Analyzing Work and Job Design in Human Resources

Topic 2: Analyzing Work and Designing Jobs

2.1 Work Flow in Organizations

LO 2-1: Summarize the elements of work flow analysis.

Work Flow Design

  • The process of analyzing tasks necessary for the production of a product or service.
  • With this information, tasks are assigned to specific jobs and positions.
  • A job is a set of related duties.
  • A position is the set of duties performed by one person.

Elements of Work Flow Analysis:

  1. Outputs: The products of any work unit. May be tangible or intangible.
  2. Work processes:
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Free Trade, Protectionism, and Economic Shifts: 1800s

Free Trade and Protectionism

1. Protectionism: The Repeal of the Corn Laws

In 1846, Britain abolished the Corn Laws (tariffs on the trade of cereals). It is a 2×2 model = 2 commodities and 2 sectors; however, Labor (L) can only be in 1 sector.

Consequences of the Repeal:

  • Point C: If the price (P) of food changes, which in this case falls because of the abolition of the law, there is a new equilibrium point. There will be a fall in the demand for labor in the food sector (DLF) since there are more workers
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Understanding Money: Forms and Evolution

Money: A Medium of Exchange

Money is anything that constitutes a commonly accepted medium of exchange or payment. The form that money has taken has changed over time. In the earliest exchanges, money wasn’t used; instead, exchange occurred through barter, or the trading of goods.

As exchanges became more complex, the need arose for a good that could be exchanged for any other and serve as a means of payment. This led to the emergence of commodity money. Commodity money must meet certain conditions:

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Project and Project Management Fundamentals

Project: Definition and Management

A project is a plan or provision that is formed for a treaty, or the execution of something of importance, outlining and extending all the circumstances to be met for its achievement. For example, Wikipedia is a company that has planned a set of activities that are interrelated and coordinated. Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements. A project is a response to an idea that

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Understanding Lean Principles: Maximize Value, Minimize Waste

Lean Principles: An Introduction

Lean: An approach to operations management that emphasizes the continual elimination of waste of all types. The core idea is to maximize customer value while minimizing waste, creating more value for customers with fewer resources. To accomplish this, lean thinking changes the focus of management from optimizing separate technologies, assets, and vertical departments to optimizing the flow of products and services through entire value streams that flow horizontally

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Organizational Communication, Leadership, and Motivation

Understanding Communication and Organizational Dynamics

Communication is generally defined as a process to manage meanings through the use of verbal and non-verbal signs and symbols within a context.

Individual vs. Organizational Needs

  • Individual Needs: Autonomy, Creativity, Sociability, Stability, Predictability
  • Organizational Needs: Control, Coordination

The more control, the less coordination. The more autonomy, the less institutionalization. Institutional Theory suggests that any organization has

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