Question

1. A catering company prepared and served 300 meals at an anniversary celebration last week using eight workers. The week before, six workers prepared and served 240 meals at a wedding reception. a. For which event was the labor productivity higher? Explain. b. What are some possible reasons for the productivity differences?

Answer 1

1. LABOR = 8

OUTPUT = 300

PARTIAL PRODUCTIVITY = OUTPUT / SINGLE INPUT = 300 / 8 = 37.5

2. LABOR = 6

OUTPUT = 240

PARTIAL PRODUCTIVITY = OUTPUT / SINGLE INPUT = 240 / 6 = 40

B. The change could have been due to better use of capacity, since we might not need all the 8 workers all the time, necessarily, in fact, the mismanagement of workers is often the cause of idle capacity. There could be a learning curve effect in play as well since the workers already know what they are supposed to be doing, they might have done it better or faster, leading to the higher production value.

2.

WEEK	CREW SIZE	YARDS INSTALLED	PRODUCTIVITY
1	4	96	96 / 4 = 24
2	3	72	72 / 3 = 24
3	4	92	92 / 4 = 23
4	2	50	50 / 2 = 25
5	3	69	69 / 3 = 23
6	2	52	52 / 2 = 26

PROODUCTIVITY = OUTPUT / INPUT

THE BEST PRODUCTIVITY VALUES HAVE BEEN ACHIEVED WITH A CREW SIZE OF 2, THE PRODUCTIVITY HAS BEEN BETTER WITH A SMALLER CREW SIZE

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