In November of 2013, Dr. Wei-Tau Lee presented his dissertation About Good Work to Dr. Kenneth Funk, the team’s project sponsor and Principal Investigator. In About Good Work, Dr. Lee defines Good Work as work that satisfies the physical, psychological, and social needs of workers as well as benefits employers and the society in which the business operates. Dr. Lee describes a five-step method employers can use to assess and improve work. Dr. Lee applied his method in several workplaces using paper surveys to assess work.
The GWT team created an electronic method of delivering Dr. Lee’s surveys and work improvement process to employers. The result is a resource called the Good Work Toolbox (GWT).
The GWT team studied About Good Work to understand Dr. Lee’s surveys and work improvement. The team sought solutions for administering the surveys and making them accessible online. Qualtrics is used for survey administration and Drupal for website design. As a result, the GWT integrates seamlessly into the College of Engineering’s website and bears the same branding as other Oregon State University sites.
Potential users request surveys through the website. A GWT analyst emails a link from Qualtrics to the employer. Qualtrics returns survey results to the analyst, and a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet performs the statistical analysis. Recommendation reports are generated automatically based on results.
The analyst can administer surveys electronically. These surveys measured worker satisfaction and provide work improvement recommendations based on survey results. Workers can complete surveys privately on their mobile device. It is now possible for an employer anywhere to survey a workforce and use Dr. Lee’s work improvement method.