The concept of macroergonomics and its purpose, theoretical basis, and major methodologies are described. Macroergonomics is traced from the inception of ergonomics in the 1940s to formal consideration of organizational design and management factors in work system design over the past 2 decades. Types of work system designs and when to use each are reviewed. Applications of macroergonomics, as reported in the literature, are summarized. Documented results of several representative macroergonomic interventions are noted. The chapter concludes with some speculation on the potential of macroergonomics for future work systems.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
American Psychological Association. (Producer). (n.d.). Of men and machines [Motion picture; APA Focus on Behavior Series]. (Available from the American Psychological Association, 750 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002–4242).
2.
ArgyrisC. (1971). Management and organizational development. New York: McGraw-Hill.
3.
BaileyR. W. (1989). Human performance engineering (2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
4.
BedeianA. G.ZammutoR. F. (1991). Organizations: Theory and design. Chicago: Dryden.
5.
BradleyG.HendrickH. W. (Eds.) (1994). Human factors in organizational design and management–-IV. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
6.
BrownO.Jr. (2003). Macroergonomic methods: Participation. In HendrickH. W.KleinerB. M. (Eds.), Macroergonomics: Theory, methods and applications (pp. 25–44). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
7.
BrownO.Jr. (2005). Participatory ergonomics (PE). In StantonN.HedgeA.BrookhuisK.SalasE.HendrickH. W. (Eds.), Handbook of human factors and ergonomic methods (pp. 89.1–89.6). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
8.
BrownO.Jr.HendrickH. W. (1986). Human factors in organizational design and management–-II. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
9.
BurnsT.StalkerG. M. (1961). The management of innovation. London: Tavistock.
10.
CarayonP.HoonakkerP. (2001). Survey design. In KarwowskiW. (Ed.), International encyclopedia of ergonomics and human factors (pp. 1899–1902). London: Taylor & Francis.
11.
CarayonP.HoonakkerP. (2005). Macroergonomic organizational questionnaire survey (MOQS). In StantonN.HedgeA.BrookhuisK.SalasE.HendrickH. W. (Eds.), Handbook of human factors and ergonomic methods (pp. 76.1–76.10). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
12.
CarayonP.SmithM. J. (2000). Work organization and ergonomics. Applied Ergonomics, 31, 649–662.
13.
Center for Workplace Health Information. (1995). An ergonomics honor roll: Case studies of results-oriented programs, Red Wing Shoes. CTD News Special Report: Best Ergonomic Practices, pp. 2–3.
14.
ChapanisA. (1991). To communicate the human factors message you have to know what the message is and how to communicate it: Part 1 [Keynote address to the 1988 HFAC/ACE Conference, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada]. Human Factors Society Bulletin, 34(11), 1–4.
15.
ChapanisA. (1992). To communicate the human factors message you have to know what the message is and how to communicate it: Part 2 [Keynote address to the 1988 HFAC/ACE Conference, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada]. Human Factors Society Bulletin, 35(1), 3–6.
16.
DavisL. E. (1982). Organizational design. In SalvendyG. (Ed.), Handbook of industrial engineering (pp. 2.1.1–2.1.29). New York: Wiley.
17.
DeesG. G.RasheedA. M.McClaughlinK. J.PriemR. L. (1995). The new corporate architecture. Academy of Management Executive, 9(3), 7–20.
DrayS. M. (1985). Macroergonomics in organizations: An Introduction. In BrownI. D.GoldsmithR.CombesK.SinclairM. (Eds.), Ergonomics international (pp. 520–522). London: Taylor & Francis.
20.
DuncanR. B. (1972). Characteristics of organizational environments and perceived environmental uncertainty. Administrative Science Quarterly, 17, 313–327.
21.
EmeryF. E.TristE. L. (1960). Sociotechnical systems. In ChurchmanC. W.VerhulstM. (Eds.), Management sciences: Models and techniques (pp. 83–97). Oxford, UK: Pergamon.
22.
EmeryF. E.TristE. L. (1965). The causal texture of organizational environments. Human Relations, 18, 21–32.
23.
