Work Activities as a Resource for Work Organization Design and for Strategic Decisions?

Abstract

OCCUPATIONAL APPLICATIONS Considering workers' activity as a potential resource for strategic decisions is the main idea proposed in this article. Diverse research in the field of ergonomics supports the importance of knowing what people actually do at work in order to fulfill production goals, especially considering that there is always a gap between what was proposed and considered in task design and the real situation. For this purpose, approaching work situations through an ergonomic work analysis makes it possible to obtain evidence of the worker's activities and to propose, based on a participative approach, improvements in working situations to improve production, safety, and health. This knowledge should be considered as a source for strategic decisions to improve reliability, productivity, and quality, as well as to afford conditions for improving health and safety.