Determining lot sizes and resource requirements: A review
Operations Research
Forgetting and the learning curve: a laboratory study
Management Science
The persistence and transfer of learning in industrial settings
Management Science
Theoretical foundation for a learning rate budget
Management Science
Learning in setups: analysis, minimal forecast horizons, and algorithms
Management Science
Survival-Enhancing Learning in the Manhattan Hotel Industry, 1898-1980
Management Science
Modeling and worker motivation in JIT production systems
Management Science
Organizational Learning: Creating, Retaining, and Transferring Knowledge
Organizational Learning: Creating, Retaining, and Transferring Knowledge
Job Rotation as a Learning Mechanism
Management Science
Behind the Learning Curve: Linking Learning Activities to Waste Reduction
Management Science
Commissioned Paper: On the Interface Between Operations and Human Resources Management
Manufacturing & Service Operations Management
The New Division of Labor: How Computers Are Creating the Next Job Market
The New Division of Labor: How Computers Are Creating the Next Job Market
Learning from Experience in Software Development: A Multilevel Analysis
Management Science
Manufacturing & Service Operations Management
"Days of the week" effect in predicting the time taken to fix defects
Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Defects in Large Software Systems: Held in conjunction with the ACM SIGSOFT International Symposium on Software Testing and Analysis (ISSTA 2009)
Manufacturing & Service Operations Management
Organizational Learning: From Experience to Knowledge
Organization Science
The Effects of Focus on Performance: Evidence from California Hospitals
Management Science
Manufacturing & Service Operations Management
Manufacturing & Service Operations Management
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Sustaining operational productivity in the completion of repetitive tasks is critical to many organizations' success. Yet research points to two different work-design--related strategies for accomplishing this goal: specialization to capture the benefits of repetition and variety (i.e., working on different tasks) to keep workers motivated and provide them opportunities to learn. In this paper, we investigate how these two strategies may bring different productivity benefits over time. For our empirical analyses, we use two and a half years of transaction data from a Japanese bank's home loan application-processing line. We find that over the course of a single day, specialization, as compared to variety, is related to improved worker productivity. However, when we examine workers' experience across a number of days, we find that variety helps improve worker productivity. Additionally, we show that part of this benefit results from workers' cumulative experience with changeovers. Our results highlight the need for organizations to transform specialization and variety into mutually reinforcing strategies rather than treating them as mutually exclusive. Overall, our paper identifies new ways to improve operational performance through the effective allocation of work. This paper was accepted by Christian Terwiesch, operations management.