Public Administration ETDs

Publication Date

5-1975

Abstract

Various methods of production measurement are surveyed. A combination method consisting of elemental standard data and a modified stop watch study are selected for use at the Department of Motor Vehicles. Numerous data indicators are subjected to rigorous review to determine which will give the best indication over time of the variability of employee production. Data is collected on two functions at a Department of Motor Vehicle field office, the drivers license typist function and the title and registration typist function. The data is brought together and manipulated to reveal the basic components of a total staffing equation. The total staffing equation is used to develop an equitable distribution of employees among the eighteen field offices used in the study. Measures of average increase in total documents and document production over time are used to predict future staffing needs for each field office. Recommendations on setting up a data collection system at the Department of Motor Vehicles to include computer application of the staffing equation are made. And, finally, some recommendations on work measurement requiring legislative action are proposed.

Within the study several individual employee variables are discussed as they relate to production. Sex, age, ethnic origin, and educational level are found to have no appreciable impact on total staffing. Intergration of employee goals with agency goals is discounted. And evidence is found to be too gross to support a contention that a division of labor in some field offices produces higher production levels than nondivided offices.

Overall it is found that production can be measured at the clerical level in the Department of Motor Vehicles if intuitive, as well as, empirical reasoning is employed and applied to the available data. The basic equations and procedures so derived are found to produce useful prognotications of future year staffing requirements on a best first approximation basis.

Degree Name

Public Administration

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

School of Public Administration

First Committee Member (Chair)

Albert H. Rosenthal

Second Committee Member

Donald Winston Smithburg

Third Committee Member

Leonard Arnold Stitelman

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

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