ABSTRACT
A fundamental dimension of the system is the organization or arrangement of its elements. The idea of the system is a construct, which means that it is a concept whose characteristics are manifested concretely in physical and behavioral phenomena. The system is critical to Human factors/ergonomics theorizing because it describes the substance of the human-technology relationship. The implication of organization, hierarchy, complexity, and control is that, at each level of functioning, purpose, types of functions, and processes vary. The distinction between an equipment and a system, in addition to size and complexity, may be obscured because an equipment, like a lathe, can be used independently or as a unit of a system. The development of human-machine systems of great complexity creates organizations of people devoted to keeping these systems running. The behavioral outputs of the system consist of: performance effects that are overt, and attitudinal effects that are usually covert.
