CHAPTER 7: Work design & Measurement

7.1 INTRODUCTION

WORK DESIGN is underscored by an organization’s dependence on human efforts (i.e., work)

to accomplish its goals.

7.2 JOB DESIGN

Job Design The act of specifying the contents and methods of jobs. It focuses on WHAT,
WHO, HOW & WHERE will be the job done. The objectives of job design include productivity,
safety, and quality of work life.

2 Approaches to Job design:

Efficiency School/Approach - emphasizes a systematic, logical, approach to job design
Behavioral school/Approach - emphasizes satisfaction of wants and needs.

Specialization describes jobs that have a very narrow scope. Work that concentrates on sure
aspect of a product or service. Main rationale is the ability to concentrate one’s efforts and
thereby become proficient at that type of work.

FOR MANAGEMENT:
Advantages:
1. Simplifies training
2. High productivity
3. Low Wage Costs
Disadvantages:
1. Difficult to motivate Quality
2. Worker Dissatisfaction, possibly resulting in absenteeism, high turnover, disruptive tactics,
poor attention to quality.

FOR EMPLOYEES:
Advantages:
1. Low education and skill requirements
2. Minimum responsibilities
3. Little mental effort needed
Disadvantages:
1. Monotonous work
2. Limited opportunities for advancement
3. Little control over work
4. Little opportunity for self-fulfillment

Behavioral Approaches to Job Design

1. Job enlargement means giving a worker a larger portion of the total task. This constitutes
horizontal loading—the additional work is on the same level of skill and responsibility as the
original job. The goal is to make the job more interesting by increasing the variety of skills
required and by providing the worker with a more recognizable contribution to the overall
output.

2. Job rotation means having workers periodically exchange jobs. This allows workers to
broaden their learning experience and enables them to fill in for others in the event of
sickness or absenteeism.

3. Job enrichment involves an increase in the level of responsibility for planning and
coordination tasks. It is sometimes referred to as vertical loading.
 The importance of these approaches to job design is that they have the potential to
increase the motivational power of jobs by increasing worker satisfaction through
improvement in the quality of work life.
Motivation is a key factor in many aspects of work life. Not only can it influence quality and
productivity, it also contributes to the work environment. People work for a variety of reasons
in addition to compensation. Other reasons include socialization, self-actualization, status,
the physiological aspects of work, and a sense of purpose and accomplishment.
Another factor that influences motivation, productivity, and employee–management relations
is trust. In an ideal work environment, there is a high level of trust between workers and
managers.

Team The efforts of business organizations to become more productive, competitive, and
customer oriented have caused them to rethink how work is accomplished.

Forms of Teams

1. Short-term team formed to collaborate on a topic such as quality improvement, product or

service design, or solving a problem.

2. Long-term Team that is increasingly being used.

Self -Directed Teams, an example of long term-team, sometimes referred to as self-managed

teams. Groups empowered to make certain changes in their work processes. Generally, the
benefits of teams include higher quality, higher productivity, and greater worker satisfaction.

Expert Robert Bacal has a list of requirements for successful team building:
1. Clearly stated and commonly held vision and goals.
2. Talent and skills required to meet goals.
3. Clear understanding of team members’ roles and functions.
4. Efficient and shared understanding of procedures and norms.
5. Effective and skilled interpersonal relations.
6. A system of reinforcement and celebration.
7. Clear understanding of the team’s relationship to the greater organization.

Ergonomics (or human factors) is the scientific discipline concerned with the understanding
of interactions among humans and other elements of a system, and the profession that
applies theory, principles, data, and methods to design in order to optimize human well-being
and overall system performance.

The International Ergonomics Association organizes ergonomics into three domains:

1. Physical (e.g., repetitive movements, layout, health, and safety)

2. Cognitive (mental workload, decision making, human–computer interaction, and work

stress)

3. Organizational (e.g., communication, teamwork, work design, and telework).

Frederick Winslow Taylor, known as the father of scientific management, found

that the amount of coal that workers could shovel could be increased substantially by
reducing
the size and weight of the shovels.
Frank and Lillian Gilbreth expanded Taylor’s work, developing a set of motion study principles
intended to improve worker efficiency and reduce
injury and fatigue.
Poor posture can lead to fatigue, low productivity, and injuries to the back, neck, and arm.
Good posture can help avoid or minimize these problems.

