7-1

Design of Work Systems

Chapter 7

Design of
Work Systems

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Operations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. Stevenson

Copyright 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

7-2

Design of Work Systems

Job Design
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

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Operations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. Stevenson

Copyright 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

7-3

Design of Work Systems

Design of Work Systems

Specialization
Behavioral Approaches to Job
Design
Teams

Methods Analysis
Motions Study
Working conditions

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Operations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. Stevenson

Copyright 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

7-4

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

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Operations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. Stevenson

Copyright 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

7-5

Design of Work Systems

Specialization in Business: Advantages

For Management:

For Labor:
1. Simplifies training 1. Low education and
2. High productivity

3. Low wage costs

skill requirements

2. Minimum
responsibilities
3. Little mental effort
needed

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Operations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. Stevenson

Copyright 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

7-6

Design of Work Systems

Disadvantages

For Management:

For Labor:

1. Difficult to motivate
quality

1. Monotonous work

2. Limited opportunities
for advancement
2. Worker dissatisfaction,
possibly resulting in
3. Little control over work
absenteeism, high
4. Little opportunity for
turnover, disruptive
self-fulfillment
tactics, poor attention
to quality
McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Operations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. Stevenson

Copyright 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

7-7

Design of Work Systems

Behavioral Approaches to Job Design

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

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Operations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. Stevenson

Copyright 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

7-8

Design of Work Systems

Methods Analysis
The need for methods analysis can come
from a number of different sources:
Changes in tools and equipment
Changes in product design
or new products
Changes in materials or procedures
Other factors (e.g. accidents, quality
problems)

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Operations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. Stevenson

Copyright 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

7-9

Design of Work Systems

Figure 7-2
FLOW PROCESS CHART

ANALYST PAGE
Job Requisition of petty cash D. Kolb 1 of 2

Details of Method
Requisition made by department head
Put in pick-up basket
To accounting department
Account and signature verified
Amount approved by treasurer
Amount counted by cashier
Amount recorded by bookkeeper
Petty cash sealed in envelope
Petty cash carried to department
Petty cash checked against requisition
Receipt signed
Petty cash stored in safety box

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Operations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. Stevenson

Copyright 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

7-10

Design of Work Systems

Motion Study
Motion study is the systematic
study of the human motions used
to perform an operation.

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Operations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. Stevenson

Copyright 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

7-11

Design of Work Systems

Motion Study Techniques

Motion study principles - guidelines for
designing motion-efficient work procedures

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

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Operations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. Stevenson

Copyright 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

7-12

Design of Work Systems

Developing Work Methods

Eliminate unnecessary motions

Combine activities
Reduce fatigue
Improve the arrangement of the
workplace
Improve the design of tools and
equipment

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Operations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. Stevenson

Copyright 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

7-13

Design of Work Systems

Working Conditions

Temperature &
Humidity

Illumination

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Ventilation

Color

Operations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. Stevenson

Copyright 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

7-14

Design of Work Systems

Working Conditions (contd)

Noise & Vibration

Work Breaks

Safety

Causes of Accidents

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Operations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. Stevenson

Copyright 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

7-15

Design of Work Systems

Work Measurement
Stopwatch Time Study

Standard Elemental Times

Predetermined Time
Standards
Work Sampling

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Operations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. Stevenson

Copyright 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

7-16

Design of Work Systems

Compensation
Individual Incentive Plans
Group Incentive Plans
Knowledge-Based Pay
System

Management
Compensation

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Operations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. Stevenson

Copyright 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

7-17

Design of Work Systems

Form of Incentive Plan

Accurate
Easy to apply
Consistent
Easy to understand
Fair

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Operations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. Stevenson

Copyright 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

7-18

Design of Work Systems

Group Incentive Plans

Scanlon Plan
Encourage reductions in labor costs

Kaiser Plan
Committees suggest ways of reducing
costs

Lincoln Plan
Profit sharing, job enlargement, and
participative management

Kodak Plan
Wages/bonus related to profits
McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Operations Management, Seventh Edition, by William J. Stevenson

Copyright 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.