Work Sampling in a Nationwide Field Organization

Abstract

A SOUND basis for planning manpower and equipment requirements can be established only through reliable quantitative data on productivity. Such information also has other management uses in constructing performance indexes, determining time standards, appraising job content, and evaluating seasonal and peak load variations. Techniques developed in the past several years for obtaining statistics on productivity of human beings and machines are considerably less expensive and complex than classical time and motion studies. These new techniques, generally known as work or sampling,1 are based on modern theories of probability and statistical inference. They use scientific sampling to obtain data on the amount of time spent by the staff of the organization on its various activities. From a record of being performed at random instants of time, estimates are prepared of the percentage and amount of time spent on each activity by the entire organization and its various components. Also, by independent collection of data on the number of units completed for activities for which production records are available, esti-