Abstract
Most research on production planning and control (PPC) focuses on control structures, mathematical models, and algorithms, without explicitly considering human behavior. To consider a behavioral perspective of the PPC concept of workload control (WLC), we conduct a laboratory experiment. The study’s aim is to investigate the effects of changing workload norms, the influence of feedback information, and coworker queue length information on operators’ reaction behavior. To do so, we perform an assessment across two dimensions: operators’ (i) performance and (ii) arousal level. We contribute to the literature on endogenous processing times and highlight the importance of considering behavioral aspects when companies define an implementation strategy and when conducting WLC studies. Furthermore, given that production systems are operated by people, our results show that behavioral effects need to be considered in the specification of workload norms. Based on our results, we conclude that operators exhibit substantial heterogeneity in their reaction behavior, depending on their positioning in a flow shop (gateway station vs. downstream station).
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