Normative, descriptive and formative approaches to describing normal work area

Abstract

This paper examines normative and formative approaches toward describing normal work area. Squires’ model of normal work area is an example of a normative approach, which prescribes the shape of normal work area. Squires’ model has been taken as the starting point for more recent attempts to delineate reach boundaries in the workplace. However, his original paper does not present the derivation for his model or his claim that the distal boundary of his normal work area can be described by a prolate epicycloid. This paper presents the derivation for Squires’ model and shows that the resulting curve is not a prolate epicycloid, but a related form, a hypotrochoid. It then identifies shortcomings of normative models, like Squires’, notably the viability of the reach assumptions on which such normative models are based and their inability to deal with context-conditioned variability in the workplace. Finally, it examines the application of formative models, which attempt to identify constraints on the types of reach actions that people use. Data on how people actually reach may constitute a more appropriate foundation for constructing work area models needed to develop workplace standards.