Work Design &

Measurement
CHAPTER 7

REPORTED BY: GALES & BELDA

The importance of
work design is
underscored by an
organization’s
dependence on
human efforts/work to
accomplish its goals.
Job Design
● involves specifying the content and methods of jobs.
● Job designers focus on what will be done in a job, who will do the job, how the job
will be done, and where the job will be done.
● The objectives of job design include productivity, safety, and quality of work life.

Current practice in job design contains elements of two basic schools of thought.
1. Efficiency School- because it emphasizes a systematic, logical approach to job
design
2. Behavioral School- because it emphasizes satisfaction of wants and needs.
Design of Work System

❖ Specialization
❖ Behavioral Approaches to Job Design
❖ Teams
❖ Ergonomics
❖ Method Analysis
❖ Motions Study
❖ Working Conditions
Specialization

● describes jobs that have a very narrow scope.

● The main rationale for specialization is the ability to concentrate one’s efforts and thereby
become proficient at that type of work.

Example

❏ College professors often specialize in teaching certain courses

❏ Auto mechanics specialize in transmission repair,
❏ Bakers specialize in wedding cakes.
 Job Design Success
● Must be carried out by experienced personnel with necessary training and background
● Consistent with the goals of the organization

Specialization in Business Advantages and Disadvantages

Behavioral Approach to Job
Design

❖ Job Enlargement
➢ Giving a worker a larger portion of the total task by horizontal loading
■ For example, a production workers job might be expanded so that he or she is responsible for a
sequence of activities instead of only one activity.
★ Job Rotation
○ Workers periodically change jobs
○ Job rotation allows workers to broaden their learning experience and enables them to fill
in for others in the event of sickness or absenteeism.
➔ Job Enrichment
◆ Increasing responsibility for planning and coordination task, by vertical loading
● An example of this is to have stock clerks in supermarkets handle reordering of goods, thus
increasing their responsibilities.
Behavioral Approach to Job
Design
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 and Trust
➢ Motivation
○ Influences quality and productivity
○ Contributes to work environment
❖ Trust
➢ Influences employee productivity and management
relations.
Teams
❖ Benefits of Teams
➢ Higher quality
➢ Higher productivity
➢ Greater work satisfaction
★ Self directed teams
➢ Groups empowered to make certain changes in their work
process
Ergonomics
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.

In the work environment, ergonomics also helps to increase

productivity by reducing worker discomfort and fatigue.
Working Conditions
Working conditions are an important aspect of job design. Physical factors
such as temperature, humidity, ventilation, illumination, and noise can have
a significant impact on worker performance in terms of productivity, quality
of output, and accidents. In many instances, government regulations apply.

❖ Temperature and Humidity.

❖ Ventilation
❖ Illumination.
❖ Noise and Vibrations.
❖ Work Time and Work Breaks.
❖ Occupational Health Care.
❖ Safety.
❖ Ethical Issues.
Working Conditions

Compensation

given as an reward to an employee who did a great job on his/her

work.

❖ Time-based systems
➢ also known as hourly and measured daywork systems, compensate employees for
the time the employee has worked during a pay period. Salaried workers also
represent a form of time-based compensation.
★ Output-based (incentive) systems
○ compensate employees according to the amount of output they produce during a
pay period, thereby tying pay directly to performance.
Compensation
❖ Individual Incentive Plans.
➢ a worker’s pay is a direct linear function of his or her output.
➢ typically incorporate a base rate that serves as a floor
➢ a worker who produces less than the standard will be paid at the
base rate.
❖ Group Incentive Plans.
➢ 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.
➢ One form of group incentive is the team approach, which many
companies are now using for problem solving and continuous
improvement. The emphasis is on team, not individual,
performance.
 Compensation
➢ Knowledge-Based system
○ It is a portion of a worker’s pay that is based on the knowledge and skill that the
worker possesses. Knowledge-based pay has 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
○ addition, executive pay in many companies is being more closely tied to the
success of the company or division that executive is responsible for.
➔ Recent Trends
◆ Many organizations are moving toward compensation systems that emphasize
flexibility
◆ performance objectives, with variable pay based on performance.
◆ profit-sharing plans or bonuses based on achieving profit or cost goals.
Method Analysis
● Analyzing how the job done
● Begins with overall analysis
● Moves to specific details

The need for Method analysis Can come from different sources

1. Change in tools and equipment

2. Changes in in product design or new products
3. Changes in materials or procedure
4. Other factor (accidents/ quality problems)
Method Analysis Procedure
1. Identify the operation to be studied,
2. Get employee input
3. Study and document current job
4. Analyze the job
5. Propose new methods
6. Install new methods
7. Follow up to ensure improvements has been acheived
Analyzing the Job

Flow-Chart Process

Chart use to examine overall sequence

of an operation by focusing on movements

of the operator or flow of materials.

Flow-Chart Process
Experienced analysts usually develop a checklist of questions they ask
themselves to generate ideas for improvements. The following are some
representative questions:

1. Why is there a 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 equipment be helpful?

7. Does the worker have any ideas for improvements?

 Analyzing the Job
Worker machine Chart

Chart used to determine portions of a work cycle

during which an operations and equipment

are busy or idle.

❖ 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.

❖ The Follow-Up.
➢ the analyst should review the operation after a reasonable period and consult again with the operator.