%0 Web Page %T Bureau of Labor Statistics. %I Bureau of Labor Statistics. %P Office and Administrative Support Occupations %! Bureau of Labor Statistics. %U https://www.bls.gov/ooh/office-and-administrative-support/home.htm %0 Grant %T FW-HTF-P %I National Science Foundation %! FW-HTF-P %U https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/simpleSearchResult?queryText=FW-HTF-P %0 Web Page %T The Work in the Age of Intelligent Machines Research Coordination Network %! The Work in the Age of Intelligent Machines Research Coordination Network %U https://waim.network/about %0 Newspaper Article %T Workplace Automation: How AI is coming for your job %B Financial Times %! Workplace Automation: How AI is coming for your job %U https://www.ft.com/content/c4bf787a-d4a0-11e9-a0bd-ab8ec6435630 %0 Dataset %D 2021 %T Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey %E Statistics, Bureau of Labor %! Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey %U https://www.bls.gov/cps/tables.htm %0 Newspaper Article %D 2021 %T The Robots are coming for Phil in Accounting %B NY Times %! The Robots are coming for Phil in Accounting %U https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/06/business/the-robots-are-coming-for-phil-in-accounting.html %0 Conference Proceedings %A Agostinelli, Simone %A Marrella, Andrea %A Mecella, Massimo %D 2019 %T Research Challenges for Intelligent Robotic Process Automation %C Cham %I Springer International Publishing %P 12-18 %Y Di Francescomarino, Chiara %E Dijkman, Remco %E Zdun, Uwe %S Business Process Management Workshops %! Research Challenges for Intelligent Robotic Process Automation %@ 978-3-030-37453-2 %F 10.1007/978-3-030-37453-2_2 %X Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a fast-emerging automation technology in the field of Artificial Intelligence that allows organizations to automate high volume routines. RPA tools are able to capture the execution of such routines previously performed by a human user on the interface of a computer system, and then emulate their enactment in place of the user. In this paper, after an in-depth experimentation of the RPA tools available in the market, we developed a classification framework to categorize them on the basis of some key dimensions. Then, starting from this analysis, we derived four research challenges necessary to inject intelligence into current RPA technology. %0 Conference Paper %A Anagnoste, Sorin %D 2017 %T Robotic Automation Process - The next major revolution in terms of back office operations improvement %B Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence %V 11 %P 676-686 %R doi:10.1515/picbe-2017-0072 %K Robotic Process Automation RPA Shared Service Centers BPO Automatization %X Forced to provide results consistent results to shareholders the organizations turned to Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in order to tackle the following typical challenges they face: (1) Cost reduction, (2) Quality increase and (3) Faster processes. RPA is now considered the next big thing for the Shared Services Centers (SSC) and Business Process Outsourced (BPO) around the world, and especially in Central and Eastern Europe. In SSCs and BPOs the activities with the highest potential for automation are in finance, supply chain and in human resource departments. This means that the problems these business are facing are mostly related to high data entry volumes, high error rates, significant rework, numerous manual processes, multiple not-integrated legacy systems and high turnover due to repetitive/low value added activities. One advantage of RPA is that it can be trained by the users to undertake structured repeatable, computer based tasks interacting in the same time with multiple systems while performing complex decisions based on algorithms. By doing this, the robot can identify the exceptions for manual processing, remove idle times and keep logs of actions performed. Another advantage is that the automated solutions can work 24/7, it can be implemented fast, work with the existing architecture, cut data entry costs by up to 70% and perform at 30% of the cost of a full time employee, thus providing a quick and tangible return to organizations. For Romania, a key destination for SSCs and BPOs, this technology will make them more competitive, but also will lead to a creation of a series of high-paid jobs while eliminating the low-input jobs. The paper will analyze also the most important vendor providers of RPA solutions on the market and will provide specific case studies from different industries, thus helping future leaders and organizations taking better decisions. %0 Conference Paper %A Anagnoste, Sorin %D 2017 %T Robotic Automation Process - The operating system for the digital enterprise %B Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence %V 12 %P 54-69 %R doi:10.2478/picbe-2018-0007 %K Robotic Process Automation RPA Controlled Workforce Automatization Intelligent Optical Character Recognition %X Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is going into a “maturity market”. The main vendor providers surpassed USD 1 billion in evaluation and the research they are launching these days on the market will change again radically the business landscape. It can be seen already what is coming next to RPA: intelligent optical character recognition (IOCR), chat-bots, machine learning, big data analytics, cognitive platforms, anomaly detection, pattern analysis, voice recognition, data classification and many more. As a result, the top vendors developed partnerships with the main leading artificial intelligence providers, such as: IBM Watson, Microsoft Artificial Intelligence, Microsoft Cognitive services, blockchain, Google etc. On the business part, the consulting companies who are implementing the RPA solution are moving from developing Proof-of-Concepts (POCs) and Pilots to helping clients with RAP global rollouts and developing Centre of Excellences (Coen).   As a result, the experiences gathered so far by the author on this kind of projects will be tackled also in this paper.   In this article we will present also some data related to automation for different business areas (e.g., Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable etc.) and how an assessment can be done correctly to decide if a process can be automatized and, if yes, up to which extent (i.e., percent). Moreover, through the case studies we will provide (1) how now the RPA is integrated with Artificial Intelligence and Cloud, (2) how can be scaled to face hypes, (3) how can interpret data and (4) what savings these technologies can bring to the organizations.   All the services made Robotics Process Automation a very powerful tool since a year ago when the author did the last research. A process that was mainly not recommended for automation or was partially automated can be now fully automated with more advantages, such as: money, non-FTE savings and fulfillment time. %0 Journal Article %A Autor, David H %D 2015 %T Why Are There Still So Many Jobs? The History and Future of Workplace Automation %B Journal of Economic Perspectives %V 29 %P 28 %& 3 %! Why Are There Still So Many Jobs? The History and Future of Workplace Automation %R doi:10.1257/jep.29.3.3 %K Employment Unemployment Wages Intergenerational Income Distribution Aggregate Human Capital Aggregate Labor Productivity Time Allocation and Labor Supply Labor Demand Human Capital Skills Occupational Choice Labor Productivity Wage Level and Structure Wage Differentials Innovation and Invention %X 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 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. %0 Journal Article %A Baker, Phyllis L. %D 1992 %T Bored and Busy: Sociology of Knowledge of Clerical Workers %B Sociological Perspectives %V 35 %N 3 %P 489-503 %! Bored and Busy: Sociology of Knowledge of Clerical Workers %R 10.2307/1389331 %X This article uses a sociology of knowledge approach to discuss the reproduction of inequality within the sociocultural world of clerical workers. A model of a semiotic square is used to analyze the experiences of bored and busy work. Through this analysis of bored and busy work, the author discovered clerical workers' perceptions and activities which were both subordinating and empowering. Clerical workers participate in the process of subordination through bored/busy work. However, they also participate in empowering strategies through not-bored/not-busy work. This sociology of knowledge approach shows that people are not automatons and strengthens our understanding of the social reproduction of inequality as a multi-faceted phenomenon. %U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2307/1389331 %0 Conference Proceedings %A Bardram, Jakob %D 1998 %T Designing for the dynamics of cooperative work activities %B Proceedings of the 1998 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work %C Seattle, Washington, USA %I Association for Computing Machinery %P 89-98 %! Designing for the dynamics of cooperative work activities %@ 1581130090 %R https://doi.org/10.1145/289444.289483 %K activity theory healthcare dynamics design cooperative work %X CSCW seems to have a persistent problem of understanding the nature of "cooperative work". This paper argues that this problem is a direct result of not looking at the dynamic aspects of work - i.e. that cooperative work is not one thing, but different things at different times and in different places. Based on Activity Theory the paper gives a conceptual frame for understanding the dynamics of collaborative work activities and argues that the design of computer support should view cooperative breakdowns not as a problem but as an important resource in design. These arguments are based on empirical studies of healthcare work and the design of a computer support for planning and scheduling operations and other activities within a hospital. %0 Conference Paper %A Bossen, Claus %A Jensen, Lis Witte Kjaer %D 2008 %T Implications of Shared Interactive Displays for Work at a Surgery Ward: Coordination, Articulation Work and Context-Awareness %B 2008 21st IEEE International Symposium on Computer-Based Medical Systems %C Jyvaskyla, Finland %I IEEE %P pp. 464-469 %R doi: 10.1109/CBMA.2008.96 %K articulation work context-awareness coordination hospital large displays surgery department shared interactive displays surgery ward context-awareness computer supported collaborative work video feed RFID tags mobile phones biomedical communication computer displays groupware interactive systems medical computing mobile radio radiofrequency identification surgery displays surgery context mobile communication video sharing feeds RFID tags mobile handsets collaborative work online communities/technical collaboration %X We report on experiences gained from the use of large, shared interactive displays to support coordination and communication at a surgery ward. The displays combine on-line, updated surgery schedules, video feed, RFID tags, chat and mobile phones to improve the coordination and articulation of work tasks and enhance the context-awareness of collaborating physicians, nurses and surgery technicians. Implementing the system implied creating a fit, i.e. adapting technology and work processes to each other, attributing appropriate meaning to new clues for interpretation and action, and learning new ways of cooperating. We describe the implications of the system for work processes and focus on changes in coordination, articulation work and context-awareness. Trade-offs had to be made, since work and benefits were differentially redistributed. We propose that computer support for medical work should support flexible appropriation and learning. %0 Journal Article %A Bossen, Claus %A Jensen, Lotte Groth %A Udsen, Flemming Witt %D 2012 %T Medical secretaries' care of records: the cooperative work of a non-clinical group %B Proceedings of the ACM 2012 conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work %! Medical secretaries' care of records: the cooperative work of a non-clinical group %R doi:10.1145/2145204.2145341 %X We describe the cooperative work of medical secretaries at two hospital departments, during the implementation of an electronic health record system. Medical secretaries' core task is to take care of patient records by ensuring that information is complete, up to date, and correctly coded. Medical secretaries also do information gatekeeping and articulation work. The EHR implementation stressed their importance to the departments' work arrangements, coupled their work more tightly to that of other staff, and led to task drift among professions. While medical secretaries have been relatively invisible to health informatics and CSCW, this case study identifies their importance, and suggests that they and other non-clinical groups should be considered, when developing health care IT. We propose the term 'boundary-object trimming', to conceptualize their contributions to hospitals' cooperative work arrangements. %0 Journal Article %A Bossen, Claus %A Jensen, Lotte Groth %A Udsen, Flemming Witt %D 2014 %T Boundary-Object Trimming: On the Invisibility of Medical Secretaries' Care of Records in Healthcare Infrastructures %B Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) %V 23 %P 36 %& 75 %! Boundary-Object Trimming: On the Invisibility of Medical Secretaries' Care of Records in Healthcare Infrastructures %R doi:10.1007/s10606-013-9195-5 %K boundary objects cooperative work electronic health records gender health care medical secretaries invisible work non-clinical occupations %X As health care IT gradually develops from being stand-alone systems towards integrated infrastructures, the work of various groups, occupations and units is likely to become more tightly integrated and dependent upon each other. Hitherto, the focus within health care has been upon the two most prominent professions, physicians and nurses, but most likely other non-clinical occupations will become relevant for the design and implementation of health care IT. In this paper, we describe the cooperative work of medical secretaries at two hospital departments, based on a study evaluating a comprehensive electronic health record (EHR) shortly after implementation. The subset of data on medical secretaries includes observation (11 hours), interviews (three individual and one group) and survey data (31 of 250 respondents were medical secretaries). We depict medical secretaries’ core task as to take care of patient records by ensuring that information is complete, up to date, and correctly coded, while they also carry out information gatekeeping and articulation work. The importance of these tasks to the departments’ work arrangements was highlighted by the EHR implementation, which also coupled the work of medical secretaries more tightly to that of other staff, and led to task drift among professions. Medical secretaries have been relatively invisible to health informatics and CSCW, and we propose the term ‘boundary-object trimming’ to foreground and conceptualize one core characteristic of their work: maintenance and optimization of the EHR as a boundary object. Finally, we reflect upon the hitherto relative invisibility of medical secretaries which may be related to issues of gender and power. %0 Journal Article %A Bossen, Claus %A Pine, Kathleen H %A Cabitza, Federico %A Ellingsen, Gunnar %A Piras, Enrico Maria %D 2019 %T Data work in healthcare: An Introduction %B Health Informatics Journal %V 25 %N 3 %P 465-474 %! Data work in healthcare: An Introduction %R 10.1177/1460458219864730 %M 31405353 %X Healthcare organizations across the globe are currently grappling to implement tools and practices to transform data from “refuse to riches,” a movement propelled by mass adoption of electronic health records (EHRs), sensors, and servers that can hold an ever-expanding volume of digital data.1 Allegedly, “By digitizing, combining and effectively using big data, healthcare organizations ranging from single-physician offices and multi-provider groups to large hospital networks and accountable care organizations stand to realize significant benefits.”2 The potential is “. . . to improve care, save lives and lower costs.”2 As a consequence, organizations are struggling under massive institutional pressures to make healthcare “data-driven” against the messy reality of creating, managing, analyzing, and using data for management, decision-making, accountability, and medical research.3 However, data do not sit in ready repository, fully formed, and easily harvestable. 4   Data must be created through various forms of situated work. Even when data is a byproduct—“exhaust data”—from other processes, data has to be filtered, analyzed, and interpreted. 