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Describe the differences between productivity and its subcomponents (total measure productivity, partial measure productivity, and multifactor measure productivity) related to production and operations management success.
Expert Answer
Productivity is the measure of how efficiently an input gets converted into an output. Therefore it is defined as:
Productivity = Output / Input
Total Productivity Measure
In this case, we are taking into consideration, all factors related to the input
Partial Productivity Measure
In this case, we are taking into consideration, one one input factor (e.g. the labor productivity will be defined as the number of outputs per unit of labor hour)
Multifactor Productivity Measure
This is perhaps a compromise between the Total Productivity Measure and the Partial Productivity Measure as we take a subgroup of input factors in calculating the productivity (e.g. labor + power)
The partial productivity measures often do not tell precisely the overall health of the company as they only depict the performance of one input factor at a time. Depending upon the industry and the level of technology being deployed, the composition of different input factors may vary. So, in order to get the overall position of a firm, we need to convert all inputs into $ values and calculate the total productivity. Partial productivity will become important when we know beforehand that which factor is to be considered for improvement.
