Our examples in the chapter have focused on manufacturing, where the output is units of product and the inputs are manufacturing activities or costs. The concept of productivity can be applied in a variety of settings, wherever there are inputs and outputs. For example, consider LandscapeCity, a landscape design company that specializes in small landscape projects for people living in cities. Amanda Caldwell, the assistant manager, is in the process of trying to determine if productivity has been improving since she was hired 6 months ago. Because it is a design firm, labor is the only significant expense, but Amanda is unsure if the number of projects or the dollar of sales volume should be used when computing productivity. She has collected these data for sales and labor expenses for the past 6 months:

Month	Labor Expense	Number of Projects	Sales Dollars
1	$ 26,160	54	$ 22,090
2	38,400	80	23,900
3	21,392	50	30,780
4	15,194	13	20,560
5	15,926	18	23,680
6	22,592	50	23,520

Required:

1. Calculate the productivity for each month and the change in productivity from month to month using number of projects as the measure of output.

2. Calculate the productivity for each month and the change in productivity from month to month using sales dollars as the measure of output.

Required 1 Required 2 Calculate the productivity for each month and the change in productivity from month to month using number of projects as the measure of output. (Round your answers to 4 decimal places. Negative amounts should be indicated by a minus sign.) Month Productivity Number of Projects 54 Monthly Change 1 2 80 Labor Expense $ 26,160 $ 38,400 $ 21,392 $ 15,194 $ 15,926 $ 22,592 3 50 4 13 5 18 6 50 Calculate the productivity for each month and the change in productivity from month to month using sales dollars as the measure of output. (Round your answers to 4 decimal places. Negative amounts should be indicated by a minus sign.) Month Productivity Monthly Change 1 2 3 Labor Sales Dollars Expense $ 26,160 $ 22,090 $ 38,400 $ 23,900 $ 21,392 $ 30,780 $ 15,194 $ 20,560 $ 15,926 $ 23,680 $ 22,592 $ 23,520 4 5 6