Design of Work Systems CHAPTER SEVEN

Kit Laserna
OPERATIONS STRATEGY
JOB DESIGN
 JOB DESIGN

 The act of specifying the contents of and methods of jobs.

 What? Who? How? Where?

 Ergonomics – Incorporation of human factors in the design of

the workplace

(design of equipment, work methods and overall design of

the work environment)
Factors that Affect Job Design

 Workers and managers consultation

 Managerial support

 Written record establishment

Elements

 Efficiency school – systematic and logical

 Behavioral school- satisfaction of wants and needs

 SPECIALIZATION

 Work that concentrates on some aspect of product or service

Advantages
For management: For labor
1. Simplifies training 1. Low education and skill requirements

2. High productivity 2. Minimum responsibilities

3. Low wage cost 3. Little mental effort
Disadvatanges
1. Difficult 1. Monotonous work
2. Worker dissatisfaction, possibly 2. Limited opportunities for advancement
resulting in absenteeism, high turnover, 3. Little control over work
disruptive tactics, poor attention to 4. Little opportunity for sel-fulfillment
quality
 BEHAVIORAL APPROACHES
TO JOB DESIGN

 Job Enlargement – Giving a worker a larger position of the

total task

 Job Rotation – Workers periodically exchange jobs

 Job Enrichment – Increasing responsibility for planning and

coordination tasks, by vertical loading.

 Increase the motivational power of jobs by increasing worker

satisfaction through improvement in the quality of work life
 MOTIVATION

 Key factor in many aspects of work life

 Influence quality and productivity

 Contributes to the work environment

 Trust – influences motivation, productivity and employee-

management relations
Why do people work?

 Compensation

 Socialization

 Self-actualization

 Status

 Physiological aspects of work

 Sense of purpose and accomplishment

 TEAMS

 Short-term team

 Long-term team
 Self-directed teams (self-managed teams)- designed to achieve
higher level of teamwork and employee involvement. Althoug
Successful Team Building Requirements
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
METHODS ANALYSIS
 METHOD ANALYSIS

 Analyzing how a job is done

 Can be a good source of productivity improvements

 DIFFERENT SOURCES
1. Changes in tools and equipment.
2. Changes in product design or introduction of new products
3. Changes in materials or procedures
4. Government regulations or contractual agreements
5. Other factors (e.g., accidents, quality problems)
 New job – establish a method

 Existing job – analysts observe and improve

Procedure in Method Analysis

1. Identify the operation to be studied and gather facts about

tools, equipment, materials etc.

2. (existing jobs) job discussion with operator and supervisor

for input

3. (existing jobs) Study and document the present method

using process charts. (new jobs) develop charts based on
info about activities involved.
Procedure in Method Analysis

1. Analyze the job

2. Propose new methods

3. Install new methods

4. Follow up implementation to assure that improvements

have been achieved
Selecting an Operation to Study

 GUIDELINES FOR SELECTING A JOB; Jobs that…

1. Have a high labor content
2. Are done frequently
3. Are unsafe, tiring, unpleasant and/ore noisy
4. Are designated as problems
Documenting the Current Method

 Charts, graphs and verbal descriptions of the way job is being

performed
 Will provide good understanding of the job and serve as a basis
of comparison against which revisions can be judged.
Analyzing th Job and
Proposing New Methods

 Facilitated by the use of various charts such as;

 flow process charts
 worker-machine charts
Flow Process Charts

 Used to examine the overall sequence of an operation by

focusing on movements of the operator or flow of materials.

 Helpful in identifying non-productive part of the process

 Used to study the flow od material through a department

 Used to study the sequence that documents or forms take.

 Used in analyzing movement and care of surgical patients

 Layout of department and grocery stores

 Mail handling
1. Why is there delay or storage at this point?

2. How can travel distances be shortened or avoided?

3. Can materials handling be reduced?

4. Would a rearrangement of the workplace result in greater

efficiency?

5. Can similar activities be grouped?

6. Would the use of additional or improved equipments?

Process Chart Symbols
Flow Process Chart
Worker-machine chart

 Used to determine portions of a work cycle during which an

operator and equipment are busy or idle.
Installing the Improved Method

 Convinced manager + cooperating workers

NOTE: If the proposed method constitutes a major change

from the way the job has been performed in the past,
workers may have to undergo a certain amount of
retraining and full implementation may take time to
achieve.
The follow-up

 To ensure that changes has been made

 To ensure that the proposed method is functioning as

expected
 MOTION STUDY

 Systematic study of the human motions used to perform an

operation.

