Chapter 4: Work Design and Measurement Flashcards
importance of work design
-Organization’s are dependent on human efforts to accomplish their goals
-Many job design topics are relevant to continuous and productivity improvement
involves specifying the content and methods of jobs.
Job Design
Job designers focus on
-what will be done in a job
-who will do the job
-how the job will be done
-where the job will be done
objectives of the job design include
-productivity
-safety
-quality of work life
2 elements of job design
-efficiency school
-behavioral school
it emphasizes a systematic, logical approach to job design
efficiency school
it emphasizes satisfaction of wants and needs
behavioral school
a refinement of Frederick Winslow Taylor’s scientific management
concepts, received considerable emphasis in the past
efficiency approach
continued to make inroads into many aspects of job design
behavioral approach
describes jobs that have a very narrow scope
Specialization
work that concentrates on some aspect of a product or service
Specialization
main rationale of specialization
the ability to concentrate one’s efforts and thereby become proficient at that type of work
Advantages of Specialization for Management
-Simplifies training
-High Productivity
-Low Wage costs
Disadvantages of Specialization for Management
-Difficult to motivate quality
-Worker dissatisfaction, possibly resulting in absenteeism, high turnover, disruptive tactics, poor attention to quality.
Advantages of Specialization for Employee
-Low education and skill requirements
-Minimum responsibilities
-Little mental effort needed
Disdvantages of Specialization for Employee
-Monotonous work
-Limited opportunities for advancement;
-Little control over work;
-Little opportunity for self-fulfillment
Behavioral Approaches to Job Design
-Job Enlargement
-Job Rotation
-Job Enrichment
Giving a worker a larger portion of the total task by horizontal loading
Job Enlargement
the additional work is on the same level of skill and responsibility as the original job
Horizontal Loading
make the job more interesting by increasing the variety of skills and required and by providing the
worker with a more recognizable contribution to the overall output
Goal of the Job Enlargement
workers periodically exchange jobs
Job Rotation
use this approach to avoid having one or a few employees stuck in monotonous jobs
Job Rotation
allows workers to broaden their learning experience and enables them to fill in for others in the event of sickness or absenteeism
Job Rotation
Increasing responsibility for planning and coordination tasks, by vertical loading
Job Enrichment
focuses on motivating potential of worker satisfaction
Job Enrichment
a key factor in many aspects of work life (influences quality and productivity, contributes to the work environmen)
Motivation
factor that influences motivation
Trust
Forms of Teams:
- Short-term team
- Long-term team
- Self-directed teams
formed to collaborate on a topic such as quality improvement, product or service design, or solving a problem
Short-term team
designed to achieve
a higher level of teamwork and employee involvement
Self-directed teams
Requirements for Successful Team Building (Robert Bacal)
- Clearly stated and commonly held vision and goals;
- Talent and skills required to meet goals;
- Clear understanding of team member’s roles and functions;
- Efficient and shared understanding of procedures and norms;
- Effective and skilled interpersonal relations;
- A system of reinforcement and celebration;
- Clear understanding of the team’s relationship to the greater organization.
Benefits of teams
Higher quality
Higher productivity
Greater worker satisfaction
Team problems
Some managers feel threatened
Conflicts between team members
scientific discipline concerned with the understanding of interactions among humans and other elements of a system
Ergonomics (Human Factors)
profession that applies theory, principles, data and methods to design in order to optimize human well-being and overall system performance
Ergonomics (Human Factors)
Ergonomists contribute to the
design
and evaluation of tasks, jobs, products, environment and systems in order to make them compatible with the needs, abilities, and limitations of people.
ergonomics also helps to increase
productivity by
reducing worker discomfort and fatigue
Ergonomics Domains
-physical
-cognitive
-organizational
Physical in ergonomics include:
repetitive movements, layout, health, and safety
Cognitive in ergonomics include:
mental workload, decision-making, human-
computer interaction, and work stress
Organizational in ergonomics include:
communication, teamwork, work design, and
telework
affects not only workers’ overall sense of well-being and contentment, but also worker productivity.
Quality of work life
Important aspects of quality of work of life
- How a worker gets along with co-workers
- Quality of management
- Working conditions
- Compensation
Working Conditions Factors
- Temperature and Humidity
- Ventilation
- Illumination
- Noise and Vibrations
- Work Time and Work Breaks
- Occupational Health Care
- Safety
significant issue for the design of work systems
Compensation
Compensation Approaches
Time-based systems
Output-based systems
Incentive systems
Knowledge-based systems
Compensation based on time an employee has worked during the pay period
Time-based system (Hourly and Measured Daywork Systems)
Compensation based on amount of output an employee produced during the pay period
Output-based (incentive) system
a worker’s pay is a direct linear function of his or her output
Straight Piecework
Workers are guaranteed that amount as a minimum, regardless
of output
Base
stress sharing of productivity gains
with employees
Group Incentive Plans
setting up pay systems to reward workers who undergo training that increases their skill levels. T
Knowledge-Based Pay Systems
The variety of tasks the worker is capable of performing
Horizontal Skills
managerial tasks that the
worker is capable of
Vertical Skills
quality and productivity results
Depth Skills
Minimum wage legislation haas reduced their popularity
Straight Piecework
Paid for output above the standard
Bonus
Many organization used to reward managers and senior executives based on output
Management Compensation
New emphasis placed on other factors of performance
-Customer Service
-Quality
being more closely tied to the success of the company or division that executive is responsible for
Executive Pay
One of the techniques used by self-directed teams and work analysis
Method Analysis
focuses on how a job is done
Method Analysis
used to review and critically examine the overall sequence of an operation by focusing on the movements of the operator or the flow materials
Flow Process Charts
helpful in visualizing the portions of a work cycle during which an operator and
equipment are busy or idle.
Worker Machine Chart
The analyst should review the operation after a reasonable period and consult again
with the operator
Follow-up
systematic study of the human motions used to perform an operation
Motion Study
Guidelines for designing motion-efficient work procedures
Motion Study Principles
Basic elemental motions into which a job can be broken down
Analysis of therbligs
use of motion pictures and slow motion to study motions that otherwise would be too rapid to analyze
Micromotion Study
concerned with the length of time it should take to complete the job
Work Measurement
the amount of time it should take a qualified worker to complete a specified task, working
at a sustainable rate, using given methods, tools and equipment, raw material inputs, and workplace
arrangement
Standard Time
used to develop a time standard based on observations of one worker taken over
a number of cycles
Stopwatch Time Study
Average of the recorded times
Observed Time
the observed time adjusted for worker performance
Normal Time
