The Concept of Human Effort Engineering

Development of Industrial Engineering

Industrial engineering emerged as a discipline of graduate and post graduate education based on the pioneering effort done by F.W. Taylor, Frank Gilbreth and Harrington Emerson in the areas of human productivity improvement and efficiency improvement in methods and systems.  American Institute of Industrial Engineering (AIIE) started in January 1948 became a focal point for industrial engineering profession and evolved into an international professional body, Institute of Industrial Engineering. AIIE adopted the following definition for Industrial Engineering in 1955. “Industrial engineering is concerned with the design, improvement, and installation of integrated systems of men, materials, and equipment. It draws upon specialized knowledge and skill in the mathematical, physical, and social sciences together with the principles and methods of engineering analysis and design, to specify, predict, and evaluate the results to be obtained from such systems.”[1]

Robert N. Lehrer, Editor-in-chief of the Journal of Industrial Engineering, had proposed the following definition for industrial engineering in 1954. “Industrial engineering is the design of situations for the useful coordination of men, materials and machines in order to achieve desired results in an optimum manner. The unique characteristics of Industrial Engineering center about the consideration of the human factor as it is related to the technical aspects of a situation, and the integration of all factors that influence the overall situation.”[2]

  

Lehrer’s definition emphasizes that the unique characteristic of Industrial Engineering is the consideration of the human factor. It is the industrial engineer that brings abilities and disabilities of human beings into the design process of work systems such that work systems are optimized. Lehrer’s emphasis on human factor as the unique characteristic of Industrial Engineering was not explicitly emphasized in the definition evolved by the AIIE and it chose to articulate knowledge and skill in mathematical, physical and social sciences, principles and methods of engineering analysis for design, installation and improvement of integrated systems of men, materials and equipment.

  

This lack of emphasis on the focus of the discipline is resulting in a situation where even the students of industrial engineering in postgraduate programmes are unable to articulate the uniqueness of industrial engineering in an organization. Narayana Rao discussed the issue in detail and proposed the following definition.

  

“Industrial Engineering is Human Effort Engineering. It is an engineering discipline that deals with the design of human effort in all occupations: agricultural, manufacturing and service. The objectives of Industrial Engineering are optimization of productivity of work-systems and occupational comfort, health, safety and income of persons involved.” [3]

  

If one needs to explain the focus of industrial engineering more briefly, two areas can be specified as exclusive focus of industrial engineering: Human Effort Engineering and Systems Efficiency Engineering. As industrial engineers have a role in system design as well as in human effort design they have a role in implementing projects, systems and processes. Thus, they are part of project management teams and can lead such teams also. As, industrial engineering is concerned with individual human effort as well as  relations between various employees as a part of system efficiency engineering, it has a significant role to play in the human resource issues of an organization.

 


 

  

 

Relationship between Industrial Engineering and HRM Department

  

Flippo [7] identified that job analysis is often confused with motion study conducted by industrial engineers. These are two different ways of studying the same job, but motion study is a process of analyzing a job to find out the easiest, most effective, and most economical method of doing it or portions thereof. The purpose of job analysis done by HRM persons is descriptive, broad and less detailed. The results of job analysis are used for recruitment, wage determination and training. Motion study is very detailed and it is conducted by industrial engineers for standardization of method and improvement. If a job is subjected to both processes of study, motion study should preferably precede job analysis done by HRM persons. Thus Flippo recognized the role of industrial engineers in companies and their interaction with HRM activity.

  

Flippo [8] also recognized the role of industrial engineering in safety management. He said sound and forward-looking engineering must certainly be an essential requirement of any safety effort. Workplaces should be clean, well lighted, and properly ventilated. Appropriate mechanical devices for material handling should be provided. All dangerous equipment needs to be safeguarded. Flippo also advocated use of human factors engineering so that machines, equipment, and tools can be used by workmen within their limitations and abilities. He emphasizes that the first objective of human engineering is to improve performance. This aspect is closely associated with motion study and work simplification. The second objective is to protect the individual’s physical and mental condition through making work more comfortable, less fatiguing, and less hazardous. Industrial psychologists and physiologists need to work along with design engineers to have designs that make less demand on the limitations of workers. Once industrial engineers develop new methods, training the employees in those methods becomes a responsibility of industrial engineers. Thus in the area of training production operators, the HRM training specialists create the training environment and schedules and industrial engineers act as trainers. In Job evaluation exercises, industrial engineers are involved actively to arrive at the job analysis. Incentive scheme calculations are undertaken by IE departments in many companies. Industrial engineers operate incentive schemes as they can adjust standard times appropriately from time to time and calculate incentives and explain the rationale to workmen more easily.