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McGraw-Hill/IrwinOperations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. StevensonCopyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Design of Work Systems

Chapter 7

Design of Work Systems

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McGraw-Hill/IrwinOperations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. StevensonCopyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Design of Work Systems

• Job design involves specifying the content and methods of job– What will be done– Who will do the job– How the job will bob will be done– Where the job will be done– Ergonomics--incorporating human factors into the design of a

product or process

• Goals– Productivity– Safety– Quality of work life

Job Design

7-3

McGraw-Hill/IrwinOperations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. StevensonCopyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Design of Work Systems

Design of Work Systems

• Specialization

• Behavioral Approaches to Job Design

• Teams

• Methods Analysis

• Motions Study

• Working conditions

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McGraw-Hill/IrwinOperations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. StevensonCopyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Design of Work Systems

Job Design Success

Successful Job Design must be:• Carried out by experienced personnel with

the necessary training and background

• Consistent with the goals of the organization

• In written form

• Understood and agreed to by both management and employees

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McGraw-Hill/IrwinOperations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. StevensonCopyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Design of Work Systems

Specialization in Business: Advantages

For Management:

1. Simplifies training

2. High productivity

3. Low wage costs

For Labor:

1. Low education andskill requirements

2. Minimumresponsibilities

3. Little mental effortneeded

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McGraw-Hill/IrwinOperations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. StevensonCopyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Design of Work Systems

Disadvantages

For Management:

1. Difficult to motivatequality

2. Worker dissatisfaction,possibly resulting inabsenteeism, highturnover, disruptivetactics, poor attentionto quality

For Labor:1. Monotonous work

2. Limited opportunitiesfor advancement

3. Little control over work

4. Little opportunity forself-fulfillment

7-7

McGraw-Hill/IrwinOperations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. StevensonCopyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Design of Work Systems

Behavioral Approaches to Job Design

• Ways of overcoming worker boredom

• Job Enlargement– Giving a worker a larger portion of the total task by

horizontal loading

• Job Rotation– Workers periodically exchange jobs

• Job Enrichment– Increasing responsibility for planning and coordination

tasks, by vertical loading

7-8

McGraw-Hill/IrwinOperations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. StevensonCopyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Design of Work Systems

Motivation

• What makes people work

• People can be motivated by:– Money– Social needs– Self-fulfillment– Sense of accomplishment– Fear

7-9

McGraw-Hill/IrwinOperations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. StevensonCopyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Design of Work Systems

Self-Directed Teams

• Groups empowered to make limited changes in their work processes

• Based on the assumption that no one knows more about a process than the workers

• Can lead to:– Higher productivity– Higher quality– Greater worker satisfaction– Lower turnover

7-10

McGraw-Hill/IrwinOperations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. StevensonCopyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Design of Work Systems

Methods Analysis

• Changes in tools and equipment

• Changes in product designor new products

• Changes in materials or procedures

• Regulations or contractual issues

• Other factors (e.g. accidents, quality problems, productivity)

•Analyzing how a job is done

The need for methods analysis can come from a number of different sources:

7-11

McGraw-Hill/IrwinOperations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. StevensonCopyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Design of Work Systems

Methods Analysis

• Can be used on new or existing jobs• Procedure:

– Identify the operation to be studied and gather facts– Discuss the job with supervisor and operator– Study and document current/proposed method– Analyze the job– Propose new methods– Install new methods– Follow-up to ensure results have been achieved

7-12

McGraw-Hill/IrwinOperations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. StevensonCopyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Design of Work Systems

Motion StudyMotion study is the systematic

study of the human motions used

to perform an operation in order to improve ergonomics, safety, and

efficiency.

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McGraw-Hill/IrwinOperations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. StevensonCopyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Design of Work Systems

Motion Study Techniques

• Analysis of therbligs - basic elemental motions into which a job can be broken down

• Micromotion study - use of motion pictures and slow motion to study motions that otherwise would be too rapid to analyze

• Charts

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McGraw-Hill/IrwinOperations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. StevensonCopyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Design of Work Systems

• Eliminate unnecessary motions

• Combine activities

• Reduce fatigue

• Improve the arrangement of the workplace

• Improve the design of tools and equipment

Developing Work Methods

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McGraw-Hill/IrwinOperations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. StevensonCopyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Design of Work Systems

Working Conditions

• Environmental conditions that impact worker performance, safety, and productivity

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McGraw-Hill/IrwinOperations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. StevensonCopyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Design of Work Systems

Working Conditions

T e m p e r a t u r e &H u m i d i t y

V e n t i l a t i o n

I l l u m i n a t i o n C o l o r

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McGraw-Hill/IrwinOperations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. StevensonCopyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Design of Work Systems

Working Conditions (cont’d)

Noise & Vibration

Causes of AccidentsSafety

Work Breaks

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McGraw-Hill/IrwinOperations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. StevensonCopyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Design of Work Systems

Work Measurement • Determining how long it should take to do a job

• Critical for manpower planning, estimating labor costs, scheduling, budgeting, etc.

• Methods:

– Stopwatch Time Study

– Standard Elemental Times

– Predetermined Time Standards

– Work Sampling

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McGraw-Hill/IrwinOperations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. StevensonCopyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Design of Work Systems

Compensation• Two most basic categories of compensation:

– Time based

– Output based

• Other subcategories:

– Individual Incentive Plans

– Group Incentive Plans

– Knowledge-Based Pay System

– Management Compensation

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McGraw-Hill/IrwinOperations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. StevensonCopyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Design of Work Systems

Form of Incentive Plan

• Accurate

• Easy to apply

• Consistent

• Easy to understand

• Fair