A Human Factors expert deals with the question:
“What factors influence human behavior?”
I focus primarily on
- the behavior of employees,
- the factors that the organization can influence.
Examples of factors that often come to mind first are selection, training and personal circumstances. Other examples of influencing factors are procedures, leadership, workplace design and job design.
To answer the main question, the Human Factor expert also addresses the following questions:
- “What is the behavior taking place?”
- “Why does this behavior take place? What is logical about seemingly illogical behavior?”
Work environment in line with how our brains work
How do people think? How do you and I think? Why do we make (thinking) mistakes? Cognitive ergonomics uses knowledge of human thinking to better design processes and tasks.
It focuses on adapting the environment to how our brain naturally works, rather than asking humans to adapt. You can ask a fish to climb, but little chance of success no matter how many times you ask. You’re better off adjusting the task in such a way that the fish has to swim instead of climb. And for humans, you adjust the task in such a way that the environment and task matches how our brain naturally works.
Taking individual differences into account
Everyone is different. Our appearance, our physical build, our emotional experience and how we think. There are factors that help everyone perform better and with greater job satisfaction. But there are also differences between individuals.
As an individual, how do you get the most out of your brain? What do you need to be able to thrive?
A special kind of task: Pleasant interactions with colleagues
Working with colleagues and supervisors is part of working life. If we are dealing with a piece of technology or a procedure that causes a lot of frustration, then the technology or procedure can be modified. However, when there is a lot of frustration in dealing between individuals, an organization cannot simply “adjust” the individuals . However, we can increase insight and understanding of each other’s behavior and answer questions such as:
- ‘Why doesn’t it automatically go well between colleagues/ teams/ managers?’
- ‘What factors influence how the interaction goes?’
- ‘What can you yourself do as a colleague or manager for a more pleasant and effective interaction?’
Presentation about Human Factors?
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