Workplace Automation Research Articles

METHODOLOGICAL AND THEORETICAL SUPPORT OF INTEGRATED COMPUTER INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FOR MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF THE HEALTH STATUS OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS INVOLVED IN SPORTS SCHOOLS

In this work, an approach is proposed to implement the screening of the health status of children and adolescents. Through the approach can be determined the reserve potential and adequacy of children and adolescents to exercise in a particular sport type. Selection of children and adolescents in professional sports would identify risk groups for the development of pathological conditions in children and adolescents. On the basis of computer-information, technology for monitoring and assessing the health status of children and adolescents involved in sports schools is the main idea of the proposed approach. Particularly, based on integrated implementation workplace automation (WA) of doctors of different profiles and workplace automations of trainers in various sports are going to be realized as the result of this work.

Analysis of Temporary Employment Company Business Environment

Analysis of Temporary Employment Company Business Environment

The role of curiosity in workplace automation

Purpose This paper describes the ways automation and artificial intelligence are shifting the business landscape and how learning professionals can use curiosity to enhance their own and their organizations' success. Design/methodology/approach A review of theory and research on automation and artificial intelligence, curiosity, and learning and development challenges was conducted. Findings Although technological advancements are already transforming the workplace, the optimal benefits of these technologies will be realized only in collaboration with human capital. In particular, as certain manual and technical skills are replaced by automation, the jobs that remain will require more highly developed social and cognitive skills such as creative problem solving, interpersonal skills and empathy, and adaptability and continuous learning. Practical implications Learning professionals are encouraged to use strategies that leverage the power of curiosity to cultivate the soft skills critical for success in technologically advanced workplaces. Originality/value Technological advancement creates an ever-changing organizational and learning landscape for employees and development professionals. Cost-effective strategies are needed to close the growing skill gaps that result. Curiosity is a helpful tool for growing needed competencies.

No Rage Against the Machines: Threat of Automation Does Not Change Policy Preferences

Labor-saving technology has already decreased employment opportunities for middle-skill workers. Experts anticipate that advances in AI and robotics will cause even more significant disruptions in the labor market over the next two decades. This paper presents three experimental studies that investigate how this profound economic change could affect mass politics. Recent observational studies suggest that workers’ exposure to automation risk predicts their support not only for redistribution but also for right-wing populist policies and candidates. Other observational studies, including my own, find that workers underestimate the impact of automation on their job security. Misdirected blame towards immigrants and workers in foreign countries, rather than concerns about workplace automation, could be driving support for right-wing populism. To correct American workers’ beliefs about the threats to their jobs, I conducted three survey experiments in which I informed workers about the existent and future impact of workplace automation. While these informational treatments convinced workers that automation threatens American jobs, they failed to change respondents’ preferences on welfare, immigration, and trade policies. My research finds that raising awareness about workplace automation did not decrease opposition to globalization or increase support for policies that will prepare workers for future technological disruptions.

Applied Problems and Methodological Approaches to Planning and Implementation of Operating Conditions at District Heating Systems

Problems in planning and implementation of the operating conditions for district heating systems (DHSs) are directly related to the controllability and permissibility of the conditions and the reliability, quality, and efficiency of the heat supply systems’ operation under various operating conditions. The operating conditions’ development should be aimed at minimizing operating costs related to implementing the operational modes taking into account the entire set of technical and technological restrictions. The decisive factor in implementing competent adjustment and planning DHS operating conditions is the performance of preliminary calculations directly by the operators. In this case, the condition-development engineer receives a computer model of the operating DHS at his disposal that allows justifying and conducting constant correction of the thermo-hydraulic conditions during the entire heating season under changing operational conditions. For example, when connecting new consumers, varying loads, and under forced changeovers caused by emergencies, they can calculate the postemergency modes and correct the control values when the operating variables exceed the permissible values. At the Institute for Energy Systems (Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences), a system of mathematical models and methods has been developed for calculating and analyzing the thermo-hydraulic conditions at DHSs. This system was implemented in the Angara-TS information–software package (ISP). The ISP an is integration of models, methods, and software with information technologies intended for automation of workplaces for condition-development engineers. Technology for developing operating conditions for large-scale DHSs that satisfy all technical restrictions, including the required heat supply level, is presented. The technology based on multilevel modeling has been verified when implementing the operating conditions of real DHSs in Irkutsk, Angarsk, Bratsk, Baykalsk, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, and other cities. This article deals with the development of the operating conditions for the DHS of Cheremkhovo, a town in Irkutsk oblast, to supply heat power from a combined heat and power plant according to a new temperature schedule. Practical application of the technology developed for planning the real DHS operating conditions has revealed its great potential for energy saving and has significantly improved the quality of the heat supply. The operating conditions and adjustment measures developed using the Angara-TS information–software package allowed for a significant reduction in the circulating heating-medium flow rates, the consumption rate of the make-up water, the water drain by consumers, the energy consumed for transfer of the heating medium, and the cost of chemical water preparation and has ensured the required level of heat supply.

