General information about Productivity Improvement

• Definitions
• Links to General Information Productivity sites

Definitions:

• The output of any production process, per unit of input. To increase productivity means to produce more with less. In vegetation, productivity is the ability to produce life: to create carbon compounds from atmospheric carbon dioxide through photosynthesis. (See net primary production.) In factories and corporations, productivity is a measure of the ability to create goods and services from a given amount of labor, capital, materials, land, resources, knowledge, time, or any combination of those. Since capital goods tend to decline in value and wear out, most economists distinguish between gross capital productivity (total yield) and net capital productivity, which discounts depreciation (Source: Mintzer, 1992).
  www.globalchange.org/glossall/glossp-r.htm
   
• The rate of output per unit of input. The most common international comparison of productivity is that of labor — how much of a product a person can make in a unit of time. For example, the labor productivity of farmer might be measured in tons of grain produced per year.
  www2.ucsc.edu/atlas/glossary.html
   
• Average real output per unit of input. Labor productivity is average real output per hour of labor. The growth of labor productivity is defined as the growth of real output that is not explained by the growth of labor input alone. Total factor productivity is average real output per unit of combined labor and capital inputs. The growth of total factor productivity is defined as the growth of real output that is not explained by the growth of labor and capital. Labor productivity and total factor productivity differ in that increases in capital per worker raise labor productivity but not total factor productivity. [Back to top]
  www.house.gov/budget_democrats/glossary.htm
   
• The rate of production of biomass. "Primary productivity" refers to the biomass produced by the photosynthesizing plant components of an ecosystem.
  research.amnh.org/biodiversity/symposia/archives/seascapes/glossary.html
   
• The amount of physical output for each unit of productive input.
  www.frbsf.org/tools/gloss.html
   
• Productivity is the amount of product created by one unit of a given factor of production over a stated period of time. Productivity expresses the marginal relationship of inputs to outputs and measures the economic efficiency of production. Productivity indicators ordinarily relate output to a single factor of production, creating measures like labor productivity, capital productivity, and land productivity. Measures of multifactor productivity, in contrast, combine productivity indicators for multiple factors of production (labor and capital, for example) to produce a single overall measure of productivity growth.
  www.indiana.edu/~ipe/glossry.html
   
• Output per unit of input employed. Increases in productivity come from increased efficiency on the part of capital or labour. It is essential to measure productivity in terms of real output, but often impossible to separate capital productivity from labour productivity. In common use, the term is generally confined to labour productivity. (Pearce, 1996)
  strategis.ic.gc.ca/SSG/cl00172e.html
   
• A measure of the capacity of a biological system. The efficiency with which a biological system converts energy into growth and production. Can be expressed as the number of smolts produced per parent.
  www.governor.wa.gov/gsro/glossary.htm
   
• A measure of technical efficiency, typically expressed as the added output for an additional unit of input or the average output per unit of input, i.e., labor, land, capital productivity.
  www.cnie.org/nle/AgGlossary/letter-p.html
   
• The transfer of energy and nutrients into living matter over time. Productivity is a function of both the growth rate and biomass of an organism and is expressed as a rate of change. For example, primary productivity is the rate of increase in plant material over a unit area and time, e.g., grams Carbon/m2/yr. Secondary productivity applies to animals and is expressed in the same terms.
  www.coastal.ca.gov/web/weteval/we12glos.html
   
• The amount of output per unit of input, such as the quantity of a product produced per hour of capital employed.
  www.americo.com/glossary/bfglosp.html
   
• The rate of output per unit of input.
  sparc.ecology.uga.edu/webdocs/1/glossary.htm
   
• An overall measure based on a quantity of output generated by a given quantity of input. Increased output as a result of the same amount of input such as labor hours) indicates more efficient use of a given set of resources due to process improvements or other achievements.
  www.bridgefieldgroup.com/glos7.htm
   
• efficiency with which goods and services are produced, as measured by the quantity produced per person per hour
  www.wcit.org/tradeis/glossary.htm
   
• An indication of output per employee. While productivity is helpful in the analysis of an economy, it is often misleading. This is because a reduction in personnel can, at times of recession for example, lead to an increase in productivity. Thus output per employee may seem encouraging while overall economic performance is declining.
  www.wallstreetcity.com/news/news_indicator_glossary.asp
   
• productivity is the amount of output produced by a unit of input. 9, 43, 584
  lms.thomsonelearning.com/hbcp/glossary/glossary.taf
  Productivity is used to measure the efficiency of production, and is most often expressed as a ratio of outputs over inputs.
  www.populareconomics.org/globalization/html%20/Glossary.html
   
• The relationship between production of an output and one, some, or all of the resource inputs used in accomplishing the assigned task. It is measured as a ratio of output per unit of input over time. It is a measure of efficiency and is usually considered as output per person-hour. Topic areas: Staff Development and Organizational Capacity, Accountability and Evaluation, Operations Management and Leadership
  www.nonprofitbasics.org/TopicAreaGlossary.aspx
   
• Quality of production from a set of inputs. Productivity can be increased by improving the quality of the factors of production.
  www.turnerlearning.com/efts/bball/econglos.htm
   
• The measurement of labor efficiency when compared to an established base. It is also used to measure equipment effectiveness, drawing productivity, etc. The actual rate of output or production per unit of time worked.
  www.projectauditors.com/Dictionary/P.html
   
• weight of dry matter produced in a given period by all the green plants growing in a given space (Daubenmire 1968b).
  fire.r9.fws.gov/ifcc/monitor/EFGuide/glossery.htm
   
• Savings resulting from a reduction in costs. Productivity savings can be realized in any business segment or function of the Company.
  www.kraft.com/investors/definitions.html
   
• A term used to reflect the volume of activity of a provider, group of providers or organization for a defined period. Productivity may be defined by encounters, billable visits, procedures, or relative value units.
  www.tnpca.org/data_glossary.html
   
• (of thought) Thought is said to be productive, since, in a sense, normal cognitive agents are capable of having denumerable many distinct thoughts. In other words, to say that thought is productive means that normal cognitive agents have the competence to entertain denumerable many distinct thoughts.
  Ken Aizawa
  www.artsci.wustl.edu/~philos/MindDict/P.html
   
• rate of production; the amount of output per worker-hour; a measure of industrial efficiency and economic development.
  web.isp.cz/jcrane/Glossary.html
   
• the quality of being productive or having the power to produce
  www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn
   
• (economics) the ratio of the quantity and quality of units produced to the labor per unit of time
  www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn