PRODUCT DESIGN AND ERGONOMICS CHAITHRA B K

|| Jai Sri Gurudev ||

Sri Adichunchanagiri Shikshana Trust®

S J B INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
(Affiliated to Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belagavi
&
Approved by AICTE, New Delhi. Accredited with NAAC ‘A’ grade)

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Course Material

Semester & Section: 7th Semester

Subject Name : Product Design and ergonomics
Subject Code : 21ME744
Faculty Name : Chaithra B K
Designation : Assistant Professor

Academic year: ODD Semester-2024 -25

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CONTENTS

1. Vision, Mission

2. POs, PSOs & PEOs

3. Blooms Taxonomy

4. Objectives and Outcomes

5. Course Syllabus

6. Lecture Notes (Unit-wise)

a. Notes

b. Assignment Question with self-learning Materials

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Vision of the Institute

• To become a recognized technical education center with global perspective.

Mission of the Institute

To provide learning opportunities that fosters students ethical values,
intelligent development in science & technology and social responsibility
so that they become sensible and contributing members of the society.

Vision of the Department

• To become a center of excellence and a platform in diversified fields for the
aspirants in Mechanical Engineering.

Mission of the Department

• To impart comprehensive education in the field of mechanical engineering to
produce highly accomplished graduates
• To endow high profile technical & soft skill trainings to foster professionalism
and ethical values among students
• To inculcate innovative thinking among students through projects and research
work

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PROGRAM OUTCOMES
Engineering Graduates will be able to:
1. Engineering knowledge: Apply the knowledge of mathematics, science, engineering fundamentals, and an
engineering specialization to the solution of complex engineering problems.
2. Problem analysis: Identify, formulate, review research literature, and analyze complex engineering problems
reaching substantiated conclusions using first principles of mathematics, natural sciences, and engineering
sciences.
3. Design/development of solutions: Design solutions for complex engineering problems and design system
components or processes that meet the specified needs with appropriate consideration for the public health and
safety, and the cultural, societal, and environmental considerations.
4. Conduct investigations of complex problems: Use research-based knowledge and research methods including
design of experiments, analysis and interpretation of data, and synthesis of the information to provide valid
conclusions.
5. Modern tool usage: Create, select, and apply appropriate techniques, resources, and modern engineering and IT
tools including prediction and modeling to complex engineering activities with an understanding of the limitations.
6. The engineer and society: Apply reasoning informed by the contextual knowledge to assess societal ,health,
safety ,legal and cultural issues and the consequent responsibilities relevant to the professional engineering
practice.
7. Environment and sustainability: Understand the impact of the professional engineering solutions in societal and
environmental contexts, and demonstrate the knowledge of, and need for sustainable development.
8. Ethics: Apply ethical principles and commit to professional ethics and responsibilities and norms of the
engineering practice.
9. Individual and teamwork: Function effectively as an individual, and as a member or leader in diverse teams, and
in multidisciplinary settings.
10. Communication: Communicate effectively on complex engineering activities with the engineering community
and with society at large, such as, being able to comprehend and write effective reports and design documentation,
make effective presentations, and give and receive clear instructions.
11. Project management and finance: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the engineering and
management principles and apply these to one’s own work, as a member and leader in a team, to manage projects
and in multidisciplinary environments.
12. Life-long learning: Recognize the need for and have the preparation and ability to engage in independent and life-
long learning in the broadest context of technological change.

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Program Educational Objectives (PEO’s)

Enable the Graduates in Mechanical Engineering to:

PEO-1: Progress their career as a professional in mechanical engineering and

Inter-disciplinary fields.
PEO-2: Become successful entrepreneur with social responsibilities and ethical
values.
PEO-3: Pursue higher education and involve in research of allied areas in
Mechanical Engineering.

Program Specific Outcomes (PSO’s)

After successful completion of Mechanical Engineering program, the graduates will be able
to:

PSO1: Apply the Knowledge & Skill of Mechanical Engineering on Design, Manufacturing
and Thermal platforms to address the real-life problem of the society.
PSO2: Design and implement new ideas with the help of CAD/CAM and Industrial
Automation tools.

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Blooms Taxonomy

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Credit System (CBCS) and Outcome Based Education (OBE)
SEMESTER – VII

Product Design and Ergonomics

Course Code 21ME744 CIE Marks 50
Teaching Hours/Week (L:T:P) 3:0:0 SEE Marks 50
Credits 03 Exam Hours 03

Course Learning Objectives:

Course objectives:
Understanding the user-centred design process including form and colour theory.
Understanding product metamorphosis, and ergonomics..
Implement the principles of ergonomics and how to apply the principles to industrial design.
Understand the importance and techniques of human biological data collection and experiments.
Obtain a knowledge and ability towards Accident Investigation and Safety Management.

Module-1

Introduction to Product Design: Asimows Model : Definition of product design, Design by Evaluation, Design by
Innovation, Essential Factors of Product Design, Flow and Value Addition in the Production-Consumption Cycle.The
Morphology of Design (The seven Phase), Primary Design phase and flowcharting, role of Allowance, Process
Capability.

Module-2

Ergonomics and Industrial Design: Introduction -general approach to the man- machine relationship- workstation
design-working position. Ergonomics and Production: ergonomics and product design –ergonomics in automated
systems- expert systems for ergonomic design. Anthropometric data and its applications in ergonomic, design-
limitations of anthropometric datause of computerized database. Case study..

Module-3

Aesthetic Concepts: Concept of unity- concept of order with variety - concept of purpose style and environment
Aesthetic expressions. Style components of style- house style, observation style in capital goods, case study.

Module-4

Visual Effects of Line and Form: The mechanics of seeing- psychology of seeing general influences of line and form.

