes of job evaluation if the employer’s relationships with most of them are not
cordial.
4.10. PRODUCTIVITY:
Productivity might be described as the rate of production per unit of input expenditure
involving time and cost. Some describe productivity as the judicious use of productive
resources-physical as well as mental. It is the numerically stated measure of how well an
operations system functions and an indicator of the efficiency and competitiveness of a
single firm or department. Productivity is used by people to mean different things. To the
employers, productivity means lower and lower costs. To the employee it could mean
harder and harder work, and therefore lesser real wages than the past years for work of
equal intensity and hardship.
Productivity is considered to a function of factors like physical factors, situational
factors and individual factors. An employee’s productivity is determined by that person’s
motivation and ability to perform a task. In case of teamwork, a group’s size,
compositions, norms, interpersonal understanding, cohesion and its leadership would
determine the group’s productivity. In the same way, an organization’s productivity
would depend on its culture, climate, leadership, vision and missions, learning and
entrepreneurship. The exponents of productivity regard labor productivity as one of the
basic rods of measurement of economic development and as one of the key determinants
of national income.
Tom Peters and Waterman, the specialists on organizational excellence, have paid
due emphasis on productivity improvements that are achieved through people. According
to them, progressive organizations would treat the ordinary members of the organization
as the basic source of productivity and quality gains. These organizations do not regard
capital investment and labor substitution as the fundamental source of productivity
enhancement. Their people orientation is marked by performance consciousness, but the
personal achievements stem mainly from developing mutually high expectations and peer
review rather than exhortation and complicated command and control systems. They work
very hard to cut the need for intrusive forms of corporate management, believing that the
less of direct intervention from higher management there is the better it is for the
productivity of the organization.