Abstract

The article presents information on work measurement practices. Work measurement is a valuable management tool. It provides the factual information needed if management is to improve its functions of planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling for the effective and efficient coordination and utilization of resources available to the firm. What practices are being used in business today toward the measurement of work and the establishment of work standards? The extent to which methods study and work measurement are utilized and the nature of the specific practices carried out for any given set of circumstances involves a balancing of the cost to conduct such studies and applications against the return expected from their use. Stop-watch time study remains the dominant technique, although elemental standard data, motion-time systems and work sampling systems have made inroads on many applications for work measurement. Although work measurement is most extensively used in the production work areas, substantial inroads have been made toward non-production applications and limited use in the clerical and administrative work areas.