Efficient Business Practices

"Think smarter, not harder" is a saying found in the business community. Business efficiency comes from planning. If there is no planning there is little efficiency. One can clearly see this principle in the construction industry. For, example, if a contractor is given the task to set tile in a bathroom an efficient contractor will plan every move in advance, and make a list of all needed materials & special tools. Here, the tradesman can set the tile in little more than a day. However, the contractor who does not plan may take three or four days to complete the job. The inefficient contractor has his or her priorities all mixed up. They start by putting tile up without carefully checking the straightness of the walls. This makes them work harder to straighten the mess out. They do not have all the tools they need on the site or sufficient supplies on hand. The work proceeds in a more-or-less stop and go fashion. Stop and go is inefficient because it breaks up a very productive work rhythm. Every time a tradesman stops the must time and again get up to speed to work in a productive way. Every now and then they must go to the store to get materials. Sometimes tradesmen who are short of materials will improvise, thus, lowering the quality of the work. Without a powerful focus on the work, without interruption, the tile setting job drags on.

There is, therefore, a relationship between efficient work habits and bad management. The more inefficient a business becomes the more they try to excuse bad work and unethical behavior. The business sees they are not making money, cuts corners, and bills the client for extra work all in the name of the need to survive. The fact they cannot survive is due to their inability to plan and so the excuse for bending the rules is invalid.

Tactical Inefficiency
Having inefficient employees can sometimes be a profitable circumstance. The construction industry and the service industry are rife with incompetent or under skilled employees being sent out on jobs represented as fully qualified journeymen. When a job is being billed out as "Time & Materials" the homeowner must pay the service provider for all time on the job. This means that if the service provider or tradesman must frequently go to the supply store for parts the homeowner pays for their lack of planning and stocking materials. If the tradesman is inexperienced the homeowner again pays for tradesman's learning on the job. So, an unscrupulous company can churn up more billable hours using marginally qualified personal than it can with fully trained personnel.

• Bad Management
• Survival Excuses
• Churning Up Work
• Tactical Inefficiency