Module-5

Office Systems and Ergonomics, Ergonomics of Technology Management. Consumer Ergonomics, Ergonomics
Quality and Safety, Quality of Life

Course Outcomes: At the end of the course, the student will be able to:

C01: To learn the concept of product design and ergonomics.

C02: Design the various controls and displays by knowing the anthropometric data’s.
C03: To learn the psychology of visuals effects.
C04: Learning the different colour combinations for optimal design of engineering equipment’s.
C05: Realize the importance of environmental factors and aesthetics in industrial design. operation.

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Question paper pattern:

The question paper will have ten full questions carrying equal marks.
Each full question will be for 20 marks.
There will be two full questions (with a maximum of four sub- questions) from each module.
Each full question will have sub- question covering all the topics under a module.
The students will have to answer five full questions, selecting one full question from each module.

Textbook/s
1.Human Factors in Engineering and Design By Sanders & Mccormick (McGrawHill Publication)
2. Occupational Ergonomics – Principles and Applications By Tayyari & Smith (Chapman & Hall Publication)
3. The Power of Ergonomics as a Competitive Strategy By Gross & Right (Productivity Press)
4. Industrial Design for Engineers - Mayall W.H. - London Hiffee books Ltd. -1988.
5. Applied Ergonomics Hand Book - Brain Shakel (Edited) - Butterworth scientific. London - 1988. 6. Introduction
to Ergonomics - R. C. Bridger - McGraw Hill Publications - 1995.
6. Human Factor Engineering - Sanders & McCormick – McGraw Hill Publications – 6th edition, 2002.
7. Ulrich, Karl T, Eppinger, Steven D, ‘Product Design and Development’, McGraw-Hill, 2004.
8. Bridger RS, ‘Introduction to Human Factors & Ergonomics’, Fourth Edition, Taylor & Francis, 2010.
9. Dul. J and Weerdmeester B, ‘Ergonomics for beginners, a quick reference guide, Taylor & Francis, 2008

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Ergonomics is the study of the interaction between people and machines and the
factors that affect the interaction. Its purpose is to improve the performance of
systems by improving human machine interaction. This can be done by ‘designing-in’
a better interface or by ‘designing-out’ factors in the work environment, in the task
or in the organisation of work that degrade human–machine performance.
Systems can be improved by
• Designing the user-interface to make it more compatible with the task and the
user. This makes it easier to use and more resistant to errors that people are
known to make.
• Changing the work environment to make it safer and more appropriate for the
task.
• Changing the task to make it more compatible with user characteristics.
• Changing the way work is organised to accommodate people’s psychological,
and social needs.
In an information processing task, we might redesign the interface so as to reduce the
load on the user’s memory (e.g. shift more of the memory load of the task onto the
computer system or redesign the information to make it more distinctive and easier
to recall). In a manual handling task, we might redesign the interface by adding
handles or using lighter or smaller containers to reduce the load on the musculoskeletal
system. Work environments can be improved by eliminating vibration and noise and
providing better seating, desking, ventilation or lighting, for example. New tasks
can be made easier to learn and to perform by designing them so that they resemble
tasks or procedures that people are already familiar with. Work organisation can
be improved by enabling workers to work at their own pace, so as to reduce the
psychophysical stresses of being ‘tied to the machine’ or by introducing subsidiary
tasks to increase the range of physical activity at work and provide contact with
others.
The implementation of ergonomics in system design should make the system work
better by eliminating aspects of system functioning that are undesireable, uncontrolled
or unaccounted for, such as
• Inefficiency – when worker effort produces sub-optimal output.
• Fatigue – in badly designed jobs people tire unnecessarily.
• Accidents, injuries and errors – due to badly designed interfaces and/or excess
stress either mental or physical.
• User difficulties – due to inappropriate combinations of subtasks making the
dialogue/interaction cumbersome and unnatural.
• Low morale and apathy.

In ergonomics, absenteeism, injury, poor quality and unacceptably high levels of

human error are seen as system problems rather than ‘people’ problems, and their
solution is seen to lie in designing a better system of work rather than in better ‘man
management’ or incentives, by ‘motivating’ workers or by introducing safety slogans
and other propaganda. The name ‘ergonomics’ comes from the Greek words ‘ergon’,
which means work and ‘nomos’ which means law.

The focus of ergonomics

The focus is on the interaction between the person and the machine and the design of the
interface between the two (Figure 1.1). Every time we use a tool or a machine we interact
with it via an interface (a handle, a steering wheel, a computer keyboard and mouse, etc.).
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We get feedback via an interface (the dashboard instrumentation in a car, the computer
screen, etc.) The way this interface is designed dertermines how easily and safely we can
use the machine. When faced with productivity problems, engineers might call for better
machines, personnel management might call for better-trained people. Ergonomists call for
a better interface and better interaction between the user and the machine – better task
design.

Human–machine systems

A system is a set of elements, the relations between these elements and the boundary
around them. Most systems consist of people and machines and perform a function
to produce some form of output. Inputs are received in the form of matter, energy
and information. For ergonomics, the human is part of the system and must be fully
integrated into it at the design stage. Human requirements are therefore system re
quirements, rather than secondary considerations and can be stated in general terms
as requirements for

• Equipment that is usable and safe

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• Tasks that are compatible with people’s expectations, limitations and training
• An environment that is comfortable and appropriate for the task
• A system of work organisation that recognises people’s social and economic needs.

Compatibility – matching demands to capabilities

Compatibility between the user and the rest of the system can be achieved at a
number of levels. Throughout this book we will encounter compatibility at the
biomechanical, anatomical, physiological, behavioural and cognitive levels. It is a
concept that is common to the application of ergonomics across a wide range of
settings and disciplines. In order to achieve compatibility, we need to assess the
demands placed by the technological and environmental constraints and weigh them
against the capabilities of the users. The database of modern ergonomics contains
much information on the capabilities and characteristics of people and one of the
main purposes of this book is to introduce the reader to this information and show
how it can be used in practice.

