To conceive the looks, arrangement and workings of something before it is created

The rate at which units merge from the process

The number of units passing through the process per unit of time

The average elapsed time taken for inputs to move through the process and become outputs

Also called the "work in process or in-process inventory"

As an average over a period of time

The proportion of a available time that the resources within the process performing useful work

Operations Performance Objective

Environmentally Sensitive Design

Process Types (Manufacturing operations)

Process Types (Services operations)

Those which deal with discrete, usually highly customized products. (high variety, low volume)

Each product has resources devoted more or less exclusively to it. (high variety, low volume)

Can often look like jobbing processes but does not have quite the degree of variety associated with jobbing. low variety, high volume)

Those which produce goods in high volume and relatively narrow variety narrow that is, in terms of the fundamentals of the product design. (high volume, high variety)

One step beyond mass processes insomuch as they operate at even higher volume and often have even lower variety. (higher volume, lower variety)

defined as high contract organizations where customers spend a considerable time in the service process. (high variety, low volume)

Are characterized by levels of customer contact, customazition, volumes of customers and staff discretion, which position them between the extremes of professional and mass services. (between variety and volume)

Have many customer transactions,, involving limited contact time and little customization.

Dividing the total task down into smaller parts

Advantages in Division of Labour

Drawbacks to highly divided jobs

The shorter task the more often operations will need to repeat it

The continued repetition of a very narrow range of movements can. The over use of some parts of the body

Dividing a task up into many small parts often gives the job design a rigidity which is difficult to change under changing circumstances

Highly divided jobs imply customers, materials or information passing between several stages

Human Implications for Process Design (2)

Is concerned primarily with the physiological aspects of job design

Job Characteristics

This means moving individuals periodically between different sets tasks to provide some variety in their activities (giving task/job)

The most obvious method of achieving at least some of the objectives of behavioral job design is by allocating a large number of tasks to individual. (giving level of activity)

Not only means increasing the number of tasks but also allocating extra tasks which involve more decision making, greater autonomy and greater control over job. (giving authority)

Usually taken to mean more than simple autonomy. Whereas autonomy means giving staff the ability to change how they do their jobs.

A development in job design which is closely linked to the empowerment concept is that of team based work organization ( sometimes called "self managed work teams)