The other day, as I was IMing with a couple friends, filling out a forwarded “10-things-you-didn’t-know-about-me” survey and replying to a group email thread, I got to thinking, what did people do before all email, IM, and YouTube? Maybe they actually got all their work done.
It is important to take short breaks from work [...]
Archive for the 'macroergonomics' Category
6 Tips for Increasing Your Productivity at Work
Published by March 14th, 2007 in Human Computer Interaction, Office Ergonomics, Uncategorized and macroergonomics. 98 Comments3 Hidden Costs of Office Ergonomics
Published by March 12th, 2007 in Office Ergonomics, Uncategorized and macroergonomics. 7 Comments“We did an independent survey with one firm and found that 60 per cent of the reasons that people gave for leaving that firm were to do with their core workplace environment,†recalls Nick Cook, managing director at consultancy Haywards. Poor lighting, poor storage, poor desk configuration, and poor worker interaction because of badly designed [...]
Ergonomics and Labor Today
Published by February 20th, 2007 in Ergonomics and Society, Occupational Safety, Uncategorized and macroergonomics. 0 CommentsRichard W. Marklin Jr. lops branches, shovels clay, carves 30-pound cattle femurs, pulls 270-pound manhole covers and studies the workers who make their living performing these tasks. The 50-year-old professor in Marquette University’s mechanical engineering department examines the way we work and the toll that work takes on our joints, muscles and bones.
”As humans, we’re [...]
The Industrial Revolution and Worker Satisfaction
Published by February 8th, 2007 in Ergonomics and Society, History of Ergonomics, Office Ergonomics, Uncategorized and macroergonomics. 4 CommentsErgonomics is not just about how comfortable our chairs are…it’s about how we feel everyday at work and how our work affects our lives. The Industrial Age (followed by the Information Age) has brought us many things that would never have been possible without highly organized labor and methods of production. But has [...]
It’s Natural to Be Messy, Studies Show
Published by January 15th, 2007 in Ergonomics and Society, Uncategorized and macroergonomics. 1 CommentA few days ago I asked the question, “what is better, a messy desk or a clean desk?†Well, that depends on who you ask. A new book called “A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder†claims that mess is a natural part of being human and represents our flexibility and creativity. [...]
What Is Better, A Messy Desk or A Clean Desk?
Published by January 9th, 2007 in Office Ergonomics, Uncategorized and macroergonomics. 2 CommentsThe study of ergonomics in the HR field is often about trying to figure out how to achieve a balance between happy workers and productive workers. Ideally, a happy worker IS a productive worker.
One contentious point of debate about office productivity centers around the tidiness of worker’s office spaces.
We’ve always been told that keeping [...]
Desk Rage: A Macroergonomic Problem
Published by January 4th, 2007 in Office Ergonomics, Uncategorized and macroergonomics. 4 CommentsErgonomics is not just about how an individual interacts with an object. The field of organizational or macroergonomics looks at organizational structures and sociotechnical systems. In other words, how groups of people interact with each other in a work environment.
One aspect of this is the study of job satisfaction. Goody pay and [...]