http://repub.eur.nl/res/aut/20/ List of Publications en http://repub.eur.nl/static-eur/img/logo.png http://repub.eur.nl http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/39770/ 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z In organizational research there is an increasing interest in the study of configurations, i.e., of “multidimensional constellations of conceptually distinct characteristics that occur together” (Meyer, Tsui and Hinings, 1993: 1175). Frequently, the object of study is a process, i.e., a complex of activities that unfolds over time (e.g., an innovation project, a reorganisation, an implementation process). The characteristics that form the configuration are “conditions” (e.g., conditions A, B, and C) that are present (A, B, C) or absent (a, b, c). The notation ABC, thus, represents the observation that the three conditions A, B, and C are present in a process that is studied. Temporally ordered configurations can be defined as those configurations in which conditions occur in a specific temporal order (e.g., C→A→B, meaning that, in one case, C appears first, A next, and finally B). In this chapter we use the term “(temporal) sequence” for such a temporally ordered configuration. Note that the term “(temporal) order” is used here empirically as a synonym of the word “(temporal or chronological) pattern” and is not meant normatively (as opposed to “disorder”). Specific temporal sequences might generate or allow outcomes that are not generated or allowed by the same configuration of conditions if they appear in another temporal order (e.g., A→B→C or B→A→C). The terms “generating” and “allowing” (an outcome), which are used here in order to avoid the term “cause”, will be discussed below in the section on necessary conditions. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/38137/ 2012-12-01T00:00:00Z Our paper ‘A strategy for human factors/ergonomics: developing the discipline and profession’ (Dul et al. 2012) was intended to suggest directions for and to stimulate discussions in the human factors/ergonomics (HFE) community on the future of our field. We believe that discussing the future is an urgent endeavour, as – after decades of existence – in many parts of the world HFE is often under-recognised, ill-understood and underutilised. In some parts of the world, there is even a risk of decline for HFE. We are glad that several IEA federated societies have picked up the challenge of organising discussions about our paper with their members. We are also glad that Ergonomics provides a forum for debate, and we welcome Nathanael and Marmaras’ Commentary on our paper. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/37934/ 2012-11-26T00:00:00Z There are situations where the data or the theory suggest or require, respectively, that one estimate the boundary lines that separate regions of observations from regions of no observations. Of particular interest are ceiling or floor lines. For example, many theories use terms such as veto player, constraint, only if, and so on, which suggest ceilings. Ceiling hypotheses have a nonstandard form claiming the probability of Y will be zero for all values of Y greater than the ceiling value of Yc for a given value of X. Conversely, ceiling hypotheses make no specific prediction about the value of Y for a given value of X except that it will be less than the ceiling value. Floors work by guaranteeing minimum levels. The article gives numerous examples of theories that imply ceiling or floor hypotheses and numerous examples of data that fit such hypotheses. The article proposes quantile regression as a means of estimating the boundaries of the no-data zone as well as criteria for evaluating the importance of the boundary variable. These techniques are illustrated for ceiling and floor hypotheses relating gross domestic product/capita and democracy. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/31969/ 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z Human factors/ergonomics (HFE) has great potential to contribute to the design of all kinds of systems with people (work systems, product/service systems), but faces challenges in the readiness of its market and in the supply of high-quality applications. HFE has a unique combination of three fundamental characteristics: (1) it takes a systems approach (2) it is design driven and (3) it focuses on two closely related outcomes: performance and well-being. In order to contribute to future system design, HFE must demonstrate its value more successfully to the main stakeholders of system design. HFE already has a strong value proposition (mainly well-being) and interactivity with the stakeholder group of ‘system actors’ (employees and product/service users). However, the value proposition (mainly performance) and relationships with the stakeholder groups of ‘system experts’ (experts fromtechnical and social sciences involved in system design), and ‘system decision makers’ (managers and other decision makers involved in system design, purchase, implementation and use), who have a strong power to influence system design, need to be developed. Therefore, the first main strategic direction is to strengthen the demand for high-quality HFE by increasing awareness among powerful stakeholders of the value of high-quality HFE by communicating with stakeholders, by building partnerships and by educating stakeholders. The second main strategic direction is to strengthen the application of high-quality HFE by promoting the education of HFE specialists, by ensuring high-quality standards of HFE applications and HFE specialists, and by promoting HFE research excellence at universities and other organisations. This strategy requires cooperation between the HFE community at large, consisting of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA), local (national and regional) HFE societies, and HFE specialists. We propose a joint world-wide HFE development plan, in which the IEA takes a leadership role. Practitioner Summary: Human factors/ergonomics (HFE) has much to offer by addressing major business and societal challenges regarding work and product/service systems. HFE potential, however, is underexploited. This paper presents a strategy for the HFE community to strengthen demand and application of high-quality HFE, emphasising its key elements: systems approach, design driven, and performance and well-being goals. