Work Oriented Methods

The primary function of work-oriented job analysis methods is to understand what the worker
does in the job; how it’s done, where it’s done, and when it’s done; and to document and
communicate that understanding.

Time and Motion Studies

Time study is directed mainly toward discovering the time taken to complete a given task or the time
allocated to different tasks that constitute a job.

When time allocation across tasks is the primary focus, the main purpose may be either to describe the
amount of time on various tasks for staffing purposes (for example, job applicants can be told that for
the majority of their time on a job, the jobholder will be discussing manuscripts with authors over the
phone)

If the preliminary step shows particular tasks to be the most time consuming, those tasks will be good
candidates for redesign to improve efficiency.

In motion study, the main effort goes into discovering the sequence of steps (often body motions) used
in completing a task.

In bricklaying, for example, efficiency may be improved by minimizing the number of strokes of the
trowel per brick and minimizing the distance that the brick must travel to be put into place. Although
the savings in time for a single brick may be small, the savings in time to build a brick wall will be large.

Work sampling
is a method of gathering observations about one or more workers over time. A chart of all the activities
(usually the tasks in the job plus reasons for not being on task) is drawn up before the study.

Over a period of time, frequencies of all the activities will be gathered; a typical study may include 2,000
observations over a 2-week period

At the end of the study, relative frequencies will be converted to percentages. Such percentages
estimate the relative amounts of time that the worker spends on each category

Standard Setting
Work sampling can be used in setting standard times (expected performance task times for proficient
workers).

However, work sampling does not directly estimate the amount of time necessary for a qualified worker
to accomplish a task successfully.

Time standards are often used in incentive systems. If workers beat the standards (i.e., work more
quickly than expected), then they are paid extra for the surplus work. Time standards are also useful for
comparing different methods of accomplishing a task. Other things being equal, the quickest way to
complete the task is the best. Other engineering (plant operating) uses of time standards include
estimating costs of labor and products along with balancing production lines and work crews
Stopwatch time study
Analyst uses a stopwatch to record the time taken by a worker for performing each task.
Several readings are taken for the same task and central tendency is calculated, this is the
representative time. However the representative time is adjusted for down times, short
breakes and fatigue. The resulting time is called the standard time that the company expects
from a competent worker.

Predetermined time standard

Basic elements standard times are already known. The analyst lists the elemental motions
performed in a task and then adds up their individual standard times to get a predetermined
standard time for the task

Industry standard
uses standard time data from prior analyses of similar tasks, typically within an industry. Known
standard times of tasks are added up to compute the standard time of a new job, keeping in view that
the job has the similar tasks that have been previously analysed.

Motion analysis
Micromotion analysis
Breaking a task down to elemental motions.