GeslinP. (2005). Anthropotechnology. In StantonN.HedgeA.BrookhuisK.SalasE.HendrickH. W. (Eds.), Handbook of human factors and ergonomic methods (pp. 88.1–88.7). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
24.
GrugleN. (2001). Investigations into the effects of chemical protective clothing on team process performance. Unpublished master's thesis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA.
25.
HallR. H.HaasJ. E.JohnsonN. J. (1967, June). Organizational size, complexity, and formalization. Administrative Science Quarterly, 303.
26.
HelaliF.ShahnavazH. (1996). Ergonomic intervention in industries of the industrially developing countries. Case study: Glucosan–-Iran. In BrownO.JrHendrickH. W. (Eds.), Human factors in organizational design and management–-V (pp. 141–146). Amsterdam: North-Holland.
27.
HendrickH. W. (1980, October). Human factors in management. In A. Small (Chair), Futures in human factors: 1980–2000. Symposium conducted at the Human Factors Society 24th Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, CA.
28.
HendrickH. W. (1984). Wagging the tail with the dog: Organizational design considerations in ergonomics. In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 28th Annual Meeting (pp. 899–903). Santa Monica, CA: SAGE Publications.
29.
HendrickH. W. (1987). Macroergonomics: A concept whose time has come. Human Factors Society Bulletin, 30(2), 1–3.
30.
HendrickH. W. (1988). A macroergonomic approach to designing a university college. In Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 32nd Annual Meeting (pp. 789–794). Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors Society.
31.
HendrickH. W. (1991). Human factors in organizational design and management. Ergonomics, 34, 743–756.
32.
HendrickH. W. (1995). Humanizing re-engineering for true organizational effectiveness. In Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 39th Annual Meeting (pp. 761–765). Santa Monica, CA: SAGE Publications.
33.
HendrickH. W. (1996a). Cognitive complexity, conceptual systems, and behavior. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, 84, 53–67.
34.
HendrickH. W. (1996b). Human factors in ODAM: An historical perspective. In BrownO.JrHendrickH. W. (Eds.), Human factors in organizational design and management–-V (pp. 429–434). Amsterdam: North-Holland.
35.
HendrickH. W. (1997). Organizational design and macroergonomics. In SalvendyG. (Ed.), Handbook of human factors and ergonomics (pp. 594–636). New York: Wiley.
36.
HendrickH. W. (2000). Human factors and ergonomics converge–-A long march. In KourinkaI. (Ed.), History of the International Ergonomics Association: The first quarter of a century (pp. 125–142). Geneva, Switzerland: IEA Press.
37.
HendrickH. W. (2003a). Macroergonomic methods: Assessing work system structure. In HendrickH. W.KleinerB. M. (Eds.), Macroergonomics: Theory, methods and applications (pp. 45–66). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
38.
HendrickH. W. (2003b). An overview of macroergonomics. In HendrickH. W.KleinerB. M. (Eds.), Macroergonomics: Theory, methods and applications (pp. 1–4). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
39.
HendrickH. W. (2005). Macroergonomic analysis of structure (MAS). In StantonN.HedgeA.BrookhuisK.SalasE.HendrickH. W. (Eds.), Handbook of human factors and ergonomic methods (pp. 89.1–89.9). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
40.
HendrickH. W.BrownO.Jr. (Eds.) (1984). Human factors in organizational design and management. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
41.
HendrickH. W.KleinerB. M. (2001). Macroergonomics: An introduction to work system design. Santa Monica, CA: SAGE Publications.
42.
ImadaA. (2003). A macroergonomic approach to reducing work-related injuries. In HendrickH. W.KleinerB. M. (Eds.), Macroergonomics: Theory, methods and applications (pp. 151–172). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
43.
KarwowskiW.KantolaJ. (2005). The CIMOP system. In StantonN.HedgeA.BrookhuisK.SalasE.HendrickH. W. (Eds.), Handbook of human factors and ergonomic methods (pp. 86.1–86.3). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
44.
KarwowskiW.KantolaJ.RodrickD.SalvendyG. (2003). Macroergonomic aspects of manufacturing. In HendrickH. W.KleinerB. M. (Eds.), Macroergonomics: Theory, methods and applications (pp. 223–248). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
45.