Ergonomic entropy (Karwowski et al., 1994) is disorder in system functioning that

occurs owing to a lack of compatibility in some or all of the interactions involving the
human operator. This incompatibility can occur for a variety of reasons, for example:

• Human requirements for optimum system functioning were never considered at

the design stage (e.g. there was a failure to consult appropriate standards, guide
lines or textbooks).

• Inappropriate task design (e.g. new devices introduce unexpected changes in the
way tasks are carried out and these are incompatible with user knowledge, habits
or capacity, or they are incompatible with other tasks).

• Lack of prototyping (e.g. modern software development is successful because it

is highly iterative; users are consulted from the conceptual stage right through
to pre-production protoypes).

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Example for office work station:

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INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING &

ERGONOMICS I

Chapter 1: Productivity

Basic needs, quality of life and productivity

In 1950 the world population stood at 2.5 billion. By the year 2000 it reached 6.12 billion, an
increase of 250 per cent in just 50 years. Over 90 per cent of that increase has occurred in developing
countries. In 2000 close to 1 billion people were living below the poverty line and struggling to
meet their basic needs. These basic needs are:

Food: Enough food every day to generate the energy needed for living and working.
Clothing: Enough clothing to afford protection from adverse weather conditions and to permit
bodily cleanliness.
Shelter: A shelter that provides protection under healthy conditions and that is equipped with
certain household equipment and furniture.
Security: Security against violence and against unemployment, and that provides for one's
personal needs in sickness or old age.
Health and essential services: Safe drinking-water, sanitation, access to energy use, medical
care, education and a means of transport.

For better-off segments of the population, the aspiration is to raise their standard of living further
and improve their quality of life. This is foreseen as an improvement in the quality of these basic
needs, and in the range and quantity available so that a person exerts the option of choice among
various alternatives, for example in housing, clothing or food. Human aspirations also extend to a
desire for a healthier and cleaner environment, cultural activities, the ability to have and make use
of leisure time in an enjoyable manner, and an income that would allow a person to support these
various endeavours.

For a society or a nation to raise the standard of living of its population, it must strive to maximize
the return from its resources or improve productivity so that the economy can grow and sustain a
better quality of life.

What is productivity?
Productivity may be defined as follows:

This definition applies in an enterprise, a sector of economic activity or the economy as a whole.
The term "productivity" can be used to assess or measure the extent to which a certain output can
be extracted from a given input. While this appears simple enough in cases where both the output
and the input are tangible and can be easily measured, productivity can be more difficult to estimate
once intangibles are introduced.
Let us take an example.
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A potter working eight hours a day produces 400 pots a month using a wood-fired kiln.

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1. Let us assume that as a result of a change in the method of work he was able to produce 500
pots a month instead of 400 with the same equipment and hours of work. Hisproductivity
calculated in terms of number of pots produced will then have increased by25 per cent.
1. Let us now assume that as a result he was unable to sell all 500 pots and had to lower his
price from $2 a pot to $1.80 a pot. If he wants to assess his productivity gain, the potter
may be more interested in using monetary terms rather than simply the number of pots
produced. He could then argue that the value of his output used to be 400 X 2 = $800 a
month and is now 500 X 1.80 = $900 a month. His input has not changed. Hence his
productivity gain is

From this deliberately simple example, one can make two observations. First, productivity was used
to measure increase in output expressed in numbers of pots produced, in the first case, and in
monetary terms in the second, giving different values in each case. In other words, depending on
what one is interested in measuring, the nature of the output and input will vary accordingly.

Second, while actual production increased in this example from 400 to 500 pots, productivity in
monetary terms did not show the same corresponding increase. This means that we have to
distinguish between increased production and increased productivity, which in this example
was measured in terms of monetary gains.

Let us continue with our example and assume that the potter decided to replace his wood-fired
kiln by an oil-fired kiln. This cost him an investment of $6,000, which he reckons should be
amortized over ten years. In other words, the cost of this investment will be $600 a year for ten
years, or $50 a month. He also would need oil that would cost him $50 a month more than what
he would have paid for the wood. Let us also assume that his production remained constant at 500
pots a month.

Measured in monetary terms, the value of his output is 500 X 1.80 = $900 per month, from which
will be deducted $50 for capital investment and $50 for fuel, or $100. Thus his monetary gain is
$900 - $100 = $800.

In this case his productivity expressed in monetary gain has not improved since, while originally he
was producing only 400 pots, he sold them for $2 each — arriving at the same financial figure.

However, our potter may wish to argue that as a result of the new kiln his quality hasimproved,
that he will have fewer rejects returned and that the users' satisfaction will increase over time so
that he may be able to increase his price again. Furthermore, his own sense of satisfaction at
work has improved, as it has become much easier to operate the new kiln.

Here, the definition of the output has been enlarged to encompass quality and a relatively
intangible factor, that of consumer satisfaction. Similarly, the input now encompasses another
intangible factor, that of satisfaction at work. Thus productivity gains become more difficult to
measure accurately because of these intangible factors and because of the time lag that needs to
be estimated until users' satisfaction will permit an increase in prices of the pots produced in the
new kiln.

This simple example helps to show that the factors affecting productivity in an organization are
many, and often interrelated. Many people have been misled into thinking of productivity

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exclusively as the productivity of labour, mainly because labour productivity usually forms the
basis for published statistics on the subject. It also becomes evident how, in a community or a
country, improving productivity or extracting the best possible yield from available resources
does not mean exploitation of labour but the harnessing of all available resources to stimulate
a higher rate of growth that can be used for social betterment, a higherstandard of living and
an improved quality of life.

