Am I a Robot?

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Line 3: A mass production line where all the workers can work on whichever part of the process, or say, they know every part of the process. The workers switch their jobs on a daily basis so that during a certain period of time, they are doing different jobs everyday.

For a more accurate result of the experiment, the duration of the experiment would be 6 months (half a year) because people need time to show out the “symptoms”. We will measure the volume of production of the three lines on a monthly basis and will sum up at the end of the experiment. With the results of the volume of production, we can compare them and figure out the answer to the first research question.

To measure the second research question, there is no good quantitative methods as it is something emotional. So we will conduct a survey asking every worker about their experience, how they feel when working and if they feel happy or satisfied after the experimental period. After summarizing the results of the survey, we can conclude the answer to the second research question.

Expected results:

To the first research question: the expected result would be, in mass production, it is more efficient that everyone just focuses on one certain part of the whole process. This is obviously because of the nature of human beings. We all know that if one person is an expert at a certain work, he/she will do it relatively much quicker and better than other people who just know how to do it. Practice makes perfection. When people are focusing on just one thing, they will be more efficient and productive. But emotionally they may feel like a robot, repeating things again and again, day after day. It is very possible to cause stress and negative emotions.

To the second research question: the expected result would be in mass production people will feel happier and it will be better for the health of the workers if people switch their works with a certain frequency. According to researches, people get bored easily if they are required to do the same thing again and again. When people feel bored and unenthusiastic, it will be more possible that they make mistakes. If one person is exposed too much time to a depressing and unchangeable environment, this person would be mentally sick at some point, and burnout syndrome may occur as well.

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Bibliography:

- http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Mass_production.aspx

- http://www.wired.com/2011/02/ff_joelinchina/

- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0072470/