Human work productivity: a global perspective

Shrawan Kumar; Anil Mital; Arunkumar Pennathur

doi:10.1201/b15340

"The current global economic downturn and considerable shifting in industrial and manufacturing activities have disturbed the industrial order. However, human work productivity is still one of the most important components of the industrial economy and a determining factor in global competiveness and influence as well as the potential for technological innovation and advancement. Human Work Productivity: A Global Perspective covers how human productivity affects the industrial economy and competitiveness across the industrial and manufacturing sectors. Many approaches that have worked historically must now be reexamined and new approaches must be developed. Integrating recent concepts related to human work productivity for modern production systems/organizations, this book examines how ergonomic improvements for the human operator and/or redesign and rearrangement of the workplace can boost individual productivity. It also covers the impact of the aging workforce, reports on an investigation of total productive maintenance, and considers the efficacy of workplace design from a maintenance perspective. Discussions of work hours and their effect on productivity, the impact of technology, and productivity in a health care organization complete the coverage.In any organization, all components must be considered as an integrated whole for sustained productivity. This book explores these components as independent factors and examines their impact on productivity. It then discusses models integrating these factors, creating a clear understanding of the whole, and details schemes of optimization for putting that understanding into practice"-- "Preface Our world is in an economic flux. The relative economic prowess and hence the influence of industry and commerce on the international stage have created a state of unstable and dynamic equilibrium. The interconnectedness of individual productivity, gross domestic product (GDP), global economic impacts, and potential for technological innovation and advancement has never been so apparent. Thus, enhancement of individual productivity exerts a direct impact on personal prosperity, national affluence, and international influence. Based on these connections and impacts, worker productivity has assumed a central and vital place in our individual and collective economic lives. This is an opportune time to delve into certain aspects of productivity. A topic as broad as productivity deserves and demands an exhaustive discourse--a task that is daunting and beyond the scope of this work. This book is an effort to explore some aspects of productivity in an attempt to expand our understanding of its benefits and consequences. This book begins with a chapter by Gilad and Elnekave that proposes cost-effective ergonomic improvements to boost individual productivity. These authors measured job elements and determined task durations by extracting elemental times from motion-time tables and analyzing them. Using such a quantitative approach, they were able to improve the operation time and determine appropriate rest allowances. Al Kadeem conversely addresses similar issues by redesign and rearrangement of the workplace to enhance productivity (Chapter 2). Landau et al. (Chapter 3) discuss the impact of increasing ages of workers in the labor force. Contrary to common belief, they found that declines in productivity due to age were minor"--

Human work productivity: a global perspective

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