27 work and job design

8/8/2019 27 Work and Job Design

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The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2004

1

What is Job Design?

Defined Job design is the function of specifying the

work activities of an individual or group in an

organizational setting

The objective of job design is to develop jobs

that meet the requirements of the organization

and its technology and that satisfy the

jobholders personal and individual

requirements


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Job Design Decisions

HowWhyWhenWhereWhatWho

Mental and

physical

characteristicsof the

work force

Tasks to be

performed

Geographic

locale of the

organization;location of

work areas

Time of day;

time of

occurrence inthe work flow

Organizational

rationale for

the job; object-

ives and mot-ivation of the

worker

Method of

performance

andmotivation

Ultimate

Job

Structure


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Emerging Trends in the

Workplace

Increased Diversity in Workforce

Demographics

Increase in Flexible Work Hours

Part Time Work and Job Sharing

Increased Use of Temporary Labor


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Workplace contd..The impact of technology

Recruitment thru Monster.com, HotJobs.com, JobFind.com etc

Telecommuting thru telephonic interviews Increase in Training and Development thru releasing

separate funds for training and development.

In Addition , use of technology in workplace has

divided the workforce in two categories Whose jobs require ever-increasing skills and

knowledge to operate the technology oriented

equipments

Whose jobs are becoming more menial as a result of


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Workplace contd..Increasing Emphasis on Teamwork

Self Managed or Self Directed Work Teams

Members of Self managed team are likely to have control over-a) work assignments for team members,

b) the pace at which work gets done

c) assessing the quality of team and individual output

d) who joins the team

Problems

Each member is a manager and no manager at front desk

Benefits

Greater responsibility in employees tend to increase worker motivation andjob satisfaction.

Employees are empowered and can see their efforts contribute to orgsuccess.

Motivation also results in positive effects on productivity.


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Workplace contd.. Cross Functional Work Teams

Cross functional team members together tackle large,complex projects, therefore, require the input and expertise

from several areas within an organization.

The team include designers, engineers, maintenance and

customer service personnel, finance specialists andproduction employees.


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Employee turnover

The organizations with good wok environment has often low

employee turnover rate(Employee entering or leaving

organization)

Employee Turnover Cost -- Loss of Knowledge

Loss of Output

Hiring Costs

Termination Costs

For maintaining low employee turnover ,

Org should have effective hiring process.


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Managerial Issues The Managerial RoleTraditional Managerial Role were based on assumptions:

A good manager always has more technical expertise than anysubordinate

A good manager can solve all the problems A good manager has the primary responsibility for how the

dep't works

A good Manager knows at all the times exactly what is goingon in the department.

In contrast todays effective manager delegates, negotiates,communicates, develops, and is often a coach and teacher.

i.e. believes in TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT,EFFECTIVELY WORK IN DOWNSIZING TRENDS


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Managerial Issues contd..Expanded Managerial Skill Set

Expectations:

Being able to communicate verbally Managing time and Stress

Managing individual decision

Recognizing, defining and solving problems

Motivating and influencing others

Delegating Setting goals

Being self aware

Being able to build teams

Managing conflicts


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Behavioral Considerations in Job Design

Ultimate

Job

Structure

Degree of

Specialization

Job Enrichment

(vs. Enlargement)

Balancing the specialization in a job and itscontent through enrichment can give us.


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Advantages of SpecializationTo Management

Rapid training ofworkforce

Ease in recruiting newworkers

High Output due to simpleand repetitive work

Low wages due to ease ofsubstitutability of labor

Close control overworkflow and workloads

To Labor

Little or no education

required to obtainwork

Ease in learning job


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Disadvantages of Specialization

To Management

Difficulty in controlling qualitysince no one person hasresponsibility of entire product

Hidden Cost of workerdissatisfaction arising from Turnover, Absenteeism,Grievances, Intentional Disruptionof Production process

Increased labor-management

friction Increased potential for unionization

To labor

Boredom stemming from repetitivenature of work

Little gratification from work itselfbecause of small contribution toeach item

Little of no control over workplace

Little opportunity to progress to abetter job

Little opportunity to show initiativethrough developing better methodsor tools

Little opportunity forcommunication with co-workerbecause of layout design


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Physical Considerations in Job Design

Work physiology sets work-rest cyclesaccording to the energy expended in various

parts of the job. The harder the work, the

more the need for rest periods.

