Thinking Out of the Box to Productivity

Recently I asked two friends what comes to mind when they see the word “Productivity”.
It was funny how both responded: Bee?

Productivity has been a buzzword in Singapore since the 1970s. Yet, many Singaporeans just think of it as yet another “government” campaign.  It’s amazing that many still remember Teamy the Bee, the campaign’s official mascot, even though Teamy retired in 1999!  

So it was most refreshing to meet Johnny Sung, Professor at UK’s University of Leicester and the Head of the Centre for Skills, Performance and Productivity research at IAL. An ardent fan of Singapore’s development, Johnny’s association with our productivity drive goes back to the 1990s. When he first visited Singapore then, he was wowed.

“Singapore was so different from anything I had ever seen. I learnt quickly that there is a model called the developmental state, where human resource development is guided by a much bigger national plan. I had never seen anything like that in the west.

“Since then, I’ve continued teaching here. I had discussions with the National Productivity Board, and built on these relationships with its successors the Productivity and Standards Board, and later on, Spring Singapore and the Workforce Development Agency. By the time I was invited by IAL to be a researcher here, I had written two books and numerous journal articles about Singapore.”

One of Johnny’s latest research projects looks at the differential roles of skills in productivity improvement in some of Singapore’s strategic key industries, such as the hotel sector, manufacturing and infocomm. In the hotel sector, one interesting case study shows how a boutique hotel has turned conventional approaches to productivity on its head.

1. The General Manager believes in overstaffing - he has more staff than are absolutely necessary at any one point in time to ensure that customers are never waiting.


2. The hotel deliberately recruits unqualified staff and trains them in the hotel’s unique culture. It does not seek to recruit ‘experienced’ staff from other hotels.


3. Staff are highly trained in single tasks (instead of multi-tasking), so they are able to develop exceptional levels of expertise.

In essence, the hotel in question is practising a form of 'high performance working' that seeks greater innovation and discretionary effort through mutual gains. This in turn leads to 'unique experience'. This high value approach allows the hotel to charge a premium for their rooms and still maintain high occupancy.
For more insights and research findings on productivity, don’t miss Prof. Johnny Sung’s presentation at the 2012 ALS! Meantime, feel free to check out Johnny’s research on Skills Utilisation in Singapore.