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Adapting to change and uncertainty

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Abstract

Understanding how people adapt to change and uncertainty is critical to system design, and good system design expands the ability of people to adapt. Cognitive systems engineering (CSE) enables us to understand work domains, reveal expertise, and derive essential features for systems. This is valuable because the demand for rapidly evolving systems such as information and communication technology does not allow for long-term deliberation by system developers. The publication of work by Norman, Hollnagel and Woods, and Rasmussen in the early 1980s provides an opportunity to consider where CSE stands nearly 30 years since its inception. The papers in this special issue of Cognition, Technology and Work convey insights from authors who have substantial firsthand experience with the use of CSE to study human adaptation to changing, uncertain work settings. Their research demonstrates the current state of CSE, the potential for CSE to reveal how people adapt to change and uncertainty, and implications for the design of complex adaptive systems.

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Acknowledgments

Dr. Nemeth is grateful to the authors who have contributed their work to this special issue, and to John Flach, Robert Wears, and especially David Woods for insightful comments on drafts of this essay.

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  1. Applied Research Associates, Inc., Fairborn, OH, USA

    Christopher P. Nemeth

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  1. Christopher P. Nemeth
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Correspondence to Christopher P. Nemeth.

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Nemeth, C.P. Adapting to change and uncertainty. Cogn Tech Work 14, 183–186 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10111-011-0200-9

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