1、What Engineers and Managers Need to Know About Human Factors Richard F. GabrielWHAT ENGINEERS AND MANAGERS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT HUMAN FACTORSOther SAE books of interest: Digital Human Modeling for Vehicle and Workplace Design by Don B. Chaffin (Order No. R-276) Human Factors in 2000: Driving, Lighting
2、, Seating Comfort, and Harmony in Vehicle Systems (Order No. SP-1539) Human Factors in Automotive Design (Order No. SP-1591) Human Factors in Seating and Automotive Telematics (Order No. SP-1670) Ergonomics, Work Station, and Driver Issues (Order No. SP-1570) For more information or to order this bo
3、ok, contact SAE at 400 Commonwealth Drive, Warrendale, PA 15096-0001; (724) 776-4970; fax (724) 776-1615; e-mail: CustomerServicesae.org; website: http:/store.sae.orgWHAT ENGINEERS AND MANAGERS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT HUMAN FACTORS RICHARD F. GABRIEL Warrendale, Pa. Copyright 2003 SAE International eISBN
4、: 978-0-7680-5124-7All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of SAE. For permission and licensing r
5、equests, contact: SAE Permissions 400 Commonwealth Drive Warrendale, PA 15096-0001 USA E-mail: permissionssae.org Tel: 724-772-4028 Fax: 724-772-4891 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gabriel, Richard F., 1928 What engineers and managers need to know about human factors / Richard F.
6、 Gabriel. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7680-0975-8 1. Human engineering. I. Title. TA166.G33 2003 620.82dc21 2002044664 SAE 400 Commonwealth Drive Warrendale, PA 15096-0001 USA E-mail: CustomerServicesae.org Tel: 877-606-7323 (inside USA and Canada) 724-776-4970 (outs
7、ide USA) Fax: 724-776-1615 Copyright 2003 SAE International ISBN 0-7680-0975-8 SAE Order No. R-331 Printed in the United States of America.CONTENTS Foreword ix Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Origins of the Profession of Human Factors 3 Purpose of This Book 7 Definition of Human Factors 8 Overview of the D
8、iscipline 10 Academic Backgrounds of Human Factors Specialists 13 References 17 Chapter 2 What Managers and Engineers Should Know About Human Factors 19 Role of the Human Factors Specialist 19 The Value of Human Factors in Systems Development 21 Benefits and Cost of Applying Human Factors 34 Referen
9、ces 43 Chapter 3 Reasons Engineers Provide for Limiting Emphasis on Human Factors 47 Human Factors Is Merely Common Sense 48 Engineers Apply Human Factors in Their Designs 51 The Real Authority Is the Expert Operator 55 Current Human Performance Is Satisfactory 58 The Human Is Adaptable 59 Human Fac
10、tors Is Based on Soft Science and Is Not Reliable 62 Human Factors Support Is Too Little and Too Late 65 The Program Will Benefit More from Another Aerodynamicist 67 We Can Eliminate Human Factors Problems by Automating 68 There Is No Contractual Requirement 72 References 75 vHUMAN FACTORS Chapter 4
11、 The Academic Disciplines Supporting Human Factors: Psychology 79 Research, Experimental Design, and Statistics 81 Sensory Processes 86 Perception. .90 Attention and Set 104 Learning and Memory 107 Cognition 112 An Information-Processing Model 115 Motivation and Emotion 119 References 125 Chapter 5
12、Other Academic Disciplines Supporting Human Factors 129 Biomedical Disciplines 129 Anthropometry 136 Industrial Engineering. 148 Education 148 Engineering 149 Industrial Design 150 Sociology 150 References 151 Chapter 6 Human Factors Engineering 153 Methods 153 Displays 153 Controls 163 Control-Disp
13、lay Relationship 166 Cognitive Engineering 168 References 172 Chapter 7 Functions of Human Factors Personnel During System Development 175 Research 176 Development. 184 References .209 viCONTENTS Chapter 8 Management and Human Factors 211 Planning 215 Organizing 218 Staffing 220 Directing 221 Contro
14、lling 222 References 224 Chapter 9 Conclusion 225 References 232 Appendix ASimplified Example of a Preliminary Design Trade Study 233 Index 237 About the Author 253 Color Plate 1 The Stroop Test viiFOREWORD This is not a how-to book but a “why for“ book. There are excellent texts available that iden
15、tify and describe the methods of human factors. Most of them have been written for people who areor intend to bepractitioners of the discipline. As its title suggests, this book has been written to inform those people responsible for ensuring that the discipline is applied at all and that there is a
16、 need for the professional application of the discipline in both large and small companies for a truly effective product to be produced. People are the ultimate users of any product. As users, they are part of the complete system and have input and output characteristics that must be matched to the
17、rest of the system. This book provides examples where designers either ignored human characteristics or assumed that they were unimportant and shows the effect their oversight had on system performance. Sometimes the results were dramatic, sometimes subtle. Whether the impact of adequate design for
