Operations Management, 12e (Heizer/Render/Munson)
Chapter 10 Human Resources, Job Design, and Work Measurement
Section 1 Human Resource Strategy for Competitive Advantage
1) The objective of a human resource strategy is to manage labor and design jobs so people are effectively
and efficiently utilized.
2) Equitable pay alone cannot achieve a reasonable quality of work life in an organization.
3) Mutual trust means that both management and employee strive to meet common objectives.
4) Technology, location, and layout decisions are all possible constraints on human resource strategy.
5) A NASCAR pit crew consists of how many members?
A) 7
B) 5
C) 9
D) 10
E) 4
6) Most pit crew members have background experience in what area?
A) mechanical engineering
B) athletics
C) car mechanics
D) automobile race driving
E) No specific area—crew members come from all sorts of backgrounds.
7) Which of the following best describes mutual commitment in an organization?
A) an instance in which management is committed to the employees and the employees are committed to
management
B) both management and the employees are committed to the same objective
C) both management and the employees are committed, but to different objectives
D) management obtains the commitment of the employees to a stated objective
E) both management and the employees can rely on each other
8) Mutual trust is:
A) when employees have gained the trust of management.
B) reflected in reasonable, documented employment policies that are honestly and equitably
implemented to the satisfaction of both management and employee.
C) when management has gained the trust of the employees.
D) when management recognizes that the employees are competent, motivated people both able and
willing to perform at the level required to produce a quality product.
E) when management and the employees both agree on common objectives.
9) The objective of a human resource strategy is to:
A) produce the demand forecast at the lowest possible labor cost.
B) match employment levels with demand.
C) achieve a reasonable quality of work life at low cost.
D) manage labor and design jobs so people are effectively and efficiently utilized.
E) hire the most diversified workforce possible.
10) ________ means a job that is not only reasonably safe and for which the pay is equitable but that also
achieves an appropriate level of both physical and psychological requirements.
11) What is quality of work life? What is its relation to a firm’s human resource strategy?
12) What is mutual trust? What is its link to a firm’s human resource strategy?
1) Labor planning determines employment stability.
2) The two extremes of employment stability policy are “follow demand exactly” and “keep demand
constant.”
3) Maintaining a stable workforce generally results in the firm paying higher wages than a firm that
varies workforce level with demand.
4) Flextime is a system that allows employees, within limits, to determine their own work schedules.
5) The two most basic policies associated with employment stability are:
A) job enrichment and job enlargement.
B) employment for life and guaranteed minimum wage.
C) follow demand exactly and hold employment constant.
D) incentive plans and piece-rate plans.
E) full-time and part-time.
6) A manufacturing plant allows its engineers to come in at 7 A.M. plus or minus an hour but still
requires them to work 8-hour days. Which of the following scheduling techniques is the firm employing?
A) flextime
B) constant employment
C) part-time status
D) flexible workweek
E) compressed workweek
7) Working four shifts of ten hours each instead of five shifts of eight hours each is known as which of the
following?
A) flextime
B) constant employment
C) part-time status
D) flexible workweek
E) flexwork
8) ________ is a means of determining staffing policies dealing with employment stability, work
schedules, and work rules.
9) ________ refers to a work schedule that deviates from the normal or standard five 8-hour days.
10) What are the advantages and the disadvantages of the employment-stability policy of “hold
employment constant?”
Section 3 Job Design
1) An enlarged job has more responsibility than the same job enriched.
2) Job rotation is a version of job enlargement.
3) Fredrick W. Taylor is credited with introducing psychology into the workplace.
4) Psychological factors have little relevance in the design of assembly line jobs because those jobs involve
physical products and production technology.
5) The Hawthorne studies, which showed that there is a dynamic social system in the workplace, took
place in the 1960s.
6) Hackman and Oldham’s five desirable characteristics of job design include job significance and
autonomy.
7) Job expansion can lead to increased labor cost because of the extra workers hired in the expansion.
8) Profit-sharing is a motivation and incentive system where executives receive stock options.
9) Four of the components of job design are:
A) employment stability, work schedules, work sampling, and motivation & incentive systems.
B) job specialization, job expansion, psychological components, and self-directed teams.
C) labor specialization and enrichment, motivation and incentive systems, employment stability, and
work sampling.
