Design of Work Systems

Job design involves specifying the work activities, methods & environment of an individual or group in an organizational setting.

Objective is to develop job structures that meet the requirements of the organization & its technology & that satisfy the job-holder’s personal & individual requirements.

Job design decisions; What will be done Who will do the job How the job will be done Where the job will be done When the job will be done Why; organizational rationale for the job How – method of performance & motivation Ergonomics

Design & Layout of individual workplaces for maximum efficiency & effectiveness

Key design Qns; Who will use the workplace – different

physical characteristics of individuals How will the work be performed eg

equipment, procedures etc What technology is needed? What must the employee be able to see or

hear? What environmental & safety issues need to

be addressed

Ergonomics Ergonomics is defined as the science related to man and his work, embodying the anatomic, physiologic, and mechanical principles affecting the efficient use of human energy. Eg: Safe lifting techniques, proper posture,

appropriate seating position, and adaptive equipment are examples of ergonomics in the workplace.

Quality control as part of the worker’s job – quality at source

Cross-training workers to perform multiskilled jobs, result of downsizing

Employee involvement & team approaches to designing & organizing work ( center of TQM & Kaizen) – Sociotechnical systems

“Informating” ordinary workers through e-mal & the internet, thereby expanding the nature of their work & their ability to do it

Extensive use of temporary workers Automation of heavy manual work Organizational commitment to providing

meaningful & rewarding jobs for all employees

Behavioral Approaches to Job Design eg specialization & job enlargement/enrichment

Physical considerations in job design – work physiology & ergonomics

Methods Analysis Motions Study Working conditions

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

For Management:

1. Simplifies training

2. High productivity

3. Low wage costs

For Labor:

1. Low education andskill requirements

2. Minimumresponsibilities

3. Little mental effortneeded

For Management:

1. Difficult to motivatequality

2. Worker dissatisfaction,possibly resulting inabsenteeism, highturnover, disruptivetactics, poor attentionto quality

For Labor:1. Monotonous work

2. Limited opportunitiesfor advancement

3. Little control over work

4. Little opportunity forself-fulfillment

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

Changes in tools and equipment Changes in product design

or new products Changes in materials or procedures Other factors (e.g. accidents, quality

problems)

The need for methods analysis can come from a number of different sources:

Motion study is the systematic study of the human motions used

to perform an operation.

Motion study principles - guidelines for designing motion-efficient work procedures

Analysis of therbligs - 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

Eliminate unnecessary motions Combine activities Reduce fatigue Improve the arrangement of the

workplace Improve the design of tools and

equipment

T e m p e r a t u r e &H u m i d i t y

V e n t i l a t i o n

I l l u m i n a t i o n C o l o r

Noise & Vibration

Causes of AccidentsSafety

Work Breaks

Purpose is to set time standards for a job

Why the standards; To schedule work & allocate capacity

To provide an objective basis for motivating the workforce & measuring workers’ performance

To bid for new contracts and to evaluate performance of existing ones

To provide benchmarks for improvement

Stopwatch Time Study

Standard Elemental Times

Predetermined Time Standards

Work Sampling

Individual Incentive Plans Group Incentive Plans Knowledge-Based Pay

System Management Compensation

Scanlon Plan Encourage reductions in labor costs by

sharing gains in cost sharing Kaiser Plan – incentive pay

Committees suggest ways of reducing costs

Lincoln Plan Profit sharing, job enlargement, and

participative management Kodak Plan

Wages/bonus related to profits

Accurate

Easy to apply

Consistent

Easy to understand

Fair

Common in information-intensive businesses like banks, academic orgns

Teleworkers work in their homes, hotel rooms, airports etc using ICT

Assemble virtual teams of people located in different geo locations

Best possible team skills & capabilities

Flexible working hours

Firms become more agile & flexible with quicker response time

Reduces transportation costs & pollution

Reduces cost of physical space, parking, conditioning etc

Team Success is based on each member doing work on time

Lack of human socialization

No physical office, no job status

Children at home don’t understand demands of a virtual office

Privacy & security risks

Difficult to control the workload per team member