The agreed definition of work study issued by the British Standards Institute is that it is a generic term for those techniques,particularly method study and work measurement, which are used in the examination of human work in all its contexts, and which lead systematically to the investigation of  all the factors which effect the efficiency and economy of the situation being reviewed, in order to effect improvement.

The objective of work study is to assist management obtain the optimum use of the human and material resources available to an organisation for the accomplishment of the work upon which it is engaged. Fundamentally, this objective has three aspects:-

1. the most effective use of plant and equipment;
2. the most effective use of human effort; and
3. the evaluation of human work

Too often it has been the practice, wherever human activities have been organised, to accept opinion in place of fact, with the result that decisions have tended to be based upon what was believed to be true rather than upon what was known to be true. The function of work study is to obtain facts, and then to use those facts as a means of improvement. Consequently, work study may be regarded principally as a procedure for determining the truth about the activities of existing people and existing plant and equipment as a means of the improvement of those activities. It will provide the means of achieving higher productive efficiency under prevailing circumstances.

For more information on Method Study and Work Measurement, click on the appropriate heading on the list under management toolbox.