Documents disponibles écrits par cet auteur

Specialization and variety in repetitive tasks / Bradley R. Staats in Management science, Vol. 58 N° 6 (Juin 2012) 

Public ISBD [article]  in Management science > Vol. 58 N° 6 (Juin 2012) . - pp.1141-1159 Titre : Specialization and variety in repetitive tasks : Evidence from a japanese bank Type de document : texte imprimé Auteurs : Bradley R. Staats, Auteur ; Francesca Gino, Auteur Année de publication : 2012 Article en page(s) : pp.1141-1159 Note générale : Management Langues : Anglais (eng) Mots-clés : Learning  Motivation  Productivity  Specialization  VarietyWork  fragmentation Résumé : Sustaining operational productivity in the completion of repetitive tasks is critical to many organizations' success. Yet research points to two different work-design–related strategies for accomplishing this goal: specialization to capture the benefits of repetition and variety (i.e., working on different tasks) to keep workers motivated and provide them opportunities to learn. In this paper, we investigate how these two strategies may bring different productivity benefits over time. For our empirical analyses, we use two and a half years of transaction data from a Japanese bank's home loan application-processing line. We find that over the course of a single day, specialization, as compared to variety, is related to improved worker productivity. However, when we examine workers' experience across a number of days, we find that variety helps improve worker productivity. Additionally, we show that part of this benefit results from workers' cumulative experience with changeovers. Our results highlight the need for organizations to transform specialization and variety into mutually reinforcing strategies rather than treating them as mutually exclusive. Overall, our paper identifies new ways to improve operational performance through the effective allocation of work. ISSN : 0025-1909 En ligne : http://mansci.journal.informs.org/content/early/2012/03/09/mnsc.1110.1482 [article] Specialization and variety in repetitive tasks : Evidence from a japanese bank [texte imprimé] / Bradley R. Staats, Auteur ; Francesca Gino, Auteur . - 2012 . - pp.1141-1159. Management Langues : Anglais (eng) in Management science > Vol. 58 N° 6 (Juin 2012) . - pp.1141-1159 Mots-clés : Learning  Motivation  Productivity  Specialization  VarietyWork  fragmentation Résumé : Sustaining operational productivity in the completion of repetitive tasks is critical to many organizations' success. Yet research points to two different work-design–related strategies for accomplishing this goal: specialization to capture the benefits of repetition and variety (i.e., working on different tasks) to keep workers motivated and provide them opportunities to learn. In this paper, we investigate how these two strategies may bring different productivity benefits over time. For our empirical analyses, we use two and a half years of transaction data from a Japanese bank's home loan application-processing line. We find that over the course of a single day, specialization, as compared to variety, is related to improved worker productivity. However, when we examine workers' experience across a number of days, we find that variety helps improve worker productivity. Additionally, we show that part of this benefit results from workers' cumulative experience with changeovers. Our results highlight the need for organizations to transform specialization and variety into mutually reinforcing strategies rather than treating them as mutually exclusive. Overall, our paper identifies new ways to improve operational performance through the effective allocation of work. ISSN : 0025-1909 En ligne : http://mansci.journal.informs.org/content/early/2012/03/09/mnsc.1110.1482