Chapter 07 – Work Design and Measurement
1. Ergonomics is the use of computers and robots in the workplace.
2. Specialization is one of the sources of disagreement between the efficiency and behavioral
approaches to job design.
3. One disadvantage of specialization is worker dissatisfaction.
Chapter 07 – Work Design and Measurement
4. The quickest, most effective way to improve an employee’s job satisfaction is increase his
or her compensation.
5. Job enrichment involves giving a workers a greater share of the total task which is why
they feel enriched.
6. Trust is a factor influencing productivity.
Chapter 07 – Work Design and Measurement
7. Many lower level jobs are monotonous and boring.
8. Job enrichment involves an increase in the level of responsibility for planning and
coordinating tasks.
9. “Self-directed teams” are allowed to make changes in the work processes under their
control.
Chapter 07 – Work Design and Measurement
10. “Self-directed teams” help other work groups make changes to their processes.
11. Motivation influences quality and productivity, but not the work environment.
12. One important factor that influences productivity is trust between workers and managers.
Chapter 07 – Work Design and Measurement
13. Ergonomics is an important part of job design to consider when we automate the system.
14. One of the potential benefits of “self-directed teams” is higher productivity and greater
worker satisfaction.
15. One of the potential benefits of “self-directed teams” is higher quality.
Chapter 07 – Work Design and Measurement
16. One potential disadvantage of “self-directed teams” is higher training costs.
17. Job design relates to people therefore technology has little impact.
18. Methods analysis cannot be done for new jobs (ones that do not yet exist) since it requires
observation of the process.
Chapter 07 – Work Design and Measurement
19. One therblig is the equivalent of one hour of sustained work by one average person.
20. A flow process chart is helpful for visualizing the portions of a work cycle during which
21. Predetermined time standards are usually based on observing one very efficient worker
performing the task.
Chapter 07 – Work Design and Measurement
22. Therbligs are basic elemental motions.
23. We incorporate the average seriousness of accidents by measuring the number of lost-time
accidents per million labor-hours worked.
24. Work measurement concentrates on how long the tasks take to accomplish.
Chapter 07 – Work Design and Measurement
25. Ergonomics is important for preventing common workplace injuries such as back injuries
and repetitive-motion injuries.
26. The most widely used method of work measurement is work sampling.
27. For purposes of obtaining good time standards using a stopwatch time study, the analyst
should try to avoid having the worker discover he or she is being observed.
Chapter 07 – Work Design and Measurement
28. One factor in determining how many cycles to time in a time study is the degree of
variation that is present in the observed times.
29. The normal time in time study is obtained by multiplying the observed time by the
performance rating.
30. Studies on worker efficiency and time of day suggest the greatest efficiency is at the end
of the day when workers are ‘warmed up’.
Chapter 07 – Work Design and Measurement
31. The normal time for a job is multiplied by the performance rating to obtain the standard
time for the job.
32. The design of work systems, because objective standards are used, avoids most ethical
issues.
33. The standard time for a job can be obtained by multiplying the normal time by an
appropriate allowance factor.
Chapter 07 – Work Design and Measurement
34. Predetermined time standards use historical data from a company’s own files.
35. A performance rating of less than 1.0 means that the observed worker was judged to be
working at a faster than normal rate – doing the job quicker than normal.
36. Predetermined time standards involve the use of published data regarding how long
various activities are expected to take.
Chapter 07 – Work Design and Measurement
37. Work sampling can be used to estimate the proportion of time a machine is idle.
38. Work sampling involves the use of some method of randomizing the observations.
39. An advantage of work sampling, compared to a stopwatch time study, is that observations
are spread out over a period of time in work sampling.
Chapter 07 – Work Design and Measurement
40. No stopwatch is required in a work sampling study.
41. Work sampling provides a detailed elemental breakdown of a task for purposes of
establishing reliable time standards.
42. Measured day work refers to an output-based system.
Chapter 07 – Work Design and Measurement
43. It would be acceptable to use a group incentive plan for an assembly line operation.
44. Work sampling provides both quick and accurate estimates of activity times.
45. Methods analysis and motion study techniques do not directly consider behavioral aspects
of jobs.
Chapter 07 – Work Design and Measurement
46. “Time-based systems” compensate employees according to the time the employee has
worked and the amount of output they produce.
47. “Output-based systems” compensate employees according to the amount of output they
produce, thereby tying pay directly to performance.
48. A pay system that rewards workers who undergo training that increases their skills is
called a “knowledge-based pay system.”
Chapter 07 – Work Design and Measurement
49. “Knowledge-based pay systems” pay higher wages or salaries to workers who have
completed college than to those who just finished high school.
50. Increasing compensation is always a way to improve worker satisfaction.
51. A worker-machine chart can help identify non-productive parts of a process.
Chapter 07 – Work Design and Measurement
52. A worker-machine chart can be used to determine how many machines an operator can
manage.
53. Micromotion studies should be limited to periodic activities where breakthrough
improvements are possible.
54. The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) is a regulatory burden that has been
proven to have little impact on the safety and welfare of workers.
Chapter 07 – Work Design and Measurement
55. Management compensation should be based primarily on organizational output.
56. Many management compensation systems are being revised to reflect increased emphasis
on quality and customer service.
57. Behavioral approaches to job design include:
Chapter 07 – Work Design and Measurement
58. A major advantage of job specialization in business is increased _________.
59. Which of the following is not generally considered an advantage of specialization?