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/21982/ 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z Innovative organisations need creative employees who generate new ideas for product or process innovation. This paper presents a conceptual framework for the effect of personal, social-organisational and physical factors on employee creativity. Based on this framework, an instrument to analyse the extent to which the work environment enhances creativity is developed. This instrument was applied to a sample of 409 employees and support was found for the hypothesis that a creative work environment enhances creative performance. This paper illustrates how the instrument can be used in companies to select and implement improvements. Statement of Relevance:The ergonomics discipline addresses the work environment mainly for improving health and safety and sometimes productivity and quality. This paper opens a new area for ergonomics: designing work environments for enhancing employee creativity in order to strengthen an organisation's capability for product and process innovation and, consequently, its competitiveness. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/22530/ 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z ABSTRACT The present study examines the effect of the physical work environment on the creativity of knowledge workers, compared with the effects of creative personality and the social-organizational work environment. Based on data from 274 knowledge workers in 27 SMEs, we conclude that creative personality, the social-organizational work environment, and the physical work environment independently affect creative performance. The relative contribution of the physical work environment is smaller than that of the social-organizational work environment, and both contributions are smaller than that of creative personality. The results give support for HR practices that focus on the individual, on the social-organizational work environment, and on the physical work environment in order to enhance knowledge worker creativity. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/21222/ 2010-10-01T00:00:00Z Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show that necessary condition hypotheses are important in operations management (OM), and to present a consistent methodology for building and testing them. Necessary condition hypotheses (“X is necessary for Y”) express conditions that must be present in order to have a desired outcome (e.g. “success”), and to prevent guaranteed failure. These hypotheses differ fundamentally from the common co-variational hypotheses (“more X results in more Y”) and require another methodology for building and testing them. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews OM literature for versions of necessary condition hypotheses and combines previous theoretical and methodological work into a comprehensive and consistent methodology for building and testing such hypotheses. Findings – Necessary condition statements are common in OM, but current formulations are not precise, and methods used for building and testing them are not always adequate. The paper outlines the methodology of necessary condition analysis consisting of two stepwise methodological approaches, one for building and one for testing necessary conditions. Originality/value – Because necessary condition statements are common in OM, using methodologies that can build and test such hypotheses contributes to the advancement of OM research and theory. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/19668/ 2010-05-28T00:00:00Z Purpose: This paper examines the claim that the application of human factors (HF) knowledge can improve both human well-being and operations system performance. Methodology: A systematic review was conducted using a general and two specialist databases to identify empirical studies addressing both human effects and operations system effects in examining manufacturing operations system design aspects. Findings: We found 45 empirical studies addressing both the human effects and system effects of operations system (re)design. Of those studies providing clear directional effects, 95% showed a convergence between human effects and system effects (+,+ or -,-), 5% showed a divergence of human and system effects (+,- or -,+). System effects included quality, productivity, implementation performance of new technologies, and also more ‘intangible’ effects in terms of improved communication and co-operation. Human effects included employee health, attitudes, physical workload, and ‘quality of working life’. Research limitations/implications: Future research should attend to both human and system outcomes in trying to determine optimal configurations for operations systems as this appears to be a complex relationship with potential long-term impact on operational performance. Practical implications: The application of HF in operations system design can support improvement in both employee well-being and system performance in a number of manufacturing domains. Originality/value: This paper outlines and documents a research and practice gap between the fields of HF and OM research that has not been previously discussed in the management literature. This gap may be inhibiting the design of operations systems with superior long term performance. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/19666/ 2010-05-26T00:00:00Z Purpose – To show that necessary condition hypotheses are important in operations management, and to present a consistent methodology for building and testing them. Necessary condition hypotheses (“X is necessary for Y”) express conditions that must be present in order to have a desired outcome (e.g. “success”), and to prevent guaranteed failure. These hypotheses differ fundamentally from the common co-variational hypotheses (“more X results in more Y”) and require another methodology for building and testing them. Design/methodology/approach – Reviewing operations management literature for versions of necessary condition hypotheses. Combining previous theoretical and methodological work into a comprehensive and consistent methodology for building and testing such hypotheses. Findings – Necessary condition statements are common in operations management, but current formulations are not precise, and methods used for building and testing them are not always adequate. Outline of the methodology of Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA) consisting of two stepwise methodological approaches, one for building and one for testing necessary conditions. Originality/value – Because necessary condition statements are common in operations management, using methodologies that can build and test such hypotheses contributes to the advancement of operations management research and theory. