Human Factors Aspects of Queuing: A Critical Review

Abstract

Both classical queuing theorists and social psychologists have neglectedto define and offer solutions to the problems encountered in everyday humanqueuing situations. In particular, the mathematical model of queuing systems offered by operations researchers has failed to incorporate significant human factors of queuing, as elucidated by Mann (1969) and others, into its assumptions. It is suggested that arrival rates of human customers may depend upon length of queue and the information queuers have about other customers' behavior. Cognitive abilities, motivational variables, personality characteristics, and social factors may all play a significant role in determining human waiting behavior. Classical queuing theory's assumptions of a stationary service rate within channels and independence of service rate and queue length may be violated in systems with human servers. A free flow of information between service facilities and customers, and consideration for the mental and physical well–being of human customers and servers, will yield more efficient and pleasant queuing systems.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Allport

F. H.

The J-curve hypothesis of conforming behavior. Journal of Social Psychology, 1934, 5, 141–183.

Brown

Mass phenomena. In Lindzey

(Ed.)Handbook of social psychology. Vol. 2. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley, 1954, 833–876.

Cox

Organization of repetitive tasks: Some shop floor experiments recalled. Occupational Psychology, 1970, 44, 81–88.

Cox

D. R.

Smith

W. P.

Queues, London: Wiley, 1961.

Dabbs

J. M.

Sex, setting, and reactions to crowding on sidewalks. Proceedings of the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, 1972, 7, 205–206.

Festinger

Cognitive dissonance. Scientific American, Reprint # 472. San Francisco: Freeman, 1962.

Fruin

J. J.

Pedestrian planning and design. New York: Metropolitan Association of Urban Designers and Planners, 1971.

Goldberg

On waiting. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 1971, 52, 413–421.

Homans

G. C.

Social behavior: Its elementary forms. New York: Harcourt, 1961.

10.

Kendall

D. G.

Some problems in the theory of queues. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society (Series B), 1951, 13, 151–185.

11.

Kendall

D. G.

Stochastic processes occurring in the theory of queues and their analysis by the method of the imbedded Markov chain. The Annals of Mathematical Statistics, 1953, 24, 338–351.

12.

Kleitman

Sleep and wakefulness, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1939.

13.

Mann

Queue culture: The waiting line as a social system. American Journal of Sociology, 1969, 75, 340–354.

14.

Mann

Taylor

K. F.

Queue counting: The effect of motives upon estimates of numbers in waiting lines. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1969, 12, 95–103.

15.

Milgram

Bickman

Berkowitz

Note on the drawing power of crowds of different size. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1969, 13, 79–82.

16.

Miller

D.M.

Empirical Bayes estimators of queuing parameters. Dissertation Abstracts International, 1971, 31(7-B), 4390.

17.

Morse

P. M.

Queues, inventories, and maintenance, London: Wiley, 1958.

18.

Murphy

L. B.

Newcomb

T. M.

Experimental social psychology. (Rev. ed.) New York: Harper, 1937.

19.

Quayhackx

Een onderzoek naarde sibjectieve vermoeienes bij arbeidsters (A study of subjective fatigue among female factory workers). Psychologica Belgica, 1969, 9, 211–235. (Abstract).

20.

Roby

T. B.

Small group performance. Chicago: Rand McNally, 1968.

21.

Roby

T. B.

Rubin

J. Z.

An exploratory study of competitive temporal judgment. Behavioral Science, 1973 18, 42–51.

22.

Ross

Layton

Erickson

Schopler

Affect, facial regard, and reactions to crowding. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1973, 28, 69–76.

23.

Rubin

J. Z.

Brockner

Factors affecting entrapment in waiting situations: The Rosencrantz and Guilden-stern effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1975, 31, 1054–1063.

24.

Rubin

J. Z.

Greller

Roby

T. B.

Factors affecting the magnitude and proportionality of solutions to problems of coordination. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1974 39, 599–618.

25.

Saaty

T. L.

Ordering disorderly queues. In Cruon

(Ed.) Queuing theory: Recent developments and applications. New York: American Elsevier, 1967, 205–214.

26.

Sales

S. M.

Differences a mong individuals in affective, behavioral, biochemical, and physiological responses to variations in work load. Dissertation Abstracts International, 1969, 30(5-B), 2407.

27.

Salvendy

Pilitsis

Psychophysiological aspects of paced and unpaced performance as influenced by age. Ergonomics, 1971, 14, 703–711.

28.

Shamblin

J. E.

Stevens

G. T.

Operations research: A fundamental approach. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1974.