Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Work-focused analysis and design

  • Original Research
  • Published:
Cognition, Technology & Work Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The past decade has seen papers in this journal and other cognitive engineering publications expressing concern about some of our foundational ideas. Cognition, a central construct for this journal, is one that some authors would see banished. Function allocation is another. These commentaries, if taken seriously, have the potential to transform our discipline but whether for benefit or detriment is questionable. I review those commentaries in this paper and conclude that the issues raised have merit but that the proposed solutions would be counterproductive, having the potential, if widely implemented, to cripple our discipline. I argue that these commentaries appear credible only because they appeal to an objectivist paradigm as engendered by a techno-centric world view and that they fail to accommodate the inescapable subjectivity of a scientific enterprise. I further argue that these commentaries do not take full account of the fundamental basis of our discipline; that it is an analysis and design discipline and that it is first and foremost human centric. Our discipline requires a work-focused perspective. We need to think seriously about what that means, and we need to deploy language and methods that are entirely consistent with a work-focused stance.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aeronautica Civil of the Republic of Colombia (1995) Aircraft Accident Report: Controlled flight into terrain American Airlines Flight 965 Boeing 757-223, N651AA Near Cali, Colombia. Aeronautica Civil of the Republic of Colombia, Santafe De Bogota

    Google Scholar 

  • Birmingham HP, Taylor FV (1954) A design philosophy for man-machine control systems. Proc Inst Radio Eng 42:1748–1758

    Google Scholar 

  • Christoffersen K, Woods DD (2002) How to make automated systems team players. Adv Human Perform Cogn Eng Res 2:1–12 Elsevier Science Ltd., ISBN:0-7623-0864-8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dekker SWA, Hollnagel E (2004) Human factors and folk models. Cogn Tech Work 6:79–86

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dekker SWA, Woods DD (2002) MABA-MABA or Abracadabra? Progress on human-automation co-ordination. Cogn Tech Work 4:240–244

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dekker SWA, Nyce JM, van Winsen R, Henriqson E (2010) Epistemological self-confidence in human factors research. J Cogn Eng Decis Making 4(1):27–38

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dunbar K, Fugelsang J (2005) Scientific thinking and reasoning. In: Holyoak KJ, Morrison R (eds) Cambridge handbook of thinking & reasoning. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 705–726

    Google Scholar 

  • Endsley MR (1988) Design and evaluation for situation awareness enhancement. In: Proceedings of the human factors society 32nd annual meeting. Human Factors Society, Santa Monica, CA, pp 97–101

  • Feyerabend P (1975) Against method. Humanities Press, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibson JJ (1979) The ecological approach to visual perception. Houghton Mifflin, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoffman RR, Roesler A, Moon BM (2004) What is design in the context of human-centered computing? IEEE Intell Syst, July/August, 84–95. computer.org/intelligent

  • Hollnagel E (2003) Prolegomenon to cognitive task design. In: Hollnagel E (ed) Handbook of cognitive task design. CRC Publishers, ISBN-10:0805840036, Chap. 1, pp 1–20

  • Hollnagel E (2005) Extended control model. http://www.ida.liu.se/~eriho/ECOM_M.htm [accessed, 29 Jan 2010]

  • Hollnagel E, Woods DD (2005) Joint cognitive systems: patterns in cognitive systems engineering. CRC Press, Boca Rotan ISBN:0849328217

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hutchins E (1995) Cognition in the wild. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Inagaki T (2003) Automation and the cost of authority. Int J Ind Ergon 31:169–174

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson M (1987) The body in the mind: the bodily basis of meaning, imagination, and reason. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones DG, Endsley MR (2004) Use of real-time probes for measuring situation awareness. Int J Aviation Psychol 14(4):343–367

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klein G (1998/1999) Sources of power: how people make decisions. MIT Press, Cambridge

  • Kuhn TS (1970) Structure of scientific revolutions, 2nd edn. University of Chicago Press, Chicago ISBN-10:0226458040

