“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity”

Albert Einstein said, “in the middle of difficulty lies opportunity”. In our latest blog, Programme Director Gary Walpole believes now could be a good time to consider how we might enhance the productivity of our organisations.

We are living through a period that gives us time for reflection and forces us into new work practices, particularly the use of technology to communicate and manage our organisations. I hope this leads to reflecting on our actions and working practices. Published research suggests businesses in Wales could enhance their productivity by reflecting on and changing some of their management practices. Unfortunately, Wales still languishes at the bottom of business productivity within the UK.

The Centre for Economic Performance at the LSE has researched productivity across Europe and the US for over a decade and they concluded: “The patterns we find lead us to believe that an important explanation for the substantial differences in productivity among firms and countries are variations in management practices” (Bloom et al, 2014, pp38).

Bloom and his colleagues suggested businesses should do three key things:

1. Develop and monitor key performance business metrics
2. Set targets and track them
3. Reward people (and teams) based on performance and develop contemporary people management practices (HPWPs).

I was recently part of the research team that published the report Managing Productivity in Welsh firms, commissioned by the Hodge Foundation. The report explored how the highest performing businesses continuously enhance their productivity and suggested ways Welsh firms could enhance their productivity. Based on the findings of the report, I would suggest that businesses can drive up productivity by looking to:

1. Enhance human and social capital of the business through developing good leadership and management practices, employee engagement mechanisms and organisational learning capability
2. Enhance technical and industry knowledge and skills of people within the business through skills training and development
3. Develop innovation capability (absorptive capacity and dynamic capabilities), through engaging in open innovation, accessing knowledge and resources at Higher Education Institutions (HSI's) and the Government funded Catapult Centres like AMRC, and by engaging with trade and industry networks locally.

Our current work practices are being challenged at this time, to quote Einstein: “in the middle of difficulty lies opportunity”. So now could be a good time to consider how we can support leaders and managers to enhance their productivity to facilitate business growth.

If you have any questions or thoughts please do comment or drop me an email g.l.r.walpole@swansea.ac.uk.