The number of different tasks performed during work. This could include either performing different tasks during the day or working at different workstations.

 

Improvement Action: Rotate workers between tasks during the work day to prevent boredom and burnout

Source:

P.G. Gyllenhammar, People at Work, Reading, Mass., Addison-Wesley Pub. Co., 1977

  • GWT Analyst Summary: At Volvo's Torslanda plant, the upholstery department was arranged in a way that each worker would rotate between the fifteen stations. The workers learned all of the tasks and so a defect could be instantly spotted and sent back to the previous station. The results were fewer complaints of aches and pains and an increase in team spirit.
  • Excerpt from text: “In 1966 new equipment changed the nature of the work, and forced a two-month period of one-station work with slightly more complicated tasks. Then production engineers, in consultation with upholsterers, gradually developed a completely new system in which each worker learned the work for all fifteen stations - most of them about two-minute tasks. Then workers rotated every day or half-day.  Seats with errors were immediately sent back to the proper station to be fixed. Each operator had training to learn every station, so there was more variety. They noticed a sharp drop in the aches and pains, and new signs of team spirit began to show up. This time the workers were overwhelmingly in favor of the change.” p90

 

Improvement Action: Rotate workers between departments or tasks for extended periods of time

Source:

Vanderburg, David, “The Story of Semco: The Company That Humanized Work”, Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, Vol. 24, No. 5, October 2004, pp. 430-434

  • GWT Analyst Summary: The leadership at Semco encouraged managers to trade jobs with one another to prevent burnout and boredom. The program was such a success that rotation became the rule, and employees were not allowed to stay at one position for over five years unless they prove they can challenge themselves.
  • Excerpt from text: “To further employee involvement, Semler encouraged managers to trade jobs with one another so that people would not grow restless, bored, unmotivated, or unproductive. For the transition to take place smoothly, they trained each other. This worked so well that Semler devised a rule that stated that someone could stay no longer that 5 years at one job. the only exception was if employees could prove to their superior that they could continue to challenge themselves in their present job. p. 433

 

Improvement Action: Expand tasks so that individuals or teams build significant portion or entire product

Sources:

P.G. Gyllenhammar, People at Work, Reading, Mass., Addison-Wesley Pub. Co., 1977

  • GWT Analyst Summary: Volvo's Kalmar plant was designed around the idea that none of the workers' view should be limited to just nuts and bolts or single components. To that end, work cycles were designed so that workers assembled a significant amount of each car. The cars were brought to the assembly station and remained there, allowing one worker to perform many tasks before the car moved on.
  • Excerpt from text: “The planners were already working on the premise that humanity and efficiency could be combined to some extent. Their first report emphasized group work, expanded the tasks that each worker should do, and gave work groups some opportunity to vary the speed of their work. It focused on good physical conditions, ample space, and noise control, but still included the conveyor line. A new factory, though, presents a unique opportunity to try out entirely new solutions. Here, starting from scratch, we might be able to achieve changes that would be very difficult to implement within and existing plant. Therefore, quite late in the planning cycle, I interrupted the project and set out new objectives. A new and non-traditional type of task force was pulled together and given the almost impossible task of designing a landmark factory as an alternative to the traditional plan. The ideal goal for the new plan was to make it possible for an employee to see a blue Volvo driving down the street and say to himself “I made that car.” The original objectives for the alternative planning group assumed that they could develop a new materials handling system and a new product transportation system. The design must give individuals as much control as possible over their own working lives. The guidelines memo concluded that instead of a conveyor belt moving through a warehouse, Kalmar should be based on stationary work, with the materials brought to the work station. Each group work area should accommodate about fifteen workers. Tasks could be varied within a group, and each group would take more responsibility for the quality of its own work. We also felt that the strong reputation of our products in the marketplace should be reflected more directly back to the workers. This meant that no one’s view should be limited to nuts and bolts, or single components. p 54-55

J.R. Hackman and G. R. Oldham, Work Redesign, Reading, Mass., Addison-Wesley Pub. Co., 1980

