Summary Reader Work Organization and Job Design

WORK ORGANIZATION AND
JOB DESIGN
Summary Reader




Quirine Rodenberg

,Reader
Chapter 1 – Operations management and human work
1.1 Operations management
- Operations management
o The business function that plans, organizes, coordinates and controls the resources
needed to produce a company’s goods and services

- Transformation process
o Inputs are transformed by resources into outputs in a network of activities and
buffers
 Activities
 Actions that take a certain amount of time
 Activities in a transformation process are related  network
 Resources
 Humans, machines or tools that re needed to bring about a
transformation of inputs in outputs
 Resources can perform an activity or are required, work together
and have limited capacity
o Aimed at adding value to inputs, such that the acquired outputs meet the needs of a
buyer/customer
o Process starts by a signal from a competent client
 Signal is provided with a certain frequency
o Workplace
 The location where the inputs and resources come together to bring about
the transformation of inputs to outputs
 Location depends on the characteristics of the inputs, outputs, resources and
customer

1.2 Human work
- Work design
o The study, creation and modification of the composition, content, structure and
environment within which jobs and roles are enacted
o Work design can be considered as a process
 The organization can create and modify many aspects that impact the
efficient and effective use of workers
o Why design?
 People should be effectively utilized within the constraints of other
operations management decisions
 People should have a reasonable quality of work life in an atmosphere of
mutual commitment and trust
o Work design involves studying the results of the design of work in terms of resulting
work characteristics
 WDQ
 Task, knowledge, social characteristics & work design

- Work
o Definition
 An activity in which a person exerts physical and mental effort to accomplish
a task or perform a duty

,  Task
o An amount of work that is assigned to a worker of for which
a worker is responsible
o Pyramid
 Task
 Work elements
 Activities
 Basic motion elements
 Actuations of limbs and body parts while
engaged in performing the task
o Work pyramid
 Career
 Jobs
 Tasks
 Work elements
 Basic motion elements

- Important elements in the transformation process
o Organization
o Production environment
 Workers
 Technology
 Workers should interact with technology
 Tasks

1.3 System description of processes
- Function
o The function of an element is what the larger whole needs and which is provided by
that element or system
 The function specified the desired contribution
o Concerns the result or results of the system and not the action
o The function will change less quickly in time, due to all sorts of social and
technological developments than the tass that are performed for it

- Task
o That which has to be done by an element or system to fulfil the function




Chapter 2 – The Workplace
2.2 What is a workplace
- Describing a workplace
o It is important to pay attention to the contribution of the workplace to the
production process
o You also need to pay attention to the tasks of a workplace
o The location where the inputs and resources come together to bring about
transformation

, - Two workplaces can have the same function, but arranged in different ways


- To design a workplace, it is important to look at who which activities performs
o Technology plays a major role in this decision

- The place of the workplace
o When describing a location, attention must be paid to various physical aspects that
can be observed;
 Seen
 Space for inputs transformation and outputs, lights, colours, dirt,
safety provisions, work instructions etc.
 Heard
 Noise, music, communication
 Smelled
 Gases present
 Felt
 Temperature, sparks
 Tasted
 Experienced
 Radiation, magnetic fields

- Whether the physical load of a task is acceptable, depends on the frequency with which the
action is performed
o Sometimes it is acceptable to have an action performed by the customer, since the
frequency of this operation for an induvial differs greatly from the frequency of the
operation for an employee

- Physical environment factors
o Are observable or measurable aspects of the workplace and its immediate physical
work environment

- Physical ergonomics aspects
o Describe how the interaction between worker and machine is designed and which
tools are used by the employee or customer

- Categorization of workplaces
o Category 1
 One type of activity
 Fixed location
o Category 2
 One type of activity
 Varying location
o Category 3
 Varying activities
 Fixed location
o Category 4
 Varying activities
 Varying location