5   While scholars have acknowledged the situated and effortful nature of data production along with the inherent subjectivities of data, these practices have been little investigated. %U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1460458219864730 %0 Conference Proceedings %A Bowers, John %A Button, Graham %A Sharrock, Wes %D 1995 %T Workflow From Within and Without: Technology and Cooperative Work on the Print Industry Shopfloor %E H, Marmolin %E Y, Sunblad %E K, Schmidt %B Proceedings of the Fourth European Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work ECSCW '95 %C Springer, Netherlands %P 51-66 %! Workflow From Within and Without: Technology and Cooperative Work on the Print Industry Shopfloor %R doi:10.10007/978-94-011-0349-7_4 %K Cooperative Work Administrative Staff Computer Supported Cooperative Work Smooth Flow Print Industry %X This paper reports fieldwork from an organization in the print industry, examining a workflow system introduced to the shopfloor. We detail the indigenous methods by which members order their work, contrast this with the order provided by the system, and describe how members have attempted to accommodate the two. Although it disrupted shopfloor's work, the system's use was a contractural requirement on the organization to make its services accountable. This suggests workflow systems can often be seen as technologies for organizational ordering and accountability. We conclude that CSCW requirements should acknowledge such exigencies and the organizational status of workflow technologies. %0 Journal Article %A Carter, Bob %A Danford, Andy %A Howcroft, Debra %A Richardson, Helen %A Smith, Andrew %A Taylor, Phil %D 2013 %T ‘Stressed out of my box’: employee experience of lean working and occupational ill-health in clerical work in the UK public sector %B Work, Employment and Society %V 27 %N 5 %P 747-767 %! ‘Stressed out of my box’: employee experience of lean working and occupational ill-health in clerical work in the UK public sector %R 10.1177/0950017012469064 %K clerical work,gender,HMRC,lean,occupational health and safety,public sector,stress,white-collar %X Occupational health and safety (OHS) is under-researched in the sociology of work and employment. This deficit is most pronounced for white-collar occupations. Despite growing awareness of the significance of psychosocial conditions – notably stress – and musculoskeletal disorders, white-collar work is considered by conventional OHS discourse to be ‘safe’. This study’s locus is clerical processing in the UK public sector, specifically Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, in the context of efficiency savings programmes. The key initiative was lean working, which involved redesigned workflow, task fragmentation, standardization and individual targets. Utilizing a holistic model of white-collar OHS and in-depth quantitative and qualitative data, the evidence of widespread self-reported ill-health symptoms is compelling. Statistical tests of association demonstrate that the transformed work organization that accompanied lean working contributed most to employees’, particularly women’s, ill-health complaints. %U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0950017012469064 %0 Journal Article %A Clare, Andrew S. %A Cummings, Mary L. %A Repenning, Nelson P. %D 2015 %T Influencing Trust for Human–Automation Collaborative Scheduling of Multiple Unmanned Vehicles %B Human Factors %V 57 %N 7 %P 1208-1218 %! Influencing Trust for Human–Automation Collaborative Scheduling of Multiple Unmanned Vehicles %R 10.1177/0018720815587803 %M 26060238 %K human supervisory control,unmanned vehicles,mixed-initiative planning,priming,gaming %X Objective:We examined the impact of priming on operator trust and system performance when supervising a decentralized network of heterogeneous unmanned vehicles (UVs).Background:Advances in autonomy have enabled a future vision of single-operator control of multiple heterogeneous UVs. Real-time scheduling for multiple UVs in uncertain environments requires the computational ability of optimization algorithms combined with the judgment and adaptability of human supervisors. Because of system and environmental uncertainty, appropriate operator trust will be instrumental to maintain high system performance and prevent cognitive overload.Method:Three groups of operators experienced different levels of trust priming prior to conducting simulated missions in an existing, multiple-UV simulation environment.Results:Participants who play computer and video games frequently were found to have a higher propensity to overtrust automation. By priming gamers to lower their initial trust to a more appropriate level, system performance was improved by 10% as compared to gamers who were primed to have higher trust in the automation.Conclusion:Priming was successful at adjusting the operator’s initial and dynamic trust in the automated scheduling algorithm, which had a substantial impact on system performance.Application:These results have important implications for personnel selection and training for futuristic multi-UV systems under human supervision. Although gamers may bring valuable skills, they may also be potentially prone to automation bias. Priming during training and regular priming throughout missions may be one potential method for overcoming this propensity to overtrust automation. %U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0018720815587803 %0 Conference Proceedings %A Convertino, Gregorio %A Mentis, Helena M. %A Rosson, Mary Beth %A Carroll, John M. %A Slavkovic, Aleksandra %A Ganoe, Craig H. %D 2008 %T Articulating common ground in cooperative work: Content and process %B 26th Annual CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Conference Proceedings, CHI 2008 %C Florence, Italy %I Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings %P 1637-1646 %! Articulating common ground in cooperative work: Content and process %R doi:10.1145/1357054.1357310 %K Software Human-Computer Interaction Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design %X We study the development of common ground in an emergency management planning task. Twelve three0personmulti0role teams performed the task with a paper prototype in a controlled setting; each team completed three versions of the task. We use converging measures to document the development of common ground in the teams and present an in-depth analysis of the characteristics of the common ground development process. Our findings indicate that in complex collaborative work, process common ground increases, thus diminishing the need for acts like information querying or strategy discussions about how to organize the collaborative activities. However, content common ground is created and tested throughout the three runs; in fact dialogue acts used to clarify this content increase over time. Discussion of the implications of these findings for the theory of common ground and the design of collaborative systems follows. %0 Journal Article %A Cooper, Lauren A. %A Holderness, D. Kip %A Sorensen, Trevor L. %A Wood, David A. %D 2021 %T Perceptions of Robotic Process Automation in Big 4 Public Accounting Firms: Do Firm Leaders and Lower-Level Employees Agree? %B Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting %! Perceptions of Robotic Process Automation in Big 4 Public Accounting Firms: Do Firm Leaders and Lower-Level Employees Agree? %R doi:10.2308/JETA-2020-085 %X The use of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a recent innovation in the public accounting industry, and the Big 4 firms are at the forefront of its implementation. This paper examines how the adoption and use of RPA is affecting the perceived work experience of firm leaders and lower-level employees at Big 4 accounting firms. We interview 14 RPA leaders, survey 139 lower-level employees, and compare and contrast their responses. We find that the two groups generally agree that RPA is having a positive influence on the profession. Both groups believe that RPA is positively changing the work employees perform and improving employee career prospects. However, while firm leaders believe RPA will improve work satisfaction, lower-level employees report no such improvements. Our insights provide direction for the accounting profession as it increases the use of RPA and for future research studies examining related issues. %0 Web Page %A Cowles, Mary Kathryn %D 2018 %T IGERT: Geoinformatics for Environmental and Energy Modeling and Prediction (GEEMaP) %C Iowa City, IA %I Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) %! IGERT: Geoinformatics for Environmental and Energy Modeling and Prediction (GEEMaP) %K Computational Science and Engineering Human and Social Dimensions of New Knowledge and Technology Climate Change Sustainability Energy Water %X This Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) award to the University of Iowa supports an interdisciplinary graduate training program designed to train students to use advanced computational methods to address real-world problems in environmental science and energy production. This novel Ph.D. training program uses team-based research projects, internships, and international research experiences to produce a new generation of quantitative and computational scientists who are prepared for interdisciplinary collaboration with engineers, social and natural scientists, government policy-makers, and industrial leaders in the global arena of environment and energy production. Geoinformatics—the science of measuring, storing, managing, analyzing and visualizing data related to phenomena occurring on or near the earth’s surface—plays a key unifying role in the curriculum. Applications include prevention, control, and mitigation of floods; remediation of air, soil, and water contamination; and increasing wind and hydroelectric energy production—challenges that directly impact human health, safety, and quality of life. The project will broaden the participation of students from populations underrepresented in the science, technology, engineering and mathematical fields (women, U.S. ethnic minorities, and low-income and rural students) through coordination with established and successful recruitment programs at the University of Iowa, offering these students a unique program of innovative science, policy, and technology-based rotations. Student and faculty research results will contribute new computational tools and methods as well as scientific insights that will support the formulation of new environmental policy at the local, regional, national, and global scales. IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the interdisciplinary background, deep knowledge in a chosen discipline, and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education by establishing innovative new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. %U http://www.igert.org/projects/253.html %0 Journal Article %A Cummings, M.L. %A Clare, Andrew %A Hart, Christin %D 2010 %T The Role of Human-Automation Consensus in Multiple Unmanned Vehicle Scheduling %B Human Factors %V 52 %N 1 %P 17-27 %! The Role of Human-Automation Consensus in Multiple Unmanned Vehicle Scheduling %R 10.1177/0018720810368674 %M 20653222 %K multiple unmanned vehicles,human supervisory control,workload,human-automation collaboration,scheduling,vehicle routing,trust,human-automation consensus,operator-to-vehicle ratio,decentralized network,automation brittleness,task allocation,unmanned aerial vehicles %X Objective: This study examined the impact of increasing automation replanning rates on operator performance and workload when supervising a decentralized network of heterogeneous unmanned vehicles. Background: Futuristic unmanned vehicles systems will invert the operator-to-vehicle ratio so that one operator can control multiple dissimilar vehicles connected through a decentralized network. Significant human-automation collaboration will be needed because of automation brittleness, but such collaboration could cause high workload. Method: Three increasing levels of replanning were tested on an existing multiple unmanned vehicle simulation environment that leverages decentralized algorithms for vehicle routing and task allocation in conjunction with human supervision. Results: Rapid replanning can cause high operator workload, ultimately resulting in poorer overall system performance. Poor performance was associated with a lack of operator consensus for when to accept the automation’s suggested prompts for new plan consideration as well as negative attitudes toward unmanned aerial vehicles in general. Participants with video game experience tended to collaborate more with the automation, which resulted in better performance. Conclusion: In decentralized unmanned vehicle networks, operators who ignore the automation’s requests for new plan consideration and impose rapid replans both increase their own workload and reduce the ability of the vehicle network to operate at its maximum capacity. Application: These findings have implications for personnel selection and training for futuristic systems involving human collaboration with decentralized algorithms embedded in networks of autonomous systems. %U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0018720810368674 %0 Journal Article %A Cummings, Mary L. %A Gao, Fei %A Thornburg, Kris M. %D 2016 %T Boredom in the Workplace:A New Look at an Old Problem %B Human Factors %V 58 %N 2 %P 279-300 %! Boredom in the Workplace:A New Look at an Old Problem %R 10.1177/0018720815609503 %M 26490443 %K boredom,automation,distraction,monotony,monitoring,fatigue,workload %X Objective:We review historical and more recent efforts in boredom research and related fields. A framework is presented that organizes the various facets of boredom, particularly in supervisory control settings, and research gaps and future potential areas for study are highlighted.Background:Given the ubiquity of boredom across a wide spectrum of work environments—exacerbated by increasingly automated systems that remove humans from direct, physical system interaction and possibly increasing tedium in the workplace—there is a need not only to better understand the multiple facets of boredom in work environments but to develop targeted mitigation strategies.Method:To better understand the relationships between the various influences and outcomes of boredom, a systems-based framework, called the Boredom Influence Diagram, is proposed that describes various elements of boredom and their interrelationships.Results:Boredom is closely related to vigilance, attention management, and task performance. This review highlights the need to develop more naturalistic experiments that reflect the characteristics of a boring work environment.Conclusion:With the increase in automation, boredom in the workplace will likely become a more prevalent issue for motivation and retention. In addition, developing continuous measures of boredom based on physiological signals is critical.Application:Personnel selection and improvements in system and task design can potentially mitigate boredom. However, more work is needed to develop and evaluate other potential interventions. %U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0018720815609503 %0 Conference Paper %A Cunningham, Mitchell L %A Regan, Michael %D 2015 %T Autonomous Vehicles: Human Factors Issues and Future Research %B Australasian College of Road Safety Conference 2015 %X Automated vehicles are those in which at least some aspects of a safety-critical control function occur without direct driver input. It is predicted that automated vehicles, especially those capable of " driving themselves " , will improve road safety and provide a range of other transport and societal benefits. A fundamental issue, from a human factors perspective, is how to design automation so that drivers understand fully the capabilities and limitations of the vehicle, and maintain situational awareness of what the vehicle is doing and when manual intervention is needed – especially for first generation vehicles that require drivers to resume manual control of automated functions when the vehicle is incapable of controlling itself. The purpose of this paper is to document some of the human factors challenges associated with the transition from manually driven to self-driving vehicles, and to outline what we can be doing in Australia, through research and other means, to address them. %0 Journal Article %A de Clercq, Koen %A Dietrich, Andre %A Núñez Velasco, Juan Pablo %A de Winter, Joost %A Happee, Riender %D 2019 %T External Human-Machine Interfaces on Automated Vehicles: Effects on Pedestrian Crossing Decisions %B Human Factors %V 61 %N 8 %P 1353-1370 %! External Human-Machine Interfaces on Automated Vehicles: Effects on Pedestrian Crossing Decisions %R 10.1177/0018720819836343 %M 30912985 %K Virtual reality,automated driving,pedestrians,decision-making,crossing,HMI %X Objective:In this article, we investigated the effects of external human-machine interfaces (eHMIs) on pedestrians’ crossing intentions.Background:Literature suggests that the safety (i.e., not crossing when unsafe) and efficiency (i.e., crossing when safe) of pedestrians’ interactions with automated vehicles could increase if automated vehicles display their intention via an eHMI.Methods:Twenty-eight participants experienced an urban road environment from a pedestrian’s perspective using a head-mounted display. The behavior of approaching vehicles (yielding, nonyielding), vehicle size (small, medium, large), eHMI type (1. baseline without eHMI, 2. front brake lights, 3. Knightrider animation, 4. smiley, 5. text [WALK]), and eHMI timing (early, intermediate, late) were varied. For yielding vehicles, the eHMI changed from a nonyielding to a yielding state, and for nonyielding vehicles, the eHMI remained in its nonyielding state. Participants continuously indicated whether they felt safe to cross using a handheld button, and “feel-safe” percentages were calculated.Results:For yielding vehicles, the feel-safe percentages were higher for the front brake lights, Knightrider, smiley, and text, as compared with baseline. For nonyielding vehicles, the feel-safe percentages were equivalent regardless of the presence or type of eHMI, but larger vehicles yielded lower feel-safe percentages. The Text eHMI appeared to require no learning, contrary to the three other eHMIs.Conclusion:An eHMI increases the efficiency of pedestrian-AV interactions, and a textual display is regarded as the least ambiguous.Application:This research supports the development of automated vehicles that communicate with other road users. %U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0018720819836343 %0 Journal Article %A Delp, Linda %A Wang, Pin-Chieh %D 2013 %T Musculoskeletal disorders among clerical workers in Los Angeles: A labor management approach %B American Journal of Industrial Medicine %V 56 %N 9 %P 10 %& 1072 %! Musculoskeletal disorders among clerical workers in Los Angeles: A labor management approach %R doi:10.1002/ajim.22222 %K office ergonomics computer use musculoskeletal disorders clerical workers labor-management programs %X Abstract BackgroundMusculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) persist among clerical workers despite ergonomic advances.MethodsA cross-sectional survey among 2,310 clerical workers investigated MSD cases, defined as musculoskeletal discomfort and seeking treatment for that discomfort in the past 12 months. A modified Poisson regression model was adopted to assess the association between work and individual factors and the risk of MSDs.ResultsOver half of respondents reported musculoskeletal discomfort. The prevalence of MSD cases was: 37.2% neck/shoulders, 21.7% upper extremities, 18% lower extremities, and 34.3% back region. Elevated risk of MSDs was associated with less workstation adjustability; work schedule, gender, age, and BMI were also significant. Positive trends were observed between computer use and MSDs for the neck/shoulder region and the effect was amplified among those reporting insufficient workstation adjustability and lacking computer ergonomics training.Conclusions Results demonstrate the need to limit continuous computer use and to improve the human–machine interface through adjustable workstations and worker training to enhance use of adjustable features. Am. J. Ind. Med. 56:1072–1081, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. %0 Generic %A Driscoll, James W %D 1979 %T Office Automation: The Organizational Redesign of Office Work %I Massachusetts Institute of Technology %P 1064-1079 %! Office Automation: The Organizational Redesign of Office Work %U https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/48675 %0 Web Page %A Edlich, Alexander %A Watson, Allison %A Whiteman, Rob %D 2017 %T What does automation mean for G&A and the back office? %I McKinsey & Company %! What does automation mean for G&A and the back office? %X By incorporating available technologies, redeploying employees, and reimagining processes, companies can dramatically increase performance and greatly reduce costs. %U https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/operations/our-insights/what-does-automation-mean-for-ga-and-the-back-office %0 Conference Paper %A Gerson, Elihu M. %A Star, Susan L. %D 1986 %T Analyzing due process in the workplace %B Proceedings of the third ACM-SIGOIS conference on Office information systems %C Providence, Rhode Island, USA %I Association for Computing Machinery %P 70–78 %R 10.1145/15433.15856 %U https://doi.org/10.1145/15433.15856 %0 Journal Article %A Endsley, Mica R. %D 2017 %T From Here to Autonomy:Lessons Learned From Human–Automation Research %B Human Factors %V 59 %N 1 %P 5-27 %! From Here to Autonomy:Lessons Learned From Human–Automation Research %R 10.1177/0018720816681350 %M 28146676 %K autonomy,human–automation interaction,level of automation,adaptive automation,trust,situation awareness,vigilance,monitoring %X As autonomous and semiautonomous systems are developed for automotive, aviation, cyber, robotics and other applications, the ability of human operators to effectively oversee and interact with them when needed poses a significant challenge. An automation conundrum exists in which as more autonomy is added to a system, and its reliability and robustness increase, the lower the situation awareness of human operators and the less likely that they will be able to take over manual control when needed. The human–autonomy systems oversight model integrates several decades of relevant autonomy research on operator situation awareness, out-of-the-loop performance problems, monitoring, and trust, which are all major challenges underlying the automation conundrum. Key design interventions for improving human performance in interacting with autonomous systems are integrated in the model, including human–automation interface features and central automation interaction paradigms comprising levels of automation, adaptive automation, and granularity of control approaches. Recommendations for the design of human–autonomy interfaces are presented and directions for future research discussed. %U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0018720816681350 %0 Journal Article %A Engestrom, Yrjo %D 1999 %T Expansive Visibilization of Work: An Activity-Theoretical Perspective %B Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) %V 8 %P 31 %& 63 %! Expansive Visibilization of Work: An Activity-Theoretical Perspective %R doi:10.1023/A:1008648532192 %K Activity theory Action Transformation Expansive Learning Intervention Visibilization Health care Medical records %X Work is commonly made visible along two dimensions: the linear and the socio-spatial. Both are limited to depicting work in terms of relatively discrete actions. Activity theory introduces the crucial distinction between collective activity systems and individual actions. Expansive visibilization of collective activity systems offers a powerful intervention methodology for dealing with major transformations of work. The linear and the socio-spatial dimensions of work actions are seen in the broader perspective of a third, developmental dimension of work activity. Four steps are identified in a cycle of expansive visibilization, combining activity-level visions and action-level concretizations. The cycle is examined in detail as it unfolded in an intervention study at a children's hospital in Finland. It is concluded that expansive visibilization, driven by contradictions and seeking to reconceptualize the object and motive of work, is not a straightforward process which can be neatly controlled from above. Coherent analytical explanation and goal-setting may come only after the creation and practical implementation of innovative solutions. %0 Journal Article %A England, Kim %A Boyer, Kate %D 2009 %T Women's Work: The Feminization and Shifting Meanings of Clerical Work %B Journal of Social History %V 43 %N 2 %P 307-340 %! Women's Work: The Feminization and Shifting Meanings of Clerical Work %@ 0022-4529 %R 10.1353/jsh.0.0284 %U https://doi.org/10.1353/jsh.0.0284 %[5/31/2022 %0 Journal Article %A Fearfull, Anne %D 1996 %T Clerical workers, clerical skills: Case studies from credit management %B New Technology, Work and Employment %V 11 %N 1 %P 11 %& 55 %! Clerical workers, clerical skills: Case studies from credit management %R doi:10.1111/j.1468-005X.1996.tb00063.x %X This article examines job knowledge and skill in clerical work drawing on five case studies from the area of credit management. The cognitive, social and ‘tacit’ skills necessary for clerical effectiveness in this sector are identified and examined. Feminist approaches to skills analysis are used to examine how and why this type of work is under-valued. %0 Electronic Article %A Fearfull, Anne %A Carter, Chris %A Sy, Aida %A Tinker, Tony %D 2008 %T Invisible influence, tangible trap: The clerical conundrum %I Critical Perspectives on Accounting %V 19 %N 8 %P 1177-1196 %S Elsevier %! Invisible influence, tangible trap: The clerical conundrum %@ 1045-2354 %R doi:10.1016/j.cpa.2007.04.001 %X This paper contends that the contribution made by clerical workers to organisational effectiveness is invisible due in part to the dominant perspective on the clerical sector, and in part to what is seen to be the nature of the workers themselves. In synthesising some of the degradation literature with an examination of elements of clerical subjectivity it is demonstrated that clerical effectiveness is rendered invisible and that this, in turn, essentially traps clerks in low status work. Drawing on ideas emerging from past and recent literature on tacit knowledge and comparable worth, the paper seeks to demonstrate that, by applying the principles of tacitness and its analysis to this non-managerial area of work, we can see where the influence of clerical workers lies. The paper ends with a challenge to organisations which reaps the benefits of a skilful and knowledgeable workforce while doing little to formally acknowledge such expertise. %0 Journal Article %A Feigh, Karen M. %A Pritchett, Amy R. %D 2014 %T Requirements for Effective Function Allocation:A Critical Review %B Journal of Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making %V 8 %N 1 %P 23-32 %! Requirements for Effective Function Allocation:A Critical Review %R 10.1177/1555343413490945 %K function allocation,topics,human–automation interaction,human–system integration,design methods,methods,literature review %X In this paper, we identify the requirements for effective function allocation within teams of human and automated agents. These functions include all the activities in the team’s environment required to meet collective work goals, that is, taskwork functions. In addition, the allocation of taskwork functions then creates the need for additional teamwork functions to coordinate between agents. Key requirements include that each agent must be capable of each individual function it is allocated and must be capable of its collective set of functions, including teamwork. Of note, many important attributes may be observed only within the detailed dynamics of simulation or actual operations, particularly when a function allocation requires tightly coupled interactions and when teamwork (including human–automation interaction) may support or detract from effective performance. Finally, we note that function allocation is a key design decision that should be made deliberately. By addressing function allocation early in design, before technologies and interfaces are created, key trade-offs can be considered and fundamental concerns with human factors addressed. %U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1555343413490945 %0 Web Page %A Finnegan, Matthew %D 2019 %T Gartner: Get Ready for More AI in the Workplace %I ComputerWorld %! Gartner: Get Ready for More AI in the Workplace %K Artificial Intelligence Productivity Software Collaboration Software Enterprise Applications Small and Medium Businesses %U https://www.computerworld.com/article/3438383/gartner-get-ready-for-more-ai-in-the-workplace.html %0 Web Page %A Frank, Kristyn %A Frenette, Marc %D 2021 %T Are New Technologies Changing the Nature of Work? The Evidence So Far %I Institute for Research on Public Policy %8 1/27/2021 %! Are New Technologies Changing the Nature of Work? The Evidence So Far %K Employment Future of Work Labor Science & Tech %U https://irpp.org/research-studies/are-new-technologies-changing-the-nature-of-work-the evidence-so-far/ %0 Report %A Frechtling Westat, Joy %D 2010 %T The 2010 User-Friendly Handbook for Project Evaluation %I National Science Foundation %P 159 %Y Foundation, National Science %! The 2010 User-Friendly Handbook for Project Evaluation %U https://www.purdue.edu/research/oevprp/docs/pdf/2010NSFuser-friendlyhandbookforprojectevaluation.pdf %0 Journal Article %A Gallo, Linda C. %A Troxel, Wendy M. %A Matthews, Karen A. %A Jansen-McWilliams, Linda %A Kuller, Lewis H. %A Sutton-Tyrrell, Kim %D 2003 %T Occupation and subclinical carotid artery disease in women: Are clerical workers at greater risk? %B Health Psychology %V 22 %N 1 %P 19-29 %! Occupation and subclinical carotid artery disease in women: Are clerical workers at greater risk? %@ 1930-7810(Electronic),0278-6133(Print) %R 10.1037/0278-6133.22.1.19 %K *Atherosclerosis *Carotid Arteries *Clerical Personnel *Occupations *Risk Factors Blue Collar Workers Human Females Unemployment White Collar Workers %X The current study examined cardiovascular risk factors and carotid atherosclerosis in 362 women (ages 42-50 years) who were working in clerical, blue-collar, or white-collar jobs or who were not employed. Risk factors were measured premenopausally and ultrasound measures of carotid atherosclerosis were obtained approximately 11 years later. Clerical and blue-collar workers had more atherogenic profiles on physical, behavioral, and psychosocial risk factors when compared with white-collar and nonemployed women. Clerical workers had greater carotid intima-media thickness relative to all other groups and more focal plaque when compared with white-collar workers. Risk factors and workplace characteristics did not account for the greater carotid atherosclerosis observed in clerical workers. Further research is needed to investigate why clerical work may increase cardiovascular risk. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) %+ Gallo, Linda C.: San Diego State U, SDS/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, 6363 Alvarado Court, San Diego, CA, US, 92120, lcgallo@sciences.sdsu.edu %0 Journal Article %A Gardner, Ella P. %A Ruth, Stephen R. %A Render, Barry %D 1988 %T Job stress and the VDT clerical worker %B Human Systems Management %V 7 %N 4 %P 7 %& 359 %! Job stress and the VDT clerical worker %R doi:10.3233/HSM-1988-7409 %K computers and society organizational impacts human factors video display terminals vdts crts office automation ergonomics health occupational stress %X The objective of this research was to compare the results of a recent study of the effects of VDT use on worker well-being with two other broad-based studies done previously in different areas of the United States. The populations sampled represent the millions of clerical and administrative workers whose jobs are being automated. The 140 clerical and administrative workers in the current study represent a sample of U.S. Navy civilian employees in the Washington, DC area. Our results found that: (1) there are a variety of health complaints associated with increased hours of VDT use; (2) more VDT users experience job boredom than non-users; (3) frequent users experience more work pressure and more control by management than occasional users. The authors confirm that VDT operators, especially those who use VDTs more than four hours a day, experience more stress than non-users. %0 Journal Article %A Gell, Nancy %A Wener, Robert A. %A Franzblau, Alfred %A Ulin, Sheryl S. %A Armstrong, Thomas J. %D 2005 %T A Longitudinal Study of Industrial and Clerical Workers: Incidence of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Assessment of Risk Factors %B Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation %V 15 %P 9 %& 47 %! A Longitudinal Study of Industrial and Clerical Workers: Incidence of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Assessment of Risk Factors %R doi:10.1007/s10926-005-0873-0 %K carpal tunnel syndrome occupational diseases median nerve cumulative trauma disorders %X This study followed workers over an extended period of time to identify factors which may influence the onset of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS). The purpose was to evaluate incidence of CTS and to create a predictive model of factors that play a role in the development of CTS. This prospective study followed 432 industrial and clerical workers over 5.4 years. Incident cases were defined as workers who had no prior history of CTS at baseline testing and were diagnosed with CTS during the follow-up period or at the follow-up screening. On the basis of logistic regression, significant predictors for CTS include baseline median-ulnar peak latency