The effects of standard difficulty and compensation method on the parameters of the industrial learning curve and overall performance of manual assembly and disassembly tasks

The industrial learning curve has been widely recognized as an important cost planning tool. Limited empirical work has been done on factors affecting the learning curve parameters, and no study has examined simultaneously the effects of standard difficulty and compensation method. These factors were chosen for study because the literature has consistently demonstrated that difficult standards produce superior performance relative to easy standards, and that monetary incentives produce superior performance relative to fixed pay.