Productivity in the individual enterprise

Productivity in the individual enterprise may be affected by a series of external factors, as well as
by a number of deficiencies in its operations or internal factors. Examples of external factors
include the availability of raw materials and skilled labour, government policies towards
taxation and tariffs, existing infrastructure, capital availability and interest rates, and
adjustment measures applied to the economy or to certain sectors by the government. These
external factors are beyond the control of any one employer. Other factors, however, are within the
control of managers in an enterprise and these are the ones that will be discussed.

The output and input factors in an enterprise

In a typical enterprise the output is normally defined in terms of products or services rendered.
In a manufacturing concern, products are expressed in numbers, by value and by conformity to
predetermined quality standards. In a service enterprise such as a public transport company or a
travel agency, the output is expressed in terms of the services rendered. In a transport company
this may be the number of customers or tons of cargo per kilometer carried. In a travel agency
it could be value of tickets sold or average value of tickets per customer, and so on. Both
manufacturing and service enterprises should equally be interested in consumers' or users'
satisfaction, such as number of complaints or rejects.

On the other hand, the enterprise disposes of certain resources or inputs with which it produces the
desired output. These are:

Land and buildings

Land and buildings in a convenient location

Materials
Materials that can be converted into products to be sold, both as raw materials or auxiliary materials
such as solvents or other chemicals and paints needed in the process of manufacturing and
packaging material.

Energy
Energy in its various forms such as electricity, gas, oil, or solar power.

Machines and equipment

Machines and equipment necessary for the operational activities of the enterprise, including those
intended for transport and handling, heating or air conditioning, office equipment, computer
terminals and the like.

Human resources
Men and women trained to perform the operational activity, to plan and control, to buy and sell,
to keep track of accounts and to perform other operations such as maintenance or administrative
and secretarial jobs.

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Another factor of production or input is that of capital which, while not explicitly defined here, is
implicitly included since it is used to finance the purchase of land, machinery, equipment,materials
and labour, and to pay for the services rendered by human resources.

The use which is made of all these resources combined determines the productivity of the
enterprise.

The task of management

The management of an enterprise is responsible for seeing that the enterprise resources
mentioned above are combined in the best possible way to achieve the highest productivity.
In any concern larger than a one-person business (and to some extent even in a one-person
business), harnessing and coordinating these resources and balancing one resource against
another is the task of management. If management fails to do what is necessary, the enterprise
will fail in the end. In such a case, the five resources become uncoordinated — like the efforts of
five horses without a driver. The enterprise — like a driverless coach — moves forward jerkily,
now held up for lack of material, now for lack of equipment, because machines or equipment are
badly chosen and even more badly maintained, or because energy sources are inadequate or
employees unwilling to contribute their best. Figure 1 illustrates this management function.

In its quest for higher productivity, an efficiency-minded management acts to influence either one
or both of the two factors, the output (i.e. products and services) or the input (i.e. the five resources
at its disposal). Thus management may be able to produce a larger quantity of, and/or better-quality
or higher-value, products or services with the same input, or it may achieve a better result by
changing the nature of the input such as investing in advanced technology, information systems and
computers or by using an alternative source of raw material or energy.

It is rare, however, that one manager or a small team of top managers can by themselves attend to
the normal running of an enterprise and at the same time devote enough thinking and energy to
the various issues involved in improving productivity. More frequently they will rely on specialists
to assist them in this task, and among them is the work study practitioner. In the next chapter, we
shall see how work study and productivity are related.

Productivity Improvement Programs

1) 5S
2) Total Productivity Maintenance / Preventive and Predictive Maintenance
3) Lean Manufacturing (Plant Layout optimization)
4) Kaizen
5) Work Study (Method Study, Time Study, Motion Study)
6) Assembly Line Balancing
7) Single Minute Exchange of Tool and Die
8) Scheduling and Sequencing
9) Worker Training
10) Better working conditions / Automation
11) Value Stream Mapping
12) Just in Time

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Chapter 2: Work study and productivity

In the previous chapter, we mentioned that management frequently calls on specialists to assist it
in improving productivity. One of the most powerful tools they can use is that of work study.

Work study then aims at examining the way an activity is being carried out, simplifying or
modifying the method of operation to reduce unnecessary or excess work, or the wasteful use
of resources, and setting up a time standard for performing that activity. The relation between
productivity and work study is thus obvious. If work study results in cutting down the time of
performing a certain activity by 20 per cent, merely as a result of rearranging the sequence or
simplifying the method of operation and without additional expenditure, then productivity will go
up by a corresponding value, that is by 20 per cent. To appreciate how work study acts to cut down
costs and reduce the time of a certain activity, it is necessary to examine more closely what that
time consists of.

How the total time of a job is made up

The time taken by a worker or a machine to carry out an operation or to produce a given quantity
of a certain product may be considered as made up in the following manner, which is illustrated in
figure 2.

There is first:
The basic work content of the product or operation2
Work content means, of course, the amount of work "contained in" a
given product or a process measured in "work-hours" or "machine hours".

- A work-hour is the labour of one person for one hour.

- A machine-hour is the running of a machine or piece of plant for one hour.

The basic work content is the time taken to manufacture the product or to perform the operation if
the design or specification of the product or service provided were perfect, if the process or method
of operation were perfectly carried out, and if there were no loss of working time from any cause
whatsoever during the period of the operation (other than legitimate rest pauses permitted to the
operative). The basic work content is the irreducible minimum time theoretically required to
produce one unit of output.

This is obviously a perfect condition which never occurs in practice, although it may sometimes
be approached, especially in line manufacturing or process industries. In general, however, actual
operation times are far in excess of it on account of excess work content.

