We know how work systems are structured and how the work system components are interacting in the work process. Usually the work system design is not started from scratch. In most cases, there already exists a so-called system of work systems. Usually, the design objective is to achieve an enhancement of only one of the member work systems, which is considered to provide the best prospect of cost reduction in whatever sense, e.g. economic gain, safety enhancement, more convenience for the human operator(s), and so on. There are certain given facts concerning the work system which are not a matter of change in the design process. One fact is that the operating force has to consist of at least one human operator. Usually, another given fact as the starting point for the development of a work system is the work objective. In fact, it is the common systems engineering practice to start a development from the operational user requirements which will be condensed in the work objective and the environmental conditions under which the work system is supposed to operate. Thus, the remaining potential items for design enhancements are the:
• supply,
• operation-supporting means, and
• augmentation of the operating force.
Enhancements concerning the supply will not be investigated in this article. There is a continuous process of checking for advantageous changes in this work process input, which usually is of no consequence for the internal work system design. Although currently energy-saving human behaviour for the minimisation of energy supply (and in turn the minimisation of contaminative emissions) is for good reasons a hot topic, this is not within the scope of this article. Changes of the operation-supporting means are considered in about all cases of work system design we are interested in. As mentioned earlier, this is the main area of concern for engineers when a new design project for a work system enhancement is launched. So far, this was the work system component, and only this one, where new technology (automation, microcomputers, etc.) has been applied. Augmentations of the operating force were only considered regarding the necessary amount of manpower, the screening and selection of candidate operators, and the subsequent and continuous training of personnel. The more was done on the side of the operation-supporting means, the less or less skilled manpower was assumed to be needed. A typical example is the reduction of the cockpit crew for airline flights from four down to two during the past forty years. This caused great changes in the work processes through the years, though, in particular the way pilots share their job, and how they are making use of the new developments of operation-supporting means they find in their cockpits. Caused by a steady increase of novel operation-supporting means in our cars, we experience as drivers a similar tendency of work process changes, although we still kept our position as active driver, so far. The engineering challenge in work system development is twofold:
• to develop, as we have become used to, more powerful operation-supporting means, and
• to find the right proportion about what tasks are left to the operating force in the work process and which functions are allocated to the operationsupporting means.
Not everything which is technically possible on the side of operationsupporting means must necessarily lead to an overall enhancement of the work system considered. Does automation always do a good job? And what, if not? What is needed for good interaction within the operating force and between the operating force and the operation-supporting means? Have human operators all automated functions among the operation-supporting means fully under control or can it be warranted by the designer that all automated functions are in full compliance with the work process objective, whatever it will be? Can it be warranted that there are no interferences between different tasks which are simultaneously operated by one and the same human operator? These are the crucial questions to be answered in the process of work system design. We know from accident analysis how difficult it is to warrant a system design positively answering these questions, in particular for work systems of great complexity like those airline or military pilots have to deal with. One has to admit that this is the plain unpleasant reality the designer is confronted with today and that it is not satisfyingly solvable by the means we had at our disposal so far. This almost compulsorily leads to the demand to make use of a higher level potential of automation technology which happens to become available these days: The artificial cognitive systems being part of the work system.
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