What is work measurement?

Work measurement is an approach used by management to calculate and observe the time that employees dedicate to their work. Work measurement also determines an employee's behavior and how the individual performs a task in a given time frame. It also measures employee performance as compared to others in terms of time, usage of innovative ideas, presentation, etc.

Importance of Work Measurement

Work measurement is important because it allows businesses to identify areas where employees are not meeting their productivity goals. By measuring employees' productivity, businesses can make changes to improve employee productivity. Additionally, work measurement can help businesses identify areas where they need to invest in new equipment or processes.

There are several benefits that businesses can enjoy by measuring the productivity of their employees. The benefits have been discussed below:

• First, businesses can use work measurement to identify areas where they need to make improvements.
• Second, work measurement can help businesses identify areas where they are wasting money on unnecessary processes.
• Work measurement focuses on the quality of work of an individual or a team. It promotes job enrichment, job rotation, job specification, and job specialization.
• Work measurement is all about innovation and devoting actual time. It is an approach where an employee works effectively and enhances work quality. It also provides a quality work environment where employees work effectively. Work measurement is known for implementing planning, organizing, executing, and appropriately allocating tasks.

• Work measurement motivates employees to work in a structured environment for better practices. It also focuses on job enlargement for promoting job roles, job rotation, job specifications, and job descriptions.
• Work measurement is also concerned with the time devoted by an employer to analyze employees' behavior towards the job and goal-oriented objectives. It estimates a decent time frame within which an individual can work in a structured and effective manner.
• It helps to eliminate ineffective time and establishes a standard time for measuring performance. It also identifies gaps against realistic expectations, thereby setting operational objectives. It can help implement certain techniques designed for a particular work. It helps in ascertaining the actual amount of time required to perform any task.
• Work management is a basis of proper planning as it is directly proportional to time measurement, which is collectively called ‘time study’. It is an important tool for promoting and visualizing productivity and clarity of any work for any organization. It also helps in comparing and finding alternate methods of pre-defined processes.

Challenges of work measurement

There are various challenges that businesses face when measuring the productivity of their employees. First, businesses find difficulty in accurately measuring the output of each employee. This can be difficult to do, especially if the business does not have a clear and concise way of measuring productivity. Second, businesses need to consider how they will compare the productivity of their employees. This can be difficult to do, as each employee may have different productivity levels.

Finally, businesses need to consider the impact of work measurement on employee morale. If employees feel that their productivity is being constantly monitored, they may become demotivated and less productive. Therefore, it is important for businesses to carefully consider the challenges of work measurement before implementing it in their workplace.

Techniques of work measurement

Work measurement is a process of identifying a suitable time period to perform a particular task. Various techniques of work measurement are as follows:

1. Synthesis method: It defines the standard data required to perform a task derived from the past time study of other tasks.
2. Time study: It is a proper form of observation to define a performance standard. In other words, it involves recording time to perform a particular job.
3. Activity sampling: It is a work measurement method that helps measure time dedicated by an employee to a particular task from a pool of a large number of observations.
4. Analytical estimating: Under this work measurement technique, an activity is divided into different tasks, and then an estimated time is allotted. If a company is able to determine the time from a similar source, then the same is applied to the original task. Otherwise, estimated time based on work experience is used.
5. Predetermined motion: This technique focuses on determining the time based on basic human movements, that is, their nature and the environment in which they work.

Common Mistakes

There are certain common mistakes that are committed by students while studying work measurement. They either underestimate the time required to complete a task and end up taking more time than necessary, or overestimate it and get frustrated when they cannot finish in the allotted time. Students mainly get confused between work measurement and time study. Work measurement is a process of allocating time to a particular task or an activity. On the other hand, time study is the process of tracking the time taken by employees to complete a task using a device. Work measurement is done prior to conducting a time study.

Context and Applications

Work measurement is a fundamental topic in operations management and is important for other courses of study like Masters in Business Administration, Diploma Course in Service Management, Bachelors in Business Administration, and Post Graduate Diploma in Management (Operations).

Related Concepts

While studying work measurement, it is important to read the following topics to understand the concept better:

• Job design
• Job satisfaction
• Productivity
• Operation management
• Management

Practice Problems

1. Which work measurement technique identifies the required time to perform a task from the past timed study of another task?

1. Pre-determined motion
2. Synthesis method
3. Activity sampling
4. None of the above

Answer: b

Explanation: The synthesis method identifies the required time to perform a task from the past timed study of another task.

2. Work management focuses on ________.

1. Making goals
2. Job enlargement
3. Product prices
4. Idea management

Answer: b

Explanation: Work measurement mainly focuses on job enlargement. This is done to promote various job-related activities such as job roles, job rotation, job descriptions, and job specifications.

3. Recording time to perform a job is termed as _______.

1. Quality time
2. Job design
3. Time study
4. Functional time

Answer: c

Explanation: Time study is the process of recording the time to complete a task using a device.

4. Which of the following is a benefit of work measurement?

1. Eliminate ineffective time
2. Maximize required time to perform a job
3. Accurately measures the output
4. None of the above

Answer: a

Explanation: Work measurement enables businesses in identifying the appropriate time required while eliminating ineffective time to perform a job.

5. Which time measurement technique is based on human emotions?

1. Synthesis method
2. Activity sampling
3. Time study
4. Pre-determined motions

Answer: d

Explanation: Pre-determined motions is the technique used to identify required time based on human emotions and basic movements.