Lecture Operations management: Creating value along the supply chain (Canadian edition) - Chapter 8

OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT:
Creating Value Along the Supply Chain,
Canadian Edition
Robert S. Russell, Bernard W. Taylor III, Ignacio Castillo, Navneet Vidyarthi

CHAPTER 8
Human Resources

1


Learning Objectives
— Discuss the basic principles of human resources management

that quality-focused companies follow.
— Explain the history and principles of scientific management and

subsequent employee motivation theories.
— Discuss contemporary trends in human resources

management.
— Explain different methods of employee compensation.
— Discuss current issues relating to employee diversity, including

examples of diversity initiatives.
— Describe factors that must be considered in good job design.
— Use a process flowchart, a worker–machine chart, and motion

study to examine how work is done.
— Use learning curves for measuring work improvement,

planning, and scheduling.

8-2


Lecture Outline
— Human Resources and Quality

Management
— Changing Nature of Human Resources
Management
— Contemporary Trends in Human
Resources Management
— Employee Compensation
— Managing Diversity in Workplace
— Job Design
— Job Analysis
— Learning Curves

8-3


Human Resources and Quality
Management
— Employees play important

role in quality
management
— Most successful
companies, including

Canada Awards for
Excellence (CAE)
winners, have a pervasive
human resource focus
— Employee training and
education are recognized
as necessary long-term
investments

— Employees have power

to make decisions that
will improve quality and
customer service
— Strategic goals for quality
and customer
satisfaction require
teamwork and group
participation

8-4


Changing Nature of Human
Resources Management
— Scientific management
• Breaking down jobs into
elemental activities and
simplifying job design
— Jobs

• Comprise a set of tasks,
elements, and job motions
(basic physical
movements)
— In a piece-rate wage

system, pay is based on
output

— Assembly-line
• Production meshed with
principles of scientific
management
— Advantages of task

specialization

• High output, low costs,

and minimal training

— Disadvantages of

task specialization
• Boredom, lack of

motivation, and physical
and mental fatigue

8-5

Employee Motivation
—Motivation
• willingness to work hard because

that effort satisfies an employee
need

—Improving Motivation
• positive reinforcement and

feedback
• effective organization and

discipline
• fair treatment of people
• satisfaction of employee needs
• setting of work-related goals

—Improving Motivation

(cont.)
• design of jobs to fit

employee
• work responsibility
• empowerment
• restructuring of jobs when

necessary
• rewards based on

company as well as
individual performance
• achievement of company

goals

8-6


Evolution of Theories of
Employee Motivation
Abraham Maslow’s Pyramid of
Human Needs

Douglas McGregor’s
Theory X and Theory Y

•

Selfactualization
•

Esteem
Social
Safety/Security
Physiological (financial)

Theory X Employee
•
Dislikes work
•
Must be coerced
•
Shirks responsibility
•
Little ambition
•
Security top motivator
Theory Y Employee
•
Work is natural
•
Self-directed
•
Controlled
•
Accepts responsibility
•
Makes good decisions

Frederick Herzberg’s
Hygiene/Motivation
Theories
•

•

Hygiene Factors
•
Company policies
•
Supervision
•
Working conditions
•
Interpersonal relations
•
Salary, status, security
Motivation Factors
•
Achievement
•
Recognition
•
Job interest
•
Responsibility
•
Growth
•
Advancement

8-7


Contemporary Trends in Human
Resources Management

— Job training
• extensive and varied
• two of Deming’s 14 points refer
to employee education and
training
— Cross Training
• an employee learns more than

one job

— Job rotation
• horizontal movement between
two or more jobs according to a
plan

— Empowerment
• giving employees

authority to make
decisions

— Teams
• group of employees

work on problems in
their immediate work
area

8-8

Contemporary Trends in Human
Resources Management
— Job enrichment
• vertical enlargement
•

allows employees control over their
work

• horizontal enlargement
•

an employee is assigned a
complete unit of work with defined
start and end

— Flexible work schedules
• part of a daily work schedule
in which employees can
choose time of arrival and
departure

— Alternative workplace
• nontraditional work location

— Telecommuting
• employees work electronically

from a location they choose

— Temporary and part-time

employees

• mostly in fast-food and

restaurant chains, retail
companies, package delivery
services, and financial firms

