Search results

MANY indications of the growing importance of work study as an aid to increased productivity will be in evidence at the Third Annual Production Exhibition and Convention (Olympia, May 12–21) where many of the improved methods displayed by upwards of a hundred firms and organisations are the direct or indirect results of the application of work study techniques.

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether the number of lecture-free and exam-free days before a final exam affects students’ scores overall and by gender.

The paper exploits scheduling differences in final exams between two groups of students who take identical final exams. The treatment group and the control group have similar exam spacing for one “early exam,” but the treatment group has four additional days between exams for another “later exam,” allowing for a difference-in-differences analysis. A survey of contemporary students is conducted to complement the empirical results.

Overall, there are no statistically significant differences in the grades on the exams between the control group and the group that had four more study days. When examined by gender, the point estimate on females is large in magnitude but statistically insignificant at conventional levels (p-value=0.087).

The study uses data on undergraduate students studying economics in Israel. More research in other contexts is needed to determine the robustness of the findings.

This is the first paper to study the effect of the number of days students have between final exams on student final exam scores. The results can aid in determining optimal final exam schedules.

THAT was an extraordinary statement by an anonymous “government computer specialist” that was reported in The Guardian recently. He was referring to the threat of strike action by the 1,500 members of ASTMS employed by ICL on users' maintenance work.

The purpose of this paper is to present bootstrapping as an alternative statistical methodology to analyze time studies and input data for discrete‐event simulations. Bootstrapping is a non‐parametric technique to estimate the sampling distribution of a statistic by doing repeated sampling (i.e. resampling) with replacement from an original sample. This paper proposes a relatively simple implementation of bootstrap techniques to time study analysis.

Using an inductive approach, this work selects a typical situation to conduct a time study, applies two bootstrap procedures for the statistical analysis, compares bootstrap to traditional parametric approaches, and extrapolates general advantages of bootstrapping over parametric approaches.

Bootstrap produces accurate inferences when compared to those from parametric methods, and it is an alternative when the underlying parametric assumptions are not met.

Research results contribute to work measurement and simulation fields since bootstrap promises an increase in accuracy in cases where the normality assumption is violated or only small samples are available. Furthermore, this paper shows that electronic spreadsheets are appropriate tools to implement the proposed bootstrap procedures.

In previous work, the standard procedure to analyze time studies and input data for simulations is a parametric approach. Bootstrap permits to obtain both point estimates and estimates of time distributions. Engineers and managers involved in process improvement initiatives could use bootstrap to exploit better the information from available samples.

ALMOST everybody who is in the position of employer or staff selector has received applications from graduates who are quite certain they have all the qualities necessary to fill the post advertised or who, writing in on the off chance, imply that they possess everything required to warrant a position specifically manufactured for them to fill. The only snag is that when a close look at their diploma is taken, it reveals that they have received it for work done in a totally useless field. We have heard of a case of an applicant with a PhD that was granted for a thesis on a subject so remote from reality that it could be compared with that music‐hall joke of the one who obtained his doctorate for a thesis on the brain power shown by performing fleas.

IT would be quite refreshing to have an open breeze blowing through the ranks of work study technicians these days. Away with the ponderous exponents of the mystic art and, instead, finding the experts telling the workers how easy work study really is if only you sit down and think about it. It has, of course, many difficult and complex aspects but let us not confuse the issue, since these aspects can be left to the professionals' — after all that is what they get paid for — sorting out and providing solutions to the problems!

PROGRAMME Evaluation and Review Technique, familiarly known as PERT, is a vital subject which is growing rapidly. Recognition of this drew an interested audience to a symposium at Keele University on July 13, when 14 companies contributed papers on different aspects of critical path‐planning techniques and their experience as users in such disparate fields as shipbuilding, aviation, nuclear and civil engineering, the chemical and electrical industries, and management consultancy.

IN the middle of a January afternoon an audience which packed the National Film Theatre was held in thrall by a film. These people drawn from Government departments, trade unions, employers, technical colleges and local productivity committees were not wasting precious time watching the miming of famous film stars.

This study explores the factors affecting the results obtained by Southern African students in the professional qualification examinations of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA). Thirteen variables were identified and included in a questionnaire sent to CIMA students. It was found that three variables were significantly associated with examination success: age, tuition and study material. Younger candidates, candidates who attended part‐time tuition classes and candidates who used the textbooks published by BPP were more successful. Trends were also detected regarding gender, the number of papers written, and examination attempts: females tended to outperform males, candidates had a smaller chance of passing all the papers they sat if they took on more papers at a time, and first‐time candidates had a higher tendency to pass than repeat candidates. Opportunities for further research are discussed.

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview for those interested in the current state‐of‐the‐art in time management research.

This review includes 32 empirical studies on time management conducted between 1982 and 2004.

The review demonstrates that time management behaviours relate positively to perceived control of time, job satisfaction, and health, and negatively to stress. The relationship with work and academic performance is not clear. Time management training seems to enhance time management skills, but this does not automatically transfer to better performance.

The reviewed research displays several limitations. First, time management has been defined and operationalised in a variety of ways. Some instruments were not reliable or valid, which could account for unstable findings. Second, many of the studies were based on cross‐sectional surveys and used self‐reports only. Third, very little attention was given to job and organizational factors. There is a need for more rigorous research into the mechanisms of time management and the factors that contribute to its effectiveness. The ways in which stable time management behaviours can be established also deserves further investigation.

This review makes clear which effects may be expected of time management, which aspects may be most useful for which individuals, and which work characteristics would enhance or hinder positive effects. Its outcomes may help to develop more effective time management practices.

This review is the first to offer an overview of empirical research on time management. Both practice and scientific research may benefit from the description of previous attempts to measure and test the popular notions of time management.