Productivity Improvement: An Important Issue for Private and Public Sector Organisations Available to Purchase

This article discusses current productivity improvement issues facing organisations in the UK and elsewhere. A brief overview of the UK resource utilisation position in central and local government, industry and commerce is provided. The international perspective is then outlined using examples of successful productivity organisations, productivity campaigns and company productivity improvement programmes taking place outside the UK. The article refocuses on the UK by reporting the findings from a productivity study of 28 private and public sector organisations. In conclusion it is suggested that operations managers and directors, especially in the UK, need to think about productivity improvement as a strategic as well as an operational issue.