Ergonomics is a term used to describe the

study of the physical arrangement of the work

space together with tools used to perform a

task. Fit the work to the body rather thanforcing the body to conform to the work.


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Work Methods

Workers Interacting

with OtherWorkers

A Production

Process

Worker at a Fixed

Workplace

Worker Interacting

with Equipment

Ultimate

Job

Design

Ultimate

Job

Design

The choice of which

work method to useDepends on whether the

focus is on --


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Wok Method Design Aids

ACTIVITY Objective Study Techniques

Production Process Eliminate or combine

steps, shorten

transport distance,

identify delays

Flow Diagram,

Service blueprint,

process Chart

Worker at Fixed WorkPlace

Simplified method,minimized motions

Op. Charts. Applyprinciples of motion

economy.

Workers interaction

with equipment

Minimize idle time,

find combination of

machines to balancecost of worker

Activity Chart,

Worker machine

chart

Workers interaction

with other workers

Maximize

productivity,

minimize

interference.

Activity chart, Gang

Process Chart


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Work Measurement

Defined

Work measurement is a process of

analyzing jobs for the purpose of setting

time standards

Why use it?

Schedule work and allocate capacity

Motivate and measure work performance

Evaluate performance Provide benchmarks


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Time Study Normal Time Formulas

Normal time(NT)=Observed performance time per unit

x (Performance rating)*

*TheP

erformance Rating is usually expressed indecimal form in these formulas. So a person working

10% faster than normal would have a Performance

Rating of 1.10 or 110% of normal time. Working

10% slower, 0.90 or 90% of normal.

NT= Time worked _ x (Performance rating)*Number of units produced


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Time Study Standard Time Formulas

Standard time = Normal time

+ (Allowances x Normal times)

Standard time = NT(1 + Allowances)

Standard time = NT .

1 - Allowances


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Time Study Example Problem

You want to determine the standard time for a job.

The employee selected for the time study has

produced 20 units of product in an 8 hour day.

Your observations made the employee nervous and

you estimate that the employee worked about 10

percent faster than what is a normal pace for the

job. Allowances for the job represent 25 percent of

the normal time.

Question: What are the normal and standard times

for this job?


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Time Study Example Solution

Normal time = Time worked x (Performance rating)

Number of units produced

= (480 minutes/20) x (1.10)

= 26.4 minutes

Standard time = NT .

1 Allowances

= (26.4)/(1-0.25)

= 35.2 minutes


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Work Sampling

Use inference to make statements about workactivity based on a sample of the activity

Ratio Delay Activity time percentage for workers or

equipment

Performance Measurement Relates work time to output (performance index)

Time Standards Standard task times


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Advantage of Work Sampling over Time

Study

Several work sampling studies may beconducted simultaneously by one observer

The observer need not be a trained analystunless the purpose of the study is to determinea time standard

No timing devices are required

Work of a long cycle time may be studied withfewer observer hours


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Advantage of Work Sampling over

Time Study (Continued)

The duration of the study is longer, whichminimizes effects of short-period variations

The study may be temporarily delayed at anytime with little effect

Because work sampling needs onlyinstantaneous observations (made over a longerperiod), the operator has less chance toinfluence the findings by changing workmethod


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Basic Compensation Systems

Hourly Pay

Straight Salary

Piece Rate

Commissions


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Financial Incentive Plans

Individual and Small-Group Plans

Output measures

Quality measures

Pay for knowledge

Organization-wide Plans

Profit-sharing

Gain-sharing

Bonus based on controllable costs or units of output

Involve participative management


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Scanlon Plan

Basic Element

sRatio = Total labor cost

ales value o production

The ratio

Standard for judging business performance

The bonus

Depends on reduction in costs below the preset

ratio

The production committee

The screening committee


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