Operations Management: Sustainability and Supply Chain Management, Twelfth Edition

Labor Standards

So far in this chapter, we have discussed labor planning and job design. The third requirement of an effective human resource strategy is the establishment of labor standards. Labor standards are the amount of time required to perform a job or part of a job, and they exist, formally or informally, for all jobs. Effective manpower planning is dependent on a knowledge of the labor required.

Labor standards

The amount of time required to perform a job or part of a job.

Modern labor standards originated with the works of Frederick W. Taylor and Frank and Lillian Gilbreth at the beginning of the 20th century. At that time, a large proportion of work was manual, and the resulting labor content of products was high. Little was known ...