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/17887/ 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/20443/ 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the claim that the application of human factors (HF) knowledge can improve both human well-being and operations system (OS) performance. Design/methodology/approach – A systematic review was conducted using a general and two specialist databases to identify empirical studies addressing both human and OS effects in examining manufacturing OS design aspects. Findings – A total of 45 empirical studies were found, addressing both the human and system effects of OS (re)design. Of those studies providing clear directional effects, 95 percent showed a convergence between human effects and system effects (þ, þ or 2, 2 ), 5 percent showed a divergence of human and system effects (þ, 2 or 2, þ ). System effects included quality, productivity, implementation performance of new technologies, and also more “intangible” effects in terms of improved communication and co-operation. Human effects included employee health, attitudes, physical workload, and “quality of working life”. Research limitations/implications – Future research should attend to both human and system outcomes in trying to determine optimal configurations for OSs as this appears to be a complex relationship with potential long-term impact on operational performance. Practical implications – The application of HF in OS design can support improvement in both employee well-being and system performance in a number of manufacturing domains. Originality/value – The paper outlines and documents a research and practice gap between the fields of HF and operations management research that has not been previously discussed in the management literature. This gap may be inhibiting the design of OSs with superior long-term performance. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/21484/ 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z Innovative organisations need creative employees who generate new ideas for product or process innovation. This paper presents a conceptual framework for the effect of personal, social-organisational and physical factors on employee creativity. Based on this framework an instrument to analyse the extent to which the work environment enhances creativity is developed. We apply this instrument to a sample of 409 employees and find support for the hypothesis that a creative work environment enhances creative performance. We illustrate how the instrument can be used in companies to select and implement improvements. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/16028/ 2009-07-01T00:00:00Z http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/16203/ 2009-06-19T00:00:00Z Pattern matching is comparing two patterns in order to determine whether they match (i.e., that they are the same) or do not match (i.e., that they differ). Pattern matching is the core procedure of theory-testing with cases. Testing consists of matching an “observed pattern” (a pattern of measured values) with an “expected pattern” (a hypothesis), and deciding whether these patterns match (resulting in a confirmation of the hypothesis) or do not match (resulting in a disconfirmation). Essential to pattern matching (as opposed to pattern recognition, which is a procedure by which theory is built) is that the expected pattern is precisely specified before the matching takes place. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/16204/ 2009-06-19T00:00:00Z Replication is conducting a study in another case (or population) in order to assess whether a research finding from previous studies can be confirmed. The aim of replication is to assess the generalizability of a theoretical claim and the “research finding” that is (or is not) confirmed in the replication study is a claim that is derived from the previous studies. Sometimes the term replication is also used for conducting a study in the same case (or population) in order to assess whether the finding from the previous study can be reproduced. To avoid confusion, the latter method of assessing the reliability of a study might better be called duplication. Duplication will not be discussed here. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/16205/ 2009-06-19T00:00:00Z Theory-building with cases is (a) formulating new propositions that emerge from the empirical evidence in a sample of cases and (b) testing them in the same sample. The main difference with most other forms of generating new propositions (such as analyzing the theoretical literature, brainstorming, etc.) is its empirical character. The main difference with other forms of discovering new propositions in empirical evidence (such as in ‘exploratory’ research) is that only those theoretical formulations are accepted as a result of the theory-building study that are confirmed in a test in the sample from which the proposition was built. It is possible that a proposition about a relationship between two variables emerges from an exploratory single case study (e.g., when both variables have extreme values in that case), but it is not possible to test that new proposition in the same study because this would require a comparison in a sample of cases. The term theory-building study (as distinct from an exploratory study) is used here only for studies in which a proper test of the new proposition has been conducted. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/16206/ 2009-06-19T00:00:00Z Theory-testing with cases is ascertaining whether the empirical evidence in a case or in a sample of cases either supports or does not support the theory. There are two methodologies for theory-testing with cases, (a) testing in a single case (‘theory-testing single case study’), and (b) testing in a sample of cases (‘theory-testing sample case study’). The functional form of the proposition that is tested determines which of these two methodologies should be used. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/15394/ 2008-12-01T00:00:00Z This article explores whether the manager's physical office work environment can stimulate the manager's creativity. A total of 60 managers from a large manufacturing company participated in the study. They rated the creativity potential and physical elements of office environments shown in 25 photographs. The results indicate that offices differ in terms of creativity potential. Compared to offices with low creativity potential, offices with high creativity potential have lower complexity, more plants, bright lighting conditions, windows, cooler colors, and a computer facility. The results suggest that a good interior design of manager's office environment could stimulate a manager's creativity and could therefore contribute to an organization's innovation. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/13213/ 2008-09-11T00:00:00Z Managers usually associate ergonomics with occupational health and safety and related legislation, not with business performance. In many companies, these decision makers seem not to be positively motivated to apply ergonomics for reasons of improving health and safety. In order to strengthen the position of ergonomics and ergonomists in the business and management world, we discuss company strategies and business goals to which ergonomics could contribute. Conceptual models are presented and examples are given to illustrate: 1) the present situation in which ergonomics is not part of regular planning and control cycles in organizations to ensure business performance, and 2) the desired situation in which ergonomics is an integrated part of strategy formulation and implementation. In order to realize the desired situation, considerable changes must take place within the ergonomics research, education and practice community by moving from a health ergonomics paradigm to a business ergonomics paradigm, without losing the health and safety goals. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/13215/ 2008-09-11T00:00:00Z This paper explores whether the manager’s physical office work environment can stimulate the manager’s creativity. A total of 60 managers from a large manufacturing company participated in the study. They rated the creativity potential and physical elements of office environments shown in 25 photographs. The results indicate that offices differ in terms of creativity potential. Compared to offices with low creativity potential, offices with high creativity potential have lower complexity, more plants, bright lighting conditions, windows, cooler colors, and a computer facility. The results suggest that a good interior design of manager’s office environment could stimulate a manager’s creativity and could therefore contribute to an organization’s innovation. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/1200/ 2004-02-27T00:00:00Z In designing of production systems, economic and social goals can be combined, if ergonomics is integrated into the design process. More than 50 years of ergonomics research and practice have resulted in a large number of ergonomics standards for designing physical and organizational work environments. This paper gives an overview of the 174 international ISO and European CEN standards in this field, and discusses their applicability in design processes. The available standards include general recommendations for integrating ergonomics into the design process, as well as specific requirements for manual handling, mental load, task design, human-computer-interaction, noise, heat, body measurements, and other topics. The standards can be used in different phases of the design process: allocation of system functions between humans and machines, design of the work organization, work tasks and jobs, design of work environment, design of work equipment, hardware and software, and design of workspace and workstation. The paper is meant to inform engineers and managers involved in the design of production systems about the existence of a large number of ISO and CEN standards on ergonomics, which can be used to optimize human well-being and overall system performance. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/432/ 2003-06-18T00:00:00Z A method for selecting and rating scientific and professional journals representing the discipline of ergonomics and human factors is proposed. The method is based upon the journal list, impact factors and citations provided by the Institute of Scientific Information (ISI), and the journal list published in the Ergonomics Abstracts. Three groups of journals were distinguished. The "ergonomics journals" focus exclusively on ergonomics or human factors. The "related journals" focus on other disciplines than ergonomics or human factors, but regularly publish ergonomics/human factors papers. The "basic journals" focus on other technical, medical or social sciences than ergonomics, but are important for the development of ergonomics/human factors. Journal quality was rated using a maximum of four categories: top quality (A-level), high quality (B-level), good quality (C-level)) and professional (P-level). The above methods were applied to develop journal ratings for the year 2003. A total of 24 'ergonomics journals', 58 'related journals' and 142 'basic journals' were classified. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/348/ 2003-05-23T00:00:00Z Het vakgebied ergonomie bestudeert de interactie tussen mens en de ontworpen technische en organisatorische omgeving. In de product-ergonomie wordt deze kennis gebruikt om gebruiksvriendelijke producten te ontwikkelen en in de productie-ergonomie om mensvriendelijke (productie)-processen te ontwerpen. Naast sociale doelen kan ergonomie bijdragen aan economische doelen van een organisatie. Met gebruiksvriendelijke producten kan een bedrijf haar klanten voordelen bieden die verder gaan dan die van concurrerende producten. Met mensvriendelijke productieprocessen kan een bedrijf de arbeidsproductiviteit verhogen en daarmee belangrijke kostenbesparingen realiseren. Vanwege het groeiend besef van het belang van mensen (klanten en medewerkers) voor het succes van organisaties, kan ergonomie van strategische waarde zijn voor het management van organisaties. Binnen de leerstoel Ergonomics Management staan de vragen centraal hoe ergonomische kennis en methoden in de besluitvormings- en ontwerpprocessen van organisaties kunnen worden gebruikt en welke bedrijfsvoordelen hiermee kunnen worden behaald.