Work Design and Job Design Overview

7.1 Introduction

• Work design is crucial due to organizations' reliance on human effort.
• Topics in this chapter relate to productivity improvement and continuous improvement.

7.2 Job Design

• Job design outlines job content and methods.
• Job designers consider what, who, how, and where the job will be done.
• Objectives include productivity, safety, and quality of work life.
• Two schools of thought exist—efficiency and behavioral.
• Efficiency school emphasizes a logical, systematic approach to job design.
• Behavioral school focuses on employee satisfaction and needs.
• Specialization is a contentious issue between these approaches.

Specialization

• Specialization means narrowly focused jobs.
• Examples range from assembly lines to specific professions.
• The rationale for specialization is to concentrate efforts and become proficient.
• Some specialists report high job satisfaction.

Advantages & Disadvantages

• For Management: Simplifies training, high productivity, low wage costs
• For Employees: Low education/skill requirements, minimum responsibility, low mental effort needed
• For Management: Difficult to motivate quality, worker dissatisfaction (absenteeism, high turnover), poor attention to quality
• For Employees: Monotonous work, limited opportunities, little control, limited opportunity for self-fulfillment

Behavioral Approaches to Job Design

• Job enlargement, job rotation, job enrichment, and mechanization are common approaches to improve jobs.
• Job enlargement increases a worker's responsibility in a job by expanding the scope.
• Job rotation involves employee exchanges to enhance broader experience.
• Job enrichment increases the level of responsibility for planning and coordination tasks.

Motivation

• Motivation influences quality, productivity and work environment.
• Factors include compensation, socialization, self-actualization, recognition, purpose, and accomplishment.

Teams

• Organizations restructure work environments to increase productivity and competitiveness.
• The increased use of teams is evident in lean production systems.
• Teams can handle non-routine assignments that were previously handled by individuals.
• Teams can be short-term, focused on a specific issue, or long-term.
• Self-directed teams are a specific type of team design.

7.3 Quality of Work Life

• People work for various reasons (livelihood, self-fulfillment, social interaction, etc.).
• Quality of work life has several aspects, including coworker relations, management style, and working conditions.
• Important physical aspects like temperature, humidity, ventilation, illumination, and noise influence worker performance.
• Government regulations often influence working conditions.

7.4 Methods Analysis

• Analysis focuses on how a job is performed.
• This includes arrangement of the workplace and flow of materials.
• Method analysis can improve productivity.
• This analysis is useful in analyzing changes to tools, equipment, and materials, identifying problems (incidents, accidents), and improvement of procedures.

7.5 Motion Study

• Motion study systematically analyzes human motions in performing an operation.
• The purpose is to eliminate unnecessary motions and create the most efficient sequence of motions.
• Frank Gilbreth is known for motion study techniques, particularly in bricklaying.
• Techniques include motion study principles, analysis of therbligs, micromotion studies, and charts.

Therbligs

• Therbligs are basic elemental motions (backward spelling of "Gilbreth").
• Breaking down jobs into therbligs allows for improvements in operations by analyzing each element, or combination or rearrangement of elements

7.6 Work Measurement

• Job Design and Methods analysis determine the how and what of job performance.
• Work measurement identifies the time needed to complete a specified task given sustainable conditions.
• Time standards are crucial for workforce planning, capacity planning, budgeting, and incentive design.
• Standard times need to include allowances for delays.
• Changes in job factors influence the time required, prompting updates of standard times when necessary

Stopwatch Time Study

• A method for establishing labor standards.
• It observes one worker's performance over several cycles.
• This defines the time required for a specific task.

Normal/Standard Time

• Observed time is the average of recorded times.
• Normal time adjusts for worker performance using a rating factor.
• Standard time includes allowances for personal/unavoidable delays.
• Using standard times can improve workforce planning and capacity planning.

Predetermined Time Standards

• Uses published data on standard elemental times (e.g., MTM) to estimate times.
• Analysts break down tasks into basic movements and refer to appropriate tables for time analysis.

Work Sampling

• Estimates the proportion of time a worker spends on various tasks or non-activity.
• Used to assess the percentage of time spent on various tasks.
• Random observations provide insight into tasks workers perform.
• Work sampling is valuable for estimating the proportion of time spent on activities involving nonrepetitive jobs