7.3 QUALITY OF WORKLIFE

Quality of work life affects not only workers’ overall sense of well-being and contentment, but
also worker productivity. Quality of work life has several key aspects. Getting along well with
coworkers and having good managers can contribute greatly to the quality of work life.
Leadership style is particularly important. Also important are working conditions and
compensation.

Working conditions are an important aspect of job design. Physical factors can have a
significant impact on worker performance in terms of productivity, quality of output, and
accidents.

Physical factors:
1. Temperature and Humidity. Although human beings can function under a fairly wide range
of temperatures and humidity, work performance tends to be adversely affected if
temperatures or humidities are outside a very narrow comfort band. That comfort band
depends on how strenuous the work is; the more strenuous the work, the lower the comfort
range.

2. Ventilation. Unpleasant and noxious odors can be distracting and dangerous to workers.

3. Illumination. The amount of illumination required depends largely on the type of work being
performed; the more detailed the work, the higher the level of illumination needed for
adequate performance.

4. Noise and Vibrations. Noise is unwanted sound. Noise can be annoying or distracting,
leading to errors and accidents. It also can damage or impair hearing if it is loud enough.
Vibrations can be a factor in job design even without a noise component, so merely
eliminating sound may not be sufficient in every case.

5. Work Time and Work Breaks. Reasonable (and sometimes flexible) work hours can provide
a sense of freedom and control over one’s work.

6. Occupational Health Care. Good worker health contributes to productivity, minimizes

health care costs, and enhances workers’ sense of well-being.

7. Safety. Worker safety is one of the most basic issues in job design. This area needs
constant attention from management, employees, and designers. Workers cannot be
effectively motivated if they feel they are in physical danger.
 The enactment of the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1970, and the creation of
the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), emphasized the importance of
safety considerations in systems design. The law was intended to ensure that workers in all
organizations have healthy and safe working conditions. OSHA officials are empowered to
issue warnings, impose fines, and even to invoke court-ordered shutdowns for unsafe
conditions.

Ethical issues affect operations through work methods, working conditions

and employee safety, accurate record keeping, unbiased performance appraisals, fair
compensation, and opportunities for advancement.

Compensation is a significant issue for the design of work systems. Simply how workers are
paid for their work.

Approaches For Compensation:

1. Time-based systems, also known as hourly and measured daywork systems, compensate
employees for the time the employee has worked during a pay period.

2. Output-based (incentive) systems compensate employees according to the amount of

output they produce during a pay period, thereby tying pay directly to performance.
Individual Incentive Plans. The simplest plan is straight piecework. Under this plan, a
worker’s pay is a direct linear function of his or her output.
A variety of Group Incentive Plans, which stress sharing of productivity gains with
employees, are in use. Some focus exclusively on output, while others reward
employees for output and for reductions in material and other costs.
3. Knowledge-based pay system used by organizations to reward workers who undergo
training that increases their skills.
a) Horizontal skills reflect the variety of tasks the worker is capable of performing
b) Vertical skills reflect managerial tasks the worker is capable of.
c) Depth skills reflect quality and productivity results.

4. Management Compensation. Many organizations that traditionally rewarded managers

and senior executives on the basis of output are now seriously reconsidering that approach.
Reward systems are being restructured to reflect new dimensions of performance.

5. Recent Trends. Many organizations are moving toward compensation systems that
emphasize flexibility and performance objectives, with variable pay based on performance.

7.4 METHODS ANALYSIS

Methods Analysis – focuses on how a job is done. It is done for both existing jobs
and new jobs. For a new job, it is needed to establish a method. For an existing job,
the procedure usually is to have the analyst observe the job as it is currently being
performed and then devise improvements. For a new job, the analyst must rely on a
job description and an ability to visualize the operation.