D) ergonomics and work methods, method time measurement, work schedules, and incentive systems.
E) labor specialization, time studies, work sampling, and pre-determined time standards.
10) What is the behavioral approach to job design that involves giving the worker more tasks requiring
similar skills?
A) job enlargement
B) job enrichment
C) job enhancement
D) job rotation
E) job involvement
11) Which of Hackman and Oldham’s five job characteristics refers to providing a worker a say in the
work methods that he/she wishes to utilize?
A) skill variety
B) job identity
C) job significance
D) feedback
E) autonomy
12) Which of the following terms implies an increase in responsibility and control in the vertical
direction?
A) job rotation
B) job enrichment
C) job re-design
D) job enlargement
E) job satisfaction
13) Which of the following statements describes job rotation?
A) The job contains a larger number of similar tasks.
B) The job includes some planning and control necessary for job accomplishment.
C) The operator works on different shifts on a regular basis.
D) The operator’s schedule is flexible.
E) The operator is allowed to move, for example, from one type of CNC machine to another.
14) The difference between job enrichment and job enlargement is that:
A) enlarged jobs involve vertical expansion, while enriched jobs involve horizontal expansion.
B) enriched jobs enable an employee to do a number of boring jobs instead of just one.
C) job enlargement is more psychologically satisfying than job enrichment.
D) job enrichment is suitable for all employees, whereas job enlargement is not.
E) enriched jobs involve vertical expansion, while enlarged jobs involve horizontal expansion.
15) When a worker obtains clear and timely information about his/her performance, his/her job includes
which of the following characteristics?
A) feedback
B) skill variety
C) job identity
D) job significance
E) autonomy
16) Which of the following is not a limitation of job expansion?
A) higher capital cost
B) higher wage rates
C) smaller labor pool
D) higher training costs
E) All of the above are limitations of job expansion.
17) Management and labor share the labor cost reductions in which of these compensation schemes?
A) bonus system
B) quota system
C) Gilbreth plan
D) Scanlon plan
E) measured day work plan
18) Which of the following statements regarding incentive systems is FALSE?
A) Bonuses are often used at the executive levels.
B) About half of all American manufacturing firms use productivity incentives.
C) Profit-sharing systems provide some part of the profit for distribution to employees.
D) The Scanlon plan is based on individual productivity.
E) Increasing use of cross-training has led to increasing use of knowledge–based pay systems.
19) ________ is an approach that specifies the tasks that constitute a job for an individual or a group.
20) ________ is the grouping of a variety of tasks using the same approximate skill level.
21) ________ is a method of giving an employee more responsibility that includes some of the planning
and control necessary for job accomplishment.
22) The ________ studies showed that there is a dynamic social system in the workplace.
23) ________ involves enlarging employee jobs so that the added responsibility and authority is moved to
the lowest level possible in the organization.
24) A(n) ________ is a group of empowered individuals working together to reach a common goal.
25) ________ systems provide some portion of any profit for distribution to employees.
26) Provide at least three examples of nonmonetary incentives.
27) How does labor specialization assist in reducing labor costs? (List three ways.)
28) Identify five limitations of job expansion.
29) It is said that job expansion has both a vertical component and a horizontal component. Explain, with
reference to such terms as job enrichment, job rotation, and job enlargement.
30) What impact did the Hawthorne studies have on human resource strategy?
31) Identify the five components of job design.
32) Identify Hackman and Oldham’s five desirable characteristics of job design.
1) The physical environment in which employees work may affect the quality of work life, but it does not
affect their performance and safety.
2) Ergonomics is a branch of economics that deals with costs of scheduling workers.
3) One of the elements of ergonomics is:
A) allocating work time based on economic studies.
B) the cost justification of technology.
C) designing tools and machines that facilitate human work.
D) assembly line balancing.
E) the establishment of time standards.
4) As tool using animals, human performance is affected by:
A) noise, illumination, and vibration.
B) temperature, humidity, and air quality.
C) strength, reflexes, perception.
D) deign of pedals, levers, buttons.
E) all of the above
5) Extended periods of exposure to decibel levels above ________ has been judged to be permanently
damaging.
A) 85 dB
B) 90 dB
C) 95 dB
D) 100 dB
E) none of the above
6) In a perfectly fitting chair, and you are a male in the 50th percentile, your chair should be:
A) 15.7 inches high.
