IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iuj/wpaper/ems_2009_04.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

How Multi-Tasking Job Designs Affect Productivity: Evidence from Australian Coal Mining Industry

Author

Abstract

The author studies how the Australian coal mining industry adopted multitasking job designs by eliminating two types of task demarcations: (a) the demarcation between production and maintenance stream tasks and (b) the demarcation within the production stream. Using an original dataset of Australian open-cut coal mines covering the period 1985–2005, he estimates the effect of multi-tasking on productivity and explains its effects. Results indicate that the elimination of between-demarcation would increase coal production by 27% whereas the elimination of within-demarcation has no effect on productivity. Furthermore, he finds that the relationship between coal demand uncertainty and the elimination of demarcations is weak. The author demonstrates that these patterns are inconsistent with the explanation commonly given for how multi-tasking affects productivity–that mines able to redeploy workers freely allows them to use labor fully and to adjust to demand fluctuations. The explanation that better describes the results is, rather, the elimination of redundancies: the bundling of overlapping tasks reduces duplication of effort and unnecessary waiting.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Shingo Takahashi, 2009. "How Multi-Tasking Job Designs Affect Productivity: Evidence from Australian Coal Mining Industry," Working Papers EMS_2009_04, Research Institute, International University of Japan.
    • Handle: RePEc:iuj:wpaper:ems_2009_04
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.iuj.ac.jp/workingpapers/index.cfm?File=EMS_2009_04.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2009
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maury Gittleman & Michael Horrigan & Mary Joyce, 1998. "“Flexible†Workplace Practices: Evidence from a Nationally Representative Survey," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 52(1), pages 99-115, October.
    2. Paul Osterman, 1994. "How Common is Workplace Transformation and Who Adopts it?," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 47(2), pages 173-188, January.
    3. Merwin W. Mitchell & Joe A. Stone, 1992. "Union Effects on Productivity: Evidence from Western U.S. Sawmills," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 46(1), pages 135-145, October.
    4. Barton H. Hamilton & Jack A. Nickerson & Hideo Owan, 2003. "Team Incentives and Worker Heterogeneity: An Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Teams on Productivity and Participation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(3), pages 465-497, June.
    5. Park, Ki Seong, 1996. "Economic Growth and Multiskilled Workers in Manufacturing," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 14(2), pages 254-285, April.
    6. Ichniowski, Casey & Shaw, Kathryn & Prennushi, Giovanna, 1997. "The Effects of Human Resource Management Practices on Productivity: A Study of Steel Finishing Lines," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(3), pages 291-313, June.
    7. Lindbeck, Assar & Snower, Dennis J., 2001. "Centralized bargaining and reorganized work: Are they compatible?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(10), pages 1851-1875, December.
    8. Thomas,Alex M., 2021. "Macroeconomics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108731997.
    9. Freeman, Richard B & Medoff, James L, 1982. "Substitution between Production Labor and Other Inputs in Unionized and Nonunionized Manufacturing," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 64(2), pages 220-233, May.
    10. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    11. Casey Ichniowski & Kathryn Shaw, 1995. "Old Dogs and New Tricks: Determinants of the Adoption of Productivity-Enhancing Work Practices," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 26(1995 Micr), pages 1-65.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Malgorzata Marchewka & Janusz Nesterak & Mariusz Sołtysik & Wojciech Szymla & Magdalena Wojnarowska, 2020. "Multitasking Effects on Individual Performance: An Experimental Eye-Tracking Study," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(1), pages 107-116.
    2. Manoj Kumar Mohanty & Padma Charan Mishra & Alaka Samantaray, 2023. "The Relationship of Critical Success Factors of the Mineral Industry: A Study on India," Vision, , vol. 27(1), pages 119-134, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Michael Waldman, 2012. "Theory and Evidence in Internal LaborMarkets [The Handbook of Organizational Economics]," Introductory Chapters,, Princeton University Press.
