Call for Papers: Human Factors and Ergonomics in Organisational Design and Management

A special issue of International Journal of Advanced Operations Management

Twenty-five years ago a group of ergonomics scientists predicted the future of their profession and the professional response required for anticipated conditions. One of the major conclusions was that organisational design and management factors would become increasingly important.

 Historically, human factors have been concerned with the design of controls, displays and workspace arrangements. In systems design, the operations required by a system have typically been analysed to identify the specific functions that comprise them. The human factors specialist often enters the design process at this point and, based on his or her professional knowledge of human performance capabilities and limitations, assists in allocating these functions to humans or machines.

 The human factors specialist’s knowledge of human-machine interface technology is then applied to designing specific jobs, integrating jobs into work groups, and then designing specific human-machine interfaces. Many of these human factors activities are critical for organisational design and management.

 Although applied within a systems context, the activities described above are actually at the individual, team or – at best – subsystem level. They represent what herein shall be referred to as human factors applications at the micro-ergonomic level.

 Growing global competition, and the related need to make organisations more productive and efficient, have further intensified this need to improve work systems. This need is reflected in the rapid development of macro-ergonomic methods and applications. What was once recognised by only a few researchers and practitioners has now become a widely accepted part of the human factors/ergonomics discipline.

 The objective of this special issue is to contribute new insights to the extant body of knowledge in the area of human factors and ergonomics in organisational design and management. The issue will carry revised and substantially extended versions of selected papers presented at the International Conference on Ergonomics and Human Factors: Innovation and Usability in Product Development - Humanizing Work and Work Environment (HWWE 2011), organised by the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, which takes place on 15th to 17th December, 2011. However, we also strongly encourage other researchers to submit their manuscripts for this call.

Suitable topics include but are not limited to:

• Product design and development
• Relationship with concurrent engineering
• New product development as a loosely coupled system
• Processes of human factors
• Active and design faces of organisational design and management
• Technology-driven changes
• Macro-ergonomics aspects
• Compatibility and cooperative co-responsibility
• Internal communication as a determinant of service quality
• Communication and managerial behaviour
• Risk and rewards related to human factors
• Human factors in the creation of learning organisations
• Employee-oriented education systems
• Ergonomic intervention in industries
• Intelligent training systems
• State regulation and development of human factor activities in firms
• Fallibility of focus group results
• Participatory ergonomics
• Cooperation and professionalisation
• Structural modelling of compliance
• Domains of performance enhancement
• Quality demands on rescue commanders
• Ergonomic investigation of production, tasks and stress
• Preventive activities at the workplace
• De-engineering
• Ecological perspectives applied to multi-operator systems
• Simulation of self-organising processes
• Integration of design, planning, production and ergonomics
• Influence of personnel flexibility
• Costs and benefits of work improvements
• Cost justification of ergonomics improvements
• Analytical framework for organisational interventions
• Negotiating organisational factors
• Complexity-compatibility paradigm
• Socio-technical approaches to improving breakthrough implementation efforts
• Developing a comprehensive quality management assessment
• Human-centered community ergonomic design
• Participative culture and safety

Important Dates
Manuscript submission: 1 May, 2012
Notification of initial decision: 1 June, 2012
Submission of revised manuscript: 1 July, 2012
Notification of final acceptance: 1 August, 2012
Submission of final revised paper: 1 September, 2012