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The work content is increased by the following,

A. Work content added by poor design or specification of product or its parts, or

improper utilization of materials

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1. Poor design and frequent design changes
2. Waste of materials
3. Incorrect quality standards

B. Work content added by inefficient methods of manufacture or operation

1. Poor layout and utilization of space

2. Inadequate materials handling
3. Frequent stoppages as production changes from one product to another
4. Ineffective method of work
5. Poor planning of inventory
6. Frequent breakdown of machines and equipment

C. Work content resulting mainly from the contribution of human resources

Absenteeism and lateness

Poor workmanship
Accidents and occupational hazards

The impact of all the factors mentioned above under headings A to C is shown in figure 3. If these
factors can be eliminated (an ideal situation which, of course, never occurs in real life), as shown
in figure 4, the minimum time and cost for the production of a given output and hence the maximum
productivity is achieved.

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Scope of work study

There is nothing new about the investigation and improvement of operations at the workplace; good
managers have been investigating and improving ever since human effort was first organized on
a large scale. Managers of outstanding ability
— geniuses — have always been able to make notable advances. Unfortunately, no country seems
to have an adequate supply of competent managers. The prime value of work study lies in the fact
that, by carrying out its systematic procedures, a manager can achieve results as good as or better
than the less systematic genius wasable to achieve in the past.

Work study succeeds because it is systematic both in the investigation of the problem being
considered and in the development of its solution. Systematic investigation takes time. It is therefore
necessary, in all but the smallest firms, to separate the job of making work studies from the task of
management. Work study is a service to management and supervision.

We have now discussed, very briefly, some aspects of the nature of work study and why it is such
a valuable "tool" of management. There are other reasons to be added to the above. These may be
summarized as follows:
(1) It is a means of raising the productivity of a plant or operating unit by the
reorganization of work, a method which normally involves little or no capital
expenditure on facilities and equipment.
(2) It is systematic. This ensures that no factor affecting the efficiency of an
operation is overlooked, whether in analysing the original practices or in
developing the new, and that all the facts about that operation are available.
(3) It is the most accurate means yet evolved of setting standards of performance,
on which the effective planning and control of production depends.
(4) It can contribute to the improvement of safety and working conditions at
work by exposing hazardous operations and developing safer methods of
performing operations.
(5) The savings resulting from properly applied work study start at once and
continue as long as the operation continues in the improved form.
(6) It is a "tool" which can be applied everywhere. It can be used with success
wherever work is done or plant is operated, not only in manufacturing shops
but also in offices, stores, laboratories and service industries such as wholesale
and retail distribution and restaurants, and on farms.
(7) It is relatively cheap and easy to apply.
(8) It is one of the most penetrating tools of investigation available to
management. This makes it an excellent weapon for starting an attack on
inefficiency in any organization since, in investigating one set of problems, the
weaknesses of all the other functions affecting them will gradually be laid bare.

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This last point is worth further discussion. Because work study is systematic, and because it
involves investigation by direct observation of all the factors affectingthe efficiency of a given
operation, it will show up any shortcomings in all activities affecting that operation. For example,
observation may show that the time of an operative on a production job is being wasted through
having to wait for supplies ofmaterial or to remain idle through the breakdown of the machine.
This points atonce to a failure of material control or a failure on the part of the maintenance
engineer to carry out proper maintenance procedures. Similarly, time may be wasted through short
batches of work, necessitating the constant resetting of machines, on a scale which may only
become apparent after prolonged study. This points to poor production planning or a marketing
policy which requires looking into.
Work study acts like a surgeon's knife, laying bare the activities of a company and their functioning,
good or bad, for all to see. It can therefore "show up" people. For this reason it must be handled,
like the surgeon's knife, with skill and care. Nobody likes being shown up, and unless the work
study specialist displays great tact in handling people he or she may arouse the animosity of
management and workers alike, which will make it impossible to do the job properly.

Managers and supervisors have generally failed to achieve the savings and improvements which
can be effected by work study because they have been unable to apply themselves continuously to
such things, even when they have been trained. It is not enough for work study to be systematic. To
achieve really important results it must be applied continuously, and throughout the organization.
It is no use work study practitioners doing a good job and then sitting back and congratulating
themselves, or being transferred shortly afterwards by management to something else. The savings
achieved on individual jobs, although sometimes large in themselves, are generally small when
compared with the activity of the company as a whole. The full effect is felt in an organization only
when work study is applied everywhere, and when everyone becomes imbued with the attitude of
mind which isthe basis of successful work study: intolerance of waste in any form, whether of
material, time, effort or human ability; and the refusal to accept without question that things must
be done in a certain way "because that is the way they have always been done".

Techniques of work study and their relationship

The term "work study" embraces several techniques, but in particular method study and work
measurement. What are these two techniques and what is their relationship to one another?

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Method study and work measurement are, therefore, closely linked. Method study is concerned with
the reduction of the work content of a job or operation, while work measurement is mostly
concerned with the investigation and of any ineffective time associated with it; and with the
subsequent establishment of time standards for the operation when carried out in the improved
fashion, as determined by method study. The relationship of method study to work measurement
is shown simply in figure 5.

Basic procedure of work study

There are eight steps in performing a complete work study. They are:
(1) Select the job or process to be studied.
(2) Record or collect all relevant data about the job or process, using the most
suitable data collection techniques (explained in Part Two), so that the data
will be in the most convenient form to be analysed.
(3) Examine the recorded facts critically and challenge everything that is done,
considering in turn: the purpose of the activity; the place where it is performed;
the sequence in which it is done; the person who is doing it; the means by which
it is done.
(4) Develop the most economic method, taking into account all the circumstances
and drawing as appropriate on various production management techniques
(explained in Part Three), as well as on the contributions of managers,
supervisors, workers and other specialists with whom new approaches should
be explored and discussed.
(5) Evaluate the results attained by the improved method compared with the
quantity of work involved and calculate a standard time for it.
(6) Define the new method and the related time and present it to all those
concerned, either verbally or in writing, using demonstrations.
(7) Install the new method, training those involved, as an agreed practice with
the allotted time of operation.

