CALL FOR INCREASE IN PRODUCTIVITY IN N.Z.

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30278, 2 November 1963, Page 20

CALL FOR INCREASE IN PRODUCTIVITY IN N.Z.

Japan’s productivity was increasing five times faster each year than was New Zealand's. the general manager of C. W. F. Hamilton and Company, Ltd. (Mr E. P. Chapman) told members of the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Institute of Management. “The productivity of the labour force in New Zealand is not something that we can be complacent about,” he said. Productivity in New Zealand could be increased by more capital investment in plant, machinery, and other facilities, he said. It could also be increased by better management of the resources New Zealand already had. and by better leadership. New Zealand’s productivity Mr Chapman said, was increasing only 2 per cent a year.

The problem called for leadership throughout the nation, storting with the 'Government and working down through leaders of industry and labour to those who did the work.

“Once it has felt its way, we should get a lead from the Government and a firm policy for five years ahead,” he said.

On the question of motivation for persons to work harder, Mr Chapman said that a man might well need something more than he

needed money. Psychologists, he said, thought that persons needed to be one of a group or one of a team, and needed to be appreciated. Salaries should be in Line within a firm for the various departments, and all salaries should be reviewed once each year. A stable labour force, he said, was all-important. “The more stable your labour force, the more economical

it is,” he said. “If a person leaves after a year or so it will probably cost you about £2OO to train a man to tire standard where the other fellow left off.”