difference, a history of wrist/hand/finger tendonitis, a history of numbness, tingling, burning, and/or pain in the hand, and work above the action level of the peak force and hand activity level threshold limit value. This longitudinal study supports findings from previous cross-sectional studies identifying both work related ergonomic stressors and physical factors as independent risk factors for CTS. %0 Journal Article %A Giuliano, Vincent E. %D 1982 %T The Mechanization of Office Work %V 247 %N 3 %P 17 %& 148 %! The Mechanization of Office Work %R doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0982-148 %X The office is the primary locus of information work, which is coming to dominate the U.S. economy. A shift from paperwork to electronics can improve productivity; service to customers and job satisfaction %0 Journal Article %A Glenn, Evelyn N. %A Feldberg, Roslyn L. %D 1977 %T Degraded and Deskilled: The Proletarianization of Clerical Work %B Social Problems %V 25 %P 52-64 %! Degraded and Deskilled: The Proletarianization of Clerical Work %R doi:10.2307/800467 %X The changing conditions of clerical work in several types of large and small organizations are examined. The analysis is based on observations in organizations, discussions with managers and intensive interviews with thirty clerical workers. Proletarianization is said to occur as clerical work loses the features that have traditionally placed it among middle-class, white collar occupations; as narrow, largely manual skills displace complex skills and mental activity; as close external control narrows the range of worker discretion; and as impersonal relationships replace social give and take. The extent of proletarianization varies among organizations. The larger organizations are leading the changes by developing technologies and organizational techniques for proletarianized clerical work. In the conclusion it is argued that structural changes promoting proletarianization may seriously impair the very efficiency that the changes are claimed to promote. %0 Journal Article %A Grant, Maria J. %A Booth, Andrew %D 2009 %T A typology of reviews: an analysis of 14 review types and associated methodologies %B Health Information and Libraries Journal %V 26 %N 2 %P 18 %& 91 %! A typology of reviews: an analysis of 14 review types and associated methodologies %R doi:1.1111/j.1471-1842.2009.00848.x %X Background and objectives:  The expansion of evidence-based practice across sectors has lead to an increasing variety of review types. However, the diversity of terminology used means that the full potential of these review types may be lost amongst a confusion of indistinct and misapplied terms. The objective of this study is to provide descriptive insight into the most common types of reviews, with illustrative examples from health and health information domains. Methods:  Following scoping searches, an examination was made of the vocabulary associated with the literature of review and synthesis (literary warrant). A simple analytical framework—Search, AppraisaL, Synthesis and Analysis (SALSA)—was used to examine the main review types. Results:  Fourteen review types and associated methodologies were analysed against the SALSA framework, illustrating the inputs and processes of each review type. A description of the key characteristics is given, together with perceived strengths and weaknesses. A limited number of review types are currently utilized within the health information domain. Conclusions:  Few review types possess prescribed and explicit methodologies and many fall short of being mutually exclusive. Notwithstanding such limitations, this typology provides a valuable reference point for those commissioning, conducting, supporting or interpreting reviews, both within health information and the wider health care domain. %0 Journal Article %A Gross, Tom %D 2013 %T Supporting Effortless Coordination: 25 Years of Awareness Research %B Computer Supported Cooperative Work %V 22 %P 50 %& 425 %7 6/23/2013 %! Supporting Effortless Coordination: 25 Years of Awareness Research %R doi:10.1007/s10606-013-9190-x %K Awareness Coordination Computer-supported Cooperative Work Survey History %X Significant progress has been made in awareness research in Computer-Supported Cooperative Work over the last 25 years. This survey addresses awareness and effortless coordination - that is, how a mutual understanding in distributed teams can be gained and maintained, while still keeping the team members' coordination efforts to a minimum. I characterise the origins of awareness and tis ethnographically-informed and the technology-oriented roots, and discuss the notion of awareness. I review technical solutions for awareness support - both in applications as seen by users, and in base technology as seen by developers. Design tensions in awareness research and solutions are identified. A discussion contrasts awareness as seen from a users' activity and effort perspective versus awareness as seen from a systems' support and automation perspective. %0 Journal Article %A Halal, William E. %D 2016 %T Forecasts of AI and future jobs in 2030: Muddling through likely, with two alternative scenarios %B Journal of Futures Studies %P 14 %& 21 %! Forecasts of AI and future jobs in 2030: Muddling through likely, with two alternative scenarios %R doi:10.6531/JFS.2016.21(2).R83 %0 Journal Article %A Hampson, Ian %A Junor, Anne %A Barnes, Alison %D 2009 %T Articulation Work Skills and the Recognition of Call Centre Competences in Australia %B Journal of Industrial Relations %V 51 %N 1 %P 45-58 %! Articulation Work Skills and the Recognition of Call Centre Competences in Australia %R 10.1177/0022185608099664 %K articulation work,call centres,competency-based training,interactive customer service,skills %X Debates over whether customer service work is deskilled or part of the knowledge economy tend to focus on single issues such as control, emotional labour or information management. Call centre work, however, falls within a spectrum of service jobs requiring simultaneous and multifaceted work with people, information and technology, This activity, which we call `articulation work', is often performed within tight timeframes and requires workers, first, to integrate their own tasks into an ongoing `line' of work, and second, to collaborate in maintaining the overall work-flow. The requisite skills, of awareness, interaction management and coordination, tend to be poorly specified in competency standards that subdivide work into discrete tasks. We compare examples of call centre competency standards with case study accounts of the use of articulation work skills, arguing the need for a taxonomy allowing the recognition of different levels of these skills across the service sector. %U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0022185608099664 %0 Journal Article %A Hancock, P.A. %D 2021 %T Months of monotony - moments of mayhem: Planning for the human role in a transitioning world of work %B Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science %V 22 %N 1 %P 20 %& 63 %! Months of monotony - moments of mayhem: Planning for the human role in a transitioning world of work %R doi:10.1080/1463922X.2020.1753260 %K task transitions workload vigilance human operator-excision automation autonomy %X Events that can be characterized as hours of boredom which rapidly change into moments of terror, are now evolving into mere milliseconds of mayhem interjected into perhaps even months of monotony. This organisation of human supervisory work, while perhaps one inevitable consequence of the present evolutionary line of automation and autonomy’s proliferation, may profoundly disserve the human operators involved. These latter individuals readily become ever-more remote from the inner loops of control. Such distancing is characterised by a progressively diminishing necessity for the operator to interface, interfere, interrupt, or even interpret on-going operations. This emerging and increasing profile of task demand threatens to make human workers inefficient, ineffective, or perhaps altogether redundant even during such off-nominal and/or emergency events. In framing this general argument, a specific analysis is provided here of such transition events as a foundation from which to suggest remediating strategies that may, at least temporarily, address such a profoundly inhuman work profile. Other avenues to help redress and even dissolve this growing discord and dissonance are identified and advocated. The question as to the degree to whether such strategic HF/E exhortations swim against an inexorable tide of technological development is also considered. %0 Conference Proceedings %A Holten Moller, Naja %A Dourish, Paul %D 2010 %T Coordination by avoidance: Bringing things together and keeping them apart across hospital departments %B Proceedings of the 2010 International ACM SIGGROUP Conference on Supporting Group Work %C Sanibel Island, Florida, USA %P 65-74 %! Coordination by avoidance: Bringing things together and keeping them apart across hospital departments %R doi: 10.1145/1880071.1880081 %K Management Design Medical Information Systems Coordination Mechanisms %X Coordination is central in CSCW systems design, where it is often considered as a process of bringing artifacts and activities together and making them part of a larger system. In this paper, we argue that existing conceptualizations of coordination in CSCW can be successfully extended with the notion of coordination by avoidance. We introduce this notion to describe particular coordination mechanisms whereby actors avoid routines or routes of actions when it conflicts with those of other actors. In a study of pre-diagnostic work, we found that actors coordinate by avoidance when they realize alternative routes of action or that a routine has to be set to a halt to ensure that practices stay coordinated. Routines in diagnostic work are for instance the rescheduling of patients and requesting of relevant patient records that are mundane practices, however, necessary when responsibility is shared or shifts between various actors collaborating to diagnose a patient. Thus, the contribution of this paper lies in empirically identifying practices of avoidance and extending dominant conceptualizations of coordination through the notion of avoidance. We identify four ways that actors coordinate their practices by avoidance; by demarcating, procrastinating, delegating and accommodating routines or routes of action. Furthermore, we conceptualize coordination by avoidance as a distinct type of coordination mechanism to be taken into consideration in CSCW information systems design. %0 Conference Proceedings %A Holten Møller, Naja L. %A Vikkelsø, Signe %D 2012 %T The Clinical Work of Secretaries: Exploring the Intersection of Administrative and Clinical Work in the Diagnosing Process %C London %I Springer London %P 33-47 %Y Dugdale, Julie %E Masclet, Cédric %E Grasso, Maria Antonietta %E Boujut, Jean-François %E Hassanaly, Parina %S From Research to Practice in the Design of Cooperative Systems: Results and Open Challenges %! The Clinical Work of Secretaries: Exploring the Intersection of Administrative and Clinical Work in the Diagnosing Process %@ 978-1-4471-4093-1 %F 10.1007/978-1-4471-4093-1_3 %K Intersections Diagnostic Work Electronic Information Systems %X Diagnostic work is often defined by the skill of clinicians whereas the contributions of non-clinicians, for example secretaries, tend to fade into the background. The secretaries are deeply involved in diagnostic work through the eligible administration of patients in the collaborative electronic information systems. This study explores the secretaries’ role in diagnostic work, focusing specifically on the context of diagnosing cancer. It identifies four key activities of secretaries that are essential for diagnosing patients: We argue that the secretaries’ role is positioned at the intersection of clinical and administrative practices and not limited to support of articulation work of clinicians and administrative work. Secretaries also carry out activities that fall under the core definition of clinical work. This clinical dimension of the secretaries’ work, we argue, should be embedded in the design of collaborative systems to support the diagnosing process. %0 Web Page %A Honig, Shanee %A Oron-Gilad, Tal %D 2018 %T Understanding and Resolving Failures in Human-Robot Interaction: Literature Review and Model Development %I Frontiers in Psychology %! Understanding and Resolving Failures in Human-Robot Interaction: Literature Review and Model Development %R doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00861 %K human-robot interaction failure user-centered information processing context %X While substantial effort has been invested in making robots more reliable, experience demonstrates that robots operating in unstructured environments are often challenged by frequent failures. Despite this, robots have not yet reached a level of design that allows effective management of faulty or unexpected behavior by untrained users. To understand why this may be the case, an in-depth literature review was done to explore when people perceive and resolve robot failures, how robots communicate failure, how failures influence people's perceptions and feelings toward robots, and how these effects can be mitigated. Fifty-two studies were identified relating to communicating failures and their causes, the influence of failures on human-robot interaction (HRI), and mitigating failures. Since little research has been done on these topics within the HRI community, insights from the fields of human computer interaction (HCI), human factors engineering, cognitive engineering and experimental psychology are presented and discussed. Based on the literature, we developed a model of information processing for robotic failures (Robot Failure Human Information Processing, RF-HIP), that guides the discussion of our findings. The model describes the way people perceive, process, and act on failures in human robot interaction. The model includes three main parts: (1) communicating failures, (2) perception and comprehension of failures, and (3) solving failures. Each part contains several stages, all influenced by contextual considerations and mitigation strategies. Several gaps in the literature have become evident as a result of this evaluation. More focus has been given to technical failures than interaction failures. Few studies focused on human errors, on communicating failures, or the cognitive, psychological, and social determinants that impact the design of mitigation strategies. By providing the stages of human information processing, RF-HIP can be used as a tool to promote the development of user-centered failure-handling strategies for HRIs. %0 Web Page %A Horton, Richard %A Schaefer, Gina %A Watson, Justin %A Wright, David %A Polner, Anastasiia %A Telford, Tanya %D 2020 %T Automation with Intelligence: Pursuing Organisation-Wide Reimagination %I Deloitte %! Automation with Intelligence: Pursuing Organisation-Wide Reimagination %K Artificial Intelligence (AI) Automation Cloud Cognitive Technologies Digital Transformation Internet of Things (IoT) Private Company %U https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/focus/technology-and-the-future-of-work/intelligent-automation-2020-survey-results.html %0 Journal Article %A Janssen, Christian P. %A Donker, Stella F. %A Brumby, Duncan P. %A Kun, Andrew L. %D 2019 %T History and failure of human-automation interaction %B International Journal of Human-Computer Studies %V 131 %P 9 %& 99 %! History and failure of human-automation interaction %R doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2019.05.006 %K automation human-automation interaction safety-critical systems autonomous agents embodied systems situated systems divided attention ethics robotics automated vehicles %X We review the history of human-automation interaction research, assess its current status and identify future directions. We start by reviewing articles that were published on this topic in the International Journal of Human-Computer Studies during the last 50 years. We find that over the years, automated systems have been used more frequently (1) in time-sensitive or safety-critical settings, (2) in embodied and situated systems, and (3) by non-professional users. Looking to the future, there is a need for human-automation interaction research to focus on (1) issues of function and task allocation between humans and machines, (2) issues of trust, incorrect use, and confusion, (3) the balance between focus, divided attention and attention management, (4) the need for interdisciplinary approaches to cover breadth and depth, (5) regulation and explainability, (6) ethical and social dilemmas, (7) allowing a human and humane experience, and (8) radically different human-automation interaction. %0 Journal Article %A Kahn, Sharon E. %A Long, Bonita C. %D 2007 %T Work-related Stress, Self-efficacy, and Well-being of Female Clerical Workers %B Counselling Psychology Quarterly %V 1 %N 2-3 %P 9 %& 145 %! Work-related Stress, Self-efficacy, and Well-being of Female Clerical Workers %R doi:10.1080/09515078808254197 %X This study examines individual differences (self-efficacy, marital status) and environmental factors (work stressors, personal and work supports) as predictors of two measures of well-being (trait anxiety and work performance). The data were collected from 56 female clerical workers employed by a large university. Multiple regression analyses showed that individual differences and environmental factors were significant predictors of well-being. For the criterion variable trait anxiety, self-efficacy and perceptions of work stress significantly contributed to the explained variance. However, the relationship between work stress and trait anxiety was greater for single than for married women. Self-efficacy and perceptions of work stress also predicted work performance impairment; that is, women with diminished selfefficacy and high work stress tended to report greater impairment of work performance. These results are discussed in relation to an individual counseling approach to the study and remediation of work-related stress for female clerical workers. %0 Generic %A Kasik, A %T Robotic Process Automation of Tasks on the Example of Back Office Processes %! Robotic Process Automation of Tasks on the Example of Back Office Processes %0 Report %A Kolbjornsrud, Vegard %A Amico, Richard %A Thomas, Robert J. %D 2016 %T The promise of artificial intelligence: Redefining management in the workforce of the future %I Accenture Institute for High Performance %P 22 %! The promise of artificial intelligence: Redefining management in the workforce of the future %X By the end of this decade, artificial intelligence (AI) will enter businesses en masse.1 But unlike prior waves of new technology—which have largely disrupted blue collar and service jobs—recent advancements in AI will affect all levels of management, from the C-suite to the front line. Picture an organization where AI automates scheduling, resource allocation and reporting—taking administrative and time-consuming tasks off managers’ shoulders. Imagine what AI-assisted analytics, simulation and hypothesis testing can do for decision making, strategy and innovation throughout the enterprise. AI not only presents unprecedented opportunities for value creation, but also daunting challenges for executives and managers. It will force them to reconsider their own roles and redefine the fundamental operating principles currently guiding their organizations. Division of labor will change, and collaboration among humans and machines will increase. Companies will have to adapt their training, performance and talent acquisition strategies to account for a newfound emphasis on work that hinges on human judgment and skills, including experimentation and collaboration. Our survey on the impact of AI on management, coupled with executive interviews, reveals the following: AI will put an end to administrative management work. Managers spend most of their time on tasks at which they know AI will excel in the future. Specifically, surveyed managers expect that AI’s greatest impact will be on administrative coordination and control tasks, such as scheduling, resource allocation and reporting. There is both readiness and resistance in the ranks. Unlike their counterparts in the C-suite, lower-level managers are much more skeptical about AI’s promise and express greater concern over issues related to privacy. Younger managers are more receptive than older ones. And managers in emerging economies seem ready to leapfrog the competition by embracing AI. The next-generation manager will thrive on judgment work. AI-driven upheaval will place a higher premium on what we call “judgment work”—the application of human experience and expertise to critical business decisions and practices when the information available is insufficient to suggest a successful course of action. This kind of work will require new skills and mindsets. Follow a people-first strategy. Replacing people with machines is not a goal in itself. While artificial intelligence enables cost-cutting automation of routine work, it also empowers value-adding augmentation of human capabilities. Our findings suggest that augmentation—putting people first and using AI to amplify what they can achieve—holds the biggest potential for value creation in management settings. Executives must start experimenting with AI. Now is the time for executives to get themselves and their organizations started on experimenting with AI and learning from these experiences. If the labor market’s shortage of analytical talent is any guide, executives can ill afford to “wait and see” if they and their managers are equipped to work with AI and capable of acquiring the essential skills and work approaches. %U https://www.researchgate.net/publication/306039533_The_promise_of_artificial_intelligence_Redefining_management_in_the_workforce_of_the_future %0 Generic %A Levy, Eric %D 1986 %T The Impact of Office Automation on the Secretarial and Clerical Office Worker %I Lehigh University %V 4 %! The Impact of Office Automation on the Secretarial and Clerical Office Worker %U https://preserve.lib.lehigh.edu/islandora/object/preserve%3Abp-8455917 %0 Journal Article %A Lloyd, Caroline %A Payne, Jonathan %D 2009 %T 'Full sound of fury, signifying nothing': interrogating new skill concepts in service work - the view from two UK call centres %B Work, Employment and Society %V 23 %N 4 %P 18 %& 617 %8 12/1/2009 %! 'Full sound of fury, signifying nothing': interrogating new skill concepts in service work - the view from two UK call centres %R doi:10.1177/0950017009344863 %K Articulation Work Call Centres Emotion Work Skill %X A current theme within debates over interactive service work is that many routine service jobs are ‘skilled’ because they require workers to perform ‘emotion work’ and ‘articulation work’. Drawing upon workers’ views of their skills in two mass market call centres in the UK, the article questions the use and validity of these new skill concepts. It is argued that these concepts overplay the amount of task variation, discretion and control available to workers. Even more problematic is the tendency to equate skill with the ability to cope with badly designed jobs and stressful working conditions. The findings suggest that there is a need for a thorough debate about what is meant by a ‘skilled job’ in an expanding service-based economy. %0 Journal Article %A Long, Bonita C. %A Hall, Wendy A. %A Bermbach, Nicole %A Jordan, Sharalyn %A Patterson, Kathryn %D 2008 %T Gauging Visibility: How Female Clerical Workers Manage Work-Related Distress %B Qualitative Health Research %V 18 %N 10 %P 1413-1428 %! Gauging Visibility: How Female Clerical Workers Manage Work-Related Distress %R 10.1177/1049732308322604 %M 18667641 %K coping and adaptation,grounded theory,stress,women's health,workplace %X Our aim was to explain how female clerical workers manage work-related distress, using a feminist grounded theory method. Thirty-seven interviews were conducted with 24 female clerical workers. They engage in the process of gauging visibility to manage a recognition-vulnerability paradox. To gauge visibility, they take the lay of the land by attending to threats, resources, and supports within withering or flourishing work conditions. When distressing events occur, they select tactics of taking it in, taking it on, or letting it go, which are influenced by the quality of their work conditions. Their efforts to manage distress affect their workplace visibility, potentially enhancing their recognition or exacerbating their vulnerability. Gauging visibility can either diminish or enhance employees' health and well-being. Our findings emphasize social processes and structural conditions, shift attention to organization-wide efforts to alter workplace conditions, and suggest initiatives that enhance employees' opportunities for recognition, safety, and collective actions. %U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1049732308322604 %0 Journal Article %A Lowe, Graham S %D 1980 %T Women, work and the office: the feminization of clerical occupations in Canada, 1901-1931 %B The Canadian Journal of Sociology %V 5 %N 4 %P 21 %& 361 %! Women, work and the office: the feminization of clerical occupations in Canada, 1901-1931 %R doi:10.2307/3340370 %X The purpose of this paper is to offer an explanation of the origins and early development of the feminization process in clerical occupations. The central argument is that the administrative revolution which swept major Canadian offices between the turn of the century and the depression precipitated a shift in the sex ratio of clerical occupations. First, the main contours in the historical development of the female clerical labor market are traced using census data. Second, four theoretical models--the consumer choice model, the reserve army of labor model, the demand model, and the segmentation model--are critically evaluated. Third, a structural explanation of clerical feminization is presented. Drawing on the concepts of job sex labelling and labor market segmentation, this perspective shows how the changing structure of the office and the clerical labor process during the administrative revolution underlay the feminization of clerical jobs. Supporting evidence is provided by three case studies: the development of a female labor market for bank clerks during the First World War; the recruitment of women into the lower administrative levels of the federal civil service; and the mechanization of major offices during the 1901-1931 period. %0 Journal Article %A Suchman, Lucy %D 1995 %T Making work visible %B Commun. ACM %V 38 %N 9 %P 56–64 %! Making work visible %@ 0001-0782 %R 10.1145/223248.223263 %K Applied computing Law, social, and behavioral sciences sociology computing methodologies modeling and simulation simulation support systems simulation environments %X The way in which people work is not always apparent. Too often, assumptions are made as to how tasks are performed rather than unearthing the underlying work practices. By making the work visible, designers create a more intimate view of the workplace landscape. %U https://doi.org/10.1145/223248.223263 %0 Journal Article %A Madakam, Somayya %A Holmukhe, Rajesh %A Kumar Jaiswal, Durgesh %D 2019 %T The Future Digital Workforce: Robotic Process Automation (RPA) %B Journal of Information Systems and Technology Management %V 16 %! The Future Digital Workforce: Robotic Process Automation (RPA) %R doi:10.4301/s1807-1775201916001 %X The Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a new wave of the future technologies. Robotic Process Automation is one of the most advanced technologies in the area of computers science, electronic and communications, mechanical engineering and information technology. It is a combination of both hardware and software, networking and automation for doing things very simple. In this light, the research manuscript investigated the secondary data - which is available in google, academic and research databases. The investigation went for totally 6 months, i.e., 1-1-2018 to 30-6-2018. A very few empirical articles, white papers, blogs and were found RPA and came across to compose this research manuscript. This study is exploratory in nature because of the contemporary phenomenon. The keywords used in searching of the database were Robotic Process Automation, RPA, Robots, Artificial Intelligence, Blue Prism. The study finally discovered that Robots and Robotic Process Automation technologies are becoming compulsory as a part to do business operations in the organizations across the globe. Robotic Process Automation can bring immediate value to the core business processes including employee payroll, employee status changes, new hire recruitment and on boarding, accounts receivable and payable, invoice processing, inventory management, report creation, software installations, data migration, and vendor on boarding etc. to name a few applications. Besides, the Robotic Process Automation has abundant applications including healthcare and pharmaceuticals, financial services, outsourcing, retail, telecom, energy and utilities, real estate and FMCG and many more sectors. To put in the right place of RPA in business operations, their many allied technologies are working at the background level, artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, data analytics, HR analytics, virtual reality (second life), home automation, blockchain technologies, 4D printing etc. Moreover, it covers the content of different start-ups companies and existing companies - their RPA applications used across the world. This manuscript will be a good guideline for the academicians, researchers, students, and practitioners to get an overall idea. %0 Journal Article %A Olson, Margrethe H. %A Lucas, Henry C. %D 1982 %T The impact of office automation on the organization: some implications for research and practice %B Commun. ACM %V 25 %N 11 %P 838–847 %! The impact of office automation on the organization: some implications for research and practice %@ 0001-0782 %R 10.1145/358690.358720 %K office automation, electronic mail, impact on organizations, automated office systems %X Computer technology has recently been applied to the automation of office tasks and procedures. Much of the technology is aimed not at improving the efficiency of current office procedures, but at altering the nature of office work altogether. The development of automated office systems raises a number of issues for the organization. How will this technology be received by organization members? How will it affect the definition of traditional office work? What will be its impact on individuals, work groups, and the structure of the organization? This paper presents a descriptive model and propositions concerning the potential impacts of office automation on the organization and it stresses the need, when implementing automated office systems, to take a broad perspective of their potential positive and negative effects on the organization. The need for further research examining the potential effects of office automation is emphasized. %U https://doi.org/10.1145/358690.358720 %0 Journal Article %A Sako, Mari %D 2020 %T Artificial intelligence and the future of professional work %B Commun. ACM %V 63 %N 4 %P 25–27 %! Artificial intelligence and the future of professional work %@ 0001-0782 %R 10.1145/3382743 %K social and professional topics %X Considering the implications of the influence of artificial intelligence given previous industrial revolutions. %U https://doi.org/10.1145/3382743 %0 Journal Article %A McKendrick, Ryan %A Shaw, Tyler %A de Visser, Ewart %A Saqer, Haneen %A Kidwell, Brian %A Parasuraman, Raja %D 2014 %T Team Performance in Networked Supervisory Control of Unmanned Air Vehicles:Effects of Automation, Working Memory, and Communication Content %B Human Factors %V 56 %N 3 %P 463-475 %! Team Performance in Networked Supervisory Control of Unmanned Air Vehicles:Effects of Automation, Working Memory, and Communication Content %R 10.1177/0018720813496269 %M 24930169 %K UAVs,automation,decision aids,working memory,communications,teams,supervisory control %X Objective:Assess team performance within a networked supervisory control setting while manipulating automated decision aids and monitoring team communication and working memory ability.Background:Networked systems such as multi–unmanned air vehicle (UAV) supervision have complex properties that make prediction of human-system performance difficult. Automated decision aid can provide valuable information to operators, individual abilities can limit or facilitate team performance, and team communication patterns can alter how effectively individuals work together. We hypothesized that reliable automation, higher working memory capacity, and increased communication rates of task-relevant information would offset performance decrements attributed to high task load.Method:Two-person teams performed a simulated air defense task with two levels of task load and three levels of automated aid reliability. Teams communicated and received decision aid messages via chat window text messages.Results:Task Load × Automation effects were significant across all performance measures. Reliable automation limited the decline in team performance with increasing task load. Average team spatial working memory was a stronger predictor than other measures of team working memory. Frequency of team rapport and enemy location communications positively related to team performance, and word count was negatively related to team performance.Conclusion:Reliable decision aiding mitigated team performance decline during increased task load during multi-UAV supervisory control. Team spatial working