CHAPTER SEVEN

DESIGN OF WORK SYSTEMS

Chapter 7

Design of Work
Systems
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 CHAPTER SEVEN
DESIGN OF WORK SYSTEMS
Job Design
• Specialization
• Behavioral Approaches to Job
Design
• Teams
• Methods Analysis
• Motions Study
• Working conditions

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 CHAPTER SEVEN
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

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 CHAPTER SEVEN
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

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 CHAPTER SEVEN
DESIGN OF WORK SYSTEMS
Specialization in Business: Advantages

For Management: For Labor:

1. Simplifies training 1. Low education and
2. High productivity skill requirements
3. Low wage costs 2. Minimum
responsibilities
3. Little mental effort
needed

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 CHAPTER SEVEN
DESIGN OF WORK SYSTEMS
Disadvantages
For Management: For Labor:
1. Difficult to motivate 1. Monotonous work
quality 2. Limited opportunities
2. Worker dissatisfaction, for advancement
possibly resulting in 3. Little control over work
absenteeism, high
4. Little opportunity for
turnover, disruptive
self-fulfillment
tactics, poor attention
to quality

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 CHAPTER SEVEN
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)

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 CHAPTER SEVEN
Figure 7-2 DESIGN OF WORK SYSTEMS

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ANALYST PAGE

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FLOW PROCESS CHART

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D. Kolb 1 of 2

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Job Requisition of petty cash

Stor
Del
Ins
Mo
Op
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

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 CHAPTER SEVEN
DESIGN OF WORK SYSTEMS
Motion Study
Motion study is the systematic
study of the human motions used
to perform an operation.

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 CHAPTER SEVEN
DESIGN OF WORK SYSTEMS
Motion Study Techniques
• Motion study principles - guidelines for
designing motion-efficient work procedures
• Analysis of therblings - 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

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 CHAPTER SEVEN
DESIGN OF WORK SYSTEMS
Working Conditions
T e m p e ra tu re & V e n t ila t io n
H u m id it y

I llu m in a t io n C o lo r

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 CHAPTER SEVEN
DESIGN OF WORK SYSTEMS
Working Conditions (cont’d)
Noise & Vibration Work Breaks

Safety Causes of Accidents

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 CHAPTER SEVEN
DESIGN OF WORK SYSTEMS
Work Measurement
• Stopwatch Time Study
• Standard Elemental Times
• Predetermined Time Standards
• Work Sampling

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 CHAPTER SEVEN
Figure 7-7 DESIGN OF WORK SYSTEMS
Confidence Interval

Confidence
level

Maximum Maximum
probable probable
error error

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 CHAPTER SEVEN
DESIGN OF WORK SYSTEMS
Compensation
• Individual Incentive Plans
• Group Incentive Plans
• Knowledge-Based Pay System
• Management Compensation

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 CHAPTER SEVEN
DESIGN OF WORK SYSTEMS
Form of Incentive Plan
• Accurate
• Easy to apply
• Consistent
• Easy to understand
• Fair

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 CHAPTER SEVEN
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

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