    2. Uwe Jirjahn & Kornelius Kraft, 2010. "Teamwork And Intra‐Firm Wage Dispersion Among Blue‐Collar Workers," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 57(4), pages 404-429, September.
    3. Brent Boning & Casey Ichniowski & Kathryn Shaw, 2007. "Opportunity Counts: Teams and the Effectiveness of Production Incentives," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 25(4), pages 613-650.
    4. Boucekkine, Raouf & Crifo, Patricia, 2008. "Human Capital Accumulation And The Transition From Specialization To Multitasking," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(3), pages 320-344, June.
    5. Michael J. Handel & Maury Gittleman, 1999. "Is There a Wage Payoff to Innovative Work Practices?," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_288, Levy Economics Institute.
    6. Takao Kato & Ju Ho Lee & Jang-Soo Ryu, 2010. "The productivity effects of profit sharing, employee ownership, stock option and team incentive plans: evidence from Korean panel data," Advances in the Economic Analysis of Participatory & Labor-Managed Firms, in: Advances in the Economic Analysis of Participatory & Labor-Managed Firms, pages 111-135, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    7. Derek C. Jones & Takao Kato, 2011. "The Impact of Teams on Output, Quality, and Downtime: An Empirical Analysis Using Individual Panel Data," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 64(2), pages 215-240, January.
    8. Derek C. Jones & Takao Kato, 2003. "The Effect of Employee Involvment on Firm Performance: Evidence from an Econometric Case Study," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 2003-612, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    9. Bjorn Bartling & Ernst Fehr & Klaus M. Schmidt, 2012. "Screening, Competition, and Job Design: Economic Origins of Good Jobs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(2), pages 834-864, April.
    10. Dostie Benoit & Jayaraman Rajshri, 2012. "Organizational Redesign, Information Technologies and Workplace Productivity," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-41, February.
    11. Bauer, Thomas K. & Bender, Stefan, 2001. "Flexible Work Systems and the Structure of Wages: Evidence from Matched Employer-Employee Data," IZA Discussion Papers 353, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Shaw, Kathryn, 2009. "Insider econometrics: A roadmap with stops along the way," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 607-617, December.
    13. Edward P. Lazear & Kathryn L. Shaw, 2007. "Personnel Economics: The Economist's View of Human Resources," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(4), pages 91-114, Fall.
    14. Wolf, Elke & Zwick, Thomas, 2002. "Produktivitätswirkung von Mitarbeiterbeteiligung : der Einfluss von unbeobachteter Heterogenität (The effect of employee participation in asset formation on productivity : the influence of unobserved ," Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 35(1), pages 123-132.
    15. Kathryn Shaw, 2004. "The Human Resources Revolution: Is It a Productivity Driver?," NBER Chapters, in: Innovation Policy and the Economy, Volume 4, pages 69-114, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Bloom, Nicholas & Van Reenen, John, 2011. "Human Resource Management and Productivity," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 19, pages 1697-1767, Elsevier.
    17. Nathalie Greenan & Ekaterina Kalugina & Mouhamadou Moustapha Niang, 2017. "Work Organisation and Workforce Vunerability to Non-Employment: Evidence from OECD’s Survey on Adult Skills (PIAAC) [Organisation du travail et vulnérabilité au non-emploi : une étude empirique à p," Working Papers hal-02162457, HAL.
    18. Nicholas Bloom & Erik Brynjolfsson & Lucia Foster & Ron Jarmin & Megha Patnaik & Itay Saporta-Eksten & John Van Reenen, 2019. "What Drives Differences in Management Practices?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(5), pages 1648-1683, May.
    19. Flores-Fillol, Ricardo & Iranzo, Susana & Mane, Ferran, 2017. "Teamwork and delegation of decisions within the firm," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 1-29.
    20. Lake, Henrietta, 2007. "Steering towards the High Road: A Study of Human Resource Management in Two Indian Garment Factories," IZA Discussion Papers 3227, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iuj:wpaper:ems_2009_04. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kazumi Imai, Office of Academic Affairs (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/gsiujjp.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.