What is the difference between an organisation at macro and micro operations level?

Answer 1

Macro Operations: This division manufactures sprockets. Raw material comes in one end and sprockets come out the other. Micro Operations: This work area is used by a technician for sanding burrs off the M126-055 metal gear plate which is step 443 of the 652 steps required to create the finished M22 metal gear plate containment chassis. On the macro level, a sick employee is just one of hundreds of employees. On a micro level, a sick employee might slow the production of the M126-055 metal gear plate. On a macro level, if work has slowed due to employee sickness, we need more employees. More employees means more productivity! On a micro level, if my department has a budget and you send me an extra employee, I'm going to have trouble keeping inside my budget. I'm also going to lose productivity because my qualified technician now has to train the newbie. Plus my qualified tech is a terribly slow teacher. More employees has equaled less productivity! On a macro level, in a year the extra employees will be fully trained and fully functional. On a micro level, our productivity might not recover for six months and we get paid bonuses based on our productivity.