Efficiency of Output in Self-Paced Work, Machine-Paced Rest

Abstract

The jobs of the modern-day telephone operator and repair service attendant afford instances in which work operations are self-paced but the rest intervals between successive cycles are machine controlled. The productive efficiency of workers in such jobs can be measured either by the volume of output generated per unit time (OPU) or by the average work time (AWT) consumed in producing that output volume. Intuitively, the two measures seem equivalent and traditionally have been so regarded. On the other hand, the resting time between work cycles is excluded when computing AWT and is included when calculating OPU. Thus, if the amount of resting time itself were a determinant of AWT, it is possible the two measures would exhibit dissimilar behavior. A model of worker performance analogous to the Weber-Fechner paradigm in psychophysics is developed to illustrate this dissimilarity.