Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
one component of effective and efficient collective activities. In the sec-
ond part, we will describe the organizational and material conditions
that are crucial to developing collective activity. Finally, we will highlight
the need for ergonomics to focus on the work that consists in organizing
environments so that they may enable the development of this collective
activity - and, as a consequence, the need to focus on the activity of the
people who organize these environments.
Articulating collective work and the work
collective within work activity
Collective work as a resource for performance
Collective work refers to the ways in which operators may cooperate, in a
more or less effective and efficient manner, in a work situation (de Cássia
Pereira Fernandes et al., 2010; De La Garza and Weill-Fassina, 1995). It is
therefore defined in relation to the task that the partners of collective work
are involved in, and relates to their performance with respect to achieving
the goals of this task. Collective work implies processes of task allocation
and knowledge sharing. These processes are related to the implementa-
tion of adjustments within the activity.
Many kinds of sociocognitive resources can foster the production of
effective collective work (Caroly and Weill-Fassina, 2007; Carroll et al.,
2006; Darses et al., 2001; Salembier and Zouinar, 2004; Schmidt, 2002):
opportunities for operative synchronization - i.e. coordination - between
participants, the construction of a common frame of reference (COFOR),
reciprocal knowledge of the work of all the persons involved, and a shared
reference concerning the state of progression of the process, which implies
the development of situation awareness.
Operative synchronization
defines the possibilities for coordination
between participants involved in collective work (e.g. Darses et al., 2001).
It aims to ensure the attribution of tasks between the partners of a collec-
tive work, and its organization in time (e.g. starting and stopping points,
simultaneity, sequencing and rhythm of actions that need to be carried
out). This coordination is never completely prespecified (e.g. through pre-
scribed procedures). It is constructed by the partners and involves com-
munication - both verbal and nonverbal - between them (Heath et al.,
2002; Salembier and Zouinar, 2004). In particular, this communication
allows the implementation of adjustment processes that ensure the effec-
tiveness of collective work (Guerin et al., 2006). Coordination processes
emerge as crucial elements for monitoring unexpected events and avoid-
ing accident situations (de Keyser, 1991).
