Improvements in Singapore's National Productivity

On September 6th, 1971, President Richard Nixon gave the “Address to the Nation on Labor Day.” In this speech, he determines that there is a change in the work environment air. Nixon claims that workers in this developmental time deserve new opportunities to grow within their work. He reached the conclusion that job satisfaction should be a company's main focus. As the work environment evolves, worker satisfaction becomes increasingly more important. Employees have expectations, such as raises, insurance, and paid time off, so if a company is not willing to comply with these new demands, then it will become increasingly difficult to generate decent productivity rates. Nixon defined this word by stating that “Productivity really means getting

Labor unions were established as a way for workers’ needs and grievances to be heard by management. According to Fossum (2012), “forming a union creates a collective voice to influence change at work” (p. 7). The collective voice of workers in a union holds much more power than any single employee’s voice. It can loudly draw attention to mistreatment or abuse of workers. The organized collective voice of workers demands to be treated in a fair way by its management in terms of wages, hours, benefits, and working conditions.

productivity is high with reduced labour cost as a result of less man hours. But most

Why Labor Unions Are (A Short History of American Labor) Still Effective In America Today Labor, or trade, unions first started in America in 1794. They came about as a means to protect workers common interests. These labor unions were crucial in providing for fair and safe working conditions. They helped to put an end to long hours and little pay and child labor.

Kushell, E., Michael A, Heide D and Bosserman N, in their article explain that “Kerr’s words help explain today’s disappointing competitive results.” They further explain that most organisations continue to reward less productive behaviour, using the example of getting a job done being more important that how the job gets done at the expense of long term gains in productivity.

The history of trade and industrial union has in the past year been very powerful and proficient when influencing members, employers and politicians. Recently, they have evolved to become less powerful and influential. This is because of the major relapse of the membership of unions and also the government disparaging trade unions in the area of workplace relations. Some governments marginalized those unions in order to significantly reduce the role played by unions by reorienting the relations among and between the employers and the employees.

This essay aims to compare the industrial relations in both Singapore and Japan. It will first indentify both countries industrial relation system, whether it is unitarist, pluralist or radical. It will then touch on the various aspects in the industrial relation system: trade unions, system to resolving industrial conflicts, wages related policies and discrimination at work. In addition, it will look at the policy of lifetime employment and seniority in wages, policies which Japan companies have been well-known for adopting. This essay will then conclude and summary, to what extend are both system similar or different, after comparing the various aspects as listed above.

Through that conversation, Alex realized that “productivity is the act of bringing a company closer to its goal” ( 1992). Alex thought the company’s goal is to increase efficiencies but he later realized that every company’s goal, including his plant, is to make money or to be profitable and anything that comes closer to the goal is considered as productive.

This triangle would prove to be a good move for the three countries, but with free trade agreements (FTAs) and close economic partnerships (CEPs) coming onto the scene, the growth triangles introduced in the 80’s looked as if they may have competition in the economic realm, but GTs continue to be at the tip of the spear due to the cooperation between the three are still very productive for them all. With all three countries being relatively close together, costs are minimal. Not to mention, this export-oriented cooperation is still attractive to foreign trading (Heng, 2006, pg. 1). The pioneering GT in Southeast Asia is that of the IMS-GT, and its evolution is very much tied to the economic development of the Singapore economy (Toh & Low, 1993, Kakazu, 1997). There are five GT’s in existence and GT’s are highly regarded by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

When reading the book The Goal written by Eliyahu Goldratt, there were many lessons that I learned in order to have a clear and concise understanding of a positive level of productivity in a company. To have a positive level of productivity there are may components that are taken into consideration. Understanding what it actually means to be productive and how to increase the level of productivity by knowing the actual goal of the company that is trying to be reached and the components that go into the process of being productive. There are many factors that contribute to the level of productivity and being able to identify these factors is the key ingredient to having a successful level of productivity.

The Jurong Industrial has help Singapore to industrialize the economy. With increasingly of foreign corporation entry has made Singapore more advance with it technology. Today Jurong Island has over 95 global companies. It has a fixed

In Division of Labour in Society, Durkheim mentioned Anomie as the result of too fast the rate of division of labour over a slower development of organic solidarity (Durkheim, 1933). One example of Anomie lies in his other work, Suicide (Durkheim, 1897). Fast forward into an increasingly globalized world today; does the mobility of information, people and interaction across nations contribute to a possible anomie among workers in a globalized workplace? Particularly in the case of Singapore as a highly globalized city-state with a rising number of MNCs established locally, an increasingly diversified workforce seems to have intensified competition, widened differences and weakened solidarity among workers. This paper seeks to discuss causes of a rising Anomie in the Singapore workplace and how it can eventually lead to latent struggles between management and workers that in turn breeds a poor cooperative system, affecting the sustainability of organizations as such.

However, the development of Singapore’s society cannot be predicated on pure economics alone. Even though globalization has enabled Singapore to fare well in economic development, however, termed the perils of success, globalization has brought about undesirable

Singapore has a capitalised mixed economy. Having strong international trade links, Singapore possesses one of the most open economies for international trade and investment. Singapore offers foreign investors a pro-business environment, excellent infrastructure, highly-skilled and cosmopolitan labour force, and a robust legal/judicial system. These competitive factors have set Singapore apart from other locations, winning several accolades including: §

The Republic of Singapore celebrated its 42 years of independence in year 2007. Situated at the southern tip of Malaysia, Singapore currently holds a population of 4.68 million as of June 2007. At 704.0km2, it is ranked 4th in the world for its population density. During the past four decades, the economy as measured by real Gross Domestic Product (GDP), multiplied by over 20 times (Ghesquiere, 2007, p.11). As a small and extremely open economy, Singapore long term survival is very much dependent on the ability to maintain its viable position and remain afloat in the sea of global competition (Mun Heng et al, 1998, p.14).