Q.Distinguish between time study and motion study.
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Time Study Objective – A First Look
Think about any repetitive task you do daily—making tea, packing your bag for college, or even scrolling through a social media feed. You probably have a rough sense of how long it takes. But if someone asked you to prove that your method is the most efficient, you'd need more than a guess. That's where time study enters the picture.
The Core Idea
Time study is a technique used in industrial engineering and management to determine the standard time required to complete a specific job or task. The objective is not just to clock someone with a stopwatch—it's to find out how long a task should take when done by a trained worker working at a normal pace, under standard conditions.
The NCERT textbook for Business Studies (Class 12) puts it clearly: the main objective of time study is to determine the number of workers required, and to fix the standard time for completing a job. But let's unpack what that really means.
Why It Matters
Imagine a factory assembling pens. If you don't know how long each step takes, you can't plan how many pens you'll produce in a day, how many workers you need, or whether your process is wasteful. Time study gives you that baseline. It answers questions like:
- How many units can one worker produce in an hour?
- Is the current method too slow? Where are the delays?
- How should we set fair production targets?
- What should the incentive wage be for faster work?
Without this objective measurement, managers would rely on guesswork—and that leads to either overworking employees or underutilising resources.
The Precise Objectives
Here are the specific goals of time study, as you'd encounter in your syllabus:
- Fix standard time for each task or operation. This becomes the benchmark against which actual performance is measured.
- Determine the number of workers needed for a given volume of production. If one unit takes 10 minutes, and you need 60 units in an hour, you know you require 10 workers.
- Set realistic production schedules and delivery timelines.
- Design fair wage systems—especially piece-rate wages, where workers are paid per unit produced.
- Identify inefficiencies in the current method, so improvements can be made.
- Compare alternative methods to choose the most efficient one.
Time study is not about speeding up workers unfairly. It assumes a "normal" pace—neither rushed nor lazy. The goal is to find a standard that is achievable by an average trained worker, not to set an impossible target.
How It Connects to Other Concepts
Time study is one of the techniques under Work Study, which also includes Method Study. Method study comes first—you improve how the work is done. Then time study tells you how long the improved method takes. Together, they help an organisation increase productivity without extra cost or effort. …
Time study and motion study are two complementary scientific-management techniques —
one measures how long a job takes, the other examines how the job is physically
performed. …
Time study measures how long a task should take; motion study examines how the
task is physically carried out, so unnecessary movements can be removed.
| Basis | Time Study | Motion Study |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Determines the standard time a qualified worker needs to complete a specified job, under normal working conditions, using a stopwatch. | Observes and analyses the actual body movements involved in doing a job, to identify and eliminate wasteful or unnecessary motions. |
| Objective | To fix a fair, standard time for a task, used for wage-setting and scheduling. | To find the best (most economical) sequence of motions for doing a job. |
| Technique used | Stopwatch timing of the operation. | Observation (often with motion-picture/camera recording) of worker movements. |
| Outcome | Standard time per unit of work. | An improved, simplified method of performing the job with fewer motions. |
| Pioneered by | F.W. Taylor. | Frank and Lillian Gilbreth. |
- CBSE 2026Set 66/2/11 markMCQQ.Identify the incorrect statement with respect to ‘Motion Study’, as a technique of scientific management : (A) Unnecessary movements are sought to be eliminated so that it takes less time to complete the job efficiently. (B) It refers to the study of movements like lifting, putting objects, sitting and changing positions etc., which are undertaken while doing a typical job. (C) Through this technique, Taylor was able to design suitable equipment and tools to educate workers on their use. (D) This technique helps to determine the number of workers to be employed, frame suitable incentive schemes and determine labour costs.
›Reveal solutionSolution
Motion Study focuses on eliminating wasteful bodily movements to find the most efficient way of doing a job — it does not deal with determining the number of workers or incentive schemes.
Let’s begin with the context. F.W. Taylor, the father of scientific management, was obsessed with eliminating waste — not just of materials, but of human effort and time. He believed that every job could be broken down into its smallest physical movements, and that by studying these movements, one could design a “one best way” to do the work. This is the heart of Motion Study.