Using STSD for understanding the implementation of automation in organisations

Workplace automation is a highly studied process. In contrast, the implementation phase – critical for innovation success – where conflicts and misalignments between new technology and various organisational levels and phenomena arise, is less described. In this study, we have followed the introduction of automated guided vehicles in a warehouse/distribution centre aimed at increasing efficiency of operations and thus productivity. Building on socio-technical systems design and the job-demands-resources-model, and theories on technology implementation related to the organisations' ability to handle interferences explained in the language of misalignments and alignments, the study describes using qualitative methodology how system-internal variation becomes “enemy” of the AGV introduction; the automation itself cannot succeed without rebalancing the control capacity of the tasks it is augmenting or replacing. The paper also proposes that existing theories used to explain the success or failure of technology implementation are inadequate as they don't take in the complexity of the complete context but address single level phenomena independently of other relevant levels and phenomena.

Producing Technological Futures: Reflecting on Workplace Automation, Inequality, and Ethics

There has been a great deal of uncertainty and fear in recent years regarding how digital technologies might reshape how we work, organize, and live (Barley, Bechky, and Milliken 2017; see also Orl...

Quality of Work as a Challenge for Modern Management of Human Resources in Relation to Employees from Z-Generation

Abstract The goal of the paper is to present chosen problems of management of Z-Generations’ employees connected with the quality of work. The characteristics of the youngest employees revealing their specific attitude towards work and expectations toward employers as well as lack of competences show particular importance of the issue of quality of work in relation to this generation. Nowadays, focusing employees on the quality of work does not mean only precise implementation of strictly defined tasks, because this type of performed work can be ensured by the increasingly widespread automation and robotization of workplaces. Taking up the issues of challenges which for the contemporary human resource management is the quality of working conditions, in relation to the representatives of the Z-generation (Gen Z), paper presents the results of researches and reports illustrating the specificity of these young employees on the labor market. The article attempts to analyze the functioning of the youngest employees and showing instruments by means of which the managers of organizations can shape the involvement of these generation and thus improve the quality of their work.

Co-creating the future of work: Lessons from workplace automation

What sociology and ethnography can teach us about designing the workplace technologies of tomorrow.

Artificial Intelligence: American Attitudes and Trends

This report presents a broad look at the American public’s attitudes toward artificial intelligence (AI) and AI governance, based on findings from a nationally representative survey of 2,000 American adults. As the study of the public opinion toward AI is relatively new, we aimed for breadth over depth, with our questions touching on: workplace automation; attitudes regarding international cooperation; the public’s trust in various actors to develop and regulate AI; views about the importance and likely impact of different AI governance challenges; and historical and cross-national trends in public opinion regarding AI. Our results provide preliminary insights into the character of US public opinion regarding AI.

Guest Editorial: Special Section on Developments in Artificial Intelligence for Industrial Informatics

The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI), empowered by robust computing infrastructure and abundance of data, maintains potential for radical transformation of human society, essentially a third phase in evolution. Numerous research endeavor, policy development, and thought-leadership are presently in progress aimed at discovering data-driven intelligent decision-making solutions for smart cities, smart grids, smart homes, and informed citizens as well as addressing potential risks posed by AI workplace automation. Joining this broad effort, this Special Section contributes six research articles that consolidate recent developments in AI for industrial informatics.

