People, jobs and organization - Operations Management - Nigel Slack - Summary

 

7th Edition

Chapter 9

People, jobs and organization 251

Introduction 251

People in operations 253

Human resource strategy 253

Organization design 256

Job design 259

Allocate work time 271

Summary answers to key questions 273

Case study: Service Adhesives try again 274

Problems and applications 276

Selected further reading 277

Useful websites 277

Supplement to Chapter 9

Work study 279

Introduction 279

Method study in job design 279

Work measurement in job design 282

People, jobs and organization 251

Introduction 251

P 252

W.L. GORE 

 In a recent ‘Best Companies to work for’ list, its associates (the company does not use the term 

‘employees’) gave it the very top marks for ‘feeling you can make a difference’.

People in operations 253

Human resource strategy 253

P 253

 Human resource strategy is the overall long-term approach to ensuring that an organization’s 

human resources provide a strategic advantage. It involves two interrelated activities. First, identifying the number and type of people that are needed to manage, run and develop the organization so that it meets its strategic business objectives. Second, putting in place the programmes 

and initiatives that attract, develop and retain appropriate staff.

P 256

The idea that there is a link between human resource strategy and the incidence of stress at 

work is not new. Even some of the early ‘scientific management’ pioneers accepted that working 

arrangements should not result in conditions that promoted stress.

Organization design 256

Job design 259

P 260

● How long will it take and how many people will be needed? Work measurement helps us calculate the time required to do a job, and therefore how many people will be needed.

P 231

Designing job methods – scientific management 

 The term ‘scientific management’ became established in 1911 with the publication of the book of the same name by Fredrick Taylor

Basic tenets of scientific management: (as written by authors)

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

● Such an investigative approach to the study of work is necessary to establish what constitutes a ‘fair day’s work’. 

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

● Managers should act as the planners of the work (analysing jobs and standardizing the best method of doing the job), while workers should be responsible for carrying out the jobs to the standards laid down. 

● Co-operation should be achieved between management and workers based on the ‘maximum prosperity’ of both.

Scientific management gave birth to two separate, but related, fields of study: method study, which determines the methods and activities to be included in jobs; and work measurement, which is concerned with measuring the time that should be taken for performing jobs. Together, these 

two fields are often referred to as work study and are explained in detail in the supplement to this chapter.

Allocate work time 271

Summary answers to key questions 273

Case study: Service Adhesives try again 274

Problems and applications 276

Selected further reading 277

Useful websites 277

Supplement to Chapter 9

Work study 279

Introduction 279

Method study in job design 279

Work measurement in job design 282