 Purpose:
 To eliminate unnecessary motions
 To identify the best sequence of motions for maximum
efficiency.
Motion study techniques

1. Motion study principles

2. Analysis of therbligs

3. Micromotion study

4. charts
Motion study principles

 Guidelines for designing motion-efficient work procedure

1. Eliminate unnecessary motions

2. Combine Activities

3. Reduce Fatigue

4. Improve the arrangement of the workplace

5. Improve the design of tools and equipment

Therbligs

 Basic elemental motions that make up a job

 NATURE:
 Search- hunting for an item with hands and/or eyes
 Select – means to choose from a group of objects
 Grasp – to take hold of an object
 Hold – retention of an object after being grasp
 Transport load – movement of an object after hold
 Release – deposit the object
Micromotion study

 Use of motion pictures and slow motion to study motions

that otherwise would be too rapid to analyze.
 WORKING CONDITIONS

 Temperature and Humidity

 Ventilation

 Illumination

 Noise and vibrations

 Work Breaks

 Safety
 **Causes of Accidents – carelessness and Accident Hazards
WORK MEASUREMENT
Determining how long it should take to do the job
Standard time

 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 materials,
and workplace arrangement

 Periodic time studies may be used to update the standards

 The most commonly used method of time elements are;

 Stopwatch time study
 Standard elemental times
 Predetermined time standards
 Work sampling
STOPWATCH TIME STUDY

 Introduced by Frederick Winslow Taylor – late 19th century

 Most widely used method of work instrument

 Especially appropriate for short, repetitive tasks

 Used to develop a time standard based on observations of

one worker taken over a number of cycles.
Steps in time study

1. Define the task to be studied, and inform the worker who

will be studied

2. Determine the number of cycles to be observe

3. Time the job, and rate the worker’s performance

4. Compute the standard time

Number of Cycles Function

1. Variability of Observed times

2. Desired Accuracy

3. Desire Level of Confidence

Formula (sample size needed)

Where
Z = # of normal standard deviations

2 (SD) needed for desired confidence

zs
S = sample SD
a= Desired accuracy (%)

n
= Sample mean
x

ax
Alternative:

2
**when the desired accuracy

zs
is stated as an amount
instead of percentage

n Where:

e
e = Maximum acceptable error
Example 1

A time study analyst wants to estimate the time required to

perform a certain job. A preliminary study yieldes a mean of
6.4 minutes and a standard deviation of 2.1minutes. The
desired confidence is 95%. How many observations will he
need if the desired maximum error is

a. + or – 10% of the sample mean?

b. One-half minute?
Solution

a. s= 2.1minutes z= 1.96

x = 6.4mins a= 10%
2 2
zs 1.96(2.1)
n n 41.36 42
ax 0.10(6.4)

2 2
b. e= 0.5 zs 1.96(2.1)
n 67.77 68
e 0.5
Development of Time Standard

 Observed Time

 Normal Time

 Standard Time
Observed Time

 Average of recorded times

Where:

xi OT = Observed time
x
i = Sum of recorded times
OT n = number or observations

n
Normal Time

 Observed time adjusted for worker performance

 Computed by multiplying Observed time by performance

rating

 NT = OT X PR Where: NT= Normal time

PR = Performance rating
Normal Time

 If ratings are made on an element-by-element basis, the

normal time is obtained by multiplying each element’s
average time by its performance rating and summing those
values:

 NT = xj PRj
Where
xj = Ave time for element j

PRj = Perfomance rating for element j

Standard Time

 Normal time multiplied by an allowance factor (personal,

unavoidable delays or rest breaks)

ST = NT × AF

Where

ST = Standard time

AF = Allowance factor
Allowance factor

AFjob 1 A = Allowance percentage based on job time

1
AFday = Allowance percentage based on
1 A workday
Sample Problem

Compute the allowance factor for these two cases:

a. The allowance is 20 percent of job time

b. The allowance is 20 percent of work time

Solution

A = .20

a. AF = 1 + A = 1.20, or 120%

1 1
b. AF = = 1.25, or 125%
1 A 1 0.20
 Typical Allowance Percentage for
Working Conditions

A. Constant Allowances:

1. Personal allowance 5

2. Basic fatigue allowances 4

B. Variable Allowance

1. Standing Allowance 2
2. Abnormal Position Allowance
a. Slightly awkward………………………………………………………………… 0
b. Awkward (bending) ……………………………………………………………. 2
c. Very awkward (lying, stretching) …………………………………………… 7

