Deck 7: A: Design of Work Systems

Question 1

Job enrichment involves giving a worker a greater share of the total task,which is sometimes referred to as horizontal loading.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Potential benefits of "self-directed teams" include higher productivity and greater worker satisfaction.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Frank and Lillian Gilbreth's primary contribution to the design of work systems involved the development of motion study techniques.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

"Self-directed teams" are formed to give them broad authority to make decisions concerning all issues in the organization that have an impact on their work unit.

Question 5

Methods analysis techniques do not directly consider behavioural aspects of jobs.

Question 6

"Self-directed teams" are allowed to make changes in the work processes under their control.

Question 7

The primary objective of work/job design is to improve efficiency.

Question 8

Methods analysis cannot be done for jobs that do not yet exist.

Question 9

A worker-machine process chart is helpful to visualize portions of a work cycle during which an operator and equipment are busy or idle.

Question 10

The name Frederick Winslow Taylor is associated with the scientific management approach to work/job design.

Question 11

Working conditions,such as noise and safety,are important aspects of work system design.

Question 12

Job enrichment involves an increase in the level of employee responsibility for planning,execution,and control of a job.

Question 13

A worker-machine chart can be used to determine how many machines an operator can manage.

Question 14

Specialization is a primary point of disagreement between the efficiency and behavioural approaches to job design.

Question 15

Job enlargement involves an increase in the level of employee responsibility for planning and coordinating tasks.

Question 16

Flow process charts can be useful for analyzing and improving methods.

Question 17

Methods analysis focuses on how a job can be made more efficient.

Question 18

The role of labour unions typically does not involve issues of work/job design,focusing instead on compensation issues.

Question 19

Job enlargement represents vertical loading of a job,increasing the level of skills and responsibilities associated with the original job.

Question 20

The focus of the efficiency approach to work/job design is to improve quality of work life and employee empowerment.

Question 21

One factor in determining how many cycles to time in a stopwatch time study is the variability of observed times.

Question 22

Ergonomics is important for preventing common workplace injuries such as back injuries and repetitive motion injuries.

Question 23

The standard time for a job can be obtained by multiplying the normal time by an appropriate allowance factor.

Question 24

The normal time in stopwatch time study is obtained by multiplying the observed time by the performance rating.

Question 25

For purposes of obtaining good time standards using a stopwatch time study,the analyst should try to avoid having the worker discover that he or she is being observed.

Question 26

Standard times are determined by taking the average time one worker takes to complete the same task many times.

Question 27

Work measurement concentrates on how long it takes to complete a job.

Question 28

The normal time for a job is multiplied by the performance rating to obtain the standard time for the job.

Question 29

The establishment of a Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS)gives workers the right to refuse dangerous work.

Question 30

Predetermined time standards are based on historical data from individual company's files.

Question 31

The standard time for a job is determined based on the observed time,a performance rating,and an allowance factor.

Question 32

The Canadian Labour Code focuses on laws concerning wages and the right to form unions,not the safety and welfare of workers.

Question 33

Task specialization is one of the three categories of motion economy principles.

Question 34

Slow motion studies are useful for training workers as well as athletes.

Question 35

Tables of predetermined time standards make work measurement studies straightforward.

Question 36

A performance rating of greater than 1.00 means that the observed worker was judged to be working faster than the normal rate.

Question 37

More strenuous work typically leads to a wider comfort band for temperature.

Question 38

Efficiency generally declines after a work break.

Question 39

Predetermined time standards involve the use of published data.

Question 40

A performance rating of less than 1.00 means that the observed worker was judged to be working faster than the normal rate.

Question 41

In order to make jobs more interesting,job designers use all of the following EXCEPT:

A) job enlargement.
B) job rotation.
C) job enrichment.
D) increase in wages.
E) self-directed teams.

Question 42

Work sampling involves the use of some method of randomizing the observations.

Question 43

Methods-time measurement (MTM)requires analysts to collect multiple observations of the times to complete every basic motion in a job task.

Question 44

Although quality may be considered in compensation,quantity is always more important.

Question 45

Which of the following is not an objective of job design?

A) Productivity
B) Safety
C) Quality of work life
D) Line balancing
E) All of the choices are objectives

Question 46

Work sampling provides a detailed elemental breakdown of a task for purposes of establishing reliable time standards.

Question 47

Which of the following is not generally considered an advantage of specialization?

A) High productivity
B) Lower wage costs
C) Ease of training employees
D) Low equipment costs
E) All of the choices are advantages

Question 48

Which of the following most closely describes job enlargement?

A) Horizontal loading
B) Increasing the level of responsibility associated with a job
C) Rotating workers through a series of jobs to increase their scope of experience
D) Increasing the amount of workspace assigned to a worker
E) Assigning two different jobs to the same worker

Question 49

Work/job design involves all EXCEPT which of the following?

A) Work measurement
B) Job design
C) Compensation
D) Process analysis
E) All of the choices are involved

Question 50

Output-based pay compensates employees according to the amount of output they produce during a pay period,thereby tying pay directly to performance.

Question 51

An advantage of work sampling,compared to a stopwatch time study is that,the observations can be spread out over a period of time in work sampling.

Question 52

A work sampling study does not involve measuring the amount of time to complete different categories of work activities.

Question 53

Which of the following is a potential disadvantage of job specialization in business?

