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There are two significant mental inputs which impact productivity levels:
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Employee motivation
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Corporate knowledge
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Employee motivation:
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There’s no precise formula to determine the impact of improving employee motivation on productivity levels
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Hence one is left with the following broad relationship:
Productivity = Ability x Motivation
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Ability is what a team can do:
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It depends on the physical and/ or mental strengths of team members
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It can be improved by careful selection and good training of each team member, and cross-pollination of ideas and experience between them
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Motivation is what a team will do:
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It depends on many factors concerning job design and the working environment
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It’s also contagious – team members pass it on to others, and new members soon pick up ‘the vibes’ – this applies to both high and low motivation levels
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Empirical evidence suggests their combined effect on productivity can be dramatic – for example:
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More availability of staff – up to 50% less ‘sickies’
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More staff efficiency – up to 60% more output from the same workers
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Corporate Knowledge:
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There’s even less known about the cause & effect relationship between corporate knowledge levels and productivity outcomes
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Have too little and it seems obvious that performance levels will suffer
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But have too much and some in a team may become overwhelmed, others bored, so performance levels may again suffer
Conclusion:
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Employee motivation and knowledge levels undoubtedly have a significant impact on productivity levels, even if they cannot be quantified exactly
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They also interact
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Therefore, both should be assessed simultaneously – and managers take action if either is found lacking