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(8) Maintain the new standard practice by monitoring the results and comparing
them with the original targets.

Steps 1, 2 and 3 occur in every study, whether the technique being used is method study or work
measurement. Step 4 is part of method study practice, while step 5 calls for the use of work
measurement. It is possible that after a certain time the new method may prove to be in need of
modification, in which case it would be re- examined again using the above sequence.

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The human factor in the application of work study

The human factor in enterprise operations

The human factor is one of the most crucial elements in enterprise operations, for it is through
people that management can control the utilization of its resources and the sale of its products or
services. To give the best of their ability, employees must be motivated to do so. Managers must be
able to provide a motive or a reason for doing something, or make people want to do it. It is of little
use for management to prepare elaborate plans or give instructions for carrying out various activities
if the people who are supposed to carry out the plans do not wish to do so — even though they may
have to. The result would be half-hearted effort and sloppy workmanship. Coercion is no substitute
for action that is taken voluntarily and willingly. Thus, employees at all levels must feel a sense of
belonging to the enterprise; they should develop a sense of security, and the feeling that they are
working in a safe, healthy and enriching working environment. When this happens they will
contribute not only their labour but also many useful suggestions that can lead to productivity
improvement, and assist willingly the work study person in developing improved methods of work.

One of the greatest difficulties in obtaining the active cooperation of workers is the fear that raising
productivity will lead to unemployment. Workers are afraid that they will work themselves out of
their jobs. This anxiety is greatest when unemployment is already high and a worker who loses his
or her job will find it hard to find another. Even in industrialized countries where the levels of
unemployment are relatively lower than developing countries, this fear is very real to those who
have already experienced unemployment.

Since this is so, unless workers are assured of adequate assistance in facing their problems, they
may resist any steps which they fear, rightly or wrongly, will make them redundant, even
temporarily.

Even with written guarantees, steps taken to raise productivity can meet with resistance. This
resistance can generally be reduced to a minimum if everybody concerned understands the nature
of, and the reason for, each step taken and is involved in its implementation. Workers'
representatives should be trained in the techniques of increasing productivity so that they will be
able both to explain them to their fellow workers and to use their knowledge to ensure that no steps
are taken which are harmful to them. Many of these safeguards can best be implemented through
joint productivity committees and works councils.

If work study is to contribute seriously to the improvement of productivity, relations between

management and workers must be reasonably good before any attempt is made to introduce it,
and the workers must have confidence in the sincerity of

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management towards them; otherwise they will regard it as a way of getting more work out of them
without any benefit to themselves. If management is able to createa satisfying working environment
at the enterprise and a culture that welcomes and encourages productivity improvement, then a work
study development programme may be seen as "owned" jointly by managers, supervisors and the
workforce.

Work study and management

It was said above that one of the principal reasons for choosing work study as the subject of this
book is that it is a most penetrating tool of investigation. Because a well-conducted work study
analysis is ruthlessly systematic, the places where effortand time are being wasted are laid bare one
by one. In order to eliminate this waste, the causes of it must be looked for. The latter are usually
found to be bad planning, bad organization, insufficient control or the lack of proper training. Since
members of the management and supervisory staffs are employed to perform these functions, it will
look as if they have failed in their duties. Not only this, but the increase in productivity which the
proper use of work study usually brings about may appear to emphasize this failure further.
Applying work study in one working area can start a chain reaction of investigation and
improvement which will spread in all directions throughout the organization: to the plant engineer's
department, the accounts department, the design office or the sales force. Skilled workers may
be made tofeel like novices when they find that their methods, long practised, are wasteful of time
and effort, and that new workers trained in the new methods
soon surpass them in output and quality.

Any technique which has such far-reaching effects must obviously be handled with great care and
tact. People do not like to be made to feel that they have failed, especially in the eyes of their
superiors. They lose their self onfidence and begin to ask themselves whether they may not be
replaced. Their feeling of security is threatened.

At first sight, this result of a work study investigation may seem unfair. Managers, supervisors and
workers, generally speaking, are honest, hardworking people who do their jobs as well as they can.
They are certainly not less clever than work study specialists. Often they have years of experience
and great practical knowledge. If they have failed to obtain the most from the resources at their
disposal, it isgenerally because they have not been trained in, and often do not know the value of,
the systematic approach which work study brings to problems of organization and performance of
work.

This must be made clear to everybody from the very beginning. If it is not made clear, and if the
work study person is at all tactless in handling people, he or shewill find that they will combine
to put obstacles in the way, possibly to the point where the task is made impossible.

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If the application of work study in an enterprise is to succeed, it must have the understanding and
the backing of management at all levels, starting at the top. If top management, the managing
director, the managing agent or the president of the company do not understand what the work study
person is trying to do and are not giving him or her their full support, it cannot be expected that
managers lower down will lend their support either. If the work study person then comes into
conflict withthem, as he or she may do in such circumstances, he or she may well lose the case,
however good it may be, if an appeal is made to the top. Do not forget that in any organization
people lower down tend to take their attitudes from the person at the top.

The first group of people to whom the purpose and techniques of work study must be explained is
therefore the management group, the managing director or managing agent and, in large companies
or organizations, the departmental heads and assistant heads. It is the usual practice in most
countries to run short "appreciation" courses for top management before starting to apply work
study. Most work study schools, management development institutes, technical colleges and work
study organizations also run short courses for the managers of companies who are sending staff to
be trained as specialists.

