Abstract
AbstractIn any work system design intervention—for example, a physical workplace re‐design, a work process change, or an equipment upgrade—it is often emphasized how important it is to involve stakeholders in the process of analysis and design, to gain their perspectives as input to the development, and ensure their future acceptance of the solution. While the users of an artifact or workplace are most often regarded as being the most important stakeholders in a design intervention, in a work‐system context there may be additional influential stakeholders who influence and negotiate the design intervention's outcomes, resource allocation, requirements, and implementation. Literature shows that it is uncommon for empirical ergonomics and human factors (EHF) research to apply and report the use of any structured stakeholder identification method at all, leading to ad‐hoc selections of whom to consider important. Conversely, other research fields offer a plethora of stakeholder identification and analysis methods, few of which seem to have been adopted in the EHF context. This article presents the development of a structured method for identification, classification, and qualitative analysis of stakeholders in EHF‐related work system design intervention. It describes the method's EHF‐related theoretical underpinnings, lessons learned from four use cases, and the incremental development of the method that has resulted in the current method procedure and visualization aids. The method, called Change Agent Infrastructure (abbreviated CHAI), has a mainly macroergonomic purpose, set on increasing the understanding of sociotechnical interactions that create the conditions for work system design intervention, and facilitating participative efforts.
Highlights
When a work system (WS) design intervention—for example, a physical workplace re‐design, a work process change, or an equipment upgrade—is carried out from a participative ergonomics perspective, it is often emphasized how important it is to involve stakeholders in the process of analysis and design, to gain their perspectives as input to the development, and ensure their future acceptance of the solution
In free‐text responses, one student said that the Change Agent Infrastructure (CHAI) analysis guided the discussion well and helped create a shared understanding for whom to influence to ensure success for the change. another student saw it as a good team‐building exercise, but was apprehensive about whether the discussion could possibly be as relaxed if real company representatives would have participated
The visualizations were incorporated in the official workshop report and the participants appreciated the conclusions drawn from the comprehensive stakeholder identification and/or analysis (SIA)
Summary
When a work system (WS) design intervention—for example, a physical workplace re‐design, a work process change, or an equipment upgrade—is carried out from a participative ergonomics perspective, it is often emphasized how important it is to involve stakeholders in the process of analysis and design, to gain their perspectives as input to the development, and ensure their future acceptance of the solution. Ergonomics and human factors (EHF) authors from different fields often promote the users of an artifact or workplace as being the most crucial stakeholders in a design intervention, there may be additional stakeholders who influence and negotiate the design intervention's outcomes, resource allocation, requirements, and implementation. This is true in a work system context, where sociotechnical interactions tend to create the conditions for a design intervention's implementation. We will refer to the person with this ambition as the “EHF change agent” throughout the rest of this article, and to the work system change as the “design intervention.”
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