Leaving on a jet plane

I leave Jakarta today conscious that as a foreign 'expert' I fly in, offer advice and fly out expecting the locals to pick up implementation. And yet I know this is often the trickiest part. But I don' t have the time to implement and they could'nt afford it. So, as ever, we muddle through together .... and somehow it all works!

Remember the past as you build the future

I am in Indonesia working on a project to increase the export value of fisheries products. Of course the local people are somewhat preoccupied with the effects of the recent earthquakes. Both the past and the future are important. So as I encourage them to look to the future, I learn from them about their individual and collective pasts. I cannot share their pain but I certainly understand and respect it.

Nigeria could do better

Dr Paul Bdliya of the Nigerian National Productivity Centre is embarking on a Productivity Awareness Campaign (PAC) in an attempt to institutionalize a productivity culture in the Nigerian people using the mass media as its strategic tool and focusing on jingles, debates, advertisement, press briefing and so on through various media.

According to Paul: “The natural competitiveness that should arise from the industry and entrepreneurship of the Nigerian people is threatened by manifestations of some undesirable elements of work culture -elements, that appear to be washing away whatever competitive advantage our natural inclination for hard work confers.

There is too much evidence of: lateness, absenteeism, indolence, poor time management, culture of waste and profligacy, poor maintenance culture, nepotism cronyism etc. This bad situation is further compounded by low productivity consciousness.

In Nigeria, people are generally ignorant of the true meaning of the concept of productivity. To many of us, productivity is merely working harder- rather than smarter or wiser. Many also believed that being seriously engaged in activities is all about productivity – even if such activities are not result-oriented, or add any value.

To others, the concept has relevance only in terms of physical, tangible goods and not the intangible, service products. All the negative mindsets, needless to say translates to low productivity that single most crucial determinant of a country’s product/service competitiveness and standard of living.”

An early welcome

Trinidad & Tobago has just set up a National Productivity Council. One of its first tasks is expected to be the establishment of a National Productivity Centre.

On behalf of both the National Productivity Centre of the UK, and the World Confederation of Productivity Science, I am pleased to welcome a new sister organisation and a new voice in the global productivity movement.

If there is anything we can do help, please ask!

Exergetic

I came across the word and concept 'Exergy' the other day. Perhaps I have led a sheltered life but I had never heard of it before. I found it an interesting and useful concept.

As I understand it, the term was coined (in 1956) because the term 'energy' (the potential to do work) has some disadvantages. Those who remember their thermodynamics will remember that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only converted from one form to another. So when oil is burnt, the world's supply of energy is the same ... the energy now happens to be in a form that is less useful to us.

Hence the term exergy. When oil is in the ground it has energy (and by definition exergy). When it is burnt, the exergy has gone (but the energy has simply been converted into another form).

Exergy is useful when talking about sustainability and alternative energy forms. we cannot afford to use up the world's exergy resources - otherwise we cannot have that potential to do work back again. Exergy disappears and with it goes our potential well-being.

We say ... or do we?

Air India on Friday clarified that it “was in dialogue with various unions/associations/guild on Productivity Linked Incentive (PLI)reduction.”

Late on Thursday, the airline had issued a statement saying that the Air India board had decided to reduce PLI to employees / flying allowance paid to crew by 50 per cent.

The statement also quoted the Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Arvind Jadhav, as thanking the unions / employees for their foresight in “accepting the board’s decision”.

The statement added that the reduction will be there till an alternate formula for governing PLI is put in place within three months.

Mr Jadhav said, “The rationalisation of manpower costs will help in hastening the turnaround process, which has been initiated with the support of the Government.”

However, in Friday’s statement, the spokesperson of Air India said, “Mr Arvind Jadhav met representatives of various unions late last night with union leaders agreeing to revert by early next week after discussing the issue with the office bearers and committee members.”

So ... something may or may not be agreed.

EU helps poor farmers

Poor farmers in the Philippines and four other countries are set to receive a productivity boost through new United Nations-led agricultural projects funded by a 34-million euro donation from the European Union (EU), the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) said.

WFP schemes, helping mostly female small-scale farmers grow food more efficiently in Bolivia, Guatemala, Senegal, Nepal and the Philippines, will get additional spending from the EU’s 1-billion euro Food Facility fund to further increase food production.

“The European Union has recognized that one of the best ways to make sure people have access to food is to help small farmers increase production,” said Gemmo Lodesani, director of the WFP liaison office in Brussels. “That way, they can feed their families and increase availability of food in their local markets.”