KatzD.KahnR. L. (1966). The social psychology of organizations. New York: Wiley.
46.
KeidelR. W. (1994). Rethinking organizational design. Academy of Management Executive, 8(4), 12–30.
47.
KleinerB. M. (2003a). Laboratory and field research. In HendrickH. W.KleinerB. M. (Eds.), Macroergonomics: Theory, methods and applications (pp. 133–150). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
48.
KleinerB. M. (2003b). Macroergonomics in large-scale organizational change. In HendrickH. W.KleinerB. M. (Eds.), Macroergonomics: Theory, methods and applications (pp. 273–288). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
49.
KleinerB. M. (2005). Macroergonomic analysis and design (MEAD). In StantonN.HedgeA.BrookhuisK.SalasE.HendrickH. H. (Eds.), Handbook of human factors and ergonomic methods (pp. 90–1–90–7). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
50.
KleinerB. M.DruryC. G. (1996). Macroergonomics in community planning and regional development. In BrownO.JrHendrickH. W. (Eds.), Human factors in organizational design and management—V (pp. 523–528). Amsterdam: North-Holland.
51.
KourinkaI. (Ed.) (2000). History of the International Ergonomics Association: The first quarter of a century. Geneva, Switzerland: IEA Press.
52.
KourinkaI.ForcierL. (Eds.) (1995). Work-related musculoskeletal disorders: A reference book for prevention. London: Taylor & Francis.
53.
LawrenceP. R.LorschJ. W. (1969). Organization and environment. Homewood, IL: Irwin.
54.
MajchrzakA. (1988). Human side of factory automation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
55.
MajchrzakA. (2005a). HITOP analysis. In StantonN.HedgeA.BrookhuisK.SalasE.HendrickH. W. (Eds.), Handbook of human factors and ergonomic methods (pp. 84.1–84.3). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
MeredithJ. (1997). Empirical investigation of sociotechnical issues in engineering design. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA.
60.
MeshkatiN. (1986). Human factors considerations in technology transfer to industrially developing countries: An analysis and proposed model. In BrownO.JrHendrickH. W. (Eds.), Human factors in organizational design and management II (pp. 351–368). Amsterdam: North-Holland.
61.
MeshkatiN. (1990). Human factors in large-scale technological system's accidents: Three Mile Island, Bhopal, and Chernobyl. Industrial Crisis Quarterly, 5, 133–154.
62.
MeshkatiN. (2003a). Macroergonomics and aviation safety. In HendrickH. W.KleinerB. M. (Eds.), Macroergonomics: Theory, methods and applications (pp. 323–330). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
63.
MeshkatiN. (2003b). Root causes of large-scale accidents: Three Mile Island, Bhopal, Chernobyl. In HendrickH. W.KleinerB. M. (Eds.), Macroergonomics: Theory, methods and applications (pp. 331–346). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
64.
MeshkatiN.RobertsonM. M. (1986). The effects of human factors on the success of technology transfer projects to industrially developing countries: A Review of representative case studies. In BrownO.JrHendrickH. W. (Eds.), Human factors in organizational design and management II (pp. 343–350). Amsterdam: North-Holland.
65.
MiletiD. S.GillespieD. S.HaasJ. E. (1977). Size and structure in complex organizations. Social Forces, 56, 208–217.
66.
NagamachiM. (2003). Relationship among job design, macroergonomics and productivity. In HendrickH. W.KleinerM. (Eds.), Macroergonomics: Theory, methods and applications (pp. 111–132). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
67.
NagamachiM. (2005). Kansei engineering. In StantonN.HedgeA.BrookhuisK.SalasE.HendrickH. W. (Eds.), Handbook of human factors and ergonomic methods (pp. 83.1–83.5). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
68.
NegandhiA. R. (1977). A model for analysing organization in cross-cultural settings: A conceptual scheme and some research findings. In NegandhiA. R.EnglandG. W.WilpertB. (Eds.), Modern organizational theory (pp. 285–312). Kent, OH: Kent State University Press.
