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OCR for page 35
5 JOB DESIGN
The introduction of advanced manufacturing technology
offers an opportunity for companies to reexamine job
design in their plants. In the 1970s, many companies
started this reexamination, whether or not they were
introducing new technology, because they recognized that
jobs designed in traditional ways failed to motivate
employees to do their best. Many of the changes intro-
duced at that time, such as work teams and multiskilled
workers, led to increased productivity and employee
motivation in plants that introduced little or no new
technology.
Manager. who did not redesign jobs during the earlier
period may now be able to appreciate the potential value
of these innovations when used with AMT. When these
innovations are used along with the introduction of AMT,
especially computer-aided manufacturing, they can be even
more effective than when used with traditional teabnol-
ogy. Many of the plants visited by the committee used
the introduction of new technology as an opportunity to
introduce the job design innovations discussed above, as
well as to innovate further.
IMPLICATIONS OF ANT FOR JOB DESIGN CRI=RIA
Advanced manufacturing technology in taking over many
of the discrete and repetitive activities that workers
previously performed. Activities of this type that
workers continue to perform (e.g., loading and unloading
a machine) are required at less frequent intervals. They
are being replaced by such activities as adjusting or
stopping a machine when it in not doing what it was
designed to do, or notifying maintenance or supervisory
35
OCR for page 36
36
personnel when a problem exists. The need for such
activities is unpredictable, so the worker must be
constantly alert to how the machines are performing.
Knowing what action to take requires diagnosis, which
calls for information sharing and problem solving among
workers and maintenance and supervisory personnel. The
more integrated the types of advanced manufacturing
technology, the more important it is for each worker to
be alert, share information, and act quickly.
With traditional technologies, close supervision can
partially compensate for a lack of internal motivation
among those who are asked to perform repetitive, short-
cycle activities. Close supervision does not work,
however, with the new technologies that require alertness
and problem solving. The premium on internal motivation
increases as the technology increasingly requires
intellectual rather than physical effort and fewer
workers to produce the same output.
The shortcomings of job design criteria that have been
used for 7S years are not as obvious with traditional
technologies an with AMT. Theme criteria lead to
designing jobs by drawing boundaries around sets of
discrete activities and assigning one job per worker.
The boundaries are often drawn so that no worker is idle
while another is busy and so that the amount of skill
required for each job is limited. With the new technol-
ogies, workers need broader skills, their activities do
not fall neatly within consistent boundaries, and workers
without sufficiently broad skills can cause expensive
down-time and repairs.
Companies are still exper imenting with approaches
to job design that will best complement ANT, but the
underlying philosophy t~ clear. New jobs need to be
designed no that they (1) identify the boundaries that
distinquish one job from another, even though such
boundaries are more open than before, (2) reflect the
contributions that workers can make to the production
process, and (3) motivate workers to make these
contributions.
FEWER JOB CLASSIFICATIONS
The committee found a decrease in the number of job
classifications used at nearly every existing site that
introduced new technology. For every greenfield site
that could be compared to an existing similar plant with
OCR for page 37
37
conventional technology, the greenfield site had fewer
cLa~if ications.
The new technology is conducive to fewer job
classif ications. The activities created by ANT, for
example, as well as those that remain after eliminating
some of the repetitive, short-cycle activities, are much
alike, such as monitoring and maintenance. Less need
exists, therefore, to differentiate between jobs made up
of similar activities in different part. of the factory.
When more people have the came classification and are
capable of performing the same activities, managers have
greater flexibility in assigning people where needed in
the factory. Also, the administration of the wage system
is simpler. Sites where job classification. were reduced
with the introduction of new technology include the
following:
· A unionized automobile components plant (M), with a
360 million flexible manufacturing system (FMS), planned
to have three hourly job classifications, two skilled and
one unskilled. In a unionized assembly plant (I) of the
same company, job classifications were reduced from 200
to 34.
· An engine plant (C) had only two job clas~ifica-
tions, resource and ~technicians..
· A manufacturer of military vehicle components
(plant D), with an FMS, had one job classification,
system operator, which was equivalent to the highest
machine operator in other departments.
· A nonunion plant (N) of an electronics company had
fewer job classification. after introducing ANT, with one
department going from seven job classifications to just
one.
As further examples of reductions in job classifica-
tions, committee member. offered the following:
· An aerospace company with 530 employees at ~
unionized plant (R1) eliminated 39 classifications.
Another of its unionized plants (R2) with 95 employees
went from 20 to 5 classifications. At its nonunion
plant (R3), the work was structured into five versatile
and flexible classifications.
