A Supervisor's Guide to Work Distribution
Every good supervisor always seeks to improve the work methods of his unit. The WORK SIMPLIFICATION PROGRAM is designed to furnish such supervisors with handy, clear blueprints of the present working methods of their own units. Analysis of the facts on these blueprints will help eliminate bottlenecks and lost effort and make supervisory work easier. WORK SIMPLIFICATION is a tested program for improving the method of doing work - finding a “better way” - doing a better job with less effort and in less time.
The Work Distrubtion Chart
First Step in Work Simplification
Analysis of work distribution in your unit is the first step in work simplification. But before you can analyze your unit, you must be able to see clearly in ONE place ALL the activities of your unit and the contribution of EACH employee to EACH activity. A Work Distribution Chart is the easiest, best way to arrange these facts in simple form.
There is nothing complicated about a Work Distribution Chart. But you will be surprised at how much it can tell you about how work is done in your unit. By keeping on the alert when you study it, you will find it repays many times the effort of preparing it.
Preparing Your Chart
To make a Work Distribution Chart, you follow these three easy steps:
1. Task List:
First, get from each employee a statement of his tasks and the estimated number of hours spent per week on each. To make this job easier, ruled task list forms will be supplied you.
It does not matter who actually fills out the task list. You can do it yourself, or have each employee fill out his own. The important thing, however, is to check the list with each employee afterward to make sure that it is accurate. And be sure also that the employee’s grade, working title (not Civil Service title) and estimated hours per week are filled in properly.
2. Activity List:
Make a tentative list of the activities carried on by your unit. The best way to prepare such a list is to ask the question: “What are the things my unit does?”. The answer to this question will be your activity list. When this list is complete you should be able to classify each task from the task lists under one of the activities. Remember, that you are listing GENERAL activities; you need not be too detailed. The use of a “miscellaneous” listing is sometimes desirable.
3. Work Distribution Chart:
Use a blank sheet of paper or a ruled spread sheet for your Work Distribution Chart. Rule off a column for each employee, and two extra columns. The first of these, which is the first column at the left hand side of the page, is used to list “activities”. The next column is for entering the number of man hours spent on each “activity”. Then fill in the chart as shown on the following page:
Work Simplification Program
Task List And Work Distribution Chart Example
Chart Layout Instructions:
- ACTIVITIES in the order of importance in the first column.
- EMPLOYEES by name, grade and working title (not Civil Service title) in order of their responsibility.
- TASKS for each employee for each activity in the proper spaces on form.
- TOTAL HOURS for each employee and for each activity.
What Your Chart Tells
Remember, your Work Distribution Chart is a method of arranging FACTS about work in clear, understandable form. As such, it helps you ASK questions. But it does NOT necessarily answer them. You, yourself, must provide the answer, using your own experience and common sense as a guide.
Before attempting to analyze your Work Distribution Chart, check it over carefully. Make sure that you have listed activities specifically. Make sure you have not written merely “fees” when you meant “received and schedules fees”. Or “checks application” when “checks application 127A for completeness” described the step.
It is important to know WHAT to look for. So keep a few major questions in mind. Then analyze your chart; study it carefully; ask what are the purposes of the various tasks and activities. Try to find answers that mean better direction of the work of your unit, greater simplicity, a more even workload.
Below are questions to ask yourself when you study your completed chart.
Six Key Questions
The Work Distribution Chart will help you ask, and find an answer to, such questions as:
What Activities Take The Most Time?
How much time is spent on each; what is the contribution of each employee?
Is There Any Misdirected Effort?
Is your unit spending too much time on relatively unimportant activities or unnecessary work?
Are Skills Being Used Properly?
Is everyone doing the thing he can do best, or are special skills and abilities going to waste?
Are Your Employees Doing Too Many Unrelated Tasks?
Do you hamper efficiency and enthusiasm and breed fatigue by giving employees unrelated tasks? Remember too, jacks of all trades are masters of none. Too many unrelated tasks frequently increase office errors.
Are Tasks Spread Too Thinly?
Is there needless interruption, inconsistency, buck-passing and change-over time loss because too many employees are doing the same task?
Is Work Distributed Evenly?
Is there too great a workload on one employee - not enough on another? From the standpoint of the morale of your employees one extreme is as bad as the other.
What Activities Take The Most Time?
| ACTIVITY | TOTAL MAN HOURS |
|---|---|
| ISSUE CERTIFICATES CLASS 127A | 121 |
| ISSUE CERTIFICATES CLASS 127B | 54 |
| GENERAL PUBLIC INQUIRY SERVICE | 19 |
| FURNISHING CASE DATA TO COMPLIANCE DIV. | 24 |
| ADMINISTRATION | 34 |
| WAR EFFORT AND EMPLOYEE WELFARE | 17 |
| MISCELLANEOUS | 19 |
| 288 |
ARE THESE the ones that Should take the MOST TIME?
Mark For the Future Process Charting Those Activites Involving Several Steps in Sequence
Major concentrations of work are clearly shown by the man-hours totals for each activity. Compare these totals and look at their relative size. Normally, the largest total time should be spent on what you consider to be your unit’s major activity. Other totals should reflect the relative importance of the activities. If they do not - if you are spending more time on an activity than you had thought, or than you think it deserves - find out why.
