Verimlilik Artırıcı Teklif Sisteminin İncelenmesi

Abstract

Bu tez çalışmasında mal veya hizmet üreten işletmelerde verimliliğin artırılması için uygulanan tekniklerden birisi olan Verimlilik Artırıcı Teklif Sistemi tanıtılarak, elektrik makinaları ve enerji sektöründe hizmet veren, yabancı sermayeli bir kuruluş olan AEG ETİ' de ve yurtdışındaki bazı işletmelerde bu sistemin uygulanması ve sonuçları ile ilgili örnekler sunulmuştur. Birinci Bölüm giriş niteliğinde olup verimliliğin günümüzde ülkeler ve işletmeler için artan önemi üzerinde durulmuştur. İkinci Bölüm' de verimlilik ile ilgili genel tanımlamalar yapılmış, verimliliğe etki eden faktörler açıklanmıştır. Daha sonra verimlilik artışına yönelik işletme içi teknikler sağladıkları etki açısından sınıflandırılarak, açıklanmıştır. Üçüncü Bölüm davranışsal yaklaşımlar yoluyla verimlilik artırıcı bir teknik olan Verimlilik Artırıcı Teklif Sistemi' ni (VATS) içermektedir. Bu bölümde VATS' in tarihçesi, tanımı ve amaçları anlatılmış, daha sonra uygulama sırasındaki akışsal organizasyonu açıklanmıştır. Kullanılan teknikler ve ödüllendirme sistemi açıklanmış, işletme içinde çeşitli düzlemlerdeki ilişkilere olan etkileri irdelenmiştir. Dördüncü Bölüm' de Dünya' da ve özellikle Avrupa' da süregelen, VATS ile ilgili çeşitli uygulamalara ve geliştirici çabalara örnekler verilmiştir. Bu bölümde ayrıca VATS hakkındaki görüşlere yer verilmiştir. Beşinci Bölüm' de VATS' in AEG ETİ firmasındaki uygulaması anlatılmış, amaçlar ile sonuçlar karşılaştırılarak, verilen Verimlilik Artırıcı Teklif Ierle (VAT) ilgili örnekler sunulmuştur. Bu bölüm son olarak Türkiye' de teklif sistemini uygulayan diğer çeşitli firmalardan örnekleri ve yapılan uygulamalarla AEG ETİ' deki uygulama arasındaki farklılıkları içermektedir. Altıncı Bölüm' de sonuçlar ve öneriler yer almaktadır.

