ABSTRACT
It is self-evident that some people work harder than others. Working hard probably correlates with productivity, but as the Americans say it is better to work ‘smarter’ rather than harder to be productive. Assuming that it is possible to provide a robust, sensitive and reliable measure of productivity, can it be shown that some personalities are more productive in certain jobs? Unfortunately, the measurement of work productivity is highly problematic. In some jobs, productivity is fairly easy to measure; for instance, it is simple to measure the number of pots a potter throws in a day or words a journalist writes. Where people work on their own (as opposed to on a conveyor belt), producing specific and finished goods, it is fairly easy to count their productivity. However, where (more usually) people work in teams where they are interdependent, it becomes much more difficult to determine productivity of individuals. In some jobs, determining productivity is almost impossible. How does one determine the productivity of, say, a night watchman, a clergyman or meteorologist?