· An engine company with a nonunion plant (SI)
structured its manufacturing, maintenance, and support
work into seven job classifications for 550 hourly
employees. Its new unionized plant (S2) had five job
OCR for page 38
38
f
classification. for 4SO hourly workers. Another of its
unionized plants (S3), which contains a SS5 million EMS,
planned to have just three versatile job classif ications
for 100 employees.
BROADENED SCOPE OF WOR:Y AND MUI`TIP~E SKILLS
Reducing the number of classifications was almost
always accompanied by broadening the scope of activities
in each classification. Typically, job classifications
were associated with increased skills, either by increas-
ing the number of machines or the territory for which
workers were responsible, or by systematically rotating
workers through a number of different jobs.
Broadening the scope of work can offer two advantages:
reducing overhead costs by transferring functions from
support personnel to direct labor, and combining jobs to
minimize waiting time for services. It is difficult to
justify machines sitting idle, for example, while waiting
for a maintenance worker to perform simple maintenance.
Workers whose jobs are not redefined when ANT is
.mplemented are likely to have too little to do. Workers
with one machine each, for example, may have too much
idle time after many of their activities are automated.
Providing workers with multiple skill. so that ansign-
ments can be broadened can help eliminate that problem.
An will be seen in Chapter 8, jobs can be designed no
that both managers and workers benef it. Managers gain
f legibility and better use of workers.
meaningful work, usually at higher pay.
i
Workers gain more
The new job titles reflect the broader range of
workers' skills as well as the general nature of their
contributions to the production process. Common titles
in plants with AMT are system operator, cell manager,
system technician, automated factory mechanic, operating
technician, owner operator, and system attendant.
Examples of broadening the scope of work include these
additional responsibilities taken on by machine operators:
routine machine maintenance and service: greasing
chucks, oiling machines, maintaining coolant conditions,
and performing housekeeping tacker
~ simple troubleshooting and debugging (short of
machine controller electronics);
~ staple NC Chine program~ings
OCR for page 39
39
· increased responsibility for quality: in-proces~
inspection and statistical process control, with emphasis
on prevention of discrepancies instead of detection after
the f act:
· tool grinding and repair; and
· increased decision making on scheduling and machine
use.
Underlying these trends are changes not only in tech-
nology, but in managers' views of workers' capabilities.
The managers interviewed generally thought that many
workers, even without additional training, could do
more than they have been asked to do. They could, for
example, apply skills they use outside of work (such as
home repairs or automobile maintenance) to their jobs.
Managers do not yet know the degree of challenge and
responsibility that workers are willing and able to
accept. To the extent that workers want to undertake
training and develop new abilities, management's role is
to challenge and motivate them. The managers interviewed
recognized that not every worker wants responsibility and
challenge. Some lack capabilities; others would find
change difficult after years under the current system.
The consensus, however, was that most would welcome
change and challenge.
One manufacturing executive (plant S3) emphasized the
importance of explicit consideration of job design and
broadened scope of work. Looking back on the company 'a
IS-year experience as a leader in direct numerical
control (DNC), he commented: land to think that we
ignored all human resource angles except basic training.
We just superimposed NC and DNC on the traditional setup
with little consideration of job enrichment. We even
introduced expensive NC and DNC equipment into a plant
with piecework incentive pay without any consideration of
simultaneous multiple machine operation or other job
enrichment. We were either lacking in imagination or too
timid to rock the boat and try something new. We
achieved some benefits, but not as much for the company
or its workers as was possible..
After deciding to broaden the scope of work and have
multiskilled workers, plant S3 and many of the plants
visited derived considerably greater benefits from ANT,
as shown in the following examples:
· In the previous 2 years, the plant manager of a
2,100 person manufacturing operation (S3) had reduced
OCR for page 40
40
1
the number of inspectors by SO--and had achieved better
quality at less cost--by increasing operators' responsi-
bilities for quality. Because the change was made during
a period of growth, inspectors were reduced only by
attrition.
· When workers in a unionized engine plant (S3) said
that they could and would like to run several NC machines
each, instead of only one, management not only agreed but
paid generous suggestion awards and no workers were laid
off. That unit wan being set up as a team without a
foreman.
· A number of semiskilled tasks--parts and tool
staging, certain setups, routine maintenance, and
shipping and receiving--were grouped into one job
classification in plant S3. The purpose was to increase
job quality and make the job more interesting. At a
higher classification in the same plant, the job of
automated factory mechanic included machining skills,
coordinate Teaser ing setups , and sophisticated mach ine
diagnosis and repair.
