Debtfree DIGI October 2015

IN A NUTSHELL
ARE TOO MANY RULES DESTROYING
YOUR BUSINESS PRODUCTIVITY?
The Oxford Dictionary defines productivity as ‘The effectiveness of productive effort, especially
in industry, as measured in terms of the rate of output (of goods, products, etc.) per unit of
input (of labour, materials, equipment, etc.).Technically and mathematically this is correct,
but herein lies the problem. Too many businesses focus on the pure measurement of efficiency
and effectiveness without considering that human cooperation is far more powerful.
Why do businesses with fewer resources sometimes outperform far more skilled and resourceful
competitors? The answer lies not in what can be measured, but in the power of what people can
achieve when everyone works together to achieve a common goal. When people cooperate the
result is often bigger than the sum of the individual parts.
Yves Morieux, managing director and expert in corporate transformation in Boston Consulting
Group’s Paris office, points out in a Ted Talk that productivity has steadily dropped since the
1950’s. Between 1950 and the early 1970’s productivity was at its highest at 5% per annum,
in the largest European economies, as well as Japan and the United States (U.S.). Since 1995,
productivity amongst these countries has dropped to approximately 1% per annum. http://
www.ted.com/talks/yves_morieux_how_too_many_rules_at_work_keep_you_from_getting_
things_done#t-71520 .This scenario is not that different in South Africa. Productivity is directly
linked to the standard of living of a country. Yves Morieux points out that when productivity