Topic 7 job design - summary notes PDF

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Topic 7: Job design and work organisation (Chapter 9 in your prescribed textbook)Learning outcomes: Explain the nature and elements of job design and work organisation Explain the role of ergonomics in designing for environmental conditions and designing the human interface Explain what it means to ...

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Topic 7: Job design and work organisation (Chapter 9 in your prescribed textbook) Learning outcomes: •

Explain the nature and elements of job design and work organisation

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Explain the role of ergonomics in designing for environmental conditions and designing the human interface

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Explain what it means to design task allocation through the division of labour

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Explain how the design of job methods and job time is influenced by the principles of the scientific management approach

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Explain the influence of behavioural approaches on designing for job commitment

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Use the knowledge, insight and skills you have attained regarding o

The nature and objectives of job design and work organisation

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The role of ergonomics in designing for environmental conditions and the technological-human interface

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Designing task allocation through the division of labour

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Designing job methods and job time through the principles of the ‘scientific management’ approach

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Designing for job commitment through the influence of the ‘behavioural approaches’ to job design and work organisation

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Justify the importance of job design and demonstrate this by identifying both correct and incorrect statements with regard to study material and also practical applications in general, in either multiple choice format or essay-type questions

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Show evidence of your appreciation for the introduction to production and operations management by endorsing the theoretical concepts and demonstrating the practical application of the relevant production/operations skills

Although many technologies are being used in operations, people are also integrated into the various processes. This chapter deals with the role that people play in operations and

looks at how to enhance this role. How can these human resources be used to build a strategic advantage in operations? (p204/5 in prescribed textbook)

Machines break down and need to be repaired or maintained. In the same way, people may also become stressed and overworked. What causes stress in the workplace and how can the stress be managed in an organisation? It therefore becomes important to look at how people work, how work is structured, and how the organisation has been designed to function, as well as how these aspects can be adjusted to keep track with changing external environments while ensuring that the organisation remains productive.

You should be able to explain the following: What is the purpose of job design and why is it particularly important in production/operations management? What is job design and which aspects need to be considered as part of job design? Another way of asking the question may be: Discuss the elements of job design (p208/9 of the prescribed textbook). •

Ergonomic environmental design – e.g. reduce granite dust – use water lubricated cutting machines, provide cutters with nose masks to avoid breathing in dust and earplugs to cut out noise, lots of cold water to cope with heat, provide shade where the stones are dressed and shelter, fresh fruit

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Ergonomic workplace design – e.g. better designed cutting machines to cut blocks from the rock face; dressing of stones needs chisels and hammers – stones at good height and on base that can swivel to have access to all the sides.

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Task allocation – division of labour – e.g. Employ deaf people to operate cutting machines that make a lot of noise; Stone masons to have assistants who do menial tasks, appoint chisel sharpener.

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Designing job methods – scientific management - Approved method of job completion – do time and motion studies; better staff selection, aptitude testing and training to choose right person for the job; standardisation of some tasks; e.g. complete dressing of blocks at the quarry or do final dressing at client’s premises?

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Designing job time - Work measurement – calculate the time required to do the different jobs and work out optimum number of people required; e.g. time to move blocks from quarry to dressing site; average time to dress a cubic metre; work out standards – time allowed for rest and relaxation

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Motivation of staff – to maintain commitment – empowerment, teamwork and multiskilling flexible working hours

(You should be able to explain each of these bullets separately e.g. What does ergonomic environmental design entail? Or How would ergonomic environmental design apply to practical examples of jobs/tasks?) The answer above has been adapted to a scenario of a stone quarry in an area with midday temperatures of 35°C. You may be expected to apply the elements to other scenarios and should be able to customise your answer accordingly. It is important that you then think of elements that are unique to your scenario to be able to apply. For example, a hospital would use face masks instead of earplugs ; police may use bulletproof vests, etc.

Watch the podcast on job design on myUnisa How do we go about designing jobs and organising work? We can use a scientific management approach that needs to be designed with a human interface. You should be able to explain for 6 marks. •

What are the key elements of job design? o Job design involves deciding which tasks to allocate to each person in the organisation, the best method of performing them and how long they should take o Job design is also concerned with how people should interact with their workplace, the technology and the immediate work environment o It is also concerned with trying to ensure a committed and motivated workforce through autonomy, skill development and team working for example

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The role of ergonomics in designing for environmental conditions and designing the human interface o Ergonomics is concerned primarily with physiological aspects of job design (the human body and how it fits to its surroundings) and involves two aspects, namely how a person interfaces with environmental conditions in their immediate working area and secondly how the person interfaces with the physical aspect their workspace. o the ergonomic environmental design of the workplace must focus on a spects provided for in occupational health and safety legislation or standards (OSHAS18 000). These aspects include ▪

working temperatures (comfortable temperature range, the effectiveness of people, likelihood of accidents when temperatures are above or below the comfortable range),

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illumination levels (intensity of lighting),

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noise levels (damaging effect of excessive noise).

o Ergonomic workplace design investigates how people interface with the physical aspects of their jobs to avoid repetitive strain injuries (RSI), impaired vision etc. It is therefore important to understand how the workplace affects performance, fatigue, physical strain and injury. o The anthropometric aspects of job design are those related to people's size, shape and physical abilities. o Neurological aspects focus on how people's sensory capabilities (sight, touch, sound, smell) are engaged in their jobs.

