Double-Shift Minimization

Shift work holds the potential to cause serious human resource management problems for organizations. Nevertheless, the functioning of some organizations, such as the Spofford Juvenile Detention Facility (SJDF), requires the use of shift work. This research involves an analysis seeking to identify a shift schedule alternative that minimized the probability of double-shifts in a shift work environment.

The SJDF operates on a 24-hour per day, seven-day per week basis. One sub-unit of the on-duty operational staff is structured as a 10-position organization. A total of 42 persons are employed in this sub-unit of the SJDF as members of the operational staff.

At present, operational staff members in this sub-unit are scheduled to work eight-hour shifts. Each member of the operational staff is scheduled to work five such regular shifts each week. Overtime, typically in the form of double-shifts, is scheduled only to accommodate scheduled vacation time. Unscheduled overtime, also typically in the form of double-shifts, results from the unscheduled absences of members of the operational staff of the sub-unit. Unscheduled absences occur as a result of both authorized (sick leave, compassionate leave, jury duty, and so forth) and unauthorized reasons.

Together, scheduled double-shifts and double-shifts resulting from unscheduled but authorized absences, cause an average of two double-shifts per week for an a

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f would be scheduled to work 3.5 regular shifts per week. In actual practice, the half-shifts would be combined at work week-end and work week-beginning to produce a single 12-hour shift. Decision Analysis The alternative shift schedules were analyzed in relation to the study objective as a probabilistic evaluation. The probabilistic evaluation was addressed through the application of decision-tree analysis to the appropriate data. The DPL (Decision Programming Language) software application was used to perform the required analyses. The desired outcome from the decision-tree analysis was an indication of which of the three alternative shift schedules would minimize double-shift work among the members of the operational staff in the sub-unit of the SJDF. The probabilistic evaluation, thus, was performed as a "minimization" problem. The decision-tree analysis structure is presented in Chart 1, which may be found on page 7. As indicated in Chart 1, the decision-tree was structured with three branches one branch representing each of the shift schedule alternatives. The "Shift 12" branch represents the proposed 12-hour shift structure, while the "Shift 8" branch represents the existing eight-hour shift structure, and the "Sh

Category: Business - D