Why are chemical plant workers so busy yet have low efficiency?

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In many chemical plants, it is common to see a situation where almost everyone in the plant is busy, and nearly every department is overwhelmed, yet overall efficiency remains low. It’s also difficult to identify the cause, and I don’t know how to improve it. This article analyzes the reasons from eight aspects. 01 Processes need improvement. To address the low efficiency of a company, it is first necessary to examine whether its processes are reasonable, whether they are concise and efficient, if there are areas for improvement, and what the potential for such improvements is. 02 Insufficient institutional support: After checking the processes, examine the systems as well. If there are no issues with the process, then check whether the management system facilitates its implementation, whether it truly supports the process, and whether it is sound and complete. There may be excellent process systems, but the service management systems and business management systems do not support them; either these systems undermine each other or are full of contradictions, or they have numerous flaws. Moreover, the formulation of these systems may not take human considerations into account – they are sometimes too strict, with heavy penalties that effectively amount to no punishment at all, prompting people to find ways to exploit loopholes in the rules, or even to resist them collectively. When the systems are too lenient, they lack the necessary enforcement power. 03 Inadequate supervision: Even though a company has good processes and comprehensive management systems, the lack of supervision, inadequate supervision, excessive interference in supervision, outdated supervision methods, or issues with the competence of supervisors can all **reduce the operational efficiency of the entire organizational system. Processes and systems are fixed, whereas supervision is flexible. Supervision must be carried out in accordance with principles; if supervisors fail to act according to these principles and act unfairly, it will greatly reduce people’s loyalty to the processes and systems. If supervisors lack the necessary competence, not knowing how to supervise or what to supervise, it will inevitably lead to ineffective supervision. Lack of oversight leads to an inability to know what everyone is doing, whether they are working properly, whether it is necessary to work that much, whether they are actually busy, or if they are working at the right intensity ； Or, if regulation is too strict and rigid, failing to combine principles with flexibility and adhering to outdated and backward management systems, it will greatly restrict people’s enthusiasm and creativity. 04 The management capabilities of enterprise supervisors are limited. As the saying goes, \"If the soldiers are weak, the whole army will be weak.\" ”The management skills of the company’s senior executives are problematic. Although everyone is very busy, due to the limited capabilities of senior management, they lack the ability to plan strategically, to direct and coordinate operations tactically, and they are also unable to identify and utilize people effectively. As a result, they cannot make full use of limited resources, nor can they gain a thorough understanding of both themselves and their opponents, as well as of the surrounding circumstances. Therefore, fighting the wrong battles with excellent soldiers at the wrong time and in the wrong place surely leads to failure. This is evident in the battlefield: there are countless examples of why some generals are able to win battles consistently, while others waste valuable opportunities and the lives of their soldiers needlessly. Therefore, as a manager in a company, especially a senior one, it is crucial to avoid having employees work in vain. One must understand that a command given by you will reach the lower levels of the organization, and employees at all levels will busy themselves carrying out that command; yet if no results are achieved after all that effort, it constitutes wasted effort, or even wrong and negative efforts. Moreover, the leader himself does not dare to take responsibility – just imagine how terrible the consequences would be ! If this happens too often, the employees will become tired, and the wisdom of the supervisors will be ineffective. However, no one can disobey the orders of their superiors; what should be done? The employees will just deal with things as they come; no matter how many orders you give, it won’t work – I’ll just focus on dealing with my own problems. Everyone is busy, but in reality, each one is only busy with their own affairs. Another situation is when orders keep changing frequently. As a company leader, one may make decisions without careful consideration, lack the ability to make decisions, or be too easily influenced by others. After issuing a decision or order, they might realize that it was not a good choice and want to change it. As a result, orders are altered arbitrarily, at any time, leading to a culture of randomness within the company. At first, subordinates are uncomfortable with this, but over time they understand their supervisor’s habits and style of working. Even though orders are given, they are hesitant to act for fear that the supervisor might change them again; thus, they only pretend to take action while actually doing nothing. The supervisor is satisfied seeing that the subordinates are taking action, but no results are achieved, resulting in inefficiency. 