ABSTRACT
This chapter provides some examples of humans and machines sharing tasks. In each example, the reader should consider how well tasks are shared. The sharing is noteworthy on a number of grounds, particularly the flexible use of automated systems, and the ease with which improvement, and even innovative contributions, can be made. Automation of the controlling processes in the refinery could have relegated control room personnel to the roles of passive watchers, alarm monitors and fault fixers. Many new leaders have a broad range of competencies and are aware of the importance of improvement, innovation and taking advantage of new technology. The capacity to manipulate technology and to think of technology as a partner is also important in bringing about improvement. Automation of information provision has often been disappointing, either due to limitations in the range of information, how it has been supplied, or how amenable information provision systems have been to being tailored to the needs of individuals.