МЕТОДИЧНИЙ ПІДХІД ЩОДО ОЦІНЮВАННЯ ЯКОСТІ ОРГАНІЗАЦІЙНО-КОМУНІКАЦІЙНОГО ЗАБЕЗПЕЧЕННЯ УПРАВЛІНСЬКОЇ ДІЯЛЬНОСТІ ПЕРСОНАЛУ ПІДПРИЄМСТВА

The article proposes the use of a vague model for the assessment of the quality of organization and communication support of personnel managerial activity. The application of this model allows to calculate an aggregated indicator of the quality of organization and communication support of personnel management activities. The application of the model should be accompanied with ballpark conclusion algorithm which in its turn will contribute to a more fundamental choice of organization and communication personnel management strategy. The following initial indicators were selected for the quality assessment of organization and communication support for personnel managerial activity: an integral indicator of organization and communication support for personnel managerial activity (reflects the existing conditions for the implementation of management functions: optimal organization structure, personnel professional development maintenance, the level of modern information technologies application for documentation and information sharing, workplace automation quality), the level of the personnel managerial activity maturity (indicates that managers are ready to implement relevant functions, their level of competence and their unrealized potential). The model of maturity has a scientific purpose (defines the ability to assess the current state of personnel management activities) and practical purpose (helps to create opportunities to enhance the tools that ensure its effectiveness and its development strategy definition). The implementation of the methodological approach to determine the quality of organization and communication support of personnel management activities has the following consequences: definition of the initial system of indicators for the assessment of the organization and communication provision of personnel management quality; analysis of existing mathematical methods for solving the problem (choice and argumentation of the appropriateness); calculation and analysis of the quality level of organization and communication support of personnel management at industrial enterprises using the chosen method; development of recommendations for improving the quality of organization and communication support for personnel management at industrial enterprises (choice of organization and communication strategy).

Work for the future [workplace automation

Work for the future [workplace automation

Will Life Be Worth Living in a World Without Work? Technological Unemployment and the Meaning of Life.

Suppose we are about to enter an era of increasing technological unemployment. What implications does this have for society? Two distinct ethical/social issues would seem to arise. The first is one of distributive justice: how will the (presumed) efficiency gains from automated labour be distributed through society? The second is one of personal fulfillment and meaning: if people no longer have to work, what will they do with their lives? In this article, I set aside the first issue and focus on the second. In doing so, I make three arguments. First, I argue that there are good reasons to embrace non-work and that these reasons become more compelling in an era of technological unemployment. Second, I argue that the technological advances that make widespread technological unemployment possible could still threaten or undermine human flourishing and meaning, especially if (as is to be expected) they do not remain confined to the economic sphere. And third, I argue that this threat could be contained if we adopt an integrative approach to our relationship with technology. In advancing these arguments, I draw on three distinct literatures: (1) the literature on technological unemployment and workplace automation; (2) the antiwork critique-which I argue gives reasons to embrace technological unemployment; and (3) the philosophical debate about the conditions for meaning in life-which I argue gives reasons for concern.

Why Are There Still So Many Jobs? The History and Future of Workplace Automation

In this essay, I begin by identifying the reasons that automation has not wiped out a majority of jobs over the decades and centuries. Automation does indeed substitute for labor—as it is typically intended to do. However, automation also complements labor, raises output in ways that leads to higher demand for labor, and interacts with adjustments in labor supply. Journalists and even expert commentators tend to overstate the extent of machine substitution for human labor and ignore the strong complementarities between automation and labor that increase productivity, raise earnings, and augment demand for labor. Changes in technology do alter the types of jobs available and what those jobs pay. In the last few decades, one noticeable change has been a “polarization” of the labor market, in which wage gains went disproportionately to those at the top and at the bottom of the income and skill distribution, not to those in the middle; however, I also argue, this polarization and is unlikely to continue very far into future. The final section of this paper reflects on how recent and future advances in artificial intelligence and robotics should shape our thinking about the likely trajectory of occupational change and employment growth. I argue that the interplay between machine and human comparative advantage allows computers to substitute for workers in performing routine, codifiable tasks while amplifying the comparative advantage of workers in supplying problem-solving skills, adaptability, and creativity.

