Changing towards human-centred technology

This chapter explores alternative approaches to the design of technology for use in organizations. It focuses on the human-centred approach, which takes a specifically European perspective on work organization and technology. The chapter describes the difficulties of changing from the traditional approach to the human-centred approach, particularly in terms of engineering practices and organizational contexts. The human-centred approach takes an opposing perspective at a philosophical level, and puts forward a different set of guiding values for system design. The human-centred approach concentrates particularly on skill preservation and development, advocating the retention of human intervention in the work system, and using the new possibilities of advanced technology to aid the development of skill. The human-centred approach to the design and implementation of computer-based technology claims to represent a fundamental change in perspective. The human-centred control system for the computer numerically controlled lathe was designed along the principles of shop-floor programming.