productivity and its place in evaluating organization operations

organizations, in both public and private sectors, are designed to meet different goals and objectives. undoubtedly, productivity is one of the most significant objectives toward which administrators should plan and set goals. because an unproductive organization is unable to function properly and survive in the long term. reviewing literature on productivity concept reveals that there are different conceptions of this organization goal. to present clear definition of productivity concept and the ground for better understanding of what the productivity is and how can we measure it: productivity definition, measurements, advantages of measuring productivity, relationship between quality and productivity are evaluated. further more, the vital role of administrators in improving productivity to help organizations meet their predetermined goals and objectives is emphasized. in the first part, the concept of productivity is defined and those factors that affect productivity are identified. meanwhile, a clear distinction is made between productivity and effectiveness. in discussing productivity measurement, different criteria and procedures are analyzed to measure productivity in a variety of organization activities. one of the advantages of meauring productivity to review organization performance and see if its operations meet preplanned goals and programs. this process enables administators to identify major variables, which influence the agency operations, level of resource availability, inputs, output, obtaining information, planning and decision- making. analyzing organization operations, administrators find out where it stands, and if there is any inconsistency in terms of performance and or employees need training to update their skills. when administrators have better understanding of the productivity concept, they are able to mobilize all organization forces and resources toward productive operations, encourage employees to perform productively and utilize less resources to obtain more fruitful outputs, while meeting organization goals and objectives.