memory, communication of spatial information, and team rapport predicted team success.Application:An automated decision aid can improve team performance under high task load. Assessment of spatial working memory and the communication of task-relevant information can help in operator and team selection in supervisory control systems. %U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0018720813496269 %0 Report %A Institute, McKinsey Global %D 2017 %T A Future that Works: Automation, Employment, and Productivity %I McKinsey & Company %P 28 %! A Future that Works: Automation, Employment, and Productivity %X Advances in robotics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning are ushering in a new age of automation, as machines match or outperform human performance in a range of work activities, including ones requiring cognitive capabilities. In this report, part of our ongoing research into the future of work, we analyze the automation potential of the global economy, the factors that will determine the pace and extent of workplace adoption, and the economic impact associated with its potential. %U https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/featured%20insights/Digital%20Disruption/Harnessing%20automation%20for%20a%20future%20that%20works/MGI-A-future-that-works-Executive-summary.ashx %0 Conference Paper %A Mesquita, Anabela %A Oliveira, Luciana %A Sequeira, Arminda %D 2019 %T The Future of the Digital Workforce: Current and Future Challenges for Executive and Administrative Assistants %E Rocha, A %E Adeli, H %E Reis, LP %E Constanzo, S %B World Conference on Information Systems and Technologies %I Springer International Publishing %V 930 %P 25-38 %R doi:10.1007/978-3-030-16181-1_3 %K Digital transformation Workforce Competencies Executive Assistants Administrative Assistants %X Changes brought by the 4 th  Industrial Revolution and digitalisation impact directly in the way we live, shape the organisations and change the way we work. This article explores and anticipates the scope and depth of the impacts that current and emerging technologies are imposing to the jobs of administrative and executive assistants. Under the scope of the global digital transformation, we present sets of tasks that currently are or will be depreciated and automated by technologies, impacting the role of these professionals. In this scenario, we discuss which new competencies, comprising new knowledge, skills and abilities, are increasingly required and point out strategies for repositioning the profession in the digital transformation era. %0 Book %A Miles, Matthew B. %A Huberman, A. Michael %D 1994 %T Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook, 2nd ed %B Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook, 2nd ed. %C Thousand Oaks, CA, US %I Sage Publications, Inc %P xiv, 338-xiv, 338 %! Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook, 2nd ed %@ 0-8039-4653-8 (Hardcover); 0-8039-5540-5 (Paperback) %K Statistical Analysis %X Miles and Huberman bring the art of qualitative data analysis up to date, adding a wide range of new techniques, ideas, and references that draw on the experience of the authors and many colleagues in the craft of qualitative data analysis. Each of more than 60 methods of data display and analysis is described and illustrated in detail, with practical, hands-on suggestions for adaptation and use. The growth of computer use in qualitative analysis is reflected throughout this volume, which also includes an extensive appendix on criteria useful for choosing among the currently available analysis packages. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) %0 Journal Article %A Morgall, Janine %A Vedel, Gitte %D 1985 %T Office Automation: The Case of Gender and Power %B Economic and Industrial Democracy %V 6 %N 1 %P 93-112 %! Office Automation: The Case of Gender and Power %R 10.1177/0143831x8561005 %X Just what should technology assessment involve? Analyses of information technology in offices show that it is not enough to be concerned with the technology itself. On the contrary, the hierarchy in the work between men and women, as well as the way in which the work is organized, should be a major issue in any attempt at technology assessment. Technology reflects both the capitalist and sexual power structure. %U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0143831X8561005 %0 Journal Article %A Møller, Naja L. Holten %D 2018 %T The future of clerical work is precarious %B interactions %V 25 %N 4 %P 75–77 %! The future of clerical work is precarious %@ 1072-5520 %R 10.1145/3231028 %K Human-Centered Computing Human Computer Interaction Interactive Systems and Tools Social and Professional Topics User characteristics Gender Women %X Community + Culture features practitioner perspectives on designing technologies for and with communities. We highlight compelling projects and provocative points of view that speak to both community technology practice and the interaction design field as a whole %U https://doi.org/10.1145/3231028 %0 Report %A Omar, Mohamed H. %A Fugett, Charlotte, A. %D 1987 %T The Impact of Office Automation on Quality Worklife %C Robins School of Business White Paper Series %I University of Richmond %! The Impact of Office Automation on Quality Worklife %X The proliferation of office automation in the workplace environment has been accompanied by a wave of growing concern over the potential negative side effects on the quality of worklife of user employees. Issues'which have surfaced include: visual, postural and other health hazards; increased work stress; and adverse impact on the overall quality of life. The purpose of this paper is to describe some of these problems and report on both the findings and recommendations of various studies that have been conducted on these issues. This paper is also intended to emphasize the vital role that authorities involved in the management of information systems must play to seriously address these concerns. We must insure the best use of office automation technology while, at the same time, providing for a better quality environment. The fruits of our success will lead to improved employee moral and performance, increased productivity and, ultimately, to an enhanced quality of worklife. %U https://scholarship.richmond.edu/robins-white-papers/77/ %0 Journal Article %A Osman, Cristina-Claudia %D 2019 %T Robotic Process Automation: Lessons Learned from Case Studies %B Informatica Economica %V 23 %P 6 %& 66 %! Robotic Process Automation: Lessons Learned from Case Studies %R doi:10.12948/issn14531305/23.4.2019.06 %K Robotic Process Automation RPA BPMS Process Mining Case Study %X Nowadays, there is a trend in automating repetitive tasks in order to reduce human errors or costs. Digitization asks for new strategies in business processes. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) includes a set of emerging technologies that promises the automation of business processes by using software robots that are trained based on human tasks. Companies need to constantly monitor their own business processes in order to identify and optimize processes suitable for automation. In 2018, Forrester identified UiPath, Automation Anywhere, and Blue Prism as being the leaders providing RPA solutions by using 30-criteria evaluation. This paper examines ten case studies of companies integrating RPA and presents a series of lessons provided by practice. Not all processes are suitable for automation, all case studies identifying five fundamental criteria to be considered. %0 Journal Article %A Parasurman, Raja %A Sheridan, Tom B. %A Wickens, Christopher D. %D 2000 %T A model for types and levels of human interaction with automation %B IEEE Transactions of Systems, Man, and Cybernetics %V 30 %N 3 %P 12 %& 286 %! A model for types and levels of human interaction with automation %R doi:10.1109/3468.844354 %K humans design automation NASA hardware software man machine systems costs information analysis reliability engineering design engineering man-machine systems user interfaces human factors automation %X We outline a model for types and levels of automation that provides a framework and an objective basis for deciding which system functions should be automated and to what extent. Appropriate selection is important because automation does not merely supplant but changes human activity and can impose new coordination demands on the human operator. We propose that automation can be applied to four broad classes of functions: 1) information acquisition; 2) information analysis; 3) decision and action selection; and 4) action implementation. Within each of these types, automation can be applied across a continuum of levels from low to high, i.e., from fully manual to fully automatic. A particular system can involve automation of all four types at different levels. The human performance consequences of particular types and levels of automation constitute primary evaluative criteria for automation design using our model. Secondary evaluative criteria include automation reliability and the costs of decision/action consequences, among others. Examples of recommended types and levels of automation are provided to illustrate the application of the model to automation design. %0 Journal Article %A Sachs, Patricia %D 1995 %T Transforming work: collaboration, learning, and design %B Commun. ACM %V 38 %N 9 %P 36–44 %! Transforming work: collaboration, learning, and design %@ 0001-0782 %R 10.1145/223248.223258 %X A major challenge for most corporations is the process of restructuring the work environment to meet and beat the competition. One design approach incorporates an activity-oriented view of the situation, and it all starts by taking a clear look at the big picture. %U https://doi.org/10.1145/223248.223258 %0 Journal Article %A Probert, Belinda %D 1992 %T Award Restructuring and Clerical Work: Skills, Training and Careers in a Feminized Occupation %B Journal of Industrial Relations %V 34 %N 3 %P 436-454 %! Award Restructuring and Clerical Work: Skills, Training and Careers in a Feminized Occupation %R 10.1177/002218569203400304 %X Clerical workers are the largest single occupational grouping in Australia, and they are predominantly female. For most women, clerical work has meant poor pay, low status, few career prospects and little recognition of their skills. This paper looks at the potential of award restructuring to improve women's employment opportunities in this occupation. In particular it examines the restructuring of the Victorian Commercial Clerks' Award, and analyzes the obstacles that lie in the way of its translation into real benefits for female clerical workers. Comparisons are drawn with developments in public sector award restructuring.The paper looks at the structure of clerical employment in the private sector, and the implications of its distribution across all industries—the predominance of small firms and the absence of industry-based career paths. It goes on to apply a feminist perspective to the key issues of skill, training and careers in clerical work, arguing that it is essential to any analysis of the actual outcomes of award restructuring in this area. The paper concludes that award restructuring is an inappropriate mechanism for improving skills and career paths in such afeminized occupation. The paper uses data from a survey of clerical employees in a wide range of workplaces to illustrate the argument. The potential of award restructuring to address unequal pay among male and female clerks through the process of reclassifying women's skills is also considered. Finally, the significance of the low level of unionization among private sector clerical employees is discussed, raising further doubts about the real benefits of award restructuring. %U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/002218569203400304 %0 Thesis %A Radsma, Johanna Maria %D 2010 %T Clerical Workers: Acquiring the Skills to Meet Tacit Process Expectations within a context of work undervaluation and job fragility %B Sociology and Equity Studies in Education %I University of Toronto %V Doctor of Philosophy %Y Livingstone, David W. %! Clerical Workers: Acquiring the Skills to Meet Tacit Process Expectations within a context of work undervaluation and job fragility %K Clerical Workers Relational Skills %X Since the late nineteenth century, clerical work has transformed from a small cluster of respected occupations dominated by men to a rapidly changing group of occupations 90 percent of which are held by women. Due to bureaucratization and the feminization of clerical work, clerical jobs are assumed to be routinized and simple, and clerical workers deemed easily replaceable. With further changes to the occupation caused by technology and globalization, clerical workers today have become increasingly vulnerable to unemployment, precarious employment and underemployment. In this research, an Ontario-wide survey with approximately 1200 respondents (including 120 clerical workers) and in-depth interviews with 23 Toronto clerical workers were combined to explore the employment situation of Ontario clerical workers. It is apparent that clerical workers are underemployed along all measured conventional dimensions of underemployment, including credential, performance and subjective as well as work permanence, salary levels and job opportunities. Relational practice is a largely unexamined aspect of clerical work that is often essentialized as a female trait and seldom recognized as skilled practice. In this dissertation, I argue that relational practice is iii critical to the successful performance of clerical roles and that relational practices are not innate but rather learned skills. I explore some ways in which clerical workers acquire these skills. I conclude by noting that recognizing and valuing relational skills will make the value of clerical workers more apparent to their employers, potentially reducing for clerical workers both their subjective sense of underemployment and their vulnerability to job loss. %U https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/24860/1/Radsma_Johanna_M_201006_PhD_thesis.pdf %0 Journal Article %A Riegle-Crumb, Catherine %A Peng, Menglu %A Russo-Tait, Tatiane %D 2020 %T Committed to STEM? Examining factors that predict occupational commitment among Asian and White female students completing STEM U.S. postsecondary programs %B Sex Roles: A Journal of Research %V 82 %N 1-2 %P 102-116 %! Committed to STEM? Examining factors that predict occupational commitment among Asian and White female students completing STEM U.S. postsecondary programs %@ 1573-2762(Electronic),0360-0025(Print) %R 10.1007/s11199-019-01038-8 %K *Commitment *Occupational Aspirations *STEM Colleges Occupations Career Commitment %X Although it is well known that women have relatively high rates of attrition from STEM occupations in the United States, there is limited empirical research on the views and experiences of female STEM degree-earners that may underlie their commitment to their chosen fields. Utilizing survey data from 229 women completing STEM degrees at two U.S. universities, the present study examines how perceptions of occupational affordances and interactions with others in the field predict their occupational STEM commitment. Additionally, the study employs an intersectional lens to consider whether the patterns of association are different for Asian women and White women. Multivariate regression analyses reveal that although communal goal affordances do not significantly predict women’s occupational STEM commitment, agentic goal affordances are a strong predictor of such commitment. Regarding experiences with others in the field, results reveal that classmate interactions are not associated with STEM commitment, whereas positive faculty interactions do significantly predict such commitment. However, further analyses reveal racial differences in these patterns because agentic goal affordances are much weaker predictors of occupational STEM commitment for Asian women than for White women, and results indicate that faculty interactions are significant predictors of STEM commitment only for White women. Thus, our results strongly suggest that the theoretical models of motivation and support that underlie much of the discussion around women in STEM do not similarly apply to women from all racial backgrounds and that more research is needed that considers how both gender and race simultaneously shape STEM engagement and persistence. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved) %+ Riegle-Crumb, Catherine: Population Research Center, University of Texas, 1 University Station, G1800, Austin, TX, US, 78712, riegle@austin.utexas.edu %0 Journal Article %A Robertson, T %D 2010 %T Co-operative Work, Women and the Working Environments of Technology Design %B Australian Feminist Studies %V 15 %N 32 %P 15 %& 205 %! Co-operative Work, Women and the Working Environments of Technology Design %R doi:10.1080/09164640050138716 %0 Journal Article %A Rovira, Ericka %A Parasuraman, Raja %D 2010 %T Transitioning to Future Air Traffic Management: Effects of Imperfect Automation on Controller Attention and Performance %B Human Factors %V 52 %N 3 %P 411-425 %! Transitioning to Future Air Traffic Management: Effects of Imperfect Automation on Controller Attention and Performance %R 10.1177/0018720810375692 %M 21077563 %K trust,NextGen,automation,eye movement,air traffic management,air traffic control %X Objective: This study examined whether benefits of conflict probe automation would occur in a future air traffic scenario in which air traffic service providers (ATSPs) are not directly responsible for freely maneuvering aircraft but are controlling other nonequipped aircraft (mixed-equipage environment). The objective was to examine how the type of automation imperfection (miss vs. false alarm) affects ATSP performance and attention allocation.Background: Research has shown that the type of automation imperfection leads to differential human performance costs.Method: Participating in four 30-min scenarios were 12 full-performance-level ATSPs. Dependent variables included conflict detection and resolution performance, eye movements, and subjective ratings of trust and self confidence.Results: ATSPs detected conflicts faster and more accurately with reliable automation, as compared with manual performance. When the conflict probe automation was unreliable, conflict detection performance declined with both miss (25% conflicts detected) and false alarm automation (50% conflicts detected).Conclusion: When the primary task of conflict detection was automated, even highly reliable yet imperfect automation (miss or false alarm) resulted in serious negative effects on operator performance.Application: The further in advance that conflict probe automation predicts a conflict, the greater the uncertainty of prediction; thus, designers should provide users with feedback on the state of the automation or other tools that allow for inspection and analysis of the data underlying the conflict probe algorithm. %U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0018720810375692 %0 Book %A Saldana, Johnny %D 2015 %T The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers %I SAGE Publications Ltd %& 368 %! The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers %X Johnny Saldaña’s unique and invaluable manual demystifies the qualitative coding process with a comprehensive assessment of different coding types, examples and exercises. The ideal reference for students, teachers, and practitioners of qualitative inquiry, it is essential reading across the social sciences and neatly guides you through the multiple approaches available for coding qualitative data. Its wide array of strategies, from the more straightforward to the more complex, is skillfully explained and carefully exemplified providing a complete toolkit of codes and skills that can be applied to any research project. For each code Saldaña provides information about the method's origin, gives a detailed description of the method, demonstrates its practical applications, and sets out a clearly illustrated example with analytic follow-up.  %0 Book %A Sanders, Elizabeth %D 2002 %T From user-centered to participatory design approaches %I CRC Press %& 8 %! From user-centered to participatory design approaches %@ 9780429219276 %X As a social scientist trained both in psychology and anthropology, I was one of these “experiments.” I began to serve the design process in 1982. In the 1980s I played the role of the human factors practitioner, or “user advocate.” My role was to know the user and to translate that knowing into principles and prescriptions that the designers with whom I worked could understand and use. We called this the user-centered design process. As I learned ways to help make products and information systems more usable, I also studied the designers, especially the ways they visually communicated with each other. %0 Generic %A Sansbury, Gail %D 1989 %T They Can't Run the Office Without Us: 60 Years of Clerical Work %I The Public Historian %V 11 %N 4 %P 3 %! They Can't Run the Office Without Us: 60 Years of Clerical Work %R doi:10.2307/3378082 %0 Journal Article %A Schaefer, Kristin E. %A Chen, Jessie Y. C. %A Szalma, James L. %A Hancock, P. A. %D 2016 %T A Meta-Analysis of Factors Influencing the Development of Trust in Automation:Implications for Understanding Autonomy in Future Systems %B Human Factors %V 58 %N 3 %P 377-400 %! A Meta-Analysis of Factors Influencing the Development of Trust in Automation:Implications for Understanding Autonomy in Future Systems %R 10.1177/0018720816634228 %M 27005902 %K human–automation interaction,human–robot interaction,meta-analysis,trust %X Objective:We used meta-analysis to assess research concerning human trust in automation to understand the foundation upon which future autonomous systems can be built.Background:Trust is increasingly important in the growing need for synergistic human–machine teaming. Thus, we expand on our previous meta-analytic foundation in the field of human–robot interaction to include all of automation interaction.Method:We used meta-analysis to assess trust in automation. Thirty studies provided 164 pairwise effect sizes, and 16 studies provided 63 correlational effect sizes.Results:The overall effect size of all factors on trust development was ḡ = +0.48, and the correlational effect was r¯  = +0.34, each of which represented medium effects. Moderator effects were observed for the human-related (ḡ  = +0.49; r¯ = +0.16) and automation-related (ḡ = +0.53; r¯ = +0.41) factors. Moderator effects specific to environmental factors proved insufficient in number to calculate at this time.Conclusion:Findings provide a quantitative representation of factors influencing the development of trust in automation as well as identify additional areas of needed empirical research.Application:This work has important implications to the enhancement of current and future human–automation interaction, especially in high-risk or extreme performance environments. %U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0018720816634228 %0 Conference Proceedings %A Schmidt, Kjeld %D 1997 %T Of maps and scripts - the status of formal constructs in cooperative work %B Proceedings of the International ACM SIGGROUP Conference on Supporting Group Work: The Integration Challenge %I ACM Press %P 138-147 %! Of maps and scripts - the status of formal constructs in cooperative work %R doi:10.1145/266838.266887 %K Human-centered Computing Collaborative and social computing %X The received understanding of the status of formal organizational constructs in cooperative work is problematic. The paper shows that the empirical evidence is not as strong as we may have believed and that there is evidence from other studies that contradicts what we may have taken for granted for years. This indicates that the role of formal constructs is more differentiated than generally taken for granted. They serve not only as 'maps' but also as 'scripts'. %0 Journal Article %A Schmidt, Kjeld %A Simonee, Carla %D 1996 %T Coordination mechanisms: Toward a conceptual foundation of CSCW systems design %B Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) %V 5 %P 46 %& 155 %! Coordination mechanisms: Toward a conceptual foundation of CSCW systems design %R doi:10.1007/BF00133655 %K Cooperative work Articulation work Coordination Artifact Coordination Mechanisms CSCW Environments Ariadne %X The paper outlines an approach to CSCW systems design based on the concept of ‘coordination mechanisms.’ The concept of coordination mechanisms has been developed as a generalization of phenomena described in empirical investigations of the use of artifacts for the purpose of coordinating cooperative activities in different work domains. On the basis of the evidence of this corpus of empirical studies, the paper outlines a theory of the use of artifacts for coordination purposes in cooperative work settings, derives a set of general requirements for computational coordination mechanisms, and sketches the architecture of Ariadne, a CSCW infrastructure for constructing and running such malleable and linkable computational coordination mechanisms. %0 Journal Article %A Shestakofsky, Benjamin %D 2017 %T Working Algorithms: Software Automation and the Future of Work %B Work and Occupations %V 44 %N 4 %P 376-423 %! Working Algorithms: Software Automation and the Future of Work %R 10.1177/0730888417726119 %K technology,algorithms,automation,computational labor,emotional labor,organizational change %X While some argue that the rise of software automation threatens workers with obsolescence, others assert that new complementarities between humans and software systems are likely to emerge. This study draws on 19 months of participant-observation research at a software firm to investigate how relations between workers and technology evolved over three phases of the company’s development. The author finds two forms of human–software complementarity: computational labor that supports or stands in for software algorithms and emotional labor aimed at helping users adapt to software systems. Instead of perfecting software algorithms that would progressively push people out of the production process, managers continually reconfigured assemblages of software and human helpers, developing new forms of organization with a dynamic relation to technology. The findings suggest how the dynamism of the organizations in which software algorithms are produced and implemented will contribute to labor’s enduring relevance in the digital age. %U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0730888417726119 %0 Journal Article %A Solow, Robert M. %D 1987 %T We’d better watch out %B New York Times Book Review %V 36 %P 36 %! We’d better watch out %X There is a lot of loose talk about the “deindustrialization” of the United States economy. We are losing our manufacturing industry to foreigners and becoming a “service economy” (if you like the idea) or a “nation of hamburger stands and insurance companies” (if you don’t like the idea). Stephen S. Cohen and John Zysman begin their book, “Manufacturing Matters: The Myth of the Post Industrial Economy,” by insisting, quite correctly, that no such thing can happen. The orders of magnitude are such that the United States could not hope to pay for its manufacturing imports by selling services abroad. We need too many goods, and there are not enough services. One way or another we will continue to be producers of goods, including manufactures, and probably net exporters of goods in order to pay interest on the debts we have incurred during the consumption binge of the 1980’s. %0 Journal Article %A Spector, Paul E. %D 2007 %T Interactive efforts of perceived control and job stressors on affective reactions and health outcomes for clerical workers %B Work & Stress %V 1 %N 2 %P 8 %& 155 %! Interactive efforts of perceived control and job stressors on affective reactions and health outcomes for clerical workers %R doi:10.1080/02678378708258497 %K control job stress satisfaction health %X Karasek's (1979) hypothesis that perceived control interacts with various job stressors in affecting employee satisfaction and health was tested. It was proposed that high levels of perceived stress would only be associated with poor health and negative affect in the presence of low control. One hundred and thirty-six clerical workers at a major US university completed questionnaries containing the measures of interest. The results of regression analyses failed to support the interaction hypothesis. However, measures related to both control and job stressors were found to correlate with satisfaction and health outcomes, as has been found in prior research. Limitations of the self-report and correlational methodology are discussed. %0 Journal Article %A Srikanth, Kannan %A Puranam, Phanish %D 2010 %T Integrating distributed work: comparing task design, communication, and tacit coordination mechanisms %B Strategic Management Journal %V 32 %N 8 %P 27 %& 849 %! Integrating distributed work: comparing task design, communication, and tacit coordination mechanisms %R doi:10.1002/smj.908 %K coordination offshoring organization design common ground virtual organizations tacit coordination mechanisms %X We investigate coordination strategies in integrating distributed work. In the context of Business Process Offshoring (BPO), we analyze survey data from 126 offshored processes to understand both the sources of difficulty in integrating distributed work as well as how organizations overcome these difficulties. We find that interdependence between offshored and onshore processes can lower offshored process performance, and investing in coordination mechanisms can ameliorate the performance impact of interdependence. In particular, we outline a distinctive set of coordination mechanisms that rely on tacit coordination—and theoretically articulate and empirically show that tacit coordination mechanisms are distinct from the well-known duo of coordination strategies: building communication channels or modularizing processes to minimize the need for communication. We discuss implications for the study of coordination in organizations %0 Web Page %A Srivastava, Smriti %D 2020 %T How AI+Automation Can Transform Tedious Office-Tasks? %I Analytics Insight %! How AI+Automation Can Transform Tedious Office-Tasks? %X Artificial Intelligence (AI)  technologies are promising to transform the forefront of many business operations. The technology is proving itself evidently beneficial in revolutionizing the workplace culture as well. AI tends to guide, organize and automate work while improving staff efficiency and productivity. Specifically, when AI is blended with automation, it maximizes the company profits by utilizing the minimum manpower yet in a right and creative manner. The technical improvements brought in by them contribute to the management of several tasks in the office that are achieved effortlessly and employees’ work becomes less tiring. %U https://www.analyticsinsight.net/how-ai-automation-can-transform-tedious-office-tasks/ %0 Journal Article %A Star, Susan Leigh %A Strauss, Anselm %D 1999 %T Layers of Silence, Arenas of Voice: The Ecology of Visible and Invisible Work %B Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) %V 8 %P 22 %& 9 %! Layers of Silence, Arenas of Voice: The Ecology of Visible and Invisible Work %R doi:10.1023/A:1008651105359 %K cooperative work articulation work invisible work social informatics requirements analysis feminism %X No work is inherently either visible or invisible. We always “see” work through a selection of indicators: straining muscles, finished artifacts, a changed state of affairs. The indicators change with context, and that context becomes a negotiation about the relationship between visible and invisible work. With shifts in industrial practice these negotiations require longer chains of inference and representation, and may become solely abstract. This article provides a framework for analyzing invisible work in CSCW systems. We sample across a variety of kinds of work to enrich the understanding of how invisibility and visibility operate. Processes examined include creating a “non-person” in domestic work; disembedding background work; and going backstage. Understanding these processes may inform the design of CSCW systems and the development of related social theory. %0 Journal Article %A Stellman, Jeanne M. %A Klitzman, Susan %A Gordon, Gloria C. %A Snow, Barry R. %D 1987 %T Work environment and the well-being of clerical and VDT workers %B Journal of Organizational Behavior %V 8 %N 2 %P 20 %& 95 %! Work environment and the well-being of clerical and VDT workers %R doi:10.1002/job.4030080202 %X This paper explores the relationships between extent of video display terminal usage, perceptions of the physical work environment, task characteristics, and workers' health and well-being among a group of 1032 female office clerical workers. Data are drawn from responses to a 30-minute questionnaire administered at four employment sites during 1981 and 1982. All-day terminal users reported significantly higher levels of job and physical environment stressors than part-day VDT users, typists and non machine-interactive clerical workers. Reports of musculo-skeletal strain and dissatisfaction were also highest among all day terminal users. Part-day VDT users, typists and clerks all reported relatively similar levels of job and physical working conditions, health symptoms and job satisfaction. No significant differences between any of the groups were observed for gastrointestinal, respiratory, psychological and other non-specific health complaints. Typists and clerical workers who also held supervisory positions reported fewer stressors and greater job satisfaction than workers with no supervisory tasks; however there were no such differences