3. Use of force or muscular energy: Weight lifted (lbs)

5…………………………………………………………………………………………. 0
10……………………………………………………………………………………….. 1
15……………………………………………………………………………………….. 2
20……………………………………………………………………………………….. 3
25……………………………………………………………………………………….. 4
30……………………………………………………………………………………….. 5
35……………………………………………………………………………………….. 7
40……………………………………………………………………………………….. 9
45……………………………………………………………………………………….. 11
50………………………………………………………………………………………. 13
4. Bad light
a. Slightly below recommended 0
b. Well below 2
c. Very inadequate 5
5. Atmospheric conditions
(heat and humidity)- variable 0-10
6. Close attention:
a. Fairly fine work 0
b. Fine or extracting 2
c. Very fine or very extracting 5
7. Noise level
a. continuous
0
b. intermittent – loud
2
c. intermittent – very loud
5
d. High-pitched- loud
5

8. Mental strain:
a. Fairly complex process 1
b. Complex or wide span of attention 4
c. Very complex 8
9. Monotony:
a. low
0
b. Medium
1
c. High
4

10. Trediousness:
a. Rather tredious 0
b. Tredious 2
c. Very tredious 5
 Sample Problem
A time study of an assembly operation yielded the following observed times for
one element of the job, for which the analyst gave a performance rating of 1.13
Using an allowance of 20 percent of job time, determine the appropriate
standard time for this operation.

i Time, x
Observation (minutes)
1 1.12
2 1.15
3 1.16
4 1.12
5 1.15
i Time, x
observation (minutes
6 1.18
7 1.14
8 1.14
9 1.19
Total 10.35

N=9 PR = 1.13 A = 0.20

Solution

OT = xi 10.35
= 1.15 minutes
n 9

NT = OT × PR = 1.15 (1.13) = 1.30minutes

ST = NT × (1 + A) = 1.30(1.20) = 1.56 minutes

STANDARD ELEMENTAL TIME

 Derived from a firm’s own historical time study data

 Procedure for using Standard Elemental times

1. Analyze the job to identify the standard elements
2. Check the file for elements that have historical times, and
record them. Use time study to obtain others, if necessary
3. Modify the file times of necessary
4. Sum the elemental times to obtain the normal time, and factor
in allowances to obtain the standard time.
Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages Disadvantages
1. Potential savings in cost and 1. Times may not exist for
effort enough standard elements
to make it worthwhile
2. Less disruption of work
2. File times ma be biased or
3. Performance ratings do not inaccurate
have to be done
 PREDETERMINED TIME
STANDARDS

 Published data based on extensive research to determine

standard elemental times.

 Methods-time measurement
 Commonly used system
 MTM tables are based on extensive research of basic elemental
motions and times
Advantages

1. Based on large numbers of workers under controlled

conditions

2. The analyst is not required to rate performance in

developing the standard.

3. There is no disruption of the operation

4. Standards can be established even before a job is done.

WORK SAMPLING

 Technique for estimating the proportion of time that a

worker or machine spends on various activities and the idle
time.

 Does not require timing an activity NOR involve continuous

observation of the activity

 Observer makes brief observations of a worker or machine at

a random intervals

 Primary uses
1. ratio-delay studies
2. Analysis of non-repetitive jobs
COMPENSATION
Two Basic Systems for
Compensating Employees
 Time-based system

 Compensate employees for the time the employee has worked

during a pay period

Management Worker
ADVANTAGES 1. Stable labor cost 1. Stable pay
2. Easy to administer 2. Less pressure to
produce than under
output system
3. Simple to compute pay
4. Stable Output
DISADVANTAGES 1.. No incentive to workers 1. Extra efforts not
to increase output rewarded
 Output-based

 According to the amount of output they produce during a pay

period

 Tying pay directly to performance

Management Worker
ADVANTAGE 1. Lower cost per unit 1. Pay related to efforts
2. Greater output 2. Opportunity to earn more
DISADVANTAGES 1. Wage computation more 1. Pay related to efforts
difficult
2.Need to measure output 2. Workers may be penalized because of
factors beyond their control
3. Quality may suffer
4. Difficult to incorporate wage
increase
5. Increase problems with
scheduling
 Accurate

 Easy to Apply

 Consistent\

 Easy to understand

 Fair
 INDIVIDUAL INCENTIVE PLANS

 Straight piecework-worker’s pay is direct linear function of his

or her output

 Protects the worker from pay loss due to delays, breakdowns

and similar probems
 GROUP INCENTIVE PLANS

 Team approach

 Some exclusively focus on output, while others reward

employees for output and for reductions in material and
other costs
 KNOWLEDGE-BASED PAY
SYSTEMS

 A pay system used by organizations to reward workers who

undergo training that increase their skills

 Three dimensions:
 Horizontal skills – reflect the variety of tasks the worker is
capable of performing
 Vertical skills – reflect managerial tasks the worker is capable of
 Depth skills – reflect quality and productivity results
 MANAGEMENT COMPENSATION

 Tied to the success of the company or division that executive

is responsible for