Which of these five barriers to productivity frustates you the most?

In a recent article about increasing worker productivity, McKinsey consultants Eric Matson and Laurence Prusak discuss five types of barriers to knowledge-worker productivity. As knowledge workers, engineers often encounter examples of such barriers. By recognizing them and implementing practices to reduce their impact, companies can not only increase the productivity of their engineering work force but also increase job satisfaction and retention. Let's discuss each of these five types of barriers and ways to remove them.

Don't forget to vote for the barrier that frustrates you the most at the end of this article.

Physical

Eric and Laurence claim that over half the time spent by productivity workers is in interactions. While the actual proportion may vary depending on the role and group that an engineer belongs to (e.g. operations, research, projects, etc.), interactions are definitely a key part of an engineer's time at work. With the advent of globalization and outsourcing, most engineers have to interact with people not physically accessible in the same location.

The negative effects of physical separation are sometimes compounded by different time zones. Investing in reliable and easy to use conferencing and communication tools is essential for minimizing the impact of physical and time zone differences. An emerging practice to address physical separation barriers among team members is creation of "communities of practice". Using collaboration software such as wikis, communities of practice allow engineers with common roles to share ideas, tips, and tools to enhance each other's productivity.

Technical

The two most common examples of technical barriers to engineering productivity are a lack of proper tools (usually software) and lack of easy access to required data. Poor data collection and reporting systems cause engineers to waste hours of high value time on such frustrating tasks as copying and pasting information from one system to another before they can conduct their engineering analysis. By providing access to the right software tools, companies can not only increase productivity but also reduce frustration and job dissatisfaction among engineers.

In addition to proper technical tools, engineers also need robust information systems that provide easy access to data required for their role. Poorly organized information systems and work flows can result in wasted time by engineers while they spend time gathering data from multiple sources. Addressing information availability does not always require an investment in new information technology, it can be done by assessing work flows and existing databases to ensure that the information is available at the right time to the right person.

Social

Rigid hierarchies and functional silos are examples of social barriers that reduce engineering effectiveness. Delays while waiting for approvals from management can slow down engineer productivity as well as limit the sharing of new ideas from the junior team members. In globalized teams, cultural norms (Eastern vs. Western) can hinder free sharing of ideas and initiatives also.

To address the social and cultural barriers, empowerment of decision making must be delegated down to the lowest practical level. Examples of how junior member contribution delivered success in a team should be celebrated. Cross-functional communication should be encouraged. An innovative idea practices by some leading companies is mixing members of various functions (design engineering, production, research, etc.) in a common office location instead of isolating them by functions.

Contextual

Contextual barriers arise when hyper-specialized engineers are unable to understand and respond to influences and conditions from outside their immediate role and function. For example, in some companies, engineers in production roles tend to misunderstand and perhaps even distrust the goals and motives of employees in commercial roles such as purchasing, finance, and marketing. If engineers cannot align their own work and goals with the work and goals of other functions, the overall result for the organization can be negative.

In other words, poor contextual understanding between the parts can result in a sum that is less. One common solution to eliminating contextual barriers is rotation programs for new hires as well as executives. Co-location of engineers with members from other functions in one office area can help increase contextual awareness of engineers by providing opportunities for informal interaction.

Time

The last barrier discussed by Eric and Laurence is the lack of time to share and disseminate knowledge among teams and from experienced to newer members. If the experienced team members are overloaded with their assignments, they do not have time to teach, explain, and share their lessons learned to other members of their work groups. By having everyone focus just on getting as much direct work done as possible, the indirect work required to increase long term capability and productivity of work groups is neglected.

Companies can address this barrier by chartering centers of excellence staffed by a few key individuals who act as knowledge intermediaries. The engineers who are placed in these centers can monitor the people and processes to identify good ideas and practices that should be replicated across the organization through training and work process changes.

Can you share examples of how you addressed one of these barriers in your career?

Are there additional types of barriers unique to the chemical engineering profession?

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Image of teleconferencing man via Flickr user hectore under Creative Commons License. Image of engineering team from the FEMA Photo Library under public domain.
Thumbnail barrier image: jaffar via Creative Commons License