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Designing task allocation – the division of labour o the division of labour refers to dividing the total task into a number of smaller manageable parts. Each of these smaller tasks is the responsibility of a single person or team. o

The real advantages are because it promotes faster learning, facilitates automation and reduces the amount of nonproductive work.

o The potential drawbacks to highly specialised or highly divided jobs are ▪

(a) greater monotony because repeating the same task over and over can become boring

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(b) physical injury because over-use of some parts of the body can result in pain, a reduction in physical capability and increasing RSIs

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(c) low flexibility because doing only one thing over and over again leads to rigidity that makes change difficult

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(d) poor robustness because (highly divided jobs imply many different stages that could all be affected by the failure of one stage).

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Designing job methods and job design – scientific management o The basic principles of scientific management are ▪

All aspects of work should be investigated on a scientific basis to establish the laws rules and formulae governing the best methods of working

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This is necessary to establish what constitutes a fair day’s work

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Workers should be selected, trained and developed methodically to perform their tasks

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Managers should act as planners of work (analysing jobs and standardising the best methods), while workers should be responsible for carrying out the job to the standards laid down

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Cooperation should be achieved between management and workers based on the ‘maximum prosperity’ for both

o Scientific management may be criticised because it is not particularly scientific and because the method concentrates on relatively limited and sometimes trivial objectives. It is also believed that jobs designed under strict scientific management principles lead to low motivation among staff, frustration at the lack of control over their work, and alienation from the job o Work study is a generic term for ▪

(a) method study, which is the analytical study of methods of doing jobs with the aim of finding the best or an improved job method.

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(b) work measurement, which is concerned with measuring the time that should be taken for performing jobs

o Method study concentrates on determining the methods and activities that should be included in jobs. It is a systematic approach to finding the best method and it follows six steps: ▪

(a) selecting the work to be studied,

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(b) recording the present method,

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(c) examining the facts (questioning technique is used to detect weaknesses in the rationale for ex is ting methods

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(d) developing a new method,

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(e) installing the new method

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(f) maintaining the method by periodic check.

o Work measurement is the process of establishing the time for a qualified worker, at a defined level of performance, to carry out a specified job. A qualified worker is one who is accepted as having the necessary physical attributes, intelligence, skill, education and knowledge to perform the task to satisfactory standards of safety, quality and quantity. Time study involves three steps that are taken to derive the basic times for the elements of a job, namely ▪

(a) observing, measuring and rating,

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(b) adjusting observed times – basic time = observed rating/standard rating

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(c) averaging the basic times

o Standard performance is the rate of output which qualified workers will achieve without overexertion as an average over the working day provided they are motivated to apply themselves to the work (makes allowances for recovery and relaxation) o Basic time is when a qualified worker is working on a specified job at standard performance. The best-known technique to measure this is time study o Other work measurement techniques are ▪

(a) synthesis from elemental data, - technique for building up time from previously timed elements

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(b) pre-determined motion-time systems (PMTS), - technique where standard elemental times obtained from published tables are used to construct a time estimate for the whole job

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c) analytical estimating, - technique of estimating whereby the time required to carry out the elements of the job at a defined level of performance is estimated from knowledge and experience of the elements concerned

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(d) activity sampling – a large number of instantaneous observations are made over a period of time of a group of machines, processes or workers

What are the principles of scientific management? Discuss fully.

To obtain work commitment from staff, it is important to look at what the organisation can do to enhance motivation among staff. These strategies are aimed at influencing the staff members’ behaviours. •

The behavioural aspects of job design o Where jobs were previously designed purely on division of labour, scientific management or even purely ergonomic principles, they alienated the people performing the jobs. Job design should consider individuals' need for self-esteem and personal development. o The major shift in taking individuals' desires into account when designing jobs met two important objectives. ▪

(i) It provided jobs that have an intrinsically higher quality of working life (QWL), which is an ethically desirable end in itself,

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(ii) it brought about higher levels of motivation, which were instrumental in achieving better performance in terms of quality and quantity of output.

o Techniques for job design ▪

Combining tasks which allows for skill variety

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Forming natural work units which drives task identity and task significance

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Establishing client relationships also allows for skill variety and autonomy

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Vertical loading (including indirect activities such as general management) drives autonomy

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Opening feedback channels

Discuss the behavioural approaches to job design fully. (Types, examples, explain each approach) •

Job rotation – moving individuals periodically between different sets of tasks to provide some variety in their activities. It can increase flexibility and reduce monotony.

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Job enlargement – allocating a larger number of tasks of the same type to individuals.

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Job enrichment – allocating extra tasks which involve more decision making, greater autonomy and greater control over the job.

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Empowerment – giving staff the autonomy to make changes to the job itself, as well as how it is performed.

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Teamworking – where staff collectively performs a defined task and have a high degree of discretion over how they perform the task. They have a shared set of objectives and responsibilities. They typically control quality measurement, work scheduling, task allocation between members, etc.

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Flexible working – alternate ways of working that allow and encourage a degree of flexibility in working practise that matches the need for flexibility in the marketplace. This is done by creating a flexible workforce that can adapt itself to several tasks, i.e. skills flexibility. Also done by varying the number of staffs on duty at any time, i.e. time flexibility. Also done by allowing jobs to be performed at any location where there are communication links to the rest of the organisation, i.e. teleworking – location flexibility.

*Flexible working comprises of three types which will not be credited separately in an exam unless expressly asked.

What are the 6 steps of method study in job design? This may be a 12-mark question in the exam....