  • GWT Analyst Summary: In Work Redesign, Hackman and Oldham suggest combining existing tasks into larger work packages. These packages should be performed by one person who can see the results of their work. The increase in variety is accompanied by an increase in perceived value if the worker can interact with the next process or customer.
  • Excerpt from text: “Both the skill variety and task identity of a job can be increased by putting together existing, fractionalized tasks to form new and larger modules of work. When tasks are combined, all tasks required to complete a given piece of work are performed by one person, rather than by a series of individuals who do separate, small parts of the job. ”When a number of tasks are combined to form a single large module of work, skill variety almost invariably increases. Moreover, task identity often improves as well because the employee is able to identify with the complete product or service.” In combining tasks, Hackman and Oldham suggest asking the following: "How does the work get to each employee, and where does it go next? How do the separate tasks that are performed relate to one another? How feasible would it be to combine those tasks into a single, larger job? ”Examining the workflow can help generate answers to these questions and can prompt ideas for combining tasks to create enriched jobs.” pp 135-136

 

Improvement Action: Design work with long cycle times

Source:

Nilsson, Lennart.(1994). The Uddevalla plant: Why did it succeed with a holistic approach and why did it come to an end. In Ake Sandberg (Editor), Enriching Production: Perspectives on Volvo’s Uddevalla Plant as an Alternative to Lean Production (pp. 75-86). Brookfield, VT: Ashgate

  • The author refers throughout the text to “Natural Work”, of which he defines a group of characteristics. Of these, he asserts that “The work in its entirety should be surveyable [by the worker]”. The Uddevalla plant was constructed around the idea of stationary cars assembled in parallel. Workers were trained in longer assembly sequences on the car, in some cases one-quarter of the total car assembly time, in contrast to traditional short work cycles on one long moving assembly line. p76-77
  • GWT Analyst Summary: Volvo's Uddevalla plant was constructed to allow long cycle times and parallel assembly. This allowed workers to do longer sequences of work on each car. The result was a system that experienced high levels of quality and productivity and worker engagement. However, the plant was criticized by advocates of conventional assembly as "neo-craftsmanship". The plant had lower levels of attrition and absenteeism than its peers.
  • Excerpt from text: “The work content was at that same time approximately one quarter of the total assembly time of the car. After a certain period the worker would continue to the next quarter stage of assembly work, and so on, in order to obtain a good understanding of the total assembly process. Following this, the worker would choose which of the four stages to become more professional and specialized in, in terms of quality and productivity.”p82

 

Improvement Action: Give workers responsibilities beyond that of production

Sources:

P.G. Gyllenhammar, People at Work, Reading, Mass., Addison-Wesley Pub. Co., 1977

  • GWT Analyst Summary: At Volvo's plants they rely on Works Councils which are comprised of employee-elected representatives from the all levels of the organization. These Councils are the backbone of Volvo's relationship to its workers. The Councils have a significant voice in decision making, and are present at the corporate level as well as at the operational level within a plant.
  • Excerpt from text: “Although the company’s first employee representative body or “works council” was established as early as 1946, this kind of group grew more important in the seventies. Volvo began to develop a works council structure paralleling the corporate organization. Works councils are today the backbone of the company’s relationship with its employees. The network of employee-elected groups now stretches from the board level Corporate Works Council to smaller councils for specific departments inside a single plant. Joint project groups or consultation groups are the links between the corporate and works-council structures at every level.” p 53

Vanderburg, David, “The Story of Semco: The Company That Humanized Work”, Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, Vol. 24, No. 5, October 2004, pp. 430-434

  • GWT Analyst Summary: In this article, Vanderburg describes some of the ways that Semco employees participate in roles beyond simply producing: “Workers were now in control of very many facets of their job, relying on themselves to make important decisions to better the company. As well, the demands placed on them by their jobs changed for the better to include more problem-solving demands. Workers soon thereafter became a vital component in the hiring process." The results to Semco were a more engaged workforce and better buy-in on company decisions for new hires.
  • Excerpt from text: “Workers were now in control of very many facets of their job, relying on themselves to make important decisions to better the company. As well, the demands placed on them by their jobs changed for the better to include more problem-solving demands. Workers soon thereafter became a vital component in the hiring process. Semler decided to put hiring in the hands of the workers. When, for example, a machinist applied for a job, he would be interviewed by a group of the company’s machinists. It was thought that they would be better at determining what would make a good machinist. This meant that employees had more stake in the company and were a major part of the decision-making process.” p 433