| allowance | When constructing a time standard using a stopwatch time study or predetermined motion times, the addition of time to the standard for personal, restroom, and other time.
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| contingent workers | Temporary workers employed by an agency and contracted to work for another firm.
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| continuous improvement | A process of always seeking ways to improve existing processes and tasks.
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| cross-training | Training employees to do a variety of jobs.
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| innovation | A dramatic change from a new idea.
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| learning curve | A curve that shows the reduction in the time it takes to complete a task as the number of times it has been completed increases.
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| learning rate | The amount of improvement obtained as a task is repeated.
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| normal time | In a time study, this is the observed time after adjustment by the performance rating.
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| observed time | When performing a time study, this is the average of the times of observations.
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| performance rating | When performing time studies, this is an adjustment made to take into account whether the observed worker was faster or slower than normal.
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| predetermined motion time | The time required to complete small aspects of tasks collected from a large number of observations and stored in a database so that future time standards can be created without needing a stopwatch time study.
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| service–profit chain | A framework used to link employee satisfaction to profitability.
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| standard time | The result of a stopwatch time study after an adjustment by the performance rating and after allowances have been made.
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| stopwatch time study | The process of developing a time standard by actually observing and timing workers.
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| time standard | The expected time for a worker to complete a task.
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| work sampling | A process of recording what a worker is doing to determine how employee time is spent.
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