Determining Manager's Load & Control Span by Modeling Management as a Service Activity

Abstract

This paper shows how a production foreman and line managers can be modeled as giving variety of services. The model is essentially a queueing model with arrivals, waiting time and service. The model is first analyzed in the most general way finding the mean values of waiting times and queue length. Different management environment may have very different requirements. Our proposed model gives a good modeling solution to a variety of management styles and environments. Then, a simpler model for the control span of an assembly line foreman is developed and illustrated using a numerical example.