Working life of today faces challenges. There is a fast pace in technical and organisational development and continual demands for increased performance. In order to manage the increasing complexity in work systems, there is a need to take a holistic view on operations. One such view is the systems concept of Humans, Technology and Organisation (HTO). The aim of this report is to describe the HTO concept, how it was developed, and how it can be used to develop work and work systems, understand humans at work, and understand contributing factors to organisational performance and individual well-being. The core of the HTO model is human work activity and how it is carried out within a work system consisting of humans, technology and the organisation. Focussing on human work activity generates knowledge about work conditions, needed competences and collective interaction, but also understanding about outcomes of the activities – the systems performance. H, the Humans in the work system, can be understood from different perspectives, for example as biological systems, information processing systems, individuals with unique personal traits and experiences, or as members of social groups. The H can thus in itself be regarded as a sub-system within HTO. In a similar way, T, Technology, includes several facets, such as tangible tools and machinery, intangible IT systems and software, and environmental characteristics that are technologically designed. The same applies for O, Organisation, consisting of both formal aspects (e.g. written work instructions and follow-up systems) and informal aspects (e.g. organisational culture and informal work practice). Applying HTO in practice generates several types of outcomes: 1) HTO to design products shows that it can be beneficial for productivity, quality and individual safety; 2) HTO to analyse and understand complex work may shed light on complex work in practice, the influences between the individual and the work system, and gaps between prescribed, standard work and how it is carried out in practice; 3) HTO to understand safety shows that it is achieved through systems thinking, thus technology needs to be designed to match human capabilities, and HTO barriers should be in place to prevent accidents; and 4) HTO to improve health and productivity may result in workplace redesign, increased individual well-being and business productivity. HTO has several uses, such as a theoretical framework, an analytical tool, and a method for a holistic view on human work, but also as a tool for visualisation and design. 

Production scheduling is an important and complex activity in manufacturing enterprises. Increasing market demands concerning service has to be managed, offen within reduced time space and decision latitude. This paper reports findings from studying scheduling in a Swedish sawmill with the twofold aim to describe and analyze scheduling work and to assess ergonomic work analysis as a method for this. The conclusions drawn were that sawmill scheduling work was complex and that the scheduler was exposed to a high degree of uncertainty. The scheduling in practice was performed by a group of people, relating to different parts of the entire business processes in the company. The scheduling tools, developed by the individual schedulers, were efftcient and flexible complements to the MPCsystem. Finally, ergonomic work analysis proved to be a useful method for analyzing scheduling work, although there may be difficulties in distinguishing between the prescribed work and work as it is actually carried out.

This study of scheduling work in practice addresses how the production scheduling processes in four companies are influenced by human, technological, and organizational aspects. A conclusion is that the outcome of the scheduling process is influenced by the scheduler adding human capabilities that cannot be automated, by technical constraints in the scheduled production system and by the available scheduling software tools. Furthermore, the outcome is influenced not only by how the scheduling process is formally organized, but also by the scheduler’s informal authority and the role taken to interconnect activities between different organizational groups. The findings from the study support a number of previous studies done on scheduling in practice whilst giving new insights into their interpretation.

The complexity of planning and scheduling, that its activities are comprised of and influenced by technical and social aspects, has been highlighted in earlier studies. The objective of this paper is to assess how the outcome of the production scheduling processes in four companies is influenced by human, technological, and organizational aspects. A conclusion is that the outcome of the scheduling process is influenced by the scheduler adding human capabilities that cannot be automated, problem-solving when the technical system fails, and negotiating between groups of employees to handle incompatible goals. Technology influences by limitations in the scheduled production system as well as the scheduling tools available. The organization, finally, influences the outcome through degree of proximity between employees, meeting structures, the schedulers’ position in hierarchy and their work role interconnecting activities of different organizational parts.

Understanding practice of planning and scheduling is of interest as skill and performance of production schedulers have been identified as important for a company to achieve high productivity and flexibility. However, practice is not easily studied. The objective of this paper is to describe and assess the use of activity analysis as a method for studying the practice of production scheduling. Work activities of schedulers in four wood-working companies were investigated with activity analysis, which is based on analyses of work activities carried out in real work situations. Data collection included interviews with the schedulers and other employees concerning the scheduling task and the work context. Thereafter, each scheduler’s work was observed during five entire days. In the analyses, the observed work activities were described and categorized including time and spatial distribution, own initiatives to activities, interruptions, and relationships with others. Activity analysis was found to be a useful method for analyzing scheduling work. It provided rich data of the work content, sub-tasks, aids used etc, which could be used as an instrument to grasp cognitive aspects of work. Furthermore, activity analysis was easily applicable.