between supervisors and non-supervisors engaged in all-day VDT work. Implications of these findings for further research and for job redesign strategies to alleviate the potentially stressful aspects of office automation are discussed. %0 Journal Article %A Suchman, Lucy %D 1996 %T H - Supporting Articulation Work %B Computerization and Controversy %P 17 %& 407 %! H - Supporting Articulation Work %R doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-415040-9.50118-4 %0 Journal Article %A Suchman, Lucy A %D 1983 %T Office Procedure as Practical Action: Models of Work and System Design %B ACM Transactions on Information Systems %V 1 %N 4 %P 9 %& 320 %! Office Procedure as Practical Action: Models of Work and System Design %R doi:10.1145/357442.357445 %K Design Human Factors Office procedure Models of work %X The design of office technology relies upon underlying conceptions of human organization and action. The goal of building office information systems requires a representation of office work and its relevant objects. The concern of this paper is that although system designers recognize the centrality of procedural tasks in the office, they tend to ignore the actual work involved in accomplishing those tasks. A perspicuous instance of work in an accounting office is used to recommend a new line of research into the practical problems of office work, and to suggest preliminary implications of that research for office systems design. %0 Journal Article %A Suchman, Lucy %A Wynn, Eleanor %D 1984 %T Procedures and Problems in the Office %B Office Technology and People %V 2 %N 2 %P 18 %& 133 %! Procedures and Problems in the Office %R doi:10.1108/eb022630 %X Clerical workers in an office scheduled for the installation of an office information system were interviewed regarding the social and technical organization of their work. The interviews were designed to disclose some of the actual practices involved in accomplishing procedural tasks. An analysis of the interview responses focusses on three requirements of procedural work: (1) the application of general guidelines to the problems of particular cases, (2) the co‐ordination of actions and revisions with other participants in a transaction, both within the office and outside, and (3) accomodation to the practical exigencies of handling paper documents. The conclusion suggests some broad implications of these issues of procedural work in a traditional office environment for the design of office information systems. %0 Journal Article %A Syed, Rehan %A Suriadi, Suriadi %A Adams, Michael %A Bandara, Wasana %A Leemans, Sander J.J. %A Ouyang, Chun %A H.M. ter Hoftsede, Arthur %A van de Weerd, Inge %A Wynn, Moe Thandar %A Reijers, Hajo A. %D 2020 %T Robotic Process Automation: Contemporary Themes and Challenges %B Computers in Industry %V 115 %! Robotic Process Automation: Contemporary Themes and Challenges %R doi:10.1016/j.compind.2019.103162 %K Robotic Process Automation Systematic Literature Review Research Agenda Software bots Process automation Service automation %X Through the application of  Robotic Process Automation  (RPA) organisations aim to increase their operational efficiency. In RPA, robots, or ‘bots’ for short, represent software agents capable of interacting with software systems by mimicking user actions, thus alleviating the workload of the human workforce. RPA has already seen significant uptake in practice; solution technologies are offered by multiple vendors. Contrasting with this early practical adoption is the hitherto relative lack of attention to RPA in the academic literature. As a consequence, RPA lacks the sound theoretical foundations that allow for objective reasoning around its application and development. This, in turn, hinders initiatives for achieving meaningful advances in the field. This paper presents a structured literature review that identifies a number of contemporary, RPA-related themes and challenges for future research. %0 Journal Article %A Tran, Brian D %A Rosenbaum, Kathryn %A Zheng, Kai %D 2021 %T An interview study with medical scribes on how their work may alleviate clinician burnout through delegated health IT tasks %B Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association %V 28 %N 5 %P 8 %& 907 %7 12 February 2021 %! An interview study with medical scribes on how their work may alleviate clinician burnout through delegated health IT tasks %R doi:10.1093/jamia/ocaa345 %K Medical scribe Health information technology Professional burnout Workflow Documentation Electronic Health Records %X ObjectivesTo understand how medical scribes’ work may contribute to alleviating clinician burnout attributable directly or indirectly to the use of health IT.Materials and MethodsQualitative analysis of semistructured interviews with 32 participants who had scribing experience in a variety of clinical settings.ResultsWe identified 7 categories of clinical tasks that clinicians commonly choose to offload to medical scribes, many of which involve delegated use of health IT. These range from notes-taking and computerized data entry to foraging, assembling, and tracking information scattered across multiple clinical information systems. Some common characteristics shared among these tasks include: (1) time-consuming to perform; (2) difficult to remember or keep track of; (3) disruptive to clinical workflow, clinicians’ cognitive processes, or patient–provider interactions; (4) perceived to be low-skill “clerical” work; and (5) deemed as adding no value to direct patient care.DiscussionThe fact that clinicians opt to “outsource” certain clinical tasks to medical scribes is a strong indication that performing these tasks is not perceived to be the best use of their time. Given that a vast majority of healthcare practices in the US do not have the luxury of affording medical scribes, the burden would inevitably fall onto clinicians’ shoulders, which could be a major source for clinician burnout.Conclusions Medical scribes help to offload a substantial amount of burden from clinicians—particularly with tasks that involve onerous interactions with health IT. Developing a better understanding of medical scribes’ work provides useful insights into the sources of clinician burnout and potential solutions to it. %0 Report %A Trimble, Tammy E. %A Bishop, Richard %A Morgan, Justin F. %A Blanco, Myra %D 2014 %T Human factors evaluation of level 2 and level 3 automated driving concepts: Past research, state of automation technology, and emerging system concepts %I National Highway Traffic Administration %N DOT HS 812 043 %P 150 %! Human factors evaluation of level 2 and level 3 automated driving concepts: Past research, state of automation technology, and emerging system concepts %K Human Factors literature review levels of automation automated driving automated vehicle operations timeline of vehicle automation drivervehicle interface DVI human-machine interface HMI industry efforts legal issues liability issues %X Within the context of automation Levels 2 and 3, this report documents the proceedings from a literature review of key human factors studies that was performed related to automated vehicle operations. This document expands and updates the results from a prior literature review that was performed for the US DOT. Content within this document reflects the latest research and OEM activity as of June 2013. Studies both directly addressing automated driving, and those relevant to automated driving concepts have been included. Additionally, documents beyond the academic literature, such as articles, summaries, and presentations from original equipment manufacturers and suppliers, have been researched. Information from both United States and international projects and researchers is included. This document also identifies automated-driving relevant databases in support of future research efforts. %U https://one.nhtsa.gov/DOT/NHTSA/NVS/Crash%20Avoidance/Technical%20Publications/2014/812043_HF-EvaluationLevel2andLevel3AutomatedDrivingConceptsV2.pdf %0 Journal Article %A Turnage, Janet J. %A Spielberger, Charles D. %D 1991 %T Job stress in managers, professionals, and clerical workers %B Work & Stress %V 5 %N 3 %P 12 %& 165 %! Job stress in managers, professionals, and clerical workers %R doi:10.1080/02678379108257015 %K Job stressors occupational differences stress management job stress survey jss stress factors job pressures lack of support %X The intensity and frequency of occurrence of 30 job stressors as measured by the job stress survey (JSS) were examined in white-collar employees of a large manufacturing firm, consisting of 68 managers, 171 professional (mostly engineers), and 69 clerical personnel. The highest levels of stress intensity were attributed to ‘lack of opportunity for advancement’ and ‘poor or inadequate supervision’. Individual stressors rated as occurring most often during the past six months were ‘frequent interruptions', ‘meeting deadlines’, and ‘dealing with crisis situations’. Factor analyses of the ratings of individual job stressors identified two job-stress factors, job pressure and lack of support, which were differentially related to age, gender, occupational level, locus of control, and job tenure and satisfaction. All three occupational groups attributed greater intensity to stressors that reflected lack of organizational support than to job pressures. Managers reported experiencing job pressures more often than professionals/engineers, but attributed less stress intensity to these pressures. ‘Lack of opportunity for advancement’ and ‘inadequate salary’ were the most salient stressors for the clerical workers. Implications of the findings for the design of stress management and organizational change programmes were discussed. %0 Thesis %A Walton, Kesha %D 2019 %T Relationship Between Technostress Dimensions and Employee Productivity %B Business Administration %I Walden University %V Doctor of Business Administration %Y Dusick, Diane %! Relationship Between Technostress Dimensions and Employee Productivity %X Low productivity among employees represents a threat to the sustainability of organizational profits. Retail organizations have experienced a loss of over $300 billion annually because of low productivity. A consequence of technostress is low self-efficacy, which promotes low productivity and high employee absenteeism and burnout. Guided by the theory of technological self-efficacy, the purpose of this correlational study was to examine whether a relationship existed between employee technostress and employee productivity and the extent that technological self-efficacy mediated that relationship. A random sample of 112 retail employees from central Florida contributed to this study.Data were analyzed using Pearson bivariate correlations and multiple linear regression. The overall predictor variables of technostress and technological self-efficacy accounted for approximately 12% of variance in employee productivity. The results in this study indicated the overall linear regression model was significant. Bivariate findings indicated that technostress was not significantly associated with employee productivity. Technological self-efficacy was significantly associated with employee productivity. As employees’ technological self-efficacy increased, so did their productivity. The results of this study supported the conclusion that business professionals may benefit from implementing newer IT systems to improve profits and creating mentorships to train employees. The implications of this study for positive social change included the potential to break the cycle of stress-related issues and provide a quality work life for employees. %U https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/7768/ %0 Journal Article %A Werner, Robert A. %A Franzblau, Alfred %A Gell, Nancy %A Ulin, Sheryl S. %A Armstrong, Thomas J. %D 2005 %T A Longitudinal Study of Industrial and Clerical Workers: Predictors of Upper Extremity Tendonitis %B Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation %V 15 %P 10 %& 37 %! A Longitudinal Study of Industrial and Clerical Workers: Predictors of Upper Extremity Tendonitis %R doi:10.1007/s10926-005-0872-1 %K cumulative trauma disorders musculoskeletal disorders tendonitis occupational diseases %X Upper extremity tendonitis (UET) associated with work activity is common but the true incidence and risk factors can best be determined by a prospective cohort study. This study followed a cohort of 501 active workers for an average of 5.4 years. Incident cases were defined as workers who were asymptomatic at baseline testing and had no prior history of UET and went on to be diagnosed with an UET during the follow-up period or at the follow-up evaluation. The incident cases were compared to the subset of the cohort who also had no history of an UET and did not develop tendonitis during the study. The cumulative incidence in this cohort was 24.3% or 4.5% annually. The factors found to have the highest predictive value for identifying a person who is likely to develop an UET in the near future included age over 40, a BMI over 30, a complaint at baseline of a shoulder or neck discomfort, a history of CTS and a job with a higher shoulder posture rating. The risk profile identifies both ergonomic and personal health factors as risks and both categories of factors may be amenable to prevention strategies. %0 Journal Article %A Werner, Robert A. %A Frazblau, Alfred %A Gell, Nancy %A Ulin, Sheryl S. %A Armstrong, Thomas J. %D 2005 %T Predictors of Upper Extremity Discomfort: A Longitudinal Study of Industrial and Clerical Workers %B Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation %V 15 %P 8 %& 27 %! Predictors of Upper Extremity Discomfort: A Longitudinal Study of Industrial and Clerical Workers %R doi:10.1007/d10926-005-0871-2 %K pain occupational diseases logistic regression musculoskeletal diseases %X Upper extremity discomfort associated with work activity is common with a prevalence of over 50% in many settings. This study followed a cohort of 501 active workers for an average of 5.4 years. Cases were defined as workers who were asymptomatic or had a low discomfort score of 1 or 2 at baseline testing and went on to report a discomfort score of 4 or above on a 10-point visual analog scale. This change is considered clinically significant. Controls had a low baseline discomfort score and continued to have a low discomfort rating throughout the study. The risk factors found to have the highest predictive value for identifying a person who is likely to develop a significant upper extremity discomfort rating included age over 40, a BMI over 28, a complaint of baseline discomfort, the severity of the baseline discomfort rating and a job that had a high hand activity level (based upon hand repetition and force). The risk profile identified both ergonomic and personal health factors as risks and both factors may be amenable to prevention strategies. %0 Book Section %A Zuboff, Shoshana %D 1988 %T Chapter 4 %B In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power %! Chapter 4 %0 Book %A Zuboff, Shoshana %D 1988 %T In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power %I Basic Books %P 490 %! In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power %@ 978-0465032112 %X Of particular interest, In the Age of the Smart Machine introduced the concept of “Informating”, the process Zuboff described as unique to information technology that translates activities, objects, and events into information. Zuboff characterizes computer-mediated work as distinguished from earlier generations of mechanization and automation designed to deskill jobs and substitute for human labor, because information technology itself is characterized by a unique duality. It can be applied to automate operations according to a logic that hardly differs from that of the nineteenth-century machine system–replace the human body with a technology that enables the same processes to be performed with more continuity and control. But information technology simultaneously generates information about the underlying productive and administrative processes through which an organization accomplishes its work. It provides a deeper level of transparency to activities that had been either partially or completely opaque. It can automate tasks, but also translates its action into information. In this way it symbolically renders events, objects, and processes so that they become visible, knowable, and shareable in a new way. Zuboff referred to this unique capacity as “informating.” As a result of the informating process, work processes become more abstract. Computer-mediated work radically extends organizational codification resulting in a comprehensive “textualization” of the work environment that creates what Zuboff calls “the electronic text.” As information systems theorist Jannis Kallinikos describes it, “A continuously accruing electronic text installs itself at the center stage of work and organizational life.”