What are Work Measurement Standards?
Work measurement standards were originally developed at the beginning of the 20th Century. They are also sometimes referred to as time and motion studies. Despite the fact that they have been around for a long time they are not widely used. This is because their purposes are not well understood. Their application has been subject to controversy.
Work measurement standards are nothing more than a procedure that identifies the time required to complete each part of the activity being performed. The sum of the individual time elements then becomes the amount of time required to accomplish a task or series of tasks.
The strength of this tool of analysis is that allows for a calculation of how many units of measure can be processed in a given period. This process makes required labor hour planning more predictable than it would otherwise be.
The weakness of the tool is that the results can be interpreted too strictly and become the goal that all participants are required to achieve. This interpretation is counterproductive.
Proper use of the tool is to construct the standard with a close but not exact time for each operation. The person preparing the standard should be able to perform the measured task for a period of one to two hours at the stated rate. In other words the task rate per hour must be comfortably sustainable to be adapted as the planning rate.
Work measurement information should never serve as the sole criteria for job performance evaluation. Job performance evaluations must be made by the appropriate supervisor. A job performance evaluation consists of many components which are in addition to work measurement performance.
Buy our e-book Vocational Success for only $47.00 now.
It brings together all the procedures and tools that allow you to improve the productivity of your enterprise while providing you with the success which you deserve.
Click on the tab in the left column.