h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Work Study - a Management Tool - A87918231
Author: BobI - U15003083

This article is more technical than my others but I wanted to share some techniques that I used at work.

I look forward to your comments.

Very well explained! Thanks for glossing 'work study' for Americans. In the US, 'work study' usually refers to on-campus jobs given to scholarship students. But you sorted that out beautifully.

I love the conclusion. I'm particularly glad you mentioned the Gilbreths. Might I request a footnote on them? There's a popular book about them known to most people of a certain age.

Frank Bunker Gilbreth and his wife are best known in the US as the subjects of a book written by his son Frank, Jr and daughter Ernestine called Cheaper by the Dozen. The story details the attempt of time-management experts to raise twelve children by following 'scientific' principles. Hilarity ensues.

I'd also like to point out that 'Therblig' is an exact reverse version of 'Gilbreth' - if you use the much more efficient Old English alphabet. 'Th' is an inefficient way of writing 'eth' or 'thorn'.

A very good Entry, just a thought few thoughts - you do not need to include any of them, but I thought you might find them of interest;

Cheaper by the Dozen was also produced as a films in 1950 staring Clifton Webb and another film of the same name was produced in 2003 with Steve Martin in the starring role, but it was a totally different story.

Just a note to say I am changing to a new subject

I worked in a factory where we fabricated handrail A2284148 The company hired an efficiency expert to to determine the best way for the the welders to assemble the products. We all knew that each one did it their own way and we wanted to see if one method was more efficient than another. In his report the expert said that they all did the tasks in a different order and we would have to make them all do it the same way before he could make any comparison between them.



On another note the Unions in factories worked on a quota that a certain number of parts should me made on each shift. After High School my father and a few of his friends got jobs in a factory and they were all put on the night shift. They decided that it would be fun to have a contest to see who could produce the most parts on their shift. The next night they were confronted by the Union Steward who told them sternly 'We do not exceed quotas - that raises the expectations of everyone else'.

Of course both of the above happened in the USA.



F S

As to that last point, FS: I was told exactly the same thing about quotas at the Siemens factory in Munich. I believe this to be an international phenomenon.

Thank you Dmitri

A footnote about Cheaper by the Dozen has been added.

Good point about thorn, but it could get confusing to mention other symbols in relation to Therbligs so I didn't add that.

Thank you Florida Sailor

I also mentioned the film in the footnote.

I agree, you don't want to start throwing in Old English.

It's bad enough that few readers will remember the slide rule.

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