ch 7

Chapter 7: Work Design & Measurement (26 cards)

  1. Q: What is job design?
    A: Deciding the content and methods of a job (what, who, how, where).

  2. Q: Why does job design matter?
    A: It affects productivity, safety, and quality of work life (QWL).

  3. Q: What is the efficiency school of job design?
    A: A systematic approach focused on efficiency/output (Taylor/scientific management).

  4. Q: What is the behavioral school of job design?
    A: Focus on worker needs/satisfaction to improve motivation/performance.

  5. Q: Efficiency school vs behavioral school in one line?
    A: Efficiency = do the job faster/better; Behavioral = make the job better for the worker.

  6. Q: What is specialization?
    A: Repeating a narrow set of tasks (one part of a product/service).

  7. Q: Management advantages of specialization?
    A: Easier training, higher productivity, lower wage costs.

  8. Q: Employee advantages of specialization?
    A: Lower skill requirements, less responsibility, less mental effort.

  9. Q: Management disadvantages of specialization?
    A: Motivation/quality problems; dissatisfaction → absenteeism/turnover/disruptive behavior/poor quality attention.

  10. Q: Employee disadvantages of specialization?
    A: Monotony, few advancement opportunities, little control, low self-fulfillment.

  11. Q: Big idea about specialization?
    A: Boosts efficiency but can hurt motivation and quality if overdone.

  12. Q: What is job enlargement?
    A: Adding more tasks at the same responsibility level (horizontal loading).

  13. Q: What is job rotation?
    A: Switching jobs periodically to reduce boredom and build skills.

  14. Q: What is job enrichment?
    A: Adding responsibility/control (planning and coordination) (vertical loading).

  15. Q: Enlargement vs rotation vs enrichment?
    A: Enlargement = more tasks; Rotation = different tasks; Enrichment = more responsibility.

  16. Q: Why do motivation and trust matter in work design?
    A: They affect quality, productivity, and the work environment.

  17. Q: What are short-term teams?
    A: Teams created to solve a specific problem/topic.

  18. Q: What are long-term teams?
    A: Ongoing teams for continuing work.

  19. Q: What are self-directed teams?
    A: Teams empowered to make certain process changes themselves.

  20. Q: Benefits of teams?
    A: Higher quality, higher productivity, greater worker satisfaction.

  21. Q: Common team problems?
    A: Managers feel threatened; conflict between members.

  22. Q: What is quality of work life (QWL)?
    A: Workers’ overall well-being and satisfaction at work.

  23. Q: What factors influence QWL?
    A: Coworker relationships, management quality, working conditions, compensation.

  24. Q: Time-based pay means what?
    A: Pay based on time worked (hourly/salary).

  25. Q: Output-based pay means what?
    A: Pay based on amount produced (incentive).

  26. Q: Big tradeoff: time-based vs output-based pay?
    A: Time-based = stable/easy; Output-based = stronger incentive but variable pay and possible quality issues.