· A nonunion plant (G) of an electronics equipment
company created an downer operator. job title. With AMT,
owner operators had a -treater range of ~kills. They were
responsible for quality and throughput at one or more
machines and contributed to cost reduction. The machine
and its immediate environment constituted a snail
factory; owner operators ran their own work stations and
took pride in owning as well as operating them.
O At a unionized components plant (M) of an auto-
mobile company, the unskilled and semiskilled work was
made multi~killed by including these tasks: monitor and
maintain equipment performancet maintain tool setups;
receive, distribute, organize, and audit inventories;
repackage vendor materiales and perform minor maintenance
and housekeeping.
e In an electronic. equipment company (plant A), the
midakilled machine controller assigned to automated lines
combined sophisticated operating skills with an increas-
ing number of maintenance ~kills.
· A number of companies were cross-training their
highly skilled crafts people into a common multi~killed
work force. An assembly plant (I) of an automobile
company reported a consequent large increase in esprit de
corps among its skilled trades. At another company, the
maintenance technicians were expected to take on more
engineering skills.
OCR for page 41
41
WORK TEAMS
A work team is responsible for a clearly identi f fable
part of a product or a major part of a process. Jobs for
teams are usually open-ended, allowing team members to
assign and coordinate jobs. With relatively few rules
and regulations, team members are given discretion in
pursuing the team's goals. The supervisors facilitate
the team's work and provide technical assistance.
Many of the sites visited used teams, but their
approaches varied. In some organizations, each team
had a supervisor; in others, where teams had more self-
management, an individual supervisor was responsible for
several teams.
The use of work teams gives team members practice
in decision making and a greater appreciation of what
the management function entails. Members develop and
exercise interpersonal skills for solving problems,
building consensus, planning, and resolving conflicts.
They may find that performing and coordinating the jobs
assigned to a team offers greater challenge and involve-
ment than performing any one job alone. Finally, because
the team is assigned an identifiable part of the product
or process, members more clearly see the relationship
between a specific job and a larger goal.
· A new components plant (M) of an automobile company
was planning to implement a shift operation group of 20
hourly employees--twelve system attendants, four machine
repair workers, and four electricians--backed up by a
maintenance engineer and a quality engineer on each
shift, plus one factory control administrator. Four
zones, each with four or five different machine func-
tions, would each have a team. Efforts were under way
to develop team spirit for the entire group.
e A plant (C) of an engine company divided the
shop-floor work force into about 20 teams of
~technicians,. with 20 to 30 workers per team. The
teams had different, evolving styles an all teams
approached self-management. Almost all had informal
team leaders, some rotating the post among members.
Some teams met daily, and some met weekly to discuss
problems. The work in each team had been analyzed and
divided into 30 to 50 modules per team. Teem members
were expected to learn and progress in mastering the
modules over the years.
OCR for page 42
42
· A manufacturer of military vehicle components
(plant D) had S to 20 workers per team with a team
manager who acted as a facilitator. The degree of
self-management varied with the skill of the manager/
facilitator.
· An engine plant (S4) had a Elf-managing multi-
skilled work force called Teas A in each of several shop
operation categories. Team A interacted with, but was
not supervised by, a Smaller multiskilled Team B of
personnel from manufacturing and support functions such
as quality.
Team members rotate between tasks and, in some
companies, between shifts. In a number of companies with
FMS, for example, the lower skilled .aystem attendants,.
.aystem technicians,. and .stagers. were rotated among
tasks to minimize boredom and maintain their skills.
Other approaches include the following:
· At a unionized plant (M), workers were required to
rotate between jobs at fixed intervals to ensure that
they developed and maintained the multiple skills for
which they were receiving higher pay.
· At an electronics equipment company (plant A) , the
five operators on the automated logic unit line rotated
responsibilities for different facets of the line,
especially one task regarded as tedious. Each team
member was a master of particular aspects of the system,
a special expertise to be called on to deal with
difficult problems.
~ A machine tool company (plant P) had a team of
workers to run its FMS cells. Each Member was respon-
~ible for the unit, not just for one machine, as in the
past. They were concerned with a complex of machines and
described themselves as having the new and exciting role
of Machine managers.. In addition, the programmers were
located behind a glass wall through which they could see
the machines they program, in order to increase their
familiarity with the machines and machine menage ret
WORRER INVOLVEMENT
At most of the sites visited, the new jobs were
supplemented by improved cam~unication and a new approach
to management. Workers were expected to participate
regularly with supervisors in establishing procedures and
OCR for page 43
43
improving operations, quality, and the work environment.
