Multi-skilling

When applied to science majors, multi-skill, multi-disciplinary guided-inquiry activities may provide an ideal mechanism for preparing students for their entire undergraduate curriculum, as an integrated whole, and not as a piecemeal assemblage of sub-disciphnary fragments. 

Multi-skill, Multi-disciplinary Guided-inquiry for Chemistry Majors... 

Choose problems designated as single-skill (easy), multiskill (medium), and challenging and multi-skill (hard). 

C = Combine operations is really a discussion of general purpose vs. special purpose. For example, do you want to have a maintenance crew with one specialist doing electrical work, another doing plumbing, and another doing carpentry Or three people, each of whom can do all three types of work Most firms now are going for the multi-skilled operator because it is difficult to find sufficient work to keep aU specialists always busy. 

On every plant, a multi-skills team supported by corporate level departments, analyses 1 or 2 systems per year and defines the related maintenance programs which become prescriptive after validation. 

Basic Electrical Installation Work provides a sound basic knowledge of electrical theory and practice which other trades in the construction industry will find of value, particularly those involved in multi-skilling activities. 

Team preparation - within a total quality environment, workers are assigned to particular product work areas, but the ultimate aim is to develop operators who are both multi-skilled and multi-functional. 

A job as a whole consists of the task or set of tasks which are required to be earried out by a person holding a particular position in an organization. This will not rrecessaiify just include the specified tasks in reality, it m also include tasks which for one reason or another, fall to the lot of that person. Job descriptions or position descriptiorrs attempt to write down the functions or tasks reqtrired by a person in that positiorr, and trstrally include the estimated percentage of time different tasks will take. One problem with job descriptions is that they may interfere with the organization s desire for an adaptable and multi-skilled workforce. They may also be difficrrltto keep up to date as demands change. 

Job rotation involves changing the jobs carried out between different people in a workgroup, so that there is more variety. It can be useful, but some people do not like constant change. It does fit in with multi-skilling, which allows an operation to continue with less staff, because one staff member has been given the skills to cover for another staff member and this can be used in an emergency, such as absence due to illness. 

In the real world, a call center is more complicated with multi-tasks and the diversify of client needs. The process also has become increasingly difficult since internal and external variables are to be added. Thus, in order to improve call center performances, the prospect research should more concern several aspects in call center optimizations, forecasting method, for example, more complex of the queuing model, routing problem, staff scheduling problems, multi-skill scheduling, and real-time adherence. 

Master Thesis, Engineering Sciences, Ecole Centrale, Paris Pot A (2006) Planning and routing algorithms for multi-skill contact centers. Doctoral dissertation. Department of Mathematics, Vrije Univesity, Amsterdam... 

There was postulated an apparently rather stylised theory or model of the flexible firm — with a core of flexibility deployed, multi-skilled permanent employees and a periphery of part-time, temporary and sub-contracted workers. It was criticized as not reflecting a more uneven reality in which core... 

Organisational changes such as multi-skilling, delayering or downsizing, in which staff are expected to take on a wider range of responsibilities with less supervision, increase the need to assure competence. 

A multi-skilled team typically has increased levels of conpetency which enables them to carry out tasks previously carried out by another function. 

Multi-skilled teams may be unable to maintain a depth of technical knowledge for all aspects of the work undertaken. 

Individual working in multi-skilled teams may not have competency in all aspects of the jobs that they supervise. 

Individuals working in multi-skilled teams may feel that their supervisors are unable to answer certain technical questions and so may make unauthorized decisions. 

Multi-skilled teams may deal with problems themselves rather than confer with higher authority. 

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