B) 16.7 inches high.
C) 17.7 inches high.
D) 18.7 inches high.
E) none of the above
7) The 50th percentile female is 62.9 inches tall and should have a chair:
A) 15.7 inches high.
B) 16.7 inches high.
C) 17.7 inches high.
D) 18.7 inches high.
E) none of the above
8) Often called human factors, the study of work is known as ________.
9) Describe some impacts of noise in the workplace.
Section 5 Methods Analysis
1) An operations chart, or right-hand/left-hand chart, points out wasted motion and idle time.
2) Which of the following is not analyzed using methods techniques?
A) movement of capital
B) body movement
C) movement of individuals
D) movement of material
E) crew activity
3) Methods analysis focuses on:
A) the design of the machines used to perform a task.
B) establishing time standards.
C) reducing the number of skills needed for the completion of a task.
D) issues such as the movement of individuals or material.
E) evaluating training programs to see if they are efficient.
4) Which of the following is used by methods analysis in analyzing body movement at the workstation
level?
A) MTM chart
B) flow diagram
C) operations chart
D) process chart
E) improvement chart
5) The phrase, “designed to show economy of motion by pointing out wasted motion and idle time
(delay),” describes which of the following?
A) a flow diagram
B) an activity chart
C) an operations chart
D) a process chart
E) a work sample
6) Methods analysis employs which of the following charts in its analysis of the movement of workers
and materials?
A) micro-motion chart
B) flow diagram
C) activity chart
D) man-machine chart
E) movement chart
7) Flow diagrams are used to analyze:
A) movement of people or material.
B) utilization of an operator and machine.
C) body movements.
D) time taken by various activities.
E) unnecessary micro-motions.
8) Activity charts help analyze:
A) movement of people or material.
B) utilization of an operator and machine.
C) body movements.
D) activities that can cause injuries.
E) unnecessary micro-motions.
9) ________ are drawings used to analyze movement of people or material.
10) What is methods analysis?
11) What are operations charts used for?
Section 6 The Visual Workplace
1) Kanbans and andons are both elements of the visual workplace, because they are visual signals that
replace printouts and paperwork.
2) “Visual workplace” is a term coined by Hawthorne, and it refers to the need for proper lighting at
employee workstations.
3) The visual workplace:
A) uses low-cost visual devices to share information.
B) is an effective means of rapid communication in a dynamic workplace.
C) replaces difficult-to-understand paperwork.
D) eliminates non-value-added activities by making problems and standards visual.
E) All of the above describe the visual workplace.
4) The visual workplace:
A) uses low-cost visual devices to share information.
B) may use andons.
C) may use clocks to remind employees of the goal.
D) may use kanbans to reduce inventory.
E) All of the above describe the visual workplace.
5) Which of the following is a visual signal at a machine that notifies support personnel about the
machine’s status?
A) Andon
B) Endon
C) Indon
D) Ondon
E) Undon
6) Describe how the visual workplace can increase information flow, improve efficiency, and eliminate
non-value-adding activities. Support your argument with a few examples.
Section 7 Labor Standards
1) The purpose of labor standards is to accurately define the skills required to complete a job.
2) Two uses of labor standards are to determine the labor content of items produced and to determine
staffing needs.
3) One use of labor standards is to determine what constitutes a fair day’s work.
4) Labor standards based on historical experience are relatively inexpensive to obtain.
5) The preferred method of choice for setting labor standards is to base them on historical experience.
6) Standard time may be less than average observed time.
7) The classical stopwatch study, or time study, was originally proposed by Western Electric’s Hawthorne
Commission in the 1920s.
8) A time-study procedure involves timing a sample of a worker’s performance and using it as a basis for
setting a standard time.
9) The allowance factor that increases normal time to standard time compensates for inadequate worker
training and lack of worker dexterity.
10) Normal time is always less than the average observed time.
11) Standard time is always greater than normal time, due to the inclusion of allowances for personal
time, delay, and fatigue.
12) Personal and fatigue allowances can include amounts for the effects of lighting, heat and humidity,
and noise.
13) The allowances that convert normal time to standard time have three components: personal time
allowances, delay allowances, and fatigue allowances.