Redesigning Human Systems


Book Description

"Assisting individuals interested in and responsible for the management of major change within organizations, this book provides the theories and values that should be adhered to in order to achieve change successfully and effectively. The complexities of the change process are explained, and practical guidance for those trying to mold change so that it can offer a route to a better quality of life is provided. This book also examines what has been called the sociotechnical philosophy of taking the needs of people into account when new work systems are being introduced."




Designing Human Systems


Book Description

Enid Mumford (1924-2006) was a pioneer in the sociotechnical design of computer systems. Prof Mumford's work successfully investigated the introduction and implementation of computer systems by large corporations and governments. Mumford's ETHICS approach to software development emphasizes user participation, thus avoiding many of the problems of introducing new systems. It takes a holistic view of organizations, unifying both social and technological solutions. This updated edition of Mumford's book, Designing Human Systems, describes how modern agile programming techniques complement the ETHICS method. Together, the two methods cover both user and developer issues. This integrated approach offers an improved methodology for successful software development projects.




Health System Redesign


Book Description

This forward-looking volume challenges professionals and interested lay readers to reconsider our ways of looking at health and wellness, illness and disease, and the goals of health/healthcare systems. Reframing health systems as complex adaptive systems, the book identifies health care as a central aspect of social care and security for all people, particularly the most vulnerable. From there, the author outlines necessary organizational, design, medical, and community steps toward building health systems that view and practice health care as a human right and can produce optimum care in the long term. And extensive illustrations display effective collaborative problem solving within these systems, in both intriguing theoretical models and the real world. Highlights of the coverage: · Systems and complexity thinking in health and health care · Redesign based on “first principles” · Redesign from an organizational perspective · Working together effectively and efficiently to achieve a common purpose · Analyzing “the workings” of health systems as complex adaptive systems · Person-centered, equitable, and sustainable health systems: achieving the goal Health System Redesign brings a voice and a vision to the most pressing problems in healthcare service delivery, and offers new goals and purpose to health policymakers, health financiers, organizational leaders, clinicians, and concerned members of the local community




Designing Regenerative Cultures


Book Description

This is a ‘Whole Earth Catalog’ for the 21st century: an impressive and wide-ranging analysis of what’s wrong with our societies, organizations, ideologies, worldviews and cultures – and how to put them right. The book covers the finance system, agriculture, design, ecology, economy, sustainability, organizations and society at large.




Human Systems Engineering and Design


Book Description

Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Human Systems Engineering and Design: Future Trends and Applications (IHSED 2024). September 24-26, 2024, University of Split, Split, Croatia.




Designing Soldier Systems


Book Description

This book focuses on contemporary human factors issues within the design of soldier systems and describes how they are currently being investigated and addressed by the U.S. Army to enhance soldier performance and effectiveness. Designing Soldier Systems approaches human factors issues from three main perspectives. In the first section, Chapters 1-5 focus on complexity introduced by technology, its impact on human performance, and how issues are being addressed to reduce cognitive workload. In the second section, Chapters 6-10 concentrate on obstacles imposed by operational and environmental conditions on the battlefield and how they are being mitigated through the use of technology. The third section, Chapters 11-21, is dedicated to system design and evaluation including the tools, techniques and technologies used by researchers who design soldier systems to overcome human physical and cognitive performance limitations as well as the obstacles imposed by environmental and operations conditions that are encountered by soldiers. The book will appeal to an international multidisciplinary audience interested in the design and development of systems for military use, including defense contractors, program management offices, human factors engineers, human system integrators, system engineers, and computer scientists. Relevant programs of study include those in human factors, cognitive science, neuroscience, neuroergonomics, psychology, training and education, and engineering.




Production Ergonomics


Book Description

Production ergonomics – the science and practice of designing industrial workplaces to optimize human well-being and system performance – is a complex challenge for a designer. Humans are a valuable and flexible resource in any system of creation, and as long as they stay healthy, alert and motivated, they perform well and also become more competent over time, which increases their value as a resource. However, if a system designer is not mindful or aware of the many threats to health and system performance that may emerge, the end result may include inefficiency, productivity losses, low working morale, injuries and sick-leave. To help budding system designers and production engineers tackle these design challenges holistically, this book offers a multi-faceted orientation in the prerequisites for healthy and effective human work. We will cover physical, cognitive and organizational aspects of ergonomics, and provide both the individual human perspective and that of groups and populations, ending up with a look at global challenges that require workplaces to become more socially and economically sustainable. This book is written to give you a warm welcome to the subject, and to provide a solid foundation for improving industrial workplaces to attract and retain healthy and productive staff in the long run.




Redesigning Humans


Book Description

Forget worries about cloning people. In the future, technological advances will bring far more meaningful and controversial changes to our offspring. As scientists rapidly improve their ability to identify, screen and manipulate genes, people will want to protect their future children from diseases, help them live longer and even influence their looks and their abilities. Stock, an expert on the implications of recent advances in reproductive biology, clearly shows that neither governments, nor religious groups will be able to stop the coming trend of choosing an embryo's genes, and that there is little point in even trying.




Handbook of Human Systems Integration


Book Description

A groundbreaking look at how technology with a human touch is revolutionizing government and industry Human Systems Integration (HSI) is very attractive as a new integrating discipline designed to help move business and engineering cultures toward a more people-technology orientation. Over the past decade, the United States and foreign governments have developed a wide range of tools, techniques, and technologies aimed at integrating human factors into engineering systems in order to achieve important cost and performance benefits that otherwise would not have been accomplished. In order for this new discipline to be effective, however, a cultural change is needed that must start with organizational leadership. Handbook of Human Systems Integration outlines the principles and methods that can be used to help integrate people, technology, and organizations with a common objective toward designing, developing, and operating systems effectively and efficiently. Handbook of Human Systems Integration is broad in scope, covering both public and commercial processes as they interface with systems engineering processes. Emphasizing the importance of management and organization concepts as well as the technical uniqueness of HSI, Handbook of Human Systems Integration features: * More than ninety contributors, technical advisors, and reviewers from government, industry, and academia * Comprehensive coverage of the most recent HSI developments, particularly in presenting the cutting-edge tools, techniques, and methodologies utilized by each of the HSI domains * Chapters representing the governments and industries of the United Kingdom and Canada * Contributions from three services of the Department of Defense along with the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Academy of Sciences * Many chapters covering both military and nonmilitary applications * Concepts widely used by government contractors both in the United States and abroad This book will be of special interest to HSI practitioners, systems engineers, and managers, as well as government and industry decision-makers who must weigh the recommendations of all multidisciplines contributing to systems performance, safety, and costs in order to make sound systems acquisition decisions.




Tourism Resilience and Adaptation to Environmental Change


Book Description

In recent years, resilience theory has come to occupy the core of our understanding and management of the adaptive capacity of people and places in complex social and environmental systems. Despite this, tourism scholars have been slow to adopt resilience concepts, at a time when the emergence of new frameworks and applications is pressing. Drawing on original empirical and theoretical insights in resilience thinking, this book explores how tourism communities and economies respond to environmental changes, both fast (natural hazard disasters) and slow (incremental shifts). It explores how tourism places adapt, change, and sometimes transform (or not) in relation to their environmental context, with an awareness of intersection with societal dynamics and links to political, economic and social drivers of change. Contributions draw on empirical research conducted in a range of international settings, including indigenous communities, to explore the complexity and gradations of environmental change encounters and resilience planning responses in a range of tourism contexts. As the first book to specifically focus on environmental change from a resilience perspective, this timely and original work makes a critical contribution to tourism studies, tourism management and environmental geography, as well as environmental sciences and development studies.