The following examples were observed:
· Employees who would be working in an automobile
components plant (M) were asked to review the lighting
system and recommend changes in the plant engineer's
plan. Their extensive recommendations were adopted.
They were also asked to decide which of the three shifts
would be unstaffed (nobody on the shop floor). They
chose the second shift.
· An engine company (plant O) held off-site meetings
with representatives of all groups (inspectors, skilled
trades, operators, union officials, management) to
discuss all aspects of an FMS installation, including job
design. Comments on specific problems were asked for and
considered.
e At an engine plant (C), technicians who were
progressing to a higher work module wrote a work plan
stating what they needed to learn, how that would be
done, and what kind of improvements would be sought
in the job. The technicians then worked with the
~resources. (support personnel) in developing specific
improvements.
· In plants A, E, and F. work teams met 1 hour a week
off the plant floor. Communications from management were
presented to teams at these meetings, and minutes of the
meetings were given to manufacturing engineers.
e At an electronics equipment plant (A), department
managers and their staffs regularly participated in
Corrective action teams.. At the time of the site
visit, the teams were focusing on product quality.
· At a material handling equipment company (plant J),
each Cell manager. decided how to organize shifts for
operation 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
· At a military vehicle plant (D), worker represen-
tatives defined procedures for bidding on new jobs.
CAREER ADVANCEMENT
A system of many job classifications with highly
specialized distinctions and complicated wage categories
limits on-the-job learning, personal development, and
career advancement. At most of the sites studied, the
newly designed jobs were viewed as opportunities for the
work force to overcome these limitations. Many of the
mites had developed clear personnel progression plans.
OCR for page 44
44
At some sites, manual assemblers had the opportunity
to develop into computer operators and applications
programmers.
In general, the new technology, particularly the more
integrated systems, tends to upgrade the average skill
level of workers. At an electronics manufacturing
plant (A), for example, lower skilled assembly jobs were
eliminated, manual assemblers progressed to the more
complicated units, testing jobs became more complicated,
and the maintenance jobs became more technically
difficult. Workers generally perceived the ANT jobs (and
the associated training) as more attractive than the jobs
they replaced, and as making workers more marketable in
the local labor market.
PRECONDITIONS AND PITFALLS
Workers may not be motivated to learn the skills
needed for broadened and multiskilled jobs unless
managers develop a culture that values and rewards
learning, personal development, and problem solving.
Managers' communication and reinforcement of values,
therefore, should include (I) providing opportunities for
workers to get the training and education they need to
qualify for better jobs, and (2) rewarding with higher
pay those who accept the.challenge; In short, the plant
culture practices described in Chapter 3 appear to be a
necessary accompaniment to the job design practices in
this chapter.
Reducing job classifications and introducing broad-
scoped, multiskilled jobs in existing plants, especially
union plants, are more easily done when the company can
offer workers employment in other parts of the company or
can guarantee that any reductions in the work force will
be handled by attrition only. Unless both managers and
worker. benefit from any changes undertaken, they do not
have an incentive to try to make any proposed changes
succeed.
Two of the sites visited used a new .supergrade. job
claselfication for ANT to protect workers trained for ANT
fras the consequences of having low seniority. That is,
workers with seniority in other job classifications would
not be able to bum - . workers in the new classification.
In these cases, the number of job classifications
increased by one. Suab supergrades can be expedients for
recruiting and retaining workers in jobs. If used
OCR for page 45
as
repeatedly, however, they will distort the plant's job
classification system and prevent managers and workers
from effectively combining ANT and new human resource
practices.
In addition, workers who become multiskilled will not
necessarily use their skills when and where needed. A
supervisor may believe that one worker is more qualified
than the others at a particular task and persist in
assigning that worker to the task. As a result, the
skill level of the other workers may deteriorate from
disuse. Similarly, in self-managed teams, team members
may fall into a pattern of performing only certain tasks.
Not only is the value of multiple skills undermined in
such cases, but a company that is paying workers higher
wages for their skills and knowledge will not be
receiving sufficient benefits in return. Systematic
rotation of team members between jobs has been one
strategy used to avoid such work habits.
The company will be more vulnerable to the conse-
quence~ of turnover if it has invested more money and
other resources in training workers for the new ANT job..
Thin vulnerability will require managers to place special
emphasis on developing a culture that encourages commit-
ment and loyalty between the company and its employees.
It will challenge managers to design a reward structure
that recognizes achievement and allows workers to better
themselves by staying with the company.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
job design