The Luddite Revolt continues

The bicentenary in 2011 of the Luddite Revolt prompts us to ask ‘what would Ned Ludd think of today’s automated styles of distance education?’ He would no doubt echo the common criticism that educational technologies create an impersonal style of teaching and learning, and devalue the teacher. He would probably agree that online methods have major potential for millions of distance‐based students who cannot attend classroom‐based education and training; but he would emphasise the need for quality assurance and cost‐effectiveness studies in distance education implementation. He might also ask why anyone would encourage the development of e‐learning in countries where the Internet is largely inaccessible. This article uses the Luddites’ views of workplace automation to explore how global distance education practices might be improved. It suggests that the intentions of the original Luddites were laudable and worthy of application in distance education today.

Cognitivism about Instrumental Reason

Cognitivism about Instrumental Reason

MORM—A Petri Net Based Model for Assessing OH&S Risks in Industrial Processes: Modeling Qualitative Aspects

Because of the increase in workplace automation and the diversification of industrial processes, workplaces have become more and more complex. The classical approaches used to address workplace hazard concerns, such as checklists or sequence models, are, therefore, of limited use in such complex systems. Moreover, because of the multifaceted nature of workplaces, the use of single-oriented methods, such as AEA (man oriented), FMEA (system oriented), or HAZOP (process oriented), is not satisfactory. The use of a dynamic modeling approach in order to allow multiple-oriented analyses may constitute an alternative to overcome this limitation. The qualitative modeling aspects of the MORM (man-machine occupational risk modeling) model are discussed in this article. The model, realized on an object-oriented Petri net tool (CO-OPN), has been developed to simulate and analyze industrial processes in an OH&S perspective. The industrial process is modeled as a set of interconnected subnets (state spaces), which describe its constitutive machines. Process-related factors are introduced, in an explicit way, through machine interconnections and flow properties. While man-machine interactions are modeled as triggering events for the state spaces of the machines, the CREAM cognitive behavior model is used in order to establish the relevant triggering events. In the CO-OPN formalism, the model is expressed as a set of interconnected CO-OPN objects defined over data types expressing the measure attached to the flow of entities transiting through the machines. Constraints on the measures assigned to these entities are used to determine the state changes in each machine. Interconnecting machines implies the composition of such flow and consequently the interconnection of the measure constraints. This is reflected by the construction of constraint enrichment hierarchies, which can be used for simulation and analysis optimization in a clear mathematical framework. The use of Petri nets to perform multiple-oriented analysis opens perspectives in the field of industrial risk management. It may significantly reduce the duration of the assessment process. But, most of all, it opens perspectives in the field of risk comparisons and integrated risk management. Moreover, because of the generic nature of the model and tool used, the same concepts and patterns may be used to model a wide range of systems and application fields.

Manufacturing Knowledge

Research on the restructuring of work has tended to neglect the autonomous effects that symbolic or cultural influences can have on the utilization of new technologies. This article draws on fieldwork conducted in three pulp and paper mills to explore the symbolic boundaries that occupational groups bring to bear on workplace automation. As sophisticated technologies and management methods were introduced, process engineers engaged in subtle yet important efforts to portray manual workers' knowledge in derisive terms. Such boundary work led managers to institute credential barriers that restricted manual workers' opportunities, eventually enabling engineers to gain exclusive control over analytic functions as their own "natural" domain. The study suggests that symbolic representations can have powerful consequences for the restructuring of work, reproducing social inequalities even when new technologies render them unnecessary.

New technology, automation, and work organization: Stress problems and improved technology implementation strategies

AbstractFrom the turn of the century to today there has been a revolution in the technology in use at the workplace. Coupled with this has been a major change in the way in which work is organized and managed. The integration of technology and how work is designed, organized, and managed have not always been smooth, as there has often been lags between the application of workplace automation and workplace design to accommodate the new technology and workforce needs. New theories of work organization and design to address automation and workforce issues have emphasized the need for more workforce involvement in the planning for automation and during the implementation of new technology, and for better workplace design to enhance human‐machine interfaces. Theories such as sociotechnical systems, macroergonomics, and high involvement management provide some insight into the problems of automation and solutions. The balance theory of Smith and Carayon‐Sainfort (1989) provides a framework for successful implementation of automation. @ 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.