A Problem With Meaning

While the concern for productivity in the public sector is not new, the intensity of concern has increased steadily during the past ten years. In fact, one observer states that productivity has become the very hottest new word among many of the nation's public administrators. The enthusiasm for the concept is facilitated by the fact that at the abstract level everyone is for productivity. It seems to be a simple and uncomplicated concept. It is not.

One of the biggest problems facing the public productivity movement is the assumption that everyone shares a common definition of the term productivity. The assumption is false. Productivity discuss it from perspectives rooted in such diverse subject areas as measurement, labor relations, training and development, management, budget, and finance. Academicians and practitioners specializing in each of these areas tend to have different interests, views and opinions from counterparts in each of the other areas. Consequently, they define productivity in different ways. There simply is no commonly shared definition. Productivity tends to be intertwined with the concepts of efficiency, savings, cutbacks, measurement, effectiveness, and performance. The result is considerable confusion.

Productivity and performance management

Three of the more dominant orientations in the productivity field

Definitions of effectiveness for performance management

Summarizing the definitions of effectiveness for performance management