If the activity is a continuing one with a number of steps, then it is a process which can be charted on your Process Chart, the second step in work simplification. So circle those man-hour totals (including your major activity) to mark them for future process charting. Observe how this was done in this example.
Is there MISDIRECTED Effort?
Study Indiviual Tasks and Times For Unimportant or Unnecessary Tasks…
Thieves of time and manpower
Too much time on relatively unimportant things or unnecessary tasks usually means “misdirected effort.” Misdirected effort is a thief that robs your unit of time and manpower. Look for it everywhere - in your major activities - or in activities not directly related to the major job of your unit, such as “miscellaneous” or “administrative”. Misdirected effort may appear small - an hour here or two hours there - but it frequently adds up to many hours a week. It shows up in this illustrative case, for example, as work on obsolete card files and needless analysis of the reports of other units.
Are Skills Used Properly?
It’s wasteful to have employees…
- Working BELOW their ability
- Working ABOVE their ability
Tasks take time - no matter how small or unimportant. Make sure that higher grades of employees with special skills or abilities are not called on to do jobs which employees of a lower grade can carry out. You might question whether the key man of a unit, for example, should make car pool arrangements or keep credit union records, as he is doing in this case. Remember, too, that proper use of skills works both ways. It is often just as wasteful to have a person working above his ability as it is to have him working below.
ARE YOUR EMPLOYEES DOING TOO MANY UNRELATED TASKS?
DANGER SIGNALS OF
- Waste motion
- Unnecessary fatigue
- Lost manpower
”Jacks-of-all-trades” are “masters of none”
Overcrowded columns may also be a clue that too many unrelated tasks are assigned to some employees. Such a column has been “lifted” from the master work distribution chart and is shown above to illustrate this principle. Tasks which are very different mean waste motion, unnecessary fatigue and lost manpower. In studying your chart, remember that few human beings can do everything equally well. Also remember that office work usually falls into groups of related tasks such as, for example, collecting and sorting, filing and classifying, or typing and transcribing. So make sure that employees are doing tasks which are generally related and which can be done easily without unnecessary running about. That is the surest way of guaranteeing that there will be no “Jacks-of-all-trades and masters of none” in your unit.
ARE TASKS SPREAD TOO THINLY?
Needless interruption
Inconsistency
Tasks spread too thinly
Buck-passing
Change-over time loss
The repetition of the same task in several columns may be a sign that too many employees are doing the same task. In the above illustration, for example, five out of six employees in the section are shown to be interviewing callers. The supervisor of this unit assigned this task to one interviewer thus cutting out inconsistency, buck-passing, and needless interruptions which lead to change-over time loss. The work of one person working steadily at a task is usually more productive than the same number of man-hours of work by several individuals.
Is Work Distributed Evenly?
MISS SMITH CAF-3
- Taking and transcribing dictation from Section Chief - 24 hrs.
- Typing statistical reports - 6 hrs.
- Handling callers, appointments - 16 hrs.
- Proofreading - 2 hrs.
- 48 hrs.
MISS JONES CAF-3
- Keeping attendance records - 4 hrs.
- Transcribing old type index cards to new type - 8 hrs.
- Taking and transcribing dictation - 4 hrs.
- Arranging travel, preparing vouchers - 8 hrs.
- Maintaining perpetual inventories of supplies - 4 hrs.
- Checking files for mis-filing - 12 hrs.
- Answering phones - 6 hrs.
- 46 hrs.
Balance Importance and Urgency
Measure the relative importance of the tasks assigned to persons who are engaged on similar activities. Do the jobs of some employees look “thin” when compared to those of others? Are you giving too much work to one person just because he is a willing worker? On the other hand, too little to do actually hurts morale. Use your chart as a means of spreading the work-load in your unit evenly and fairly. And if you are not sure about overloading, a Work Count, the third step in work simplification, will help you. So mark possible areas of overloading or underemployment for future work counting. But above all, balance the urgent items in the task assignments of your employees to be sure that the important work of your units is spread around in a way that will get it done.
Work Simplification - The Three Tools
Your Work Distribution Chart is the basis of your work simplification effort. If you prepare it in accordance with the plan outlined in the foregoing pages, you will have a compact picture of your office and a number of “hunches” about possible improvements. Check it to be sure it is accurate and complete. Then, turn your attention to the rest of your work simplification equipment—the Process Chart and the Work Count.
The Process Chart is the next device you will study. Using it, you will learn how to put the major time consuming processes of your unit “under the microscope” and examine, step-by-step, how the job is done.
After the Process Chart comes the Work Count—the method of determining “how much” work your unit is doing. You will use this information to refine tentative improvements shown up by your Work Distribution and Process Charts. It will also operate by itself to point the way to additional improvements.
Remember that Work Simplification consists of ALL THREE TOOLS. They must be used together if you are to obtain the full benefits for your unit. Study each one as you master it. Make notes of the ideas each one suggests to you. But when you move forward on a final improvement, move with the aid of ALL THREE.