A Researcher Was Interested in Determining Whether More Frequent Breaks

question 26

Essay

A researcher was interested in determining whether more frequent breaks (i.e., "coffee breaks") in a business setting would help employees to be more productive. With the cooperation of the management, employees on one floor of the corporate offices were allowed to take a 10-minute break each hour (at any time) between 8:00 and 11:00 A.M. (for a total of 30 minutes). The comparison group comprised employees on different floors who followed the usual corporate policy of taking a 30-minute break sometime during the morning (at any time). Measures of productivity were gathered for each employee according to his or her job (e.g., number of reports written, number of sales made, etc.). A time series analysis was applied to compare the productivity of both groups of employees for six months before and after the intervention (started in July). Quite surprisingly, the productivity of both groups increased following the onset of the intervention, suggesting to the researcher that the timing of breaks makes no difference.
-a graph that displays results demonstrating the hypothesized effectiveness of the intervention.

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Definitions:

Demand Rate

The speed at which products or services are requested or consumed by the market or customers, influencing inventory levels and production planning.

Economic Order Quantity Model

A formula used in inventory management for determining the optimal order size that minimizes the total costs of holding inventory and ordering.

Setup Cost

The cost incurred to prepare equipment or processes for production.

Holding Cost

The expenses incurred by storing unsold goods, encompassing warehousing, insurance, and spoilage costs.