MGMT 3-11

IMPLEMENTING CONCEPTS OF WORK DESIGN
Combining Tasks
Putting together separate tasks to
form newer and larger modules of work
Forming Natural Work Units
Distributing work in a logical way so that a worker hasownership
- a sense of continuing responsibility for an identifiable body of work
Establishing Client Relationships
Identifying who the client is
Establishing direct links with the client
Setting up criteria by which the client can judge
quality of the product or service
Establishing means to relay judgments
Contact should be as great as possible and as frequent as necessary.
Face to face contact is highly desirable, at least occasionally.
It is best to have criteria that are mutually understood and agreed upon.
Vertical Loading
Add to the job responsibilities and controls
formerly reserved for higher level management
Granting discretion in areas such as the following:
• setting schedules (e.g., rotation, overtime)
• deciding on work methods and standards (justifying improvements to managers and engineers)
• checking quality
• advising and training less experienced workers
• doing preventative maintainence
• deciding when to stop and start work, when to break, how to assign priorities
• engage in seeking problem solutions on one's own
• control over budgets and other financial aspects of the job
• selection of new hires, team leaders, and others in roles of consequence to the individual/team
Opening Feedback Channels
Removing existing blocks to naturally occuring
job provided data about performance

• Putting QC in the hands of workers and not quality control inspectors
• Provide standard summaries of performance records directly to the workers
• Programming computers and other automated operations to indicate errors and/or generate positive feedback messages