Question

A local university is considering changes to its class structure in an effort to increase professor productivity. The old schedule had each professor teaching 5 classes per week, with each class meeting an hour per day on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Each class contained 20 students. The new schedule has each professor teaching only 3 classes, but each class meets daily (Mon.-Fri.) for an hour. New classes contain 50 students.

a. Calculate the labor productivity for the initial situation (students/hour).
b. Calculate the labor productivity for the schedule change (students/hour).
c. What is the change in productivity?

Answer 1

In the initial situation, a) the labor productivity was 20 students per hour. In the new schedule, b) the labor productivity is 30 students per hour. C) The change in productivity is an increase of 10 students per hour.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate labor productivity, we need to divide the total number of students by the total number of hours worked by professors. In the initial situation, each professor taught 5 classes with 20 students per class, and each class met for 1 hour on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

So, the total number of students per professor would be 5 classes x 20 students = 100 students. The total number of hours worked by a professor would be 5 classes x 1 hour = 5 hours. Therefore, the labor productivity is 100 students / 5 hours = 20 students per hour.

In the new schedule, each professor teaches 3 classes with 50 students per class, and each class meets for 1 hour from Monday to Friday. So, the total number of students per professor would be 3 classes x 50 students = 150 students. The total number of hours worked by a professor would still be 5 hours. Therefore, the labor productivity in the new schedule is 150 students / 5 hours = 30 students per hour.

The change in productivity can be calculated by finding the difference between the labor productivity in the new schedule and the initial situation. The change in productivity is 30 students per hour - 20 students per hour = 10 students per hour.

Answer 2

Initial Labour productivity = 6.67 students / hour

New Labour productivity = 10 students / hour

Change in labour productivity = 3.33 students / hour increase

Step-by-step explanation:

• Old schedule for each professor

5 classes of an hour each, 3 days a week. So, teaching hours : 5 x 3 = 15

Number of students: 20 students per class. So, total students = 20 x 5 = 100

Labour Productivity : Students / Hour = 100 / 15 = 6.67 students

• New schedule for each professor

3 classes of an hour each, 5 days a week. So, teaching hours = 3 x 5 = 15

Number of students: 50 students per class. So, total students = 3 x 50 = 150

Labour productivity : Student / Hour = 150 / 15 = 10 students

• Change in labour productivity = New productivity - Old productivity

10 - 6.67 = 3.33 students