69.
NewmanL. (2005). Focus groups. In StantonN.HedgeA.BrookhuisK.SalasE.HendrickH. W. (Eds.), Handbook of human factors and ergonomic methods (pp. 78.1–78.5). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
70.
NickersonR. S. (1999). Engineering psychology and ergonomics. In HancockP. (Ed.), Human performance and ergonomics [Handbook of perception and cognition] (2nd ed., pp. 1–45). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
71.
NoroK.BrownO.Jr. (Eds.) (1990). Human factors in organizational design and management—III. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
72.
NoroK.ImadaA. S. (1991). Participatory ergonomics. London: Taylor & Francis.
73.
OlphertC. W.HarkerS. D. P. (1994). The ORDIT method for organizational requirements definition. In BradleyG. E.HendrickH. W. (Eds.), Human factors in organizational design and management—IV (pp. 421–426). Amsterdam: North-Holland.
74.
PerrowC. (1967). A framework for the comparative analysis of organizations. American Sociological Review, 32, 194–208.
75.
RobbinsS. R. (1983). Organizational theory: The structure and design of organizations. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
76.
RobertsonM. M. (2003). Macroergonomics in training system development. In HendrickH. W.KleinerB. M. (Eds.), Macroergonomics: Theory, methods and applications (pp. 249–272). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
77.
RobertsonM. M. (2005). Systems analysis tool (SAT). In StantonN.HedgeA.BrookhuisK.SalasE.HendrickH. W. (Eds.), Handbook of human factors and ergonomic methods (pp. 88.1–88.7). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
78.
RobertsonM. M.KleinerB. M.O'NeillM. (2003). Macroergonomic methods: Assessing work system processes. In HendrickH. W.KleinerB. M. (Eds.), Macroergonomics: Theory, methods and applications (pp. 67–96). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
79.
RooneyE. F.MorencyR. R.HerrickD. R. (1993). Macroergonomics and total quality management at L. L. Bean: A case study. In NeilsenR.JorgensenK. (Eds.), Advances in industrial ergonomics and safety V (pp. 493–498). London: Taylor & Francis.
80.
SmithA. (1970). The wealth of nations. London: Penguin. (Original work published 1876).
81.
SmithJ. H.CohenW. J.ConwayF. T.CarayonP.BayehA. D.SmithM. J. (2003). Community ergonomics. In HendrickH. W.KleinerB. M. (Eds.), Macroergonomics: Theory, methods and applications (pp. 67–96). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
82.
SmithT. J. (2003). Macroergonomics of hazard management. In HendrickH. W.KleinerB. M. (Eds.), Macroergonomics: Theory, methods and applications (pp. 199–222). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
83.
Smith-JacksonT. (2005). Cognitive-walk-through method (CWM). In StantonN.HedgeA.BrookhuisK.SalasE.HendrickH. W. (Eds.), Handbook of human factors and ergonomic methods (pp. 82.1–82.7). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
84.
StevensonW. B. (1993). Organizational design. In GolembiewskiR. T. (Ed.), Handbook of organizational behavior (pp. 141–168). New York: Marcel Dekker.
85.
SzilagyiA. D.Jr.WallaceM. J.Jr. (1990). Organizational behavior and performance (5th ed.). Glenview, IL: Scott Foresman.
86.
TristE. L.BamforthK. W. (1951). Some social and psychological consequences of the longwall method of coal-getting. Human Relations, 4, 3–38.
87.
TristE. L.HigginG. W.MurrayH.PollockA. B. (1963). Organizational choice. London: Tavistock.
88.
Von BertalanffyL. (1976). General systems theory: Foundations, development. New York: George Braziller.
89.
WisnerA. (1995). Situated cognition and action: Implications for ergonomic work analysis and anthropotechnology. Ergonomics, 38, 1542–1557.
90.
YenkelovichD. (1979). Work, values and the new breed. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
91.
ZinkK. J. (2002). A vision of the future of macroergonomics. In HendrickH. W.KleinerB. M. (Eds.), Macroergonomics: Theory, methods and applications (pp. 347–358). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
