Chapter 7 Design of Work Systems

Question 1

Job Design

Answer 1

Improves efficiency through analysis of the job’s work elements
Improves productivity through consideration of
Increases the quality of the final product or service
Increases worker satisfaction

Question 2

Job Specialization

Answer 2

High degree of specialization means a: Narrow range of tasks, high degree of repetition, and supposedly greater efficiency
Examples: Seats Inc. watching a press cutting metal

Question 3

Job Design Advantages for Management

Answer 3

Simplifies training
High productivity
Low wage costs

Question 4

Job Design Advantages for Labor

Answer 4

Low education and skill requirements
Minimum responsibilities
Little mental effort needed

Question 5

JD Disadvantages for Management

Answer 5

Difficult motivate quality

Worker dissatisfaction, possibly resulting in absenteeism, turnover, etc.

Question 6

JD Disadvantages for Labor

Answer 6

Monotonous boring work
Limited opportunities for advancement
Little control over work
Little opportunity for self-fulfillment

Question 7

JD Remedies for Boredom

Answer 7

Job enlargement – increases the number of tasks assigned to each employee
Job Rotation-allows workers to exchange jobs periodically
Job Enrichment-involves an increase in the level of responsibility for planning and coordination of tasks

Question 8

JD Limitations to the Remedies

Answer 8

Many individuals prefer simple jobs
Increased training costs
Higher wage rates are required
Increased accident rates may occur
Savings must be greater than costs

Question 9

JD Two Basic Causes of Accidents

Answer 9

Worker carelessness – not using protective equipment or improper use of tools

Accident hazards

Safety

Question 10

JD Working Conditions

Answer 10

Temperature-depends upon humidity and air movement
Ventilation
Lighting
Noise

Question 11

JD Ergonomics

Answer 11

Is the “study of work”
Studying people’s capabilities and limitations and designing jobs that can be done without injuring worker
Examples:
Gas fireplaces lifts up and down for different employee heights

Question 12

JD Work Standards

Answer 12

Establishing prices and costs
Motivating workers
Comparing alternative process designs
Scheduling
Capacity planning
Performance appraisal

Question 13

What are Work Standards?

Answer 13

Time required for a trained worker, working at a normal rate of speed to perform a specialized task

Question 14

What is Process Improvement?

Answer 14

Process improvement is the systematic study of the activities and flows of each process to improve it.

Question 15

What is Process Reengineering?

Answer 15

Fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processing dramatically improving performance (The Goal) speed, quality, cost quality, service

Question 16

Process Reengineering

Answer 16

Focus on critical processes
Provide strong leadership
Create a cross functional team
Design processes around information flows
Start from a clean slate – customer perspective

Question 17

Questioning the Process

Answer 17

“It is always amazing how many of the things we do will never be missed. And nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all.” Peter Drucker

Question 18

What is Redesigning the Process?

Answer 18

Ideas for process redesign and improvement can be uncovered by asking six questions about each step in the process and about the process as a whole.

Question 19

Redesigning the Process Six Questions

Answer 19

1. What is being done?
2. When is it being done?
3. Who is doing it?
4. Where is it being done?
5. How is it being done?
6. How well does it do on the various metrics of importance?

Question 20

Redesigning the Process Six Questions II

Answer 20

Answers to the previous six questions are challenged by asking still another set of questions.
Why is the process even being done?
Why is it being done where it is being done?
Why is it being done when it is being done?

Question 21

What is a Flowchart?

Answer 21

Flowcharts: A diagram that traces the flow of information, customers, equipment, or materials

Question 22

What is a Process Chart?

Answer 22

Process chart: An organized way of documenting the activities performed by a person or group of people at a work station, with a customer, or on materials.

Question 23

What are the five categories of Process Charts?

Answer 23

1. Operations that change, create or add something.
2. Transportation (materials handling): Moving something.
3. Inspection: Checking or verifying something.
4. Delays: Time spent awaiting further action.
5. Storage: When something is put away until a later time.

Question 24

When is a Proc Chart Payoff the Greatest?

Answer 24

Process has poor or unsafe working conditions
Process results in pollution or large amounts of waste materials
Process is bottleneck
Process consumes a lot of time
Process has considerable physical movement

Question 25

Methods Analysis

Answer 25

Methods Analysis Analyzing how a job gets done and looking for best way to do a job Needed for changes in: tools, equipment, product design, materials, procedures. Also needed for introduction of new products, government regulations, accidents or quality problems

Question 26

Guidelines for Selecting a Job to Study

Answer 26

``` Consider jobs that: Have a high labor content Are done frequently Are unsafe, tiring, unpleasant, and/or noisy Are designated as problems • Quality problems • Processing bottlenecks ```

Question 27

What is a Stopwatch time study?

Answer 27

Used to develop a time standard based on observations of one worker taken over a number of cycles. Used for repetitive tasks.

Question 28

What are the Basic steps in a time study?

Answer 28

1. Define the task to be studied and inform the worker who will be studied 2. Determine the number of cycles to observe 3. Time the job, and rate the worker’s performance 4. Compute the standard time

Question 29

What is the Standard Time?

Answer 29

The amount of time it should take a qualified worker to complete a specified task, working at a sustainable rate, using given methods, tools and equipment, raw material inputs, and workplace arrangement.

Question 30

Other Work Measurements

Answer 30

Elemental Standard Data Approach Procedure-can do before job begins. Based on elements with historical times. Predetermined Time Standards-use of published data on standard elemental times.

Question 31

What is Work Sampling?

Answer 31

Estimates proportions of time that a worker or machine spends on various activities

Question 32

What are the eight steps in Work Sampling?

Answer 32

Eight steps including defining activities, observation form, initial sample size, random observation times, observation, and deciding if additional sampling is required

Question 33

What is a Learning Curve?

Answer 33

The time required to perform a task decreases with increasing repetitions The degree of improvement is a function of the task being done • Short, routine tasks will show modest improvement relatively quickly • Longer, more complex tasks will show improvement over a longer interval

Question 34

Assumptions in Learning Curves

Answer 34

Direct labor required to produce n + 1 unit will always be less than the direct labor required for the nth unit Direct labor requirements will decrease at a declining rate as cumulative production increases The reduction in time will follow an exponential curve

Question 35

Basic Premise in Learning Curves

Answer 35

Production time per unit is reduced by a fixed % each time production is doubled.

Question 36

Applications of Learning Curves

Answer 36

``` Scheduling – the first time takes longer Negotiated purchasing Pricing new products Budgeting, purchasing and inventory planning Capacity planning ```

Question 37

LC Cautions and Criticisms

Answer 37

1. Learning rates may differ from organization to organization and by type of work 2. Projections based on learning curves should be regarded as approximations of actual times 3. Because time estimates are based on the first unit, care should be taken to ensure that the time is valid 4. It is possible that at some point the curve might level off or even tip upward 5. Users of learning curves fail to include carryover effects from previous experiences