Constructive Ergonomics

The goal for ergonomics has always been to adapt work, work environments, and machines to humans. But is this goal still sufficient? Does it satisfy the needs of the individual or of societies and organizations as they operate now? Constructive Ergonomics provides an answer to these questions. Rooted both in the academic world and in the world of practitioners of the domain, it details a constructive, developmental view where ergonomics seeks to eliminate the factors and conditions that impede performance and development. This book advocates that ergonomics cannot remain content with a limited and static view of adaptation, a view that would restrict its goal to designing systems that are suited to work as it is defined at a certain point in time, to workers as they are at a particular moment, and to organizations as they operate here and now. Author Pierre Falzon argues that the objective of ergonomics must be the development of individuals, based on setting up situations of action that lead to increased success and to the acquisition or construction of know-how, knowledge, and skills. The global framework presented in this book revises profoundly the goals of the discipline, elucidating a novel approach to work, health, and performance shored up by integration models from economics and management theory. An exploration of an innovative, developmental view of ergonomics, the book redefines the ambition of the discipline and describes the elements of its scope. It provides a solid and new conceptual background and methodological tools for intervening in real-life contexts.

This book presents the proceedings of the 20th Congress of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA 2018), held on August 26-30, 2018, in Florence, Italy. By highlighting the latest theories and models, as well as cutting-edge technologies and applications, and by combining findings from a range of disciplines including engineering, design, robotics, healthcare, management, computer science, human biology and behavioral science, it provides researchers and practitioners alike with a comprehensive, timely guide on human factors and ergonomics. It also offers an excellent source of innovative ideas to stimulate future discussions and developments aimed at applying knowledge and techniques to optimize system performance, while at the same time promoting the health, safety and wellbeing of individuals. The proceedings include papers from researchers and practitioners, scientists and physicians, institutional leaders, managers and policy makers that contribute to constructing the Human Factors and Ergonomics approach across a variety of methodologies, domains and productive sectors. This volume includes papers addressing Organizational Design and Management.

This book argues for a prospective turn in ergonomics to challenge the established fields of strategic design (SD) and management. Its multi-disciplinary outlook builds upon concepts derived from Management, Innovation and Design Science. Differences, similarities and relationships between strategic design and prospective ergonomics are reviewed using existing theories and frameworks from design, ergonomics, and strategic and innovation management. To complement the theory, 12 cases have been analyzed in greater depth according to 4 main dimensions of analysis. Outcomes have shown that innovating through the Prospective Ergonomics (PE) approach is about finding the right balance between, on the one hand, meeting primary objectives such as profit maximization or solving the design problem, and on the other, acknowledging that human activity is bounded by rationality. This means that humans have diverse motives.

This book presents the proceedings of the 21st Congress of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA 2021), held online on June 13-18, 2021. By highlighting the latest theories and models, as well as cutting-edge technologies and applications, and by combining findings from a range of disciplines including engineering, design, robotics, healthcare, management, computer science, human biology and behavioral science, it provides researchers and practitioners alike with a comprehensive, timely guide on human factors and ergonomics. It also offers an excellent source of innovative ideas to stimulate future discussions and developments aimed at applying knowledge and techniques to optimize system performance, while at the same time promoting the health, safety and wellbeing of individuals. The proceedings include papers from researchers and practitioners, scientists and physicians, institutional leaders, managers and policy makers that contribute to constructing the Human Factors and Ergonomics approach across a variety of methodologies, domains and productive sectors. This volume includes papers addressing the following topics: Activity Theories for Work Analysis and Design (ATWAD), Organisation design and management (ODAM), Ergonomic Work Analysis and Training (EWAT), Systems HF/E, HF/E Education and Professional Certification Development.

Successful interaction with products, tools and technologies depends on usable designs and accommodating the needs of potential users without requiring costly training. In this context, this book is concerned with emerging ergonomics in design concepts, theories and applications of human factors knowledge focusing on the discovery, design and understanding of human interaction and usability issues with products and systems for their improvement. This book will be of special value to a large variety of professionals, researchers and students in the broad field of human modeling and performance who are interested in feedback of devices’ interfaces (visual and haptic), user-centered design, and design for special populations, particularly the elderly. We hope this book is informative, but even more - that it is thought provoking. We hope it inspires, leading the reader to contemplate other questions, applications, and potential solutions in creating good designs for all.

