Introduction
Many people use the word ‘productivity’ because it is a household word. However, for different people it means different things. The definition of productivity is complex and it has been defined in a number of ways, but all have in common the feature of relating an output measure to an input measure. 
Government bodies, trade unions and other social institutions have stakes in the productivity and define the term ‘productivity’ from their own perspectives. Productivity has different meanings in different situations. In order to define productivity, scientists, engineers, philosophers, economists, politicians, social scientists, organizational behaviorists, environmental scientists and managers have different ideas. The productivity can be defined in the context of an enterprise, an industry or an economy as a whole. Productivity has different meanings to different people as given hereunder:
- For employers: Improve competitive position in the market.
- For Employees: An increase in wages, development of skills and other capabilities.
- For Customers: Lower price, high quality, and timely delivery.
- For Society: Low inflation, improvement in living standards, environmental protection.
- For Government: More revenues, more resources for social services.
Productivity: objective and scientific concept
Additionally, it can be quantified, which qualifies it as a variable. This makes it possible to define and measure it either in absolutes or relative terms. Productivity is also a technical and managerial concept and it encompasses a wide range of measures, from efficiency and effectiveness to turnover rates, absenteeism rates, output measures, client and consumer satisfaction measures, and intangibles like disruption in workflow as well as morale, loyalty, and job satisfaction. The choice of a definition must be made based on the specific situation under which it is being used and it must be appropriate for the particular circumstance. The different definitions of the productivity collated from the literatures are as under:
Gallery
Definitions
- Productivity as faculty to produce
- Productivity is always a ratio of output and input
- Productivity is an arithmetic ratio of some measure of output to some index of input use.
- Productivity is measured by the goods and services produced by per unit of national resources.
- Productivity is a relationship between outputs from a given system during or over a given period in time, and inputs to that system during that same period.
- Productivity refers to the physical relationship between the quantity produced (output) and the quantity of resources used in the course of production (input such as labour, capital, energy, raw materials, and services)
- Productivity is the relationship, usually in ratio form, between outputs and all of the associated inputs in real terms. The inputs may be total or partial, giving rise to the concept of total productivity and partial productivity
- Productivity is the measure of how well resources are brought together in organisations and utilised for accomplishing a set of results
- Productivity is the name of reaching the higher level of performance with the least expenditures of resources.
- Productivity is a comprehensive measure about how efficiently and effectively organisations satisfy the following five aims: objectives, efficiency, effectiveness, comparability and progressive trends.
- Productivity is doing things right at the least possible cost in least possible time with the highest possible quality and to the maximum level of satisfaction of the customers and employees.
European Productivity Agency
“Productivity is an attitude of mind. It is a mentality of progress, of the constant improvement of that which exists. It is the certainty of being able to do better today than yesterday, and less well than tomorrow. It is the will to improve on the present situation, no matter how good it may seem, no matter how good it may really be. It is the constant adoption of economic and social life to changing conditions; it is the continual efforts to apply new techniques and new methods; it is the faith in human progress”.
Asia Productivity Organization (APO) defines the productivity as combination of efficiency, that is, ‘doing things right’ and effectiveness, that is, ‘doing the right things’. The meaning of productivity is an approach, a mindset, and a way of thinking that allows one to accomplish more with fewer resources by keeping ethics in mind, caring about the stakeholders’ risks, and protecting the environment.
Productivity and other related terms
Productivity= (Actual Output)/(Actual Input)
Efficiency= (Actual Output)/(Standard Output)
In nutshell productivity refers to quantitative aspect while efficiency refers to qualitative aspect of performance. Efficiency may be viewed as combination of input costs and output quality. Whereas effectiveness is usually described as ‘doing the right things’. Effectiveness is the degree to which something is successful in producing a desired result. 
In the transformation process, high productivity is achieved by combining efficiency with effectiveness. Therefore, an effective system can be inefficient, just as an efficient system can be inefficient. The profitability is also sometimes confused with productivity. However, both are significantly different as profitability can be increased just by an increase in output prices or decrease in input prices. The price of final products relative to input costs can increase even if a company’s productivity doesn’t change. Profit is an accounting concept, measured using current prices, whereas productivity is measured using constant prices.