Taylor and his associate Frank Gilbreth (often called the father of motion study) used cameras and stopwatches to film workers. They analysed every lift, turn, reach, and grasp involved in a task. The goal was simple: identify and remove unnecessary motions so the job could be done faster without tiring the worker. For example, a bricklayer might bend down to pick up a brick — Gilbreth redesigned the scaffold so bricks arrived at waist height, eliminating that wasteful bending. This is exactly what statements (A) and (B) describe: eliminating unnecessary movements and studying actions like lifting, sitting, and changing positions.
Statement (C) is also correct. Once Taylor and Gilbreth identified the most efficient set of motions, they designed specialised tools and equipment to match that method. They then trained workers in the use of these tools. This was a core part of scientific management — not just finding the best method, but standardising it and teaching it to everyone.
Now look at statement (D): “This technique helps to determine the number of workers to be employed, frame suitable incentive schemes and determine labour costs.” This is where the confusion arises. Motion study tells you how to do a job efficiently — it does not tell you how many workers you need or what to pay them. Those decisions come from a different technique: Time Study. …
- CBSE 2025Set ANNUAL1 markQ.Fill in the blank: ________ study is done to decide standard time.
›Reveal solutionSolution
Time study decides the standard time for a job.
Time study is a technique of scientific management that measures and records the time taken to complete a well-defined job, using a stopwatch over several readings. From these, a standard time is fixed for the task. This helps set …
- CBSE 2024Set ANNUAL1 markQ.Answer in one sentence : What is the basic objective of work study?
›Reveal solutionSolution
Work study aims to improve productivity by finding the best method and standard time for a job.
Work study is a scientific-management technique made up of method study (motion study) — which finds the one best way of performing a task by eliminating unnecessary movements — and time study, which fixes the standard time a trained worker should take. Its basic objective is to increase productivity and efficiency: by removing waste of effort, materials and time, standardising the method, and setting a …
- CBSE 2024Set ANNUAL1 markQ.Correct the underlined portion : Stop watch is used in <u>motion</u> study.
›Reveal solutionSolution
Replace 'motion' with 'time' — a stop watch is a time-study tool.
Work study has two components. Time study measures the time a qualified worker takes to complete the elements of a task, so that a standard time can be fixed; its characteristic instrument is the stop watch. Motion study, on the other hand, observes and analyses the movements (motions) of a worker to eliminate wasteful ones and find the one best way of do …
- CBSE 2023Set ANNUAL1 markQ.Answer each of the following in one sentence:(v) State the basic objective of work study.
›Reveal solutionSolution
Work study aims to increase efficiency and productivity by discovering the one best way of doing a job and setting a standard time for it.
Work study, central to Taylor's scientific management, combines method study (examining how a task is performed to simplify it and cut waste) and work measurement/time study (establishing the standard time a qualified worker should take). Its basic objective is to eliminate unnecessary movements and delays, standardise the best method, use res …
- CBSE 2022Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.Scientific process of task setting is known as :(a) work study(b) motion study(c) time study(d) fatigue study
›Reveal solutionSolution
Scientific task setting is carried out through time study.
In Taylor's scientific management, time study measures the standard time required to perform a job using a stopwatch, and from it a fair day's work (the task to be set) is fixed. This scientific setting of the task is therefore based on time study.
…
- CBSE 2022Set ANNUAL1 markQ.What do you understand by "Time study" ?
›Reveal solutionSolution
Time study fixes the standard time for a job using a stopwatch over repeated observations.
In Taylor's scientific management (Class-12 Business Studies), time study is the technique of determining the standard time taken to perform a well-defined job. The work is observed and timed with a stopwatch over several cycles, and an average is used to fix the standard time. Its purposes are to determine a fair day's work, decide the number of workers needed, frame suitabl …
- CBSE 2020Set ANNUAL1 markQ.Answer in one sentence: What is the basic objective of work study?
›Reveal solutionSolution
Work study aims at higher efficiency/productivity by discovering the most economical way of doing a job.
Work study combines method study (finding the best method of doing work) and work measurement/time study (fixing the standard time for a task). By examining the way work is carried out, it eliminates unnecessary motions and wasted effort and sets standards.
…
- CBSE 2020Set ANNUAL1 markQ.Correct the underlined portion of the following sentence: Stop watch is used in motion study. (Underlined: 'motion')
›Reveal solutionSolution
A stop watch measures the time of a task, so it belongs to time study, not motion study.
In Taylor's scientific management, time study uses a stop watch to observe and record the time taken to complete each element of a job, in order to fix the standard time. Motion study, on the other hand, observes the movements (motions) made while doing a job to remove wasteful one …
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