M.P. de Looze

Developing the organization's productivity strategy in various sectors of industry

Purpose: The paper aims to present an approach to improve the organisations productivity which is applicable in every industrial sector. The nucleus of the approach is to develop an optimal productivity strategy in an organization by the application of a uniform static model of productivity (Q4-model), covering quantity and quality aspects and applicable to various sectors of industry, and a dynamic control cycle. Design/methodology/approach: The study discusses the steps of the approach and presents three case studies from different industrial sectors where the approach has been applied. Findings: The approach has proven to be uniformly applicable in all three cases from these different sectors, namely consultancy, health care and manufacturing. Across these applications highly different productivity-related challenges, productivity strategies, and specific interventions are described in the perspective of the Q4-model. Research limitations/implications: The approach is not made for measuring the quantity and quality input and output factors of productivity. Practical implications: The approach succeeds in developing a productivity strategy which combines quantity and quality input and output factors and supports the transformation of a strategy analysis into a practical intervention. Originality/value: The approach is unique in its uniform applicability to every industrial sector and is helpful to entrepreneurs, managers and innovators.

Submovement organization, pen pressure, and muscle activity are modulated to precision demands in 2D tracking.

ABSTRACT The authors investigated how tracking performance, submovement organization, pen pressure and muscle activity in forearm and shoulder muscles were affected by target size in a 2D tracking task performed with a pen on a digitizer tablet. Twenty-six subjects took part in an experiment, in which either a small dot or a large dot was tracked, while it moved quasirandomly across a computer screen at a constant velocity of 2 cm/s. The manipulation of precision level was successful, because mean distance to target and the standard deviation of this distance were significantly smaller with the small target than with the large target. With a small target, subjects trailed more behind the center of target and used submovements with larger amplitudes and of shorter duration, resulting in higher tracking accuracy. This change in submovement organization was accompanied by higher pen pressure, while at the same time muscle activity in the forearm extensors and flexors was increased, indicating higher endpoint stability. In conclusion, increased precision demands were accommodated by both a different organization of submovements and higher endpoint stability in a 2D tracking task performed with a pen on a digitizer tablet.