8-9


Employee Compensation
—Types of pay
—hourly wage
•

the longer someone works, the more s/he is paid

—individual incentive or piece rate
•
employees are paid for the number of units they produce during the
workday
—straight salary
•
common form of payment for management
—commissions
•

usually applied to sales and salespeople

8-10


Employee Compensation
—Gainsharing
—an incentive plan joins employees in a
common effort to achieve company goals in
which they share in the gains
—Profit sharing
—sets aside a portion of profits for employees at
year’s end

8-11


Managing Diversity in Workplace
—Workforce has become more diverse
—A survey of Fortune 1000 companies showed that
diversity initiatives and programs can have a beneficial
effect on company profits and success
—The Conference Board of Canada estimates that the
country needs 375,000 new immigrants annually to
stabilize the workforce and ensure economic growth
—Companies must develop a strategic approach to

managing diversity

8-12

Affirmative Action and Managing
Diversity
— Affirmative action
• an outgrowth of laws and
regulations
• government initiated and
mandated
• contains goals and timetables
designed to increase level of
participation by women and
minorities to attain parity
levels in a company’s
workforce
• not directly concerned with
increasing company success
or increasing profits

— Managing diversity
• process of creating a work
environment in which all
employees can contribute to
their full potential in order to
achieve a company’s goals
• voluntary in nature, not
mandated
• seeks to improve internal
communications and
interpersonal relationships,

resolve conflict, and increase
product quality, productivity,
and efficiency

8-13


Diversity Management Programs

— Education
— Awareness
— Communication
— Fairness
— Commitment

8-14


Global Diversity Issues
— Cultural, language, geography
— significant barriers to managing a globally diverse workforce
— E-mails, faxes, Internet, phones, air travel
— make managing a global workforce possible but not necessarily

effective

— How to deal with diversity?
— identify critical cultural elements
— learn informal rules of communication
— use a third party who is better able to bridge cultural gap

— become culturally aware and learn foreign language
— teach employees cultural norm of organization

8-15


Attributes of Good Job Design
— An appropriate degree of

repetitiveness
— An appropriate degree of
attention and mental
absorption
— Some employee
responsibility for decisions
and discretion
— Employee control over
their own job

— Goals and achievement

feedback
— A perceived contribution
to a useful product or
service
— Opportunities for personal
relationships and
friendships
— Some influence over the
way work is carried out in

groups
— Use of skills
8-16


Factors in Job Design
—Task analysis
—how tasks fit together to form a job
—Worker analysis
—determining worker capabilities and responsibilities
for a job
—Environment analysis
—physical characteristics and location of a job
—Ergonomics
—fitting task to person in a work environment
—Technology and automation
—broadened scope of job design
8-17


Elements of Job Design

8-18


Job Analysis
—Method Analysis (work methods)
—Study methods used in the work included in the job to
see how it should be done
—Use a variety of charts that illustrate in different ways how

a job or work process is done

8-19


Process Flowchart Symbols
Operation:

An activity directly contributing to product or service
Transportation:

Moving the product or service from one location to another
Inspection:

Examining the product or service for completeness,
irregularities, or quality
Delay:

Process having to wait
Storage:

Store of the product or service

8-20


Process Flowchart

8-21

Worker-Machine Chart
Job Photo-Id Cards
Time
(min)
Operator

–1

Date
Time
(min)

10/14

Photo Machine

Key in customer data
on card

2.6

Idle

Feed data card in

0.4

Accept card

–3

Position customer for photo

1.0

Idle

–4

Take picture

0.6

Begin photo process

Idle

3.4

Photo/card processed

Inspect card & trim edges

1.2

Idle

–2

–5
–6
–7
–8
–9

8-22


Worker-Machine Chart: Summary
Summary
Operator Time

%

Photo Machine Time

%

Work

5.8

63

4.8

52

Idle

3.4

37

4.4

48

Total

9.2 min

100%

9.2 Min

100%

8-23


Motion Study

•
•
•
•

Used to ensure efficiency of motion in a job

Frank & Lillian Gilbreth
Find one “best way” to do task
Use videotape to study motions

8-24


Motion Study Guidelines

•

Efficient Use Of Human Body
•

Work
•

•

Hand/arm motions
•

•
•

coordinated and simultaneous

Employ full extent of physical capabilities
Conserve energy
•

•

simplified, rhythmic and symmetric

use machines, minimize distances, use momentum

Tasks
•

simple, minimal eye contact and muscular effort, no
unnecessary motions, delays or idleness

8-25