Here it is necessary to give a word of warning. Running even the simplest and shortest course in
work study is not easy, and newly trained work study specialists are strongly advised not to try to
do so by themselves. They should seek advice and assistance. It is important that an enterprise's
work study staff take an active part in the course, but they must know their subject and be able
to teach it.

If a course for management is to be run, however, the work study specialist must try as hard as
possible to persuade the person at the top to attend and, if possible, to open the proceedings. Not
only will this show everyone that he or she has the support of top management, but departmental
and other managers will make efforts to attend if they think their "boss" is going to be there.

Work study and the supervisor

The work study specialist's most difficult problem may often be the attitude of supervisors. They
must be won over if he or she is to obtain good results from work study; indeed, their hostility may
prevent him or her from doing any effective work at all. Supervisors represent management to the
worker on the shop floor, and just as departmental managers will take their attitudes from the top
manager, so the workers will take theirs from their supervisors. If it is evident that the supervisor
thinks that "this work study stuff is nonsense", the workers will not respect the specialist and will
make no efforts to carry out his or her suggestions, which, in any case, have to come to them through
their supervisor.

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Before the work study practitioner starts work, the whole purpose of work study and the procedures
involved must be very carefully explained to the supervisor, so that he or she understands exactly
what is being done and why. Unless this is done, the supervisor is likely to be difficult, if not actually
obstructive, for many reasons. Among them are the following:

(1) Supervisors are the people most deeply affected by work study. The work for
which they may have been responsible for years is being challenged; if, through
the application of work study methods, the efficiency of the operations for
which they are responsible is greatly improved, they may feel that their prestige
in the eyes of their superiors and of the workers will be lessened.
(2) In most firms where specialists have not been used, the whole running of a
certain operation — planning programmes of work, developing job methods,
making up time sheets, setting piece rates, hiring and firing workers — may
have been done by the supervisor. The mere fact that some of these
responsibilities have been taken away is likely to make him or her experience
a loss of status. No one likes to think that he or she has "lost face" or "lost
ground".
(3) If disputes arise or the workers are upset, supervisors are the first people who
will be called upon to clear matters up, and it is difficult for them to do so fairly
if they do not understand the problem.

The sources from which supervisors are recruited differ widely in different parts of the world. In
some countries supervisors are frequently selected on a basis of seniority from among the best-
skilled persons in the enterprise. This means thatthey are often middle-aged and may be set in
their ways. Because most supervisors have practised their occupation or skills for many years, they
find it difficult to believe that they have anything to learn from someone who has not spent a very
long time in the same occupation.

Supervisors may therefore resent the introduction of work study specialists into their departments
unless they have had some training to prepare them for it. Since supervisors are nearer to the
practical side of the job than management, and so are more intimately connected with work study,
the work study course that they take should be longer and more detailed than that given to
management. Supervisors should know enough to be able to help in the selection of jobs to be
studied and to understand the factors involved, should disputes arise over methods or time
standards. This means that they should be acquainted with the principal techniques of method study
and work measurement, and the particular problems and situations in which they should be applied.
Generally speaking, courses for supervisors shouldbe full time and of not less than one week's
duration. The trainees should be given opportunities of making one or two simple method studies
and of measuring the

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time of an operation. The value to the work study person of a supervisor who
understands and is enthusiastic about what he or she is trying to do cannot be
overemphasized. He or she is a powerful ally.

The work study practitioner will only retain the supervisors' friendship and respect by showing from
the beginning that he or she is not trying to usurp their place. The following rules must be observed:
(1) The work study person must never give a direct order to a worker. All
instructions must be given through the supervisor. The only exception to this
is in matters connected with methods improvements where the worker has been
asked by the supervisor to carry out the instructions of the work study person.
(2) Workers asking questions calling for decisions outside the technical field of
work study should always be referred to their supervisor.
(3) The work study person should take care never to express opinions to a worker
which may be interpreted as critical of the supervisor (however much he or she
may feel like it!). If the worker later says to the supervisor: "... but Mr/Ms .. .
said ...", there will be trouble!
(4) The work study person must not allow the workers to "play him or her off
against the supervisor or to use him or her to get decisions altered which they
consider harsh.
(5) The work study person should seek the supervisor's advice in the selection of
jobs to be studied and in all technical matters connected with the process (even
if he or she knows a great deal about it). The work study person should never
try to start alone.

This list of "Do's" and "Don't's" may look frightening but is mainly common sense and good
manners. The workers in any working area can only have one boss — their supervisor — and
everything must be done to uphold his or her authority. Of course, once the work study person and
the supervisor have worked together and understand one another, there can be some relaxation; but
that is a matter ofjudgement, and any suggestion for relaxation should come from the supervisor.

A great deal of space has been given to the relationship between the work study practitioner and the
supervisor because it is the most difficult of all the relationships, and it must be good. One of the
best methods of ensuring that this is so is to provide both parties with the proper training.

4. Work study and the worker

When the first conscious attempts at work study were made at the turn of the century, little was
known about the way people behaved at work. As a result, workers often resisted or were hostile
to work study. During the past 40 years,

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however, a great deal of research has been carried out to discover more about the way people behave
— the aim being not only to explain that behaviour but, if possible, also to predict how people will
react to a new situation. For a work study specialist this is an important consideration, since through
his or her interventions he or she is invariably and continuously creating new situations.

Behavioural scientists believe that individuals are motivated to act in a certain way by a desire to
satisfy certain needs. One of the widely accepted notions about needs was developed by Abraham
Maslow, who postulated that there are certain essential needs for every individual and that these
needs arrange themselves in a hierarchical pattern. Maslow argues that it is only when one need
becomes largely satisfied that the next need in the hierarchy will start to exert its motivating
influence.