Productivity is the most important issue of today's business world. The changing market conditions, the hard character of competition and the from day to day decreasing resources have caused the productivity to become so important for the governments and the business world. Since the concept productivity has become so important many academicians, researchers and managers from various levels have produced various and different ideas for productivity and the methods to increase the productivity. Today, for developed and also developing countries, increasing the productivity is the first condition of the economical development. However the slowing down of the development, the stopping and the regression are both the causes and results of the decrease in productivity. In the last fifteen years there has been a considerable transformation from the widespread-use of resources to the intensive-use of resources. Although this event has increased the potential of productivity the unemployment which is caused by technological progress has come on the scene as a new huge problem to be solved. This tragic event has brought different results for the developed and developing countries. The developed countries see the solution of this problem in usage of the capital oriented technology, while the developing countries are facing a big lack of capital. Therefore it' s becoming from day to day clearer that not only but the best solutions for developing countries depend on more effective use of the human resources. Despite of this difference between the developing and developed countries the solutions must be built on a base of balance between the resources of capital and human. These facts of macro level are also in effect for micro level. Today it is well known that if the basic aim of a company is only to increase the sales or to reduce the costs then the result is often failure. But if the productivity is the basic aim of a company then this can be bring all of the inputs of the company into balance and carry the company to success. To raise the productivity a company have to take note of the rapidly changing conditions of the country, world, market etc. and improve its capacity in order to keep in step with these changing conditions in case of IX In this thesis, the concept of productivity and the methods to improve the productivity is been investigated. The Chapter two consists of two main parts. In the first part a general definition of productivity is made. In the second part of chapter two the methods to improve the productivity in a company are classified and investigated. Productivity is a magic tool, to help the mankind, who since his existence has been struggling for a better and more comfortable life, to attain this goal. Generally productivity can be defined as the output optimizing relation between the factors (inputs) which participate in production process. At the beginning, until the middle of the 19 th century the works of mankind were focalizing on efforts like agriculture, craft, commerce etc. Therefore in those days the term productivity were being used most commonly for a piece of soil. After the industrial revolution however with the changing economical life the usage of term productivity has also changed. Productivity is defined most commonly as the ratio between the outputs and the inputs of a process. Since there are usually various inputs in a process the productivity of this process can be defined based to each of these factors. In chapter two the factors of productivity in view of a company are classified into two groups :. The external factors (The uncontrollable factors). The internal factors (The controllable factors) The need for such a classification of the factors of productivity comes from the need of determination of the frontiers out of which a company is not able to command the factors of productivity in order to improve it. Even the internal factors are classified into two groups depending on the degree of their controllability :. The rigid factors. The flexible factors The rigid factors are those which are relatively difficult to change. These are product, plant, machine, technology, material and energy. The flexible factors are more controllable and therefore more suitable to change. The flexible factors are human resources, organizations and systems, the methods of work and the management forms. The most of the techniques to improve the productivity aim to optimize the relation between any of these inputs and the output. Therefore there are several techniques to improve a company's productivity that focuses on different factors of productivity. Human is the most difficult factor to change because of the nature of human being. Another reason of this difficulty is that the human factor is relatively a new area in productivity improving activities, so there are still many unknown and undefined behavioral aspects of the working human. However human, may be, is the only factor that can cause miracles in productivity improving. The experiences of Japan in the last forty years are the proofs of this fact. In chapter two the factors affecting the productivity of individual workers as a series of the concentric circles are presented. At the center of this model are the workers themselves. The output of the individual is determined at this level by personal motivation and skills. The work group has the next most immediate effect on the productivity of an individual. Groups can foster positive attitudes to work, rewarding team achievement. The next circle in the productivity model is the organization and its systems. The organization is the source of payment systems that are intended to reward productivity. The organization also chooses the technology, which may aid or retard the efforts of individuals. The outermost circle of the productivity model is the most powerful in its effects on both the organization and the individual worker, but appears to be outside the control of both. It represents the economic, social and political environment within which business is conducted. The techniques to improve the productivity are classified into two groups according to their orientation. These are ;. The techniques based on technical approaches. The techniques based on behavioral approaches The most commonly used techniques of the first group are work study, Just in time technology, Pareto analysis, benefit-cost analysis etc. As expressed in their definition these techniques use technical methods in order to reduce the material and labor costs and to improve productivity and quality. The techniques based on behavioral approaches are oriented on human resources hence they use both psychological and technical methods. The most commonly methods used techniques of this group are employee involvement, total quality management, quality circles, brain storming, nominal grouping technology, Employees' Suggestion Systems etc. There has been an increase in the degree of acceptance for the concept for employee involvement in the last ten years. The managers seem to have more willing to support employee involvement efforts. There seem to be at least three reasons for this increased acceptance. First, workers are more willing, to accept and to push for increased responsibility than has been the case with past generations. Second, compared to 10 or 15 years ago, leaders and the leadership expectations have changed. Third, in Japanese manufacturing methods, the westerner businessmen saw the success of the widespread used employee involvement methods. There are available today many technical and physical methods that attempt to improve a companies productivity and change the nature of the work, such as Just-In- Time, quality./reliability engineering, reengineering etc. Benefits can be achieved from them without employee involvement, but those benefits will not be as XI great as when employee involvement is included, and they certainly will not be as long lasting. Therefore, these two groups of techniques to improve productivity are not each others alternatives but supplements. While some companies have reported good results with their employee involvement efforts, many have had unsatisfactory experiences. The examination of these failures show that the managers from these companies start employee involvement programs, such as TQM, quality circles, Employees' Suggestion Systems etc. with no clear objectives in mind. Successful organizations,on the other hand, have very clear expectations and goals, and they use employee involvement methods as a process to realize these goals. Most companies that fail with these behavioral methods use some kind of approach that tries to get employees to participate, but they simply do not go far enough. Top managers expect miracles in cost reduction and quality improvement from the employees. They are frustrated when employees choose trivial projects such as garden arrangement. Middle managers are angry and confused. They are not actively involved in the process and they believe many projects infringe on their job responsibilities. Employees are unhappy. They have no real power or authority. Many feel that the time spent is wasted because conditions are unchanged when they return to their regular jobs. One primary rationale for employee involvement is to speed up decision making so that problems can be solved faster. To do so, the responsibility for taking action must be placed at the source, not dependent on relayed directions from someone more remote. This means employees must assume more authority and exert a degree of influence over their surroundings. It means they must exercise the power of decision making. In effect, they must become their own managers. - Employees' Suggestion Systems is the oldest and the most widespread method of the productivity improvement techniques based on employee involvement. In Chapter tree this effective method to help get employees more involved with their jobs and to take on more responsibility for problem solving is presented. Modern business success depends, to a large degree, upon the extent to which profitable ideas are procured, developed and applied. Among the sources from which many firms obtain such ideas are their employees. In some cases, companies, deliberately urge workers to give consideration to the problems of the business and encourage them to present their thoughts concerning these matters. Usually, this is done through some form of suggestion System. Primarily, a suggestion system seeks to draw upon the practical experience and specialized knowledge of individual employees for ideas which may be of direct benefit to the company. The adoption of employees' suggestions XII have been found to result in operating costs, increased production, extension of business, improved operating methods, and better working conditions. In their effect upon personnel, suggestion systems serve another, less obvious purpose. An employee who is encouraged to make suggestions concerning his work of the welfare of the company realizes that he is holding a recognized place in the business. This stimulates his interest. The actual adoption of satisfactory suggestions has a wholesome effect upon general moral. Furthermore, encouraging an employee to think is an excellent groundwork for training. Some firms that fallow the policy of filling higher positions from the ranks use suggestion systems not only as an incentive, but also as a guide to eligibility for advancement. Employees' Suggestion Systems, in their traditional form, are an almost 1 00-years-oid instrument of employee participation. The goals of Employees' Suggestion system are :. To prevent the defects there where they occur and to reduce the costs.. To improve the product and service quality.. To pull down the decision making in the company, so that many problems that the company face could be solved faster.. To encourage the employees to observe their workplace better and to make them create new and developing ideas.. To strengthen the dialog between the employees and the management.. To motivate the employees and to create a better atmosphere in the company.. To build a strong base and to form the right conditions for an effective employee involvement and Total Quality Management programs. Employees' Suggestion system uses both material (direct) and immaterial (indirect) motivation tools to achieve these goals. Nowadays the traditional suggestion systems is being examined by many academicians and managers in order to improve the system structure due to the changing businessworld and the market conditions. In chapter 4 the efforts and experiences of some companies to improve the suggestion systems efficiency are given. In chapter 5 the experiences of AEG ETl, a manufacturing company, by implementing and carrying on the Employees' Suggestion Systems are presented. Additionally a comparison between the suggestion systems of AEG ETl and some other Turkish companies is made. Chapter 6 includes the opinions and the suggestions of the author.