WORK STUDY

What is Work Study?

Work Study is the systemeatic examination of the methods of carrying out activities such as to improve the effective use of resources and to set up standards of performance for the activities carried out.

Another definition of Work Study could  be:

A generic term for those techniques, particularly method study and work measurement, which are used in the examination of human work in all its contexts, and which lead systematically to to the investigation of all the factors which affect the efficiency and economy of the situation being reviewed, in order to effect improvement'.

Operations Management - Work Study

Managing people within operations involves actual design decisions about jobs, methods, relationships between jobs and machines and systems of control and communication.

a collection of techniques used to examine work - what is done and how it is done - so that there is systematic analysis of all the elements, factors, resources and relationships affecting the efficiency and effectiveness of the work being studied. 

In the Path of F. W. Taylor

Method study and work measurement are two principal activities of work study which originated in the work of F. W. Taylor . FW's "scientific management" imperatives are:

•investigate the work situation and identify weaknesses - where and why is poor performance happening? The "scientific" title for this approach to management means placing emphasis on

• data gathering and rational analysis

• certain narrow assumptions about the objectivity of efficiency criteria

• the existence of direct, deterministic relationships between worker performance and incentive payments and

• consideration of the worker to some extent as a machine. Thus we can evaluate and introduce improvements in operating methods. This includes type

of equipment, its use, layout of operations, supply and use of materials, materials handling, work organisation, effectiveness of planning procedures and so on.

Productivity improvement is the aim.

•we can select staff with characteristics that fit the job, train and reward them using payment schemes the offer particular economic incentive by linking

payment to measured performance.

Such propositions are commonly the stuff of managerial populistsand "how-to" texts on human resource management.

Methods study Approach

Method Study

Method study is the process of subjecting work to systematic, critical scrutiny to make it more effective and/or more efficient. It is one of the keys to achieving productivity improvement.

It was originally designed for the analysis and improvement of repetitive manual work but it can be used for all types of activity at all levels of an organisation.

The Method Study procedure

The basic procedure was first developed and articulated by Russell Currie at Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) and consists of six steps (SREDIM):

1.   SELECT the work or area to be studied.

2.   RECORD all appropriate and relevant data about the current situation.

3.   EXAMINE critically, the recorded data.

4.   DEVELOP alternative approaches to making improvements and choose the most appropriate.

5.   INSTALL the new method, to make the required changes to the situation.

6.   MAINTAIN that new situation.

METHODS OF METHOD STUDY

 

Process Charts

The charting of work flows, working processes, systems and procedures is a useful way of recording the essential features of a work situation for subsequent analysis.

Process Charts are one of the simpler forms of workflow charting and are still in regular usage but are less common than they once were . This is unfortunate since it was the ubiquitous nature of the process chart that made it a common "language" between different groups of people and across different industries.

Work measurement

Work Measurement is a term which covers several different ways of finding out how long a job or part of a job should take to complete. It can be defined as the systematic determination, through the use of various techniques, of the amount of effective physical and mental work in terms of work units in a specified task. The work units usually are given in standard minutes or standard hours.

- involves assessing the time a job should take to do. Similar steps are involved as to method study

1.   select the tasks

2.   record the facts

3.   analyse them

4.   calculate basic and standard times for the task

5.   agree the method and its related time

METHODS OF WORK MEASUREMENT

• Activity sampling
• Analytical estimating
• Business Planning
• Predetermined Motion Time Systems (PMTS)
• Time Study

ACTIVITY SAMPLING

A technique in which a large number of observations are made over a period of time of one group of machines, processes or workers. Each observation records what is happening at that instant and the percentage of observations recorded for a particular activity or delay is a measure of the percentage of time during which that activity or delay occurs.

