In small businesses low productivity is rarely the fault of the workers – it is because the owner/manager has not set up production processes properly -or has failed to manage them effectively.
Too many owner/managers want to micro-manage … they see their job as ‘keeping on top of things’.
It is – of course… but they must set up systems of production – and then measure the performance (of the system, not the people) – so that they know whether it is effective – and improving. This should not need hourly – or even daily intervention, especially if they have a good production supervisor.
They need to give the supervisor responsibility, authority – and if necessary, training … and let them ‘keep on top of things’. They should then check progress with the supervisor weekly or ask them for a regular report (brief and quantitative).
The aim is to make the system work – then the owner/manager can plan for improvement and growth.