18、human use is measured or not, professionally per- formed human factors programs can have a significant and positive influence on the effectiveness of the system. The payoffs far outweigh the costs not only for the user but also for the developer. The intent of this book is to convincingly demonstrat
19、e this fact. Managers and engineers are busy people. It may be difficult for some of them to find time to read this book in its entirety, although it is relatively short and filled with many tables and figures. If time is at a premium, the most important chapters are 1, 2, 7, 8, and 9. The other cha
20、pters are intended to be enriching and may be browsed through as interest warrants. Many influences have compelled me to write this book. Most fundamental were those experienced during my working life at Douglas Aircraft. I was greatly impressed by the dedication of the engineers and managers with w
21、hom ixHUMAN FACTORS I worked. Some were aware of the need for human factors considerations in their areas of responsibility, while others were not. Almost always, they had the best interest of the product as their prime concern. Some solicited sup- port. Almost all would accept human factors support
22、 once they understood its need and value. My primary frustrations were the need to develop an under- standingto “sell“human factors to the majority who had little exposure to the need or value of the discipline in school or in their prior work experience; to repeat the process over and over as manag
23、ers and other personnel changed; and to obtain an adequate budget in time to be effective and not be “behind the power curve.“ Although the human factors staff ultimately made major contributions to many programs, the full scope of human factors was rarely addressed. Late in my career, I was fortuna
24、te to be appointed to the U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Board. This board performs studies at the direction of both the secretary and chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force. It includes highly respected members from industry, the military, and academia, from every discipline relevant to the U.S.
25、Air Force. Studies are performed in a broad range of topics. My experience at Douglas Aircraft was reinforced. Although the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Army were early supporters of human factors research (and still are) and the Air Force mandated that human factors be included in the design
26、 of aerospace systems, too often the actual design teams give only lip service to the topic. Many board members (and U.S. Air Force management) were unaware of the scope or significance of human factors. To their credit, once they were exposed to the field, many became supporters. The support of hum
27、an factors in designas opposed to researchhowever, has still not been institutionalized in any endeavor with which I am familiar. It is not difficult to find an explanation for this lack of understanding. Human factors courses are not offered in most engineering schools, and in the rare case when th
28、ey are offered, they are not likely to be a requirement. As a result, the vast majority of engineersand thus, engineering managersare unaware of the field. Any awareness is learned on the job through incidental exposure. Decision makers trained in management schools have an even greater void to over
29、come. It is my hope that this book will help to correct this over- sight on the part of engineering and management education. xFOREWORD Some readers may find this book deficient because I claim that the role of human factors is important for all products, yet, much of the content draws heavily from
30、aircraft design, an admittedly complex area. It is my belief that the principles are the same for all projects, only the scope differs. I attempted to include sufficient examples from diverse fields to enable the reader to see the fields relevance to his or her own field of endeavor. Other readers m
31、ay find parts of the book redundant of knowledge they already have. Because of what I hope will be a diverse audience, I have assumed that the reader has little knowledge of the design process as it is currently practiced. Therefore, I have included descriptions of the design pro- cess as background
32、 for those who have not experienced the thrill of being part of a major design effort. For those readers who have had such an expe- rience, I ask you to suffer through, or skim, those sections. Like all authors, I am indebted to many people for their guidance and support. I especially want to thank
33、Professors Bill Grings, J. P. Guilford, Mark Mayzner, Floyd Ruch, Harry Wolbers, and Ev Wyers, whose classes at the University of Southern California taught me the fundamentals of human factors; Harold Adams, whose support during the DC-10 development meant so much in getting human factors into the