At the bottom of the hierarchy are physiological needs. These are the basic needs that must be met
to sustain life itself. Satisfying one's physiological needs will be the primary concern of any person,
and until one has done so one will not be concerned with any other issues. However, once workers
feel reasonably sure of fulfilling their physiological needs, they will seek to satisfy the next need in
the hierarchy, that of security or safety. Security is taken to mean a feeling of protection against
physical and psychological harm, as well as security of employment. For workers who have already
satisfied both their physiological and their security needs, the next motivating factor is that of
affiliation or Love and belonging, that is wanting to belong to a group or an organization and to
associate with others. Next on the hierarchical scale is the need to be recognized or esteem needs,
and this is followed by the need for fulfillment (sometimes called "self-

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actualization"). This last need expresses the desire of people or workers to be given an opportunity
to show their particular talents.

In practice, most people satisfy some of these needs in part and are left with some that are
unsatisfied. In developing countries people are probably preoccupied more with their basic needs.
In developed countries, on the other hand, where physiological and security needs are normally met
in large part, people would seem to be motivated more by needs at the upper end of the hierarchy.

One of the interesting results of the research carried out in this area, and which should be of concern
to us here, is the discovery that, in order to satisfy affiliation needs, workers associate with each
other to form various types of informal group. Thus a worker is usually a member of a task group,
that is a group composed of workers performing a common task. He or she may also be a member
of various other groups, such as a friendship group composed of fellow workers with whom he or
she has something in common or with whom he or she would like to associate.

This means that every organization has a formal and an informal structure. The formal structure is
defined by management in terms of authority relationships. Similarly, there also exists an informal
organization composed of a great number of informal groups which have their own goals and
activities and which bear the sentiments of their members. Each group, it was found, expects its
members to conform to a certain standard of behaviour, since otherwise the group cannot achieve
its goal, whether this be accomplishing a task or providing a means for friendly interaction. It was
found, for example, that a task group tends to establish among its members a certain quota for
production which may or may not be in line with what a supervisor or a manager wants. In a typical
situation, a worker will produce more or less according to this informally accepted quota. Those
who are very high or very low producers, and who thus deviate substantially from that norm, will
be subjected to pressure from the group to conform to the norm.

Disregarding or ignoring such basic and elementary notions of behavior has often created
resentment and outright hostility. It is now easy to understand that a work study person who makes
a unilateral decision to eliminate an operation, resulting in the loss of a job for a worker or a number
of workers, is in fact undermining the basic need for security; a negative reaction can therefore be
expected. Similarly, the

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imposition of an output quota on a worker or a group of workers without priorconsultation or
winning their cooperation can yield resentment and breed resistance.

How, then, should a work study person act? The following are some useful hints:

(1) The problem of raising productivity should be approached in a balanced way,

without too great an emphasis being placed on productivity of labour. In most
enterprises in developing countries, and even in industrialized countries, great
increases in productivity can generally be effected through the application of
work study to improve plant utilization and operation, to make more effective use
of space and to secure greater economy of materials before the question of
increasing the productivity of the labour force need be raised. The importance of
studying the productivity of all the resources of the enterprise and of not
confining the application of work study to the productivity of labour alone cannot
be overemphasized. It is only natural that workers should resent efforts being
made to improve their efficiency while they can see glaring inefficiency on the
part of management. What is the use of halving the time workers take to do a
certain job or of imposing a production output on them by well-applied work
study if they are held back by a lack of materials or by frequent machine
breakdowns resulting from bad planning by their superiors?

(2) It is important that the work study person be open and frank as to the purpose of
the study. Nothing breeds suspicion like attempts to hide what is being done;
nothing dispels it like frankness, whether in answering questions or in showing
information obtained from studies. Work study, honestly applied, has nothing to
hide.

(3) Workers' representatives should be kept fully informed of what is being studied,
and why. They should receive induction training in work study so that they can
understand properly what is being attempted. Similarly, involving the workers
in the development of an improved method of operation can win them over to the
new method and can sometimes produce unexpected results. Thus, by asking
workers the right questions and by inviting them to come forward with
explanations or proposals several work study specialists have been rewarded by
clues or ideas that had never occurred to them. After all, a worker has an intimate
knowledge of his or her own job and of details that can escape a work study
person. One tried and tested practice is to invite the workers in a sectionto be
studied to nominate one of their number to join the work study specialist and,
together with the supervisor, to form a team that can review the work to be done,
discuss the results achieved and agree on steps for implementation.

(4) Although asking for a worker's suggestions and ideas implicitly serves to satisfy
his or her need for recognition, this can be achieved in a more direct way by

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giving proper credit where it is due. In many instances a supervisor, a worker or a staff specialist
contributes useful ideas that assist the work study person to develop an improved method of work.
This should be acknowledged readily, and the work study person should resist the temptation of
accumulating all the glory.

(5) The work study person must make it clear that it is the work, and not the worker, that
is being studied. This becomes much easier if the workers have had a proper
introductory course explaining the principles and outlining the techniques of work
study.

(6) In some circumstances it may be possible to involve the workforce in work study
investigations even more directly (for example, by training them in some of the basic
techniques and allowing them to contribute to discussions through the establishment of
a "productivity circle", set up for the duration of a project or on a longer-term basis).
Through such a process the workers can see more clearly that the techniques are used
to study the work and not the workers themselves.
(7) It is important that the work study person should remember that the objective is not
merely to increase productivity but also to improve job satisfaction, and that he or she
should devote enough attention to this latter issue by looking for ways to minimize
fatigue and to make the job more interesting and more satisfying.In recent years
several enterprises have developed new concepts and ideas to organize work to this end
and to attempt to meet the workers' need for fulfillment.

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