Fixed and Random Interval Sampling

Activity Sampling can be carried out at random intervals or fixed intervals. Random activity sampling is where the intervals between observations are selected at random e.g. from a table of random numbers. Fixed interval activity sampling is where the same interval exists between observations

Analytical Estimating

a development of estimating, in which the time required to perform each constituent part of a task at a defined rate of working is estimated from knowledge and practical experience of the work and/or from synthetic data

Advantages & Disadvantages

Perhaps the most significant advantage of using anaytical estimating is its speed of application and low cost. Using trained and experienced personnel process and measurement data can be quickly assembled and applied.

However, the use of experienced judgement when determining the time necessary to perform a task is the technique's most obvious source of weakness when compared with a more precise technique such as time study. This is why the technique would not normally be used when a more precise and accurate alternative is a feasible and economic alternative, particularly to highly repetitive, standardised operations. Many jobs, such as craft work in the maintenance field, consist of a group of tasks which are periodically repeated but the precise nature of each task varies each time in minor respects ( see research on Natural & Normal Variation for further explanation). In this example, since it is impractical, in terms of time and cost, to allocate one time study observer permanently to each craftsman, the alternative is to use a time-study basis plus the experienced judgement of an ex-craft work-study observer to allow for detailed task variations.

Business Planning

Business (Corporate) Planning is the process of deciding what tactical action and direction to take, in all areas of business activity, in order to secure a financial and market position commensurate with the strategic objectives of the organisation. To put it another way, it is the comprehensive planning for the whole of the business and involves defining the overall objectives for the organisation, and all the actions that must be adopted in order that those objectives are achieved.

In general it can be assumed that FIVE important features of Corporate Planning prevail, they are:

1.   Objectives and objective setting;

2.   Flexibility - the ability to be adaptable within the plan;

3.   Growth - anticipating opportunities for new markets;

4.   Synergy - the sum of joint efforts being greater than either one;

5.   Time span - the critical length of the plan - long termism is increasingly risk managed in today’s business environment.

Predetermined Motion Time Systems (PMTS)

The definition in BS 3138, Glossary of Terms Used in Work Study is: 'Tables of time data at defined rates of working for classified human movements and mental activities. Times for an operation or task are derived using precise conventions. Predetermined motion time data have also been developed for common combinations of basic human movements and mental activities'.

Time Study

ime study is a tried and tested method of work measurement for setting basic times and hencestandard times for carrying out specified work. Its roots are back to the period between the two World Wars.

The aim of time study is to establish a time for a qualified worker to perform specified work under stated conditions and at a defined rate of working.

This is achieved by a qualified practitioner observing the work, recording what is done and thentiming (using a time measuring device) and simultaneously rating (assessing) the pace of working.

The requirements for taking a time study are quite strict.

Conditions:

• the practitioner (observer) must be fully qualified to carry out Time Study,
• the person performing the task must be fully trained and experienced in the work,
• the work must be clearly defined and the method of doing the work must be effective
• the working conditions must be clearly defined

Time and motion study

A time and motion study (or time-motion study) is a business efficiency technique combining the Time Study work of Frederick Winslow Taylor with the Motion Study work of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth (not to be confused with their son, best known through the biographical 1950 film and book Cheaper by the Dozen). It is a major part of scientific management (Taylorism). After its first introduction, time study developed in the direction of establishing standard times, while motion study evolved into a technique for improving work methods. The two techniques became integrated and refined into a widely accepted method applicable to the improvement and upgrading of work systems. This integrated approach to work system improvement is known as methods engineering and it is applied today to industrial as well as service organizations, including banks, schools and hospitals.

Time and motion study have to be used together in order to achieve rational and reasonable results. It is particularly important that effort be applied in motion study to ensure equitable results when time study is used. In fact, much of the difficulty with time study is a result of applying it without a thorough study of the motion pattern of the job. Motion study can be considered the foundation for time study. The time study measures the time required to perform a given task in accordance with a specified method and is valid only so long as the method is continued. Once a new work method is developed, the time study must be changed to agree with the new method.