Basics of Work Study / Job

Design / Work Measurement

• Objectives of Job Design
• Job design refers to the process through which tasks
are structured to improve the efficiency and
productivity of the workers. Managers design jobs
to minimize worker inputs (time and physical effort)
and maximize their output. Job design should be
technically, behaviorally and economically feasible
for workers as well as the organization.
• The three types of feasibility are
Technical feasibility
The set of duties or tasks assigned to a worker
should be designed to keep the workload at a
convenient level, i.e. the workload for each
worker should be within the reasonable limits of
his skills, and physical and mental ability. Job
design should take into consideration the
machinery and equipment required to perform the
job. The organization should provide the
necessary machinery and equipment that performs
the desired tasks. Further, employees should be
selected and trained to achieve the goals and
objectives set forth by the organization.
Economic feasibility
The primary objective of a business organization is
to make profits. In order to earn profits,
organizations need to control their coasts, and other
expenditure as well. The costs associated with
purchasing materials, maintaining stocks,
compensating employees, and the costs of
providing necessary equipment to perform jobs
should be such that it is economical to carry out
production activities at the required production
levels.
Behavioral feasibility
The nature of duties and responsibilities that
characterize a job influence the perception
jobholders have of themselves and their perception
of others. When an important responsibility is
delegated to a worker, this enhances his self-
esteem and motivates and stimulates him to work
harder. Job design needs to take these behavioral
factors into consideration, as behavioral traits and
attitudes of people have a significant impact on the
effectiveness of an organization.
• CONSIDERATIONS IN JOB DESIGN
• Some of the important components of effective job
design are :
Job Content
It is the central aspect of job design. It defines the
set of activities to be performed on the job. These
include the duties, tasks and job responsibilities
to be carried out by the jobholder, the equipment,
machines and tools to be used, and the required
formal interaction with others.
The extent to which tasks can or should be
defined differs from job to job. For instance, in
traditional and repetitive jobs like those
performed workers on an assembly line, all tasks
that are to be performed can be clearly listed and
elaborately specified.
On the other hand, it is difficult to define the
job of an executive in exact terms as the duties
encompass a much wider range of tasks that
are performed in different ways to meet
unanticipated and dynamic business situations.
 Advantages and Disadvantages of Job Design
Advantages
• Ease in recruitment new workers because fewer
skills are required.
• Lower production time or higher productivity
by the learning curve effect due to repetition.
• Lower wage rates due to lower levels of skills
requirement and ease of substitutability of labor.
• Ease of supervision and training the workers.
Simple work instructions and easy production
control because of consistence in work
assignment.
• Scope for higher degree of mechanization or
automation.
Disadvantages
Lower flexibility; in the absence of a worker, it is
difficult to shift workload to any of the available
workers as they do not possess variety of skills.
Lower work satisfaction, as the work is
monotonous and boring.
Hidden costs of worker dissatisfaction that result
from high employee turnover and absenteeism.
Reduced scope for improving because of workers’
limited perspective.
Higher chances of workers getting local muscular
fatigue as the same muscles are used in performing
the task.
Job Analysis
investigates the job content, the physical
conditions in which the job is done and the
qualifications that are necessary to carry out
job responsibilities. Job analysis aims at
setting out the nature of duties to be
performed, the scope of responsibilities and
all the other information relating to job
content.
Job Description
Describes the tasks, duties and responsibilities
of a job.
It includes information:
1.Regarding the job content,
2.The job requirements in terms of the necessary
and desirable qualification,
3.Work experience, t
4.He mental and physical effort involved,
5.The scope of responsibilities,
6.Nature of reporting relationships and so on.
• Job Rotation
• A worker doing the same task for a considerable
period of time, loses motivation and interest in the
job due to monotony and boredom.
• Further, with time, the job does not provide any new
challenges to the worker.
• To avoid such situation, job rotation is used; where in
a worker is transferred form one job to another for an
appropriate period of time.
• This avoids the monotony and boredom of a single
job and provides the worker with new challenges.
• Another advantage is that the employee acquires
multiple skills.
Job Enlargement
Job enlargement is the process of expanding the scope
of the task or job assigned to a worker, by adding new
responsibilities and tasks, which are similar to the
existing task.
It is also called horizontal loading, as new
responsibilities added are of a similar skill level.
When an employee performs specialized tasks
routinely with little or no variation over a considerable
length of time, he often loses interest in the job.
To avoid this, management try to enlarge the scope of
certain jobs by incorporating more variety into the job
and increasing the number of tasks involved in the
completion of the job.
• Job Enrichment
• In contrast to job enlargement where the scope
of the job is expanded horizontally, job
enrichment involves the vertical expansion of a
job.
• Instead of bringing in more similar tasks that
require similar skill levels, the employee is
given a say in the management decision-
making process or is involved in planning,
coordinating, designing, etc.
Empowerment
Empowerment is an extension of the job
enrichment process.
Here, the employee is given full trust of the
management and considerable autonomy and
responsibility in this job.
An empowered employee feels a part owner of
the organization and performs his best for the
organization.
• WORK METHODS
• Work methods are studied through the
construction of charts like
• operations charts,
• worker-machine charts,
• simultaneous motion charts
• and activity charts.
• WORK MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES
• The main purpose of work measurement is to find
the standard time for a job.
• The different techniques used in work
measurement are
• time study,
• historical analysis,
• standard data,
• work sampling
• and predetermined motion time data systems.
Time Study
Time study is used to identify time
standards for a particular job
performed by a competent worker
under standard conditions.
The time is recorded using a time
watch
or by studying the video clip of the
job execution.
Prerequisites for time studies are
The job selected should be standardized, i.e. it
should employ standard tools and materials.
The worker whose performance is going to be
observed for setting time standards, should be
competent in using proper work methods, and
should be an average performer ( i.e. he
should be representative of all the workers
doing the job).
The steps involved in time study are described
below:
Job identification and division
The job that is to be timed as selected. It should be
standard in terms of equipment and materials.
This job is then divided into a convenient number
of element tasks.
Elemental tasks thus identified should have
identifiable break points (starting and ending
points), so that the time taken for the completion
of such tasks can be measured accurately.
Pace rating the worker
It is wrong to assume that the
average of the observations made
always represents the time required
to perform each elemental task.
When workers are aware that their
performance is being recorded, they
often behave differently from usual.
Some may become nervous, or
resentful, resulting in a slowing
down of their pace of work.
Computing the normal time
• The normal time that is required to perform
a job by an average worker is then
computed based on the average cycle time
and the worker rating.
Normal time = Average Cycle Time x Worker
Rating
Applications for work sampling are:
Ratio Delay: This refers to find the activity
time percentage for an employee or
equipment.
Ratio delay shows the percentage of time an
employee or equipments was occupied or
idle.
Performance Measurement: Performance
standards can be identified to evaluate employee
performance. These performance measurements
help management set goals and objectives for
employees.
Time standards: This refers to identification of
the standard time for the completion of a task.
Management uses these time standards in
generating time schedules and assigning tasks.
Historical Analysis
Setting work standards by using scientific
methods like work sampling and time
study is not always economical for an
organization.
But setting work standards helps improve
the performance and management, and
hence is vital for the success of an
organization.