Ergonomics and Work Psychology

Objective

Work Psychology and Ergonomics are subdisciplines of the interdisciplinary Work Science. A common base is the 'humane' design of work tools, work places, works tasks and complete work systems. Basic knowledge of the meaning and the effects of work on people as well as possibilities of work design are presented from the point of Work Psychology and of Ergonomics. The students should be able to understand and reflect the theoretical concepts and empirical research results and also to recognize the advantages of them for a work design which is adapted to people.

Content

Part I: Work Psychology What is psychology and how does it research work? Work Psychology as an applied science. Criteria for the evaluation of work. Images of men and their meaning for work design. Models of working time and shift work. Work, stress and health. Motivation and satisfaction. Work and unemployment. Cooperation in groups and teams. Leadership and management. The enterprise as a sociotechnical system. Principles and strategies of work design. New forms of work and the future of the world of work (e.g. Telework, virtual work). Part II: Ergonomics of interactive systems Standards and paradigms of ergonomics. Principles of reception, procession and evaluation of information by men (vision, hearing, cognition). Principles as well as performance and limits of informational output (speech, fine motorics). Transfer of the findings to the design of optical surfaces (CRT screen, LCD screen, 3D screen,...), of acoustical displays (speech output) and of input devices (mouse, tray,...). Software ergonomics (user models, presentation of information, dialogue design, navigation, learning, adaptive systems, errors,...) Psychophysiological foundations of artificial reality (virtual reality, augmented reality, wearable computing, retinal displays,...) principals of user-oriented development (usability and engineering, innovation by interaction,...) example from different fields.

Resources