05 Employees lack professional competence. Professional awareness is of the utmost importance; but what exactly is professional awareness? It means that those in professional positions should know what they need to do and how to do it. This is why college graduates, right after graduating, don’t know what to do or how to do it – because they have never worked before, so they can’t have much professional awareness. An employee of high quality can be twice, three times, or even more than 10 times as efficient as an average employee; more importantly, the quality of their work is different. An employee of average quality, no matter how hard they work in a short period of time, cannot catch up to or surpass those of high quality. Given the same task, an employee of high quality may complete it within a day, while an employee of lower quality, despite working very hard, may take a week to finish it, and the quality of the work done by the latter will certainly not be comparable to that of the former. Of course, under the influence of a long-term average mindset, employees’ salaries tend to be similar, and as a result, those with higher quality gradually leave, leaving behind employees of average quality, which leads to low overall efficiency within the company. Solution: Combine training with the recruitment of high-quality employees, while maintaining an appropriate salary gap. 06 The guiding role of the “busy” culture: The orientation of corporate culture also affects the overall efficiency of a company. If a company encourages individual heroism and fails to foster a sense of teamwork and the ability to work together, then although everyone wants to be a hero and is busy, they do not develop an awareness or skill for collaborative work; there are boundaries in the work done by individuals, as well as boundaries between departments. Worse still, there is concern that others might become heroes and thus prevent one’s own chance of becoming a hero; as a result, people hold back others and even deliberately create obstacles in their work as well as in that of other departments, which all affects the overall efficiency of work. If a company promotes a culture of constant busyness, then it will inevitably be preoccupied with being busy – this is especially evident in growing companies. What managers dislike the most is when people are idle; once employees are not busy, it makes managers feel uncomfortable, and this shows in their behavior, as they do not ask whether the employees have completed their tasks. Some employees work overtime because the quality is poor; they’re not busy with meaningful tasks during working hours, and end up working aimlessly and in a disorganized manner ； What’s more, there are quality issues; people work overtime deliberately to show their bosses, who are not often in the company. When they spot those who are working overtime, they give praise. Under such a culture that encourages busyness and overtime, the company starts to focus on being busy rather than on achieving results. The result is that the more busy people are, the more praise they receive from their bosses, and the more praise they get, the busier they become, leading to a situation where many people end up exhausted despite all their efforts, with no tangible results. Pure individual heroism is not encouraged; a team spirit based on collaborative effort should be promoted ； One should not focus only on superficial busyness and overtime; instead, emphasis should be placed on efficiency. Each person’s tasks should be detailed, so that the required actions (tasks) can be completed within the allotted time. Shift the focus from form to a combination of results and processes. 07 There are issues with the company’s strategic positioning and direction. Common problems in terms of strategic direction include an incorrect strategic direction or a lack of clarity regarding it. If the strategic direction is wrong, it’s all going in the wrong direction; no matter how hard the employees work, it results in negative outcomes and inefficiency ； If the strategic direction is erratic, shifting back and forth, then even though employees are busy, they end up doing repetitive and unnecessary work – how can there be any efficiency or productivity? 08 Incompatible technical methods: Everyone is busy and complains of being tired, but the fourth reason for the low overall efficiency is related to technical methods. Generally speaking, advanced production equipment naturally boasts high work efficiency. This is particularly evident in the manufacturing industry; advanced equipment not only boosts efficiency but also ensures high-quality work ； More importantly, overly outdated equipment can affect people’s mood, and since moods are contagious, this in turn affects people’s motivation at work. Of course, when technical solutions are too advanced, they can also hinder efficiency within a company. This is because the company’s environment does not support the proper operation of such devices, which prevents them from functioning at their optimal level. As a result, even though there are excellent devices available, they cannot be utilized effectively, and their efficiency is not realized when used. Moreover, integrating them with other processes increases operational costs and reduces efficiency. Any production technology equipment must be placed in a suitable environment with the necessary supporting facilities to function properly.