Hal W. Hendrick

Determining the cost-benefits of ergonomics projects and factors that lead to their success.

Managers usually can justify financially supporting a proposed ergonomics project only when it is supported by a sound cost-benefit analysis. The factors to consider and sources of information for calculating the costs and benefits of proposed ergonomic projects are described. Based upon his experience and review of numerous ergonomics projects, the common characteristics of successful ergonomics interventions gleaned by the author are described and then illustrated by actual documented cases.

Ergonomics in organizational design and management

The historical development of ergonomics in organizational design and management is reviewed. Basic concepts of organizational design and of sociotechnical systems are discussed. The emergence of an organizational-machine interface technology and related concepts of macroergonomics are presented, including sociotechnical system considerations in organizational and work systems design. Macroergonomics methods and applications are summarized.

Future directions in macroergonomics

The origin and initial development of macroergonomics as a formal area of research and practice is reviewed, including initial methodologies and applications. Macroergonomics is defined. The synergistic nature of systems and the potential of macroergonomics for effecting 60% or greater improvements in various organizational effectiveness criteria are described. Macroergonomic interventions that have achieved these kinds of results are cited as initial validation of the synergism hypothesis. Future directions in macroergonomics are postulated, including the empirical basis or rationale for each. Included are macroergonomics as a change agent function, total quality management (TQM) strategy, human-centred work system design approach, and preventive occupational health methodology. Macroergonomics is seen as being in a period of rapid development and expansion.

Matching Individual and Job Complexity: Validation of Stratified Systems Theory:

Stratified systems theory holds that hierarchical differentiation of jobs in organizations differ systematically in their cognitive complexity requirements, and that managers perform most effectively and are happiest when their own complexity level matches that of their position. In the present study, the cognitive complexity level of 22 hotel managers was assessed, and their potential for promotion to Area Manager was evaluated. The relationship between the two was significant beyond .01. Of the seven who were actually promoted during a three-year period, all but two were high on complexity. One of the two low on complexity later was demoted.

9. Human Factors in Organizational Design and Management

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the application of human factors at the macroergonomic or overall organizational level. Conceptually, it is entirely possible to do an outstanding job of microergonomically designing a systems components, modules, and even subsystems, yet fail to reach relevant goals of system effectiveness because of inattention to the macroergonomic design of the system. Horizontal differentiation refers to the degree of departmentalization and job specialization that is designed into the organization. In other cultures or on other occasions, the psychosocial and environmental conditions might be very different and thus result in different interactions with technology mode in terms of organizational design effects. High levels of interdependence between subunits require particularly careful human factors attention to information processing mechanisms to ensure effective integration. At least three major aspects of the personnel subsystem are critical to an organizations design: (1) the degree of professionalism or the skills and training requirements of the organization and its constituent subunits, (2) demographic characteristics of the work force employed or to be employed in the organization, and (3) psychosocial characteristics of the work force.

Ergodynamics and macroergonomics in analysis of decision-making efficiency and complexity

The principles of macroergonomics and the laws of ergodynamics are reviewed. The theories of mutual adaptation and transformation dynamics are presented as a complex basis of the ergodynamics, and they are offered as paradigms for macroergonomic evaluation and design of sociotechnical or human‐machine‐environment decision‐making systems (HMES). Criteria and factors of decision‐making efficiency are studied for different cognitive strategies and their transformations in the course of long‐term training and short‐term decision making in emergencies. Sample system criteria and design guidelines, based on the results of both laboratory studies and actual research and design applications, are provided. A combination of macroergonomics and ergodynamics helps ergonomists to meet rapidly growing requirements of practice and overcome a narrow approach to the workstations analysis when a broader view of complex multilevel system leads to success and instead of traditional static approach the analysis of transformat...

Ergonomics for Children: Forward Directions

A relatively new area of human factors/ergonomics practice focuses on designing for children. The objective of this panel is to discuss ‘forward directions’ for human factors professionals currently designing for children or desiring to begin working with design of environments, goods, and procedures for children. Each panelist is an expert in an aspect of design that applies to children. Each will give a brief example of their practice or experience. They will offer their opinion on the greatest issues facing human factors engineers as they investigate design for children and the challenges facing the worlds children of today.

Professional Certification in Human Factors: Progress and Pitfalls

Under the auspices of the Subcommittee on Professional Standards (Policy and Planning Committee), effort was resumed in 1984 on a program for certification/licensing of Human Factors specialists within the Human Factors Society. The approach taken by the subcommittee was to review current arguments on the proposition of certification and licensing, determine implications for HPS involvement, define the major issues, and develop a preliminary plan for a recommended certification program for consideration and review by the HFS Executive Council. Such a review was held during the 1984 Annual Meeting with the decision to proceed with developing a plan for phased development of a certification program (Blanchard, 1985). As a result of the 1984 decision, a subcommittee on certification was established under the newly formed committee on professional standards. Bob Blanchard was appointed as the initial chair. That committee has now been actively involved in developing a certification program for two years. In addition to developing a detailed program plan covering a five-year period, the committee has been active in developing a specialty data base on which to base a certification system. Funding for this data base development has been provided by the US Air Force, the Human Factors Society and, more recently, by the US Navy. The purpose of this panel session is to provide the society with a status report on the HFS certification program plan, the specialty areas that have been identified for data base development, and the process that has been used to obtain the data base information. In addition, an equally important purpose is to bring to the societys attention the experience of related professional groups in developing professional certification programs. The specific topics to be addressed by the panelists in their formal presentations are as follows.

Group Decision-Making Effectiveness as a Function of Physical Arrangement

After viewing the first 28 minutes of the film, Twelve Angry Men, 60 groups of eight male students each were randomly assigned to one of six different physical seating arrangements. Each student first made a private ranking of the order in which he thought the jurors in a murder trial would change their vote from “guilty” to “not guilty”. Group members then worked toward a consensual ranking. The consensual rankings of the groups placed in a circle arrangement with no table were found more accurate (p < .05) than those for groups placed in the other five arrangements, all of which utilized work tables. Potential implications for conference room design and furnishings were noted, along with suggestions for follow-on research.

Physiological Biorhythm as a Correlate of Pilot Error Accidents and Incidents

Aircraft accidents and incidents attributed to pilot error were hypothesized to have occurred while the pilot was in a critical phase for one or more biorhythms. From screening accident and incident reports for a large military unit, two groups of 25 pilots who had been involved in pilot error accidents and one group of 50 pilots who had been involved in pilot error incidents were identified. 13 of the accident validation group and 12 of the cross validation group were found to have been in a critical physiological phase at the time of accident, or twice the number expected by chance. For the incident group, 20 of the 50 pilots were in a critical physiological phase at the time of incident. Results for all three groups exceeded chance at the .025 level. Results for emotional and intellectual biorhythms, and for double critical phases were found not significant.