* Our Work Design text by Badiru & Bommer in Chapter 9 described a framework methodology for establishing an appropriate cognitive vs. non-cognitive balance in our procedure designs so that we don’t create procedures that overwhelm those who follow them, resulting in potentially major and dangerous errors. In particular, Step 4 of their framework involves humans-in-the-loop (HITL) simulation that we saw back in Chapter 7 as an approach to better understanding the interaction of human operators and machines or intelligent devices. Situations in which human operators must interact with, and control, numerous complex mechanistic system components create cognitive demands on operators that must be accounted for in procedure design. The attention required of air traffic controllers while they do their jobs is good example of the types of cognitive load — and overload — that the authors’ framework is asking us to consider. Workers in nuclear power station control rooms or anesthesiologists in surgical situations are other examples. Complex situations involving multiple key variables create complexity and cognitive demands that have to be considered when defining and designing procedures.
* Consider the framework provided in Chapter 9, and focus your attention on the issues surrounding their Step 4 for HITL Simulation. Write and submit a one-page essay in which you discuss the implications and importance of this step for some procedural design initiatives. Illustrate your thinking by giving your own example of a set of procedures or situations where the cognitive demands are expected to be significant enough that this framework should be applied, and another example of a procedure set that might be expected to be simple enough – from a cognitive perspective — to make this framework far less necessary while defining procedures. (Do NOT use the examples noted above.)
* Submission Guidance
Submit your essay as a Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat file. Use an appropriate academic writing style. Points will be deducted for unprofessional or poor writing. (If you write the entire essay as only one paragraph, you will receive a zero score.)