The objective of this paper is to present a quantified analysis of the actual work activities of four schedulers within Swedish woodworking companies. Data collection was mainly based on observations of work activities. The findings show that about two thirds of the schedulers’ activities belong to what is generally considered to be the scheduling task. The remaining activities are dependent on the schedulers’ individual attributes as well as the context in which they work. Interruptions and disturbances are an important part of the schedulers’ work content, and may cause high workload and stress. A final conclusion is that the scheduling task can be regarded as a service task in an industrial context.

Assembly work settings enabling proactive behaviour of the assembly operators are considered to be an important factor enabling customization of assembly work. As a consequence, access to necessary and essential information is a critical means to support proactive behaviour of assembly operators. In this paper we propose a methodology for assessing information requirements supporting operators’ proactive activities and decisions. The methodology is based on work domain analysis and it was used for assessing the information flow in a real assembly setting. By analysing the structure of information exchange and the hierarchical means-ends relationships a number of conclusions could be drawn. The first is that in order to consider information needed for all possible work activities, work domain analysis is a suitable approach. Additionally, proactive behaviour is related to the access to information answering why and what-questions. Furthermore, development towards more proactivity among assembly operators may necessitate decentralised decision-making. It is also concluded that in order to identify intentional constraints of an assembly system with increased proactivity, it is necessary to examine the levels of automation. Furthermore, to reach productivity gains the levels of competence must be developed so that most proactive decisions will remain on the skill- or rule-based levels.

The paper reviews the idea of proactivity in an assembly system with respect to information and decision making. It begins with an explanation about the term proactivity and moves on to a discussion of necessary changes of the assembly system to become proactive. Further, this paper will consider the role of information in a proactive assembly system and its impact on the proactive behavior of an operator. The method applied in this paper is a literature study.

Proactive behaviour of an assembly operator can be essential in a complex and uncertain work context, where it is not longer possible to anticipate and predefine all possible work situations an operator has to handle. Access to correct and essential information is a critical means to support proactive behaviour. This paper clarifies information requirements of a proactive assembly work setting by analysing the information needed of an assembly operator to anticipate and prepare the work system for external and internal changes. The results show that proactive behaviour is above all related to the access to information answering why and what-questions. Additionally, the expertise of the assembly operator refers to the control behaviour performed by the operator and determines the amount of information needed by the assembly operator. Finally, for information to be experienced as useful by the operator, it has to fulfil various criteria determining information quality.

Information is a critical factor to support a proactive behaviour of operators in complex work settings characterized by flexible levels of automation and need for knowledge-based decision making. In this conceptual paper the authors define proactive behaviour as the ability of operators to control a situation by taking action in advance. Information requirements that enable proactivity and different control behaviour are identified. Moreover, several demands on the information support system are outlined. Further, the paper presents some implications for management as a result of the new work role of the operator regarding decision making, planning, and control.

This paper highlights experiences from ergonomics projects, applying an interactive research approach. The aim of this paper is to summarise experiences from seven interactive ergonomics projects with the aim to improve ergonomics and organizational performance jointly. Results from these seven projects were analysed with a model for assessing sustainable change, including the factors active ownership, professional management, competent project leadership, and involved participants. All factors were found giving support to impact and sustainability of the change projects. However, the role of the researcher is difficult and demanding.

There is a debate whether standardisation leads to monotonous work and hampers motivation and creativity, or if it supports participation in the development of work and enhances creativity. The purpose of this paper was to elaborate on how work conditions and learning are influenced due to standardisation. As a basis, case studies in 10 companies where ISO 9000 had been implemented were used. The ISO standard supported some improvements of work and learning, but to a varying extent. It seems as if the most important influents on the outcome are : What is standardised? (e.g. engineering tolerances or human movements), Who makes and decides about the contents or applications of the standard? (e.g. participative or expert oriented), and How are the standardisation and implementation processes performed? (e.g. enabling or coercive). The organisational context in which the standardisation takes place seems also of great importance.

