This is an important distinction for Zimbabwean businesses because productivity improvements do not necessarily require more capital. For a growing Zimbabwean business, understanding the difference matters because not every job should be measured with a stopwatch. This is where work measurement becomes part of growth strategy rather than an old-fashioned industrial-engineering exercise. Pearson’s manufacturing-operations framework, for example, places work measurement alongside method study, process mapping, value-stream mapping, standardised operations and waste reduction. Work measurement is one of the oldest tools available for achieving that transition, but it remains surprisingly relevant.