DESIGN OF WORK
SYSTEMS
Introduction
Work design involves
Job design
Work measurement and the establishment of time standards
Worker motivation and compensation
Decisions in other design areas have an impact in work systems
Product or service design decisions in large measure determine the kinds of
activities workers will be involved with
Process layouts tend to necessitate broader job content than product layouts
Implication
Adopt a SYSTEMS APPROACH to design
Decisions in one area must be related to the overall system
Introduction
It is important for management to make design of
work systems a key element of its operations
strategy. Despite the major advances in computers
and operations technology, people are still the heart
of a business; they can make or break it, regardless
of the technology used. Technology is important, of
course, but technology alone is not enough.
Introduction
Workers can be a valuable source of insight and
creativity because they actually perform the jobs
and are closest to the problems that arise. All too
often, managers overlook contributions and
potential contributions of employees, sometimes
from ignorance and sometimes from a false sense
of pride.
Job Design
The act of specifying the contents and methods
of jobs
Job Design
Job designers focus on
What will be done in a job
Who will do the job
How the job will be done
Where the job will be done
Objectives of Job Design
Productivity
Safety
Quality of Work Life
Job Design
Ergonomics
Incorporation of human factors in the design of the workplace
Design of equipment
Design of work methods
Overall design of the work environment
Ergonomics seeks to prevent common workplace injuries
such as back injuries and repetitive-motion injuries by
taking into account the fact that people vary in their
physical dimensions and capabilities
Job Design
Workers and managers alike should be consulted in
order to take advantage of their knowledge and to
keep them informed. Employees can be a source of
valuable ideas because they are intimately involved
with the work. Managerial support for job design
depends on the commitment and involvement of
managers. It is usually easier to sell a design to
workers if they have been included in the process.
Current Practice in Job Design
Two Schools of Thought
Efficiency School
Frederick
Winslow Taylor
Emphasizes a systematic, logical approach to job design
Behavioral School
Emphasizes satisfaction of wants and needs
Specialization
Work that concentrates on some aspect of a
product or service
Specialization
College professors often specialize in teaching
certain courses, some auto mechanics specialize in
transmission repair, and some bakers specialize in
wedding cakes.
Rationale
Ability to concentrate one’s efforts and thereby
become proficient at that type of work
Specialization
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
For management
For management Difficult to motivate quality
Simplifies training Worker dissatisfaction, possibly
High productivity resulting in absenteeism, high
turnover, disruptive tactics, poor
Low wage costs attention to quality
For labor
Monotonous work
For labor Limited opportunities for
Low education and skill advancement
requirements Little control over work
Minimum responsibilities Little opportunity for self-
fulfillment
Little mental effort needed
Behavioral Approaches to Job Design
Job Enlargement
Giving a worker a larger portion of the total task, by
horizontal loading
Horizontal loading – the additional work is on the same
level of skill and responsibility as the original job
Goal
To make the job more interesting and providing the
worker with a more recognizable contribution to the
overall output
Behavioral Approaches to Job Design
Job Rotation
Workers periodically exchange jobs
Avoiding one or a few employees stuck in monotonous
jobs
Goal
Job rotation allows workers to broaden their learning
experience and enables them to fill in for others in the
event of sickness or absenteeism
Behavioral Approaches to Job Design
Job Enrichment
Increasing responsibility for planning and coordination
tasks, by vertical loading
Example of this is to have stock clerks in supermarkets
handle reordering of goods
Goal
Motivating potential of worker satisfaction
Motivation
Key factor in many aspects of work life
Motivation
Not only can it influence quality and productivity, it also
contributes to the work environment
People work for a variety of reasons in addition to compensation
Socialization
Self-actualization
Status
Physiological aspects of work
Sense of purpose and accomplishment
Another factor that influences motivation, productivity, and
employee-management relations is trust.
Teams
Self-directed teams
Self-managed teams
Designed to achieve a higher level of teamwork and
employee involvement
Underlying Concepts
Workers, who are close to the process and have the best
knowledge of it, are better suited than management to
make the most effective changes to improve the process
Teams
Among the leading problems
of teams are conflicts between
team members, which can
have a detrimental impact on
the effectiveness of a team
List of Requirements for Successful Team Building
by Robert Bacal
Clearly stated and commonly held vision and goals
Talent and skills required to meet goals
Clear understanding of team members’ roles and
functions
Efficient and shared understanding of procedures
and norms
Effective and skilled interpersonal relations
A system of reinforcement and celebration
Clear understanding of the team’s relationship to
the greater organization
Methods Analysis
Analyzing how a job is done
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 introduction of new
products
Changes in materials or procedures
Government regulations or contractual agreements
Other factors (e.g., accidents, quality problems)
Methods Analysis
Methods Analysis is done for both existing jobs
and new jobs
Basic Procedures in Methods Analysis
Selecting an Operation to study
Documenting the Current Method
Analyzing the Job and Proposing New Methods
Installing the Improved Method
The Follow-Up
Selecting an Operation to Study
Some general guidelines for selecting a job to study
are to consider jobs that
Have a high labor content
Are done frequently
Are unsafe, tiring, unpleasant, and/or noisy
Are designated as problems
Documenting the Current Method
Use charts, graphs, and verbal descriptions of the
way the job is now being performed.
Analyzing the Job and Proposing New Methods
Flow Process Chart
Chart used to examine the overall sequence of an
operation by focusing on movements of the operator or
flow of materials
Helpful in identifying nonproductive parts of the process
Worker-Machine Chart
Chart used to determine portions of a work cycle during
which an operator and equipment are busy or idle
One use of this type of chart is to determine how many
machines or how much equipment the operator can
manage
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
In order to ensure that changes have been made and
that the proposed method is functioning as
expected, the analyst should review the operation
after a reasonable period and consult again with the
operator