A) More difficult to motivate employees
B) Limited opportunities for advancement
C) Limited opportunities for self-fulfillment
D) Little control over work
E) All of the choices are potential disadvantages

Question 54

The behavioural approach to job design which involves giving the worker a larger portion of the total task is:

A) job enlargement.
B) job rotation.
C) job enrichment.
D) job involvement.
E) job enhancement.

Question 55

Minimum wage legislation makes piece-rate compensation plans somewhat challenging to implement.

Question 56

Piece rate pays are a common type of time-based compensation approach.

Question 57

Time-based pay compensates employees according to the combination of the time the employee has worked and the amount of output they produce.

Question 58

"Gain sharing" and "profit sharing" are equivalent types of bonus/incentive plans that focus exclusively on individual output.

Question 59

Output-based compensation approaches are more widely used by factories than are time-based approaches.

Question 60

A pay system that rewards workers who undergo training to increase their skills is called a "skill/knowledge based plan".

Question 61

A job had an observed time of three minutes,a performance rating of 0.90,and an allowance factor that was 20 percent of job time.Standard time for the job in minutes is:

A) 0.54
B) 2.16
C) 2.70
D) 3.24
E) 3.60

Question 62

In a stopwatch time study,adjusting the observed time by the performance rating of the observed worker results in the:

A) observed time.
B) normal time.
C) standard time.
D) allowance time.
E) performance rating time.

Question 63

Amendments to the Canadian Labour Code in 1978 added all the following rights EXCEPT:

A) to refuse dangerous work.
B) to participate in improving safety and health problems.
C) annual increases in wages linked to the cost of living
D) to know about hazards in the workplace.

Question 64

Focusing on how a job is done and attempting to make it more efficient describes:

A) work measurement.
B) Gantt charts.
C) methods analysis.
D) job evaluation.
E) job enlargement.

Question 65

Which of the following is not one of the techniques used in motion study analysis?

A) Motion economy principles
B) Job enrichment technique
C) Micro-motion (slow-motion video) study
D) Analysis of elementary motions
E) Simultaneous hands motion chart

Question 66

In a stopwatch time study,the average time it takes a given worker to perform a task a certain number of times is the:

A) observed time.
B) normal time.
C) standard time.
D) allowance time.
E) performance rating time.

Question 67

Which of the following is not related to working conditions considered in work/job design?

A) Ventilation
B) Seniority and experience levels
C) Noise and vibrations
D) Illumination
E) Work hours and breaks

Question 68

The chart used to review the overall sequence of an operation by focusing on either the movements of the operator or the flow of materials is called a:

A) simo chart.
B) worker-machine chart.
C) worker-materials chart.
D) flow process chart.
E) multi-activity chart.

Question 69

An increase in the desired confidence level has what effect on the number of observations necessary in a time study?

A) Increases
B) Decreases
C) Unaffected
D) May increase or decrease, depending on the sample standard deviation
E) Impossible to say without additional information

Question 70

The methods analysis chart which describes the movements of both hands at the same time is a(n):

A) process chart.
B) worker-machine chart.
C) gang process chart.
D) simultaneous motion (simo) chart.
E) efficiency/time-of-day chart.

Question 71

The methods analysis chart which describes the portions of a work cycle during which an operator and equipment are busy or idle is a(n):

A) process chart.
B) worker-machine chart.
C) gang process chart.
D) simultaneous motion (simo) chart.
E) efficiency/time-of-day chart.

Question 72

The behavioural approach to job design which involves an increase in responsibility for planning,execution and control of tasks is:

A) job enlargement.
B) job rotation.
C) job enrichment.
D) job involvement.
E) job enhancement.

Question 73

The methods analysis chart which describes the overall sequence of operations,including storages,delays,and inspections is a(n):

A) flow process chart.
B) worker-machine chart.
C) MTM table.
D) simultaneous motion (simo) chart.
E) efficiency/time-of-day chart.

Question 74

Methods analysis focuses on which aspect of job design?

A) Behavioural aspects
B) Efficiency aspects
C) Pay levels
D) All of the choices
E) None of the choices

Question 75

Which of the following is not a potential benefit of the use of self-directed teams?

A) Improved responsiveness to problems
B) Higher productivity
C) Greater worker satisfaction
D) Emphasis of manager's role shifts to command and control

Question 76

Ergonomics tries to remove all of the following EXCEPT:

A) awkward reaching and bending.
B) forceful gripping of tools.
C) heavy lifting.
D) endless repetition of motions.
E) all of the choices are correct.

Question 77

In a stopwatch time study,the number of cycles that must be timed is a function of:

A) the variability of observed times.
B) the desired accuracy for the estimated job time.
C) the desired level of confidence for the estimated job time.
D) all of the choices.
E) none of the choices.

Question 78

All of the following are a part of the basic procedure for methods analysis EXCEPT:

A) identify the job to be studied.
B) gather pertinent facts about the worker, tasks and administrative factors.
C) negotiate wage for completing the work.
D) question present method and propose a new method.

Question 79

Experienced methods analysts generate improvement ideas for the job by asking all of the following questions EXCEPT:

A) can travel distances be shortened?
B) can the job be outsourced?
C) can similar activities be grouped?
D) can additional equipment be helpful?
E) can the sequence of operations be changed?

Question 80

Which of the following is not true about illumination?

A) The more detailed the work, the higher the level required.
B) The amount of glare and contrast are important considerations.
C) High levels are preferable for all types of work.
D) Natural daylight has both economic and psychological benefits.
E) All of the choices are true.