  • Lave J (1988) Cognition in practice. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lintern G (1991) An informational perspective on skill transfer in human-machine systems. Hum Factors 33:251–266

    Google Scholar 

  • Lintern G (2006) Human performance modeling for enterprise transformation. System engineering: in shining light on the tough issues, INCOSE 2006—16th annual international symposium proceedings, orlando, FL USA, 8–14 July 2006, paper 3.1.2. International Council on Systems Engineering, Seattle, WA

  • Lintern G (2007) What is a cognitive system? In: Proceedings of the fourteenth international symposium on aviation psychology. April 18–21, 2005, Dayton, OH [CD ROM], pp 398–402

  • Lintern G (2009) The foundations and pragmatics of cognitive work analysis: a systematic approach to design of large-scale information systems. Retrieved April 5, 2009, from http://www.cognitivesystemsdesign.net/Downloads/Foundations&PragmaticsofCWA(Lintern2009).pdf

  • MacLeod IS (2000) A case for the consideration of system related cognitive functions throughout design and development. Syst Eng 4(1):113–127

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McLucas JL, Drinkwater FJ, Leaf HW (1981) Report of the President’s task force on aircraft crew complement. The President’s Task Force on Aircraft Crew Complement, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Parasuraman R, Hancock PA (2001) Adaptive control of workload. In: Hancock PA, Desmond PE (eds) Stress, workload, and fatigue. Erlbaum, Mahwah, pp 305–320

    Google Scholar 

  • Parasuraman R, Sheridan T, Wickens C (2000) A model for types and levels of human interaction with automation. IEEE Trans Syst Man Cybern Part A Syst Humans 30:286–297

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parasuraman R, Sheridan T, Wickens C (2008) Situation awareness, mental workload, and trust in automation: viable, empirically supported cognitive engineering constructs. J Cogn Eng Deci Making 2:140–160

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Popper KR (1972) The logic of scientific discovery. Hutchinson, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Rasmussen J (1986) Information processing and human machine interaction: an approach to cognitive engineering. Science publishing, New York, North Holland series in system science and engineering, vol 12. ISBN:0-444-00987-6

  • Rasmussen J, Pejtersen AM, Goodstein LP (1994) Cognitive systems engineering. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Rouse WB (2005a) A theory of enterprise transformation. Syst Eng 8(4):279–295

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rouse WB (2005b) Enterprises as systems: essential challenges and approaches to transformation. Syst Eng 8(2):138–149

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seng YK, Wai NH, Chan S, Weng LK (2009) Automated metro—ensuring safety and reliability with minimum human intervention. Nineteenth annual international symposium of the international council on systems engineering (INCOSE), San Diego, CA, USA, 19–23 July 2009

  • Sheridan TB (1988) Task allocation and supervisory control. In: Helander M (ed) Handbook of human-computer interaction. Elsevier Science Publishers (North-Holland), Amsterdam, Chap. 8, pp 159–173, ISBN:0444705368

  • Sinha AN, Willingham FL, Hermes M (2001) An architecture framework for decision support systems (DSSs) in air traffic management. Syst Eng 4(1):1–12

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sokal A, Bricmont J (1998) Fashionable nonsense: postmodern intellectuals’ abuse of science. Picador, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Vicente KH (1999) Cognitive work analysis: towards safe, productive, and healthy computer-based work. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah

    Google Scholar 

  • Warner J (2007) Dream weaver CS3 for dummies. Wiley, Hoboken ISBN:07030-5774

  • Weick KE, Sutcliffe KM (2001) Managing the unexpected: assuring high performance in an age of complexity. Wiley, San Francisco

    Google Scholar 

  • Woods DD, Hollnagel E (2006) Joint cognitive systems: patterns in cognitive systems engineering. CRC Press, Boca Rotan ISBN:0849339332

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cognitive Systems Design, Melbourne, Australia

    Gavan Lintern

Authors
  1. Gavan Lintern
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gavan Lintern.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lintern, G. Work-focused analysis and design. Cogn Tech Work 14, 71–81 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10111-010-0167-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10111-010-0167-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation