Humans in Work System Environment - Fundamentals and Assessment Tools for Occupational Ergonomics - page 68

humans are regarded in a social nature. Expectations and needs of humans are, therefore, to be con-
sidered with the design of work organization and technical system. The economic orientation of
humans, which manifests itself in their interest in a maximum payment is played down despite differing
project experiences of the Tavistock researchers (Kelly, 1978; Sydow, 1985).
Despite the aforementioned animadversion on the socio-technical system approach it is very import-
ant from an ergonomic view as the principle of optimizing the social and technical system together cor-
responds with ergonomic aims. Beyond that, it has to be emphasized that small, decentralized
organizational units, according to the socio-technical system approach, in particular correspond with
today's requirements of high flexibility and short response and lead times in production.

5.2.3 Evolution-Theoretical Approach
The evolution - theoretical approach — originating from biology — closely follows the evolution theory
of Darwin. The subject matter of the evolution theory is the adaptation of organisms to their environ-
ment after periods of time.
According to Maturana and Varela (1987), reproduction is the characteristic of an organism and is
differentiated into heredity transmission and reproductive variation. Heredity transmission means
that structural similarities arise, which already belong to the preceding generations. Variations in trans-
missions are the differences, which show up in the course of the development and can explain the diver-
sity of species. The process of structural changing of a unit without a loss of their basic organization is
called ontogenesis. This structural change takes place in each instant. It is released either by interactions
with the surrounding environment or as result of the internal dynamics of a unit. This change ends only
with the dissolution of a unit.
During the interactions between the organism and its environment the disturbances in the environ-
ment do not determine what happens to the organism. Rather, the structure of the organism determines
what kind of change happens within it as a result of the disturbances.
As long as the unit does not interact destructively with the environment, compatibility can be found
between the environment and the unit. In this case, environment and unit act as sources of disturbances
in a mutual status and cause changes in each other. This constant process is called structural coupling.
The basis of the continuity of organisms is the structural compatibility of the organism with the environ-
ment. This is also called adaptation. The adaptation of a unit to its environment is a necessary conse-
quence of the structural coupling of this unit with its environment.
Necessary conditions for the existence of an organism are preservations of autopoiesis and adaptation.
Autopoiesis in this context means that an organism strives for producing itself continuously. Lines of
descent threatened by extinction can, therefore, be explained by not having the ability to adapt suffi-
ciently. Basic principles of the evolution-theoretical approach are depicted in Figure 5.3.

1. Heredity transmission : structural similarities, which

already belong to the preceding generations of a system
arise

2. Variation in transmission : differences, which show up in

the course of the development and can be explained by
the adaptation and diversity of species

3. Selection : resources are rare; a lack of adaptation of a

system to their environment results in finishing of system
existence. The more resources in system environment
exist the greater is the chance to survive.

FIGURE 5.3 Basic principles of the evolution-theoretical approach.