Operations Management: An Integrated Approach, 5th Edition

DESIGNING A WORK SYSTEM

First, a company determines its objectives, and then it develops an operations strategy to achieve those objectives. Part of the operations strategy is designing a work system, which provides the structure for the productivity of the company. The work system includes job design, work measurement, and worker compensation. The company determines the purpose of each job, what the job consists of, and the cost of the employees to do the job. A job must add value and enable the company to achieve its objectives.

Suppose your company is an organization with an objective to operate a fancy, upscale restaurant. To achieve its objective, the restaurant must define a set of jobs, the tasks each job consists of, and a system for evaluating the employee's performance in the job. The set of jobs at your restaurant would include a chef, a trained kitchen staff, a professional wait staff, a maitre d’, a wine steward, and so forth. The chef's tasks would include developing the food motif and menu, for example. The performance measurement would be based on revenue.

Job design ensures that each employee's duties and responsibilities are geared toward achieving the restaurant's mission. Methods analysis eliminates unnecessary tasks and improves the process for completing tasks. Work measurement is a process for evaluating employee performance and comparing alternative processes. Let's begin with job design.