Even with today’s mobile technology, most work is still undertaken in a physical workplace. Today’s workplaces need to be healthy environments that minimize the risks of illnesses or injuries to occupants to compete in the marketplace. This necessitates the application of good ergonomics design principles to the creation of effective workplaces, and this is the focus of this book. This book will: · Focus on ergonomic design for better health and ergonomic design for better productivity · Presents environments that support new ways of working and alternative workplace strategies, as well as the impacts of new technologies · Covers the role of ergonomics design in creating sustainable workplaces · Includes ergonomics design for a wide variety of workplaces, from offices to hospitals, to hotels to vehicles, etc... · Shows the design principles on how to design and create a healthy and productive workplace The market lacks an ergonomics design book that covers the topics that this book will cover. This book summarizes design principles for practitioners, and applies them to the variety of workplace settings described in the book. No other book currently on the market does that.

Today's construction worker has a physically demanding occupation. Construction workers face demands from various physical, physiological, and environmental factors, and the workers feel the impact. These workers face an assortment of physically demanding tasks: heavy lifting, bending, stooping, climbing, and gripping; placing them at a risk of serious injury. The physically demanding nature of this work helps to explain why injuries, such as strains, sprains, and work-related musculoskeletal disorders, are so prevalent and are the most common injury resulting in days away from work. Many companies are turning to the science of ergonomics to help address these issues and make the workplace a better place to work.

This book reports on cutting-edge research related to social and occupational factors. It presents innovative contributions to the optimization of sociotechnical management systems, which consider organizational, policy, and logistical issues. It discusses timely topics related to communication, crew resource management, work design, participatory design, as well as teamwork, community ergonomics, cooperative work, and warning systems. Moreover, it reports on new work paradigms, organizational cultures, virtual organizations, telework, and quality management. The book reports on cutting-edge infrastructures implemented for different purposes such as urban, health, and enterprise. It discusses the growing role of automated systems and presents innovative solutions addressing the needs of special populations. Based on the AHFE 2017 International Conference on Social and Occupational Ergonomics, held on July 17-21, 2017, in Los Angeles, California, USA, the book provides readers with a comprehensive view of the current challenges in both organizational and occupational ergonomics, highlighting key connections between them and underlining the importance of emotional factors in influencing human performance.

An increasingly competitive environment can lead to considerable problems for many organizations as they struggle to adapt to change. As a result, they fail to create the conditions that can lead to sustainable development over the long term, thus affecting the capabilities of employees. This book provides a fresh perspective on sustainable change and development in organizations, as well as a critical perspective on lean implementation, work environment and sustainability. The expert contributors address the development in, and of, organizations, as well as the development process between organizations, such as in networks or clusters. They discuss topics, such as the role of customers in the development of public organizations; developing knowledgeable practice at work; exploring evidence-based practice and the challenge of regional gender contracts. Undergraduates and postgraduates in different management fields including organizational theory, innovation, human resources, quality development and entrepreneurship will find this book to be of interest. The empirical results and interdisciplinary approach will appeal to practitioners and policy-makers at national, as well as international levels.

Managing Competences: Research, Practice, and Contemporary Issues draws together theoretical and practical research in competence management. It provides a wealth of knowledge concerning emerging and contemporary issues, such as the multilevel approach to competence, the development of collective competence, the strategies of competence management, and the tools for managing competences as well as the organizational dynamics of competences. Moreover, the book provides a critical approach to research and practitioners’ continued engagement in competence management research and practice. Research in competence management has more recently entered an era more open to doubt and questioning: Is there a solid theoretical foundation that supports the concept of competence? What is the contribution of research on employees’ competences to human resources management in particular, and more generally to management? Is there not a risk of diluting the concept of competence by considering it at the individual, collective, organizational, and strategic levels? Today, is it still possible to manage competences in a world where the boundaries of the organizations are more and more porous? These questions, and many others, probably explain why a field that seemed well-identified and well-structured yesterday, has given way today to new, highly diverse analyses of competences by researchers and practitioners. This contributed volume seeks to answer these pressing issues and is a collective means for responding to them. The book brings together multiple streams of research in the field about emerging and contemporary issues, including multidimensional HRM systems, the rise of forms of collaborative management, the intensification of the use of digital and robotic technologies, the rise of the regime of remote and networked operations, the increasing heterogeneity of the status of workers, and changes in regulations concerning work and its recognition.