The basic procedure in methods analysis is as follows:

1. Selecting an Operation to Study. Sometimes a foreman or supervisor will
request that a certain operation be studied.
2. Documenting the Current Method. Use charts, graphs, and verbal
descriptions of the way the job is now being performed.
3. Analyzing the Job and Proposing New Methods. It is facilitated by the use of
various charts such as flow process charts and worker-machine charts.
a. Flow process charts – are used to review and critically examine the
overall sequence of an operation by focusing on the movements of
the operator or the flow of materials. These charts are helpful in
identifying nonproductive parts of the process.
b. Worker-machine chart – is a chart used to determine portions of a
work cycle during which an operator and equipment are busy or idle.
4. Installing the Improved Method. Successful implementation of proposed
method changes requires convincing management of the desirability of the
new method and obtaining the cooperation of workers.
5. The Follow-Up. The analyst should review the operation after a reasonable
period and consult again with the operator.

7.5 MOTION STUDY

Motion Study – is the systematic study of the human motions used to perform an
operation to eliminate unnecessary motions and to identify the best sequence of
motion for maximum efficiency.

Frank Gilbreth – An early 20th-century pioneer in motion study, Frank Gilbreth is

credited with originating techniques in the bricklaying trade that significantly
improved productivity.

The most-used techniques by motion study analysts are the following:

1. Motion Study Principles – Developed from the work of Frank Gilbreth, motion
study principles are guidelines used to design motion-efficient work
 procedures. The guidelines are divided into three categories:

a. principles for use of the body

b. principles for arrangement of the workplace, and;

c. principles for the design of tools and equipment.

2. Therbligs – These are basic elemental motions. This approach is to break

jobs down into basic elements and base improvements on an analysis of
these basic elements by eliminating, combining, or rearranging them.

Here is a list of some common ones that will illustrate the nature of these
basic elemental motions:

a. Search implies hunting for an item with the hands and/or the eyes.

b. Select means to choose from a group of objects.

c. Grasp means to take hold of an object.

d. Hold refers to retention of an object after it has been grasped.

e. Transport load means movement of an object after hold.

f. Release load means to deposit the object.

3. Micromotion study – is the use of motion pictures and slow motion to study
motions that otherwise would be too rapid to analyze.

4. Simo Chart – chart used to study simultaneous motions of the hands.

7.6 WORK MEASUREMENT

Work measurement – is concerned with determining the length of time it should take
to complete the job.

A standard time ¬̶ is the amount of time it should take a qualified worker to

complete specified task, working at a sustainable rate, using given methods, tools
and equipment, raw material inputs, and workplace arrangement.

Development of a time standard involves computation of three times:

 a. Observed Time (OT) ̶ is simply the average of the recorded times.

b. Normal Time (NT) ̶ is the observed time adjusted for worker performance.

c. Standard Time (ST) ̶ take into account such factors as personal delays,
unavoidable delays, and breaks.

The most commonly used methods of work measurement are the ff:
1. Stopwatch Time Study ̶ was first introduced over a hundred years ago by
Frederick Winslow Taylor to set times for manufacturing and construction
activities. It is used for the development of a time standard based on
observations of one worker taken over a number of cycles.
2. Standard Elemental Times ̶ are derived from a firm’s own historical time
study data.
3. Predetermined Time Standards ̶ involve the use of published data on
standard elemental times.
 Methods-Time Measurement (MTM) ̶ is a commonly used sytem
developed by the Methods Engineering Council, based on extensive
research of basic elemental motions and times. To use this approach,
the analyst must divide the job into its basic elements, measure the
distances involved, rate the difficulty of the element, and then refer to
the appropriate table of data to obtain the time for that element.
4. Work Sampling ̶ is a technique for estimating the proportion of time that a
worker or machine spends on various activities and in idle time. Unlike time
study, this does not require timing or continuous observation of an activity.
Instead, the observer makes brief observations at random intervals and
simply notes the nature of the activity being performed by the worker or
machine.
 Its two primary uses are in (1) ratio-delay studies, which concern the
percentage of a worker’s time that involves unavoidable delays or the
proportion of time a machine is idle, and (2) analysis of nonrepetitive
jobs, which typically involve a broader range of skills than repetitive
jobs.

Random Number Table ̶ is a table consisting of unordered sequences of numbers,

used to determine random observation schedules.