ABSTRACT

Broadly speaking, work systems can be categorized as skill-based versus knowledge-based. Skill-based work systems are typically observed in industrial environments. Knowledge-based work systems are typically office environments which can exist within service or manufacturing industries. Traditional approaches to work system design in both environments have exhibited technologycentered design, a “leftover” approach to function and task allocation, which fails to consider an organization’s sociotechnical characteristics and integrate them into its work system design. In this chapter, we present two general methodologies for macroergonomic assessment of work system process: The first, macroergonomic analysis and design (MEAD) technology, has been used more typically in industrial environments, and the second, identified simply as a “systems analysis tool,” more typically in office environments. However, both can be applied to a variety of work environments. Both employ macroergonomic principles and values for improved performance and human well-being.