Projektet startades enligt plan med insamling och sammanställning av internationella studier och annat underlag. Ett utbildningsmaterial och en metodik för denna har tagits fram i projektet, i samarbete med tre samarbetsföretag inom styckningsbranschen. Tester av utbildningen har genomförts med mycket goda resultat och mycket stort intresse från de deltagande företagen och deras styckare, dvs KLS-Ugglarps, Dalsjöfors Kött i Göteborg samt Scan i Linköping. Vid Scan blev intresset så stort att de under våren 2013 önskade utöka sitt deltagande i tid och med fler styckare än planerat, något som projektet givit dem möjlighet till. Utbildningsmaterial som inkluderar filmer, presentationsmaterial och interventionsmetodiksamt affischer har tagits fram. Resultaten visar att metodiken fungerar och att styckarna genom den återkoppling de får från knivskärpemätutrustningen kan erhålla och bibehålla högre skärpa hos sin kniv. Ett av huvudresultaten från projektet är att polering (trissning) kan återställa knivskärpan och till och med förbättra denistället för slipning samt stålning. Detta innebär att skärkrafterna för styckarna med polering kan minska i storleksordningen 20 %, något som medför minskad belastningsskaderisk, och dessutom minskat knivslitage och knivförbrukning. Detta finns inte beskrivet i forskning eller i praktiska råd för styckare, vare sig i Sverige eller internationellt. Polering ger möjlighet för styckarna att själva i närheten av sin arbetsplats underhålla sin knivskärpa bättre. Vidare uppger företagen att deras kostnader för knivar har minskat påtagligt. Projektet har också identifierat ett antal olika förutsättningar som gör utbildningen mer effektiv. Ett utbildningsmaterial har tagits fram och sprids nu kostnadsfritt via flera aktiviteter och via internet samt hemsidor. Erfarenheter från projektet kommer också att publiceras i en doktorsavhandling som planeras att presenteras under 2015.

Meat cutting has since long shown high frequencies of work-related disorders and injuries. The meat cutting industry initiated an interactive research project to assist the companies in creating a better work environment considering also the profitability. After an initial diagnosis, a broad strategy was formed and four mixed groups focusing personal development, technological developments, work organization and work environment started working. The results from these further initiated focused studies that were performed in close interaction with the industry. During the four year project a continuous reduction of usculoskeletal disorder problems in the industry and other substantial effects were observed.

Ordet innovation har nästan blivit det nya svarta. Fokus ligger på hur företag, offentliga organisationer och ideella föreningar kan bli mer innovativa. Boken presenterar teorier, modeller, metoder och verktyg som i projektet Ledarskap i Småland använts för att hjälpa ledare att öka organisationens innovationsförmåga. Citat och exempel från ledares vardag i framför allt små och medelstora organisationer används som illustrationer. Med begrepp som 0,5-steg och att tända många eldar riktar sig boken i första hand till praktiskt verksamma ledare – i och utanför Småland. Detta är projektets andra bok. Den första heter Småländskt ledarskap – inledande betraktelser. 

Introduction

Meat cutters in abattoirs is a group with high risks for musculoskeletal disorders. A major reason for this is that they exert high hand forces over a great part of the day when cutting meat. Though meat is refrigerated due to hygienic demands, meat temperature can vary. Meat cutters have claimed that knife forces increase with lower temperatures. This study was performed to find out what effects the meat temperature has on cutting forces. In addition, the same issue was addressed for pure fat.

Method

To be able to do cuts in meat under controlled conditions while measuring cutting forces, a machine, Anago KST Sharpness Analyzer, was used. The machine normally runs a knife at constant speed through a standardized textile ribbon while the force exerted on the ribbon is recorded over time. For this investigation, the ribbon was replaced by a wooden fixture with a 10 mm wide slot where the knife could pass and where meat samples could be fixed.Meat obtained from hind loin and fat tissue of pork was cut into 5 cm long, 4 cm wide and 2 cm thick samples. The meat fibre orientation was aligned with the long axis of the sample. When fixated in the fixture and the machine was started, the knife made a 4 cm long cut through 2 cm thick meat or fat.One hundred and forty four samples of meat and as many of fat were collected and put overnight in one of three refrigerators with temperatures 2, 7 and 12 °C, 48 in each. Well sharpened standard knifes were used for the tests. The knife was changed after 24 cuts. During the procedure samples were taken directly from the refrigerator and put into the fixture and tested immediately. The sample order was generally 2, 7, 12 °C to avoid systematic effects of a gradually blunter knife.

Results

There were no significant differences in knife forces at the three meat temperatures. The forces for fat were in average about three times higher than the meat forces. There was no significant difference between forces in fat at 7 and 12 °C. However there was a strongly significant difference between these two groups and the 2 °C fat group. The force was about 30% higher compared to the forces at 7 and 12 °C in fat.

Conclusion

In the range 2-12 °C there are no differences in meat. For fat there are no differences in the range 7-12 °C while the force increases about 30% when going from 7 to 2 °C.

Meat cutters have long since claimed that knife forces increase with lower meat temperatures. This study was performed to find out what effects the meat temperature has on cutting forces. In addition, the same issue was addressed for pure fat. One hundred and forty four samples of lean meat and of fat respectively were collected and put overnight inone of three refrigerators with temperatures 2, 7 and 12°C, 48 in each. These samples were cut while measuring cutting forces in an Anago KST Sharpness Analyzer machine. The results show that there were no significant differences in knife forces concerning lean meat at the three temperatures. However, the force in pure fat at 2°C was significantly increased by 30% compared to the other temperatures. The forces in fat were generally three times higher than for lean meat, regardlessof temperature.

Sedan 1993 finns en lag som säger att alla företag med anställda ska ha ett fungerande system för internkontroll. Vår erfarenhet är att ett företag med upp till ca 100 anställda med hjälp av vägledning från Trätek, kan införa grunden till internkontroll på cirka två manveckor. Till detta kommer sedan arbetstid för att åtgärda de brister som har kartlagts. Internkontroll handlar om att förbättra arbetsmiljön i företaget på ett så effektivt sätt som möjligt, och att se till att förbättringarna blir varaktiga. Systemet ska hjälpa arbetsgivaren att planera, leda och följa upp förbättringar på ett regelbundet och systematiskt sätt. Internkontroll ger ett målinriktat och sammanhållet arbete med arbetsmiljön istället för punktinsatser vid akuta problem. Ansvarsfördelningen blir tydlig.

Organisational resilience can be a source of competitiveness, enabling companies to respond and adapt to unexpected changes, ensuring that a company can thrive whilst dealing with the unexpected. The ability of first line managers (FLMs) to handle their daily work at the operational level in order to maintain a stable production output, while managing the many challenges in the complex industrial context, is key. The importance of how FLMs can handle their role has been confirmed by several researchers – and more research is needed. In this research, two manufacturing companies are participating as they wish to develop their FLMs’ abilities to handle their role as an intermediate position between workers, technical support staff and upper management. The study aims to produce knowledge of how the daily work in the role of FLMs is enacted in the manufacturing context and how resilient action strategies can be developed for both performance and wellbeing. The study follows a collaborative approach in which two manufacturing companies are participating. After an initial workshop and ten in-depth interviews with FLMs the preliminary results indicate that the disturbances of daily work per se were expected by many of the interviewees. Difficulties involved were diminished by developed routines, although the information about those sometimes were difficult to find. Improvement opportunities regarded for example clarification of the role, better collaboration with support functions, more time to spend with operators interacting at shop floor level and expanding proactive action strategies.

The human-technology-organization (HTO) concept has been used for creating systems understanding of ergonomics in three engineering educations at the School of Engineering in Jönköping. Students from courses given in two undergraduate and one graduate program (n = 122) participated in the study, which involved a course evaluation questionnaire to assess the understanding of ergonomics as discipline and HTO as a means for creating systems understanding. The questionnaire included both ranking and personal comments to the questions. The results show that the students in general considered knowledge of ergonomics and HTO as beneficial for their future work and that the HTO concept did contribute to their understanding of workplace ergonomics. However, there was a significant difference between undergraduate and graduate students in all these aspects where undergraduates ranked all these aspects lower than graduates. This was also reflected in personal comments on the questions. Conclusions that can be drawn are that understanding systems is generally difficult and the HTO concept can assist in helping students to overcome these difficulties. However, the differences between the student groups must be explicitly considered as well as increasing students’ awareness of the relevance of ergonomics for engineers. 

The CDIO standards stress the importance of using a variety of examination methods for effective learning assessment as well as active learning methods to help the students develop skills in applying knowledge to new settings. Oral assessment methods in a more traditional form where students answer questions in oral form instead of in written seems to be underrepresented in practice as well as in the literature although it has many benefits in supporting active learning and reaching learning outcomes. The oral examination method has been used during ten years within the field of Industrial Engineering and Management at the School of Engineering at Jönköping University in Sweden. The aim of this paper is to show how the oral assessment method has been successfully used in contributing to active learning in engineering education and lessons learned from this experience. The experience shows that by having students undertaking the assessment in groups, an active learning occasion is created by interaction between students as well as students and teacher. Through the design of the assessment the teacher has the opportunity to help the students to make connections between detailed knowledge and system understanding as well as among key concepts and to the application of knowledge to new settings. The assessment procedure also supports the teacher to discern the learning outcomes from each student. Further, the interaction between the teacher and the students during the assessment helps the teacher to capture what improvements need to be made in teaching and learning.

The field of human factors and ergonomics constitutes a strong potential in systems analysis, design and improvement. However, it is difficult to communicate its potential value. This paper addresses how the human-technology-organization (HTO) concept can be defined and supports the understanding, communication and development of the systems' character and potential of human factors and ergonomics. Empirical examples from the authors’ experiences of working with the HTO concept in R&D and teaching are illustrated, including its usefulness as: 1) a conceptual model; 2) an analysis framework; 3) a meta methodology; 4) a pedagogical tool; and 5) a design tool. The use of HTO provides guidance on how the system can be designed to better support health, individual and systems performance. It is further suggested that there is a strong potential for developing the theory, applications and methodological aspects of HTO.

First-line managers (FLMs) have a vital role in developing stable output and organizational competitiveness through their ability to manage front-line operations in daily work. It is also well known that FLMs are strong determinants of good ergonomics and well-being for front-line staff. However, research focusing on how FLMs deal with their important role is lacking particularly regarding empirical studies. The focus here is how they deal with uncertainties and disruptive interruptions and develop more resilient performance in daily work – introduced in this article as resilient action strategies.

This research uses two conceptual frameworks on resilient engineering for analysis of FLM's actions in daily work in two manufacturing companies, to explore how resilient action strategies can be organizationally supported. The study combines analysis of front-line activities with multilevel organizational support based on 30 semi-structured in-depth interviews with FLMs and support functions, 21 workshops as well as policy documents of the two companies. The analysis exemplifies how resilience engineering was enabled in practice in the organizations.

The study contributes to the empirical understanding of how resilience can be organizationally supported in daily front-line work. Our results show that a developed and consistent infrastructure in companies promotes the emergence of resilient action strategies in front-line work. We propose an extended model for resilient front-line performance enhancement by including coordination as a linking aspect between the earlier suggested resilient potentials – anticipate, monitor, respond and learn. This highlights the importance of both organizational support and coordination between system levels to enable the development of resilient action strategies by FLMs.

Inledning: Föreliggande rapport utgör en redovisning av en mindre intervjuundersökning som genomfördes under 2020. Undersökningen var avsedd att vara inledningen på ett delprojekt i projektet ”Branschintervention som metodik för en bättre arbetsmiljö” med fokus på arbetsledares roll och deras villkor gällande att skapa en bra och säker arbetsmiljö. Efter den första pandemivågen under våren 2020 genomfördes de här rapporterade intervjuerna under sen vår och försommar då smittspridningen hade gått ner. När sedan smittspridningen steg med andra vågen av pandemin och restriktionerna gällande fysiska möten på arbetsplatser skärptes avbröts delprojektet då detta krävde fysiska möten för att kunna utvecklas och genomföras som planerat. Under ett efterföljande möte med styrgruppen för projektet 2021-04-20 beslutades att avsluta detta delprojekt pga. pandemin och de restriktioner som denna medfört.

Syftet med den här avrapporterade undersökningen var alltså att lägga en grund till fortsatt utvecklingsarbete för att hitta metoder att förbättra säkerheten i byggindustrin genom att utveckla arbetsledarnas arbete.

This article deals with the question of how change processes can create ergonomic improvements in small- and medium-sized industrial enterprises. Drawing on experiences from two described and analyzed case studies in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and from ISO 9000 implementation processes previously studied, a hypothetical change framework is suggested through a theory generating approach. It separates change into action-driven change, which is an active experiential improvement process, and into vision-driven change, which is of a visionary design character. The ability to bring about problem solving into action was important for the success of the change processes. Furthermore, the nature of different hampering mechanisms concerning ergonomic improvements is discussed.

Denna artikel tar kort upp mina erfarenheter från forskning om förändringsarbete i små tillverkande träindustrier. Min roll i dessa förändringsarbeten har varit både forskarens och förändringsagentens, med forskning på respektive i företagen. Forskningsansatserna har i några fall varit observerande och utvärderande och i några andra fall utgjorts av aktionsforskning där min egen roll har varit att försöka åstadkomma förändringar samtidigt som jag utvärderat förändringsprocesserna. Artikeln utgörs av en reflektion och en analys av de roller som finns i ett förändringsarbete med en fokusering på den professionella förändringsagentens möjliga roller. Det dilemma som finns i forskarrollen vid studier av förändring behandlas inte här utan där hänvisas läsaren till andra publikationer, t ex Svensson (2002).

Utgångspunkten i denna avhandling är att det är möjligt att med en väl utformad förändringsprocess, kunna skapa förutsättningar för både goda arbeten och en stärkt konkurrenskraft i framför allt mindre träindustrier. Tre fallstudier är genomförda, och förändringsprocesserna är i dessa fall utvärderade med syftet att skapa en bättre kunskap om hur en effektiv förändringsprocess kan utformas och styras. Vidare föreslås en metodik för att utvärdera förändringsprocesser. Företagens förmåga att använda sig av metodiskt arbete, att kunna omsätta problemlösningar till praktisk handling, enigt och entydigt ledarskapsstöd och de anställdas medverkan identifieras som viktiga faktorer för en effektiv förändringsprocess. För att uppnå fysiska arbetsmiljöförbättringar och engagemang har framför allt de anställdas medverkan och ett tillräckligt ekonomiskt handlingsutrymme stor betydelse. I förändringsarbetet har två olika typer av förändringsprocesser som inverkar på konkurrenskraft och arbetsförhållanden identifierats. Den ena avser förändringar inom gällande mål och visioner, och den är framför allt åtgärdsinriktad. Denna förändringstyp har karaktären av vardagsrationalisering, och förutsätter ofta en förbättring av arbetsförhållandena för att den ska fungera effektivt. Den har en god förmåga att framför allt ge fysiska arbetsmiljöförbättringar. Den andra typen av förändring drivs av en vision och konkretiserade mål, och kräver en helt annan planering och organisation för sitt genomförande. För att denna process ska resultera i förbättrade arbetsförhållanden krävs medvetet angivna mål som inbegriper ett så-dant syfte. Resultaten visar också att en förändringsprocess behöver utvärderas ur flera perspektiv för att man ska få en acceptabelt bra bild av hur den ska kunna styras.

Three enterprises have been diagnosed and analysed according to a change methodology, especially developed to identify and structure the needs for improvement of information handling and production planning. The results confirm that planning and information handling were difficult problems to manage in the studied SMEs. However, behind this statement lie entirely different problems in different enterprises. This put special demands on a change approach to be appropriate. A number of criteria for a change methodology are listed. The most important are a high face validity for different employees, a high credibility of the identified hypothetical cause – effect relationships, an ability to guide changes, a possibility to handle both details, systems and their relationship, an unbiased approach to the initial problem description and ability to handle and play down threatening or taboo questions.

Many small and medium sized enterprises implement the quality standard ISO 9000. The implementation generally starts as a top-down change process. However, during the implementation, the companies need manufacturing process information of bottom-up character, and a standardisation of manufacturing processes must be made. This makes it possible for the companies to conduct a change process which more or less change their way of working beyond certification demands. With exception of the ISO 9000 certificate, the companies often do not aim at other results that could be reached. The issue raised here is to present and discuss results from a study of four furniture making companies, their ISO 9000 change processes and the result, mainly concerning other changes than the certificate. Four companies were visited by four researchers and interviews were made with managing director, quality manager, first line supervisors and operators. An attitude questionnaire was used to collect data from all employees and observations were made in the production. Evaluations were made of the quality system, the applied human resource policies and the economics of the companies. The change processes were characterised in different dimensions for evaluation. The results showed that ISO 9000 can be used as a broader change concept including gaining the certificate. The initial goals set up by the companies were of significant importance for the change process. Companies having additional goals reached these as well as the certificate. Companies focusing only the certificate or having very vague goals, tended only to get the certificate with a minimum of additional advantages. These companies also seemed to have had more problems to run the implementation process.

This thesis reports findings and results from studies of development work and change processes in the secondary woodworking industry. The purpose with the research is to increase the knowledge on how companies can initiate change and to increase their ability to change. The dual aim of improving both business and working conditions served as a guiding condition for the research. Case studies and action research were performed in small companies, mainly with less than 100 employees and in some cases less than 20 employees.

The thesis encompasses six papers addressing different topics within the framework of development work and change processes. Topics elaborated are how performance concerning the ergonomic situation in a company can be measured and how the content and process of ISO 9000 implementation as well as standardisation influence system performance and working conditions. Furthermore, a framework for how change is enacted in SMEs and its effects on ergonomic considerations is suggested. A methodology for initiating change efforts in complex and ambiguous problem situations is presented. Finally the different expert and participant roles in an organisational change effort are elaborated and analysed with reference to experiences from previous case studies and theory.

Together, the papers and the thesis emphasize the importance of action and work activities as a base for change. It is in the conflicting work activities or work conduct of differing perspectives where many of the drivers of change can be found. I also argue that this is a main reason to give good working conditions utmost importance for organisation performance. Further, I conclude that the six papers together contribute to a theoretical basis for developing small firms and attractive workplaces. It is indicated that the results are relevant to small manufacturing firms, while neither organisational structure nor resources available are the same as in larger companies. Moreover, the organisational size has a number of implications on aspects like visibility, available theoretical knowledge, vulnerability, formalisation, institutionalised organisational inertia etc. that will alter the demands on the change process. Many of the results are not limited to woodworking industry; the technical content of the ergonomics problems will however be different in other firms.

The education concept of School of Engineering (JTH) in Jönköping, Sweden was established in the mid 1990-ies and included a view that apart from a strong core of technology, each engineering curricula should include education in leadership, entrepreneurship, finance, environmental demands as well as relevant engineering skills and practice. Moreover, it should also emphasize aspects like international orientation, industry contacts and employability. This proved to be a fruitful idea both internally for quality development and externally for marketing the school to possible students. After about 15 years JTH had grown into one of the leading undergraduate engineering schools in Sweden and CDIO principles were to a large extent implemented in all its curricula at bachelors’ level. At this stage it was decided that the concept should be updated to continue to fulfill its purpose. This paper describes the first part of the renewal process of development in terms of its organizing as well as the influences that were taken into consideration concerning education of professional engineers. The resulting structure and content of the new concept to be implemented during the coming two years are outlined. The new concept is now supposed to include both undergraduate (3 years) and master programs (2 years). The new concept is based on a core of the technology taught and additional course modules that are supposed to add knowledge, skills and acquaintance knowledge to the curricula. The technical education will be built up by basic science, advanced science, niche and system knowledge. The developed modules should bring the complementary subjects in a form and way that make them better integrated in the curricula. Moreover, a course called Off-campus integration theory and practice is introduced, bringing more depth of skill and acquaintance with the industry into the curricula.

As experts and participation are influential concepts in ergonomic change efforts this paper aims at increasing the understanding of the different types of expertise needed and their relation to participation in such efforts. Drawing on experience from 15 case studies and the literature on participatory ergonomics as well as on ergonomists’ roles, a model on different expert roles is suggested. It is concluded that experts’ assumptions on how change happens must be regarded as well as the need to adapt the roles taken to the contextual conditions. Moreover, the participants’ expert role in implementation cannot be taken by outside experts.

Industrial deboners’ work involve high risks of accidents and work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs). The objective with this paper is to compare the different main types of existing production systems in Swedish meat processing plants regarding ergonomics and the organizing of production. Data from twenty-seven interviews and visits to seven production sites was interactively analyzed by the author and five practitioners. The results show that all systems necessitated trade-offs between physical work load and factors like job content, skill requirements and individual control. It is concluded that significant improvements concerning ergonomics can be reached by carefully matching technology and organization.

The high reported rates of work related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD) and accidents among butchers and deboners in Sweden have resulted in several initiatives to reduce these. In this study, eight deboners working every second week at a pace line and every second week at single tables, were examined concerning physical work load (heart rate) and feelings of stress and energy (stress-energy formula and interviews). The results show that the physical work load was highest at single tables but that feelings of stress and musculoskeletal strain were highest at the pace line. The reasons for this are discussed.

What effects will the implementation of the quality standard ISO 9000 have regarding working conditions and competitive advantages? Which are the most important change process characteristics for assuring improved working conditions and other desired effects? These are the main questions behind this study of six furniture-making companies which implemented ISO 9000 during the period 1991-1994. The results show that customer requirement was the dominant goal to implement ISO 9000. Five of the six companies succeeded in gaining certification. The influence on working conditions was limited, but included better order and housekeeping, more positive attitudes towards discussing quality shortcomings, a few workplace improvements, work enrichment caused by additional tasks within the quality system and a better understanding of external customer demands. Among the negative effects were new, apparently meaningless, tasks for individual workers as well as more stress and more physically strenuous work. The effects on the companies included a decrease in external quality-related costs and improved delivery precision. The study confirms the importance for efficient change of the design of the change process, and identifies ‘improvement methodology’ as the most important process characteristic. Improved working conditions are enhanced by added relevant strategic goals and by a participative implementation process.

What effects will the implementation of the quality standard ISO 9000 have regarding working conditions and competitive advantages? Which are the most important change process characteristics for assuring improved working conditions and other desired effects? These are main questions behind this study of six furniture-making companies which implemented ISO 9000 during the period 1990-1993. The results show that customer requirement was the dominating goal to implement ISO 9000. Five of the six companies succeeded in gaining certification. The influence on working conditions was limited to better “order and method”, more positive attitude towards discussing quality shortcomings, a few workplace improvements, work enrichment caused by additional tasks within the quality system and a better understanding of external customer demands. The negative effects were new, apparently meaningless tasks for individual workers as well as more stress and more physically strenuous work. The effects on companies were a decrease in external quality-related costs and improved delivery precision. The study confirms the importance of the change process and identifies “improvement methodology” as the most important characteristic.

This case study addresses the issue of how contextual conditions influence scheduling work in practice at a sawmill in Sweden. Based on observations and interviews, activity analysis was used to study the work activities of the main scheduler. It is shown how the contextual conditions related to constraints, either in the technical system and the technical scheduling tools used by the scheduler or in the social system, delimit the possible ways for the scheduler to perform his work. It is furthermore illustrated how the scheduler sometimes used the contextual conditions as a means to control the sawmill production. Moreover, the presence of the numerous uncertainties in the production process is shown. Finally, the study demonstrates that the scheduler's thorough knowledge, experience, and skills of both the technical and the social systems had immense influence in his ability to perform during daily scheduling work.

Schedulers are expected to make a schedule for and release production orders. However, in an alternative perspective, the schedulers’ activities could rather be described as co-ordinating the demands of the customers, as interpreted by the sales departments, with the possibilities and limitations of the existing production systems. The aim with this paper is to describe how four studied schedulers coped with this task and the different means they used to manage the conflicting logic between production and sales. The schedulers were studied using activity analysis comprising initial descriptions of their work and its context, subsequent observations of actual work activities during one week for each scheduler as well as follow-up interviews.

The results show that the competing logics of sales and production were apparent at the operative every day level and must be coped with. Schedulers developed a variety of different means to reach acceptable compromises for both production and sales departments. Beside the main technical instrument for coordinating purposes, the business software, the studied schedulers used social skills, judgements, bargaining, and information collection and manipulations as important means to maintain a schedule in a complex and varying context. Conclusions are that schedulers use a variety of tools, especially human capabilities for coping with their task. Based on this finding, it can be questioned whether scheduling may be efficiently performed without a large portion of human work.