34、design process at the Douglas Aircraft compo- nent of the McDonnell Douglas Corporation; Chris Andrews, whose support, guidance, and direction gave the human factors department at Douglas Air- craft primary responsibility for the human system interface for the KC-10 aerial refueling operator worksta
35、tion, the first time that human factors per- sonnel were identified as design leaders at the Long Beach McDonnell Doug- las plant; to Gene Dubil and Herb Mailander, who provided needed support during the development of the MD-80; Bob Grower, who placed the respon- sibility for the development of the
36、 training system during the critical formative phase of the Navy T-45 on human factors personnel; “Heimie“ Heimerdinger, Cliff Stout, George Jansen, and “Knick“ Knickerbocher, chief pilots at MDC/ Douglas, who provided wisdom and moral support; Bill Comley, Dean Rickerd, Jack Mc Gowan, and the techn
37、icians who provided the outstanding laboratory support for many of the tests and experiments for which I was responsible; John King, who provided a budget for much of the human factors research; Beau Altman, Jeff Erickson, Dan Johnson, Larry Langdon, Bill Miles, Joanne xiHUMAN FACTORS Oden, Jerry St
38、one, Jay Swink, and the many other members of the McDonnell Douglas human factors staff who did most of the work; and to all the manag- ers and engineers who sought out or welcomed our involvement. I would also like to publicly thank those individuals who reviewed the manu- script and gave me their
39、critiques and suggestions: Dick Belardi, George Boucek, Jeff Erickson, Dick Goins, John King, Jim Lang, Miryam Mayzner, Bill Miles, Dean Rickerd, and Alan Stubberud. xiiChapter I INTRODUCTION Human well-being and performance are central to virtually every enterprise. Human beings plan, define, engin
40、eer, program, tool, manufacture, inspect, pack, deliver, maintain, and operate every known system. Although engineers have devised methods such as tool design, mechanization, and automation to assist people in nearly all these endeavors, humans continue to play a central role in even the most automa
41、ted activities. All systems are designed to fulfill human wants and needs; however, product design and development are often per- formed by engineers who have little training that can be applied to facilitate human performance. Engineers are trained to apply principles of physics, chemistry, materia
42、ls, electronics, and other sciences or technologies to develop products that satisfy design goals such as speed, strength, power, range, reliability, cost, and profit. Rarely, however, do they receive training in design principles associated with the operator, maintainer, or other person involved wi
43、th or affected by the system. Over the past century, many technological and social changes have occurred. One change is the magnitude of many enterprises for which systems are designed. Even simple tools can have a worldwide market. Competition at every level creates new demands for designing the be
44、st possible system at the lowest possible cost. Major systems are vastly more complex and costly to acquireand their failure can affect millions of people. Telephone service to 10 million people, for example, was interrupted for hours because of the omission of three bits of code during a software u
45、pgrade and the subsequent failure to test the software before installing it in the public network. 1.1 A significant change that occurred in the twentieth century was the increase in knowledge and attention devoted to the life and social sciences. The scien- tific method was applied to these areas,
46、which led to increased knowledge about fundamental human characteristics. Although the human is unmatched, as yet, in many functions, he or she also has drawbacks. Shortly after World 1Human Factors War II, a new professional discipline emerged uniting the life and social sciences aimed at supportin
47、g design efforts by helping apply knowledge and methods from these fields to improve product and system design. This has become known as the field of human factors, or ergonomics. The goal of this field is to apply knowledge about human characteristics to design for the purpose of maximizing human p
48、erformance and well-being while minimizing the effects of human limitations. Unfortunately, the field of human factors has not been adequately emphasized in most development programs. Frequently, because of the adaptability of humans, systems are sometimes built and employed by users with great succ
49、ess. Designers are human and often use themselves as models for determining user requirements. Trial and error has been used since tools started being developed to improve design, and this practice continues. Sometimes, however, deficiencies are not discov- ered until after products are placed into production and/or delivered to the customer. If deficiencies are discovered after delivery, changes may be made only with great cost to both the developer and user. The design improvements incorporated into new systems may be sufficient to offset any problems they may have introd
