King Fahd University Applying Human Factors to Remote Working Paper

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Engineering

King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals

Description

Course Project Guideline

Project Topics:

Applying human factors principles to improve working from home

Instructions:

First, you are required to find one journal paper related to the selected topic. Then, you are required to conduct a literature review related to the selected topic. The literature review should cover a wide range of papers that addressed the selected topic. Then, you are required to describe the problem statement of the paper that you found initially. Then describe the methods that were used in this paper, followed by the results of applying the method. After that discuss these results and their implications in industry and finally write a conclusion.

Report format:

Please use Times New Roman 12 point with single line spacing. Do not leave unnecessary spaces between paragraphs, figures or tables. The report should be about 10 pages. You report should include the following sections: Abstract, Introduction, Literature review, Problem statement, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion and References.

Grading:

You will be graded based on: how comprehensive your literature review is, how relevant you are to the selected topic, following the instructions and format in the report, number of references being used, number of pages, and how neat and organized your report is. Plagiarisms and copying are not allowed and will remarkably downgrade you.

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Attached.

Running Head: APPLYING HUMAN FACTORS TO REMOTE WORKING

Applying Human Factors Principles to Improve Working from Home
Institutional Affiliation
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APPLYING HUMAN FACTORS TO REMOTE WORKING
Abstract
This article will assess whether applying human factors principles improves working from
home. Due to the current pandemic of COVID -19, working from home has now become the
norm. Many companies instructed their workers to abide by the social distancing rule by
staying away from offices. One way of improving the effectiveness of working from home is
by applying human factors. Human factors can be defined as the science of people at work.
The primary concern of social factors is to understand human capabilities and using this
knowledge to build the necessary systems for remote working. Applying social factors is
important because it makes work productive, efficient, and secure. This article shows how
working from home can be improved by using human factors principles. Related research to
this paper is 'Assessing the growth of remote working and its consequences for effort,
wellbeing, and work-life balance (Attaianese & Duca, 2012). The author of the article
examines the assumption many people are moving away from conventional workplaces to
their homes. According to the author, working from home is beneficial to both employers
and employees. However, the author notes that applying human factors is essential for
working from home productivity.
Introduction
This research article has two main objectives. The first is to assess whether working
from home is valid and whether it can be improved. The second objective is to examine
whether the human factors principles can be applied to strengthen working from home.
Working from home is a concept whereby employees perform their duties from home. The
employee is mandated to complete all the official tasks from home. Technology advancement
has enabled many people to work from home over the years. However, the current COVID19 pandemic has forced many people to work from home to abide by government restrictions
and directives (Sowcik & Stein, 2020). The epidemic got many people off guard because they
did not have time to prepare their employees on what working from home means working
from home gives the employee flexible working hours and gives the employer an easy time.
Another advantage of working from home is that it provides the employee with work-life
balance. One also saves on time and money that could have been used for transport, office
space, and other bills. Working from home also improves the productivity of the workers
because they feel motivated due to friendly work environments.
On the other hand, working from home has its disadvantages. One demerit of working
from home is that it is not easy to monitor the work done. The employer and employee do not
meet face-to-face, and therefore it is not easy to follow the employee's work (Greenbaum,
2019). The cost of technological infrastructure is another disadvantage of working from
home. Before implementing the concept of working from home, one must invest in
technology. Not all jobs can be done remotely. Some posts require constant communication
and collaboration of workers, which is not easy to achieve while working from home. All in
all, working from home can be improved through the use of human factors.
Human factors make working from home effective and efficient. In the same way,
social factors are applied in the traditional workplace, and they can be applied while working
remotely. Any person working from home must ensure that the machines and equipment they
are using are comfortable and safe to use. The employer should design systems and platforms
with the employee in mind. The employer must consider that people have different
capabilities and limitations, especially when using technology. With this in mind, the
employer should install gadgets and systems that everybody will be comfortable using the

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APPLYING HUMAN FACTORS TO REMOTE WORKING
methods (Silva & Dias, 2016). The instructions given should be clear and easy to use so as to
improve production. Procedures should be designed to suit the human capabilities to enable
the employees to work with ease. Social factors could be applied effectively if the people
involved in understanding the work or operations required. Conducting work-task analysis,
work observation, and asking the people doing the work are some of the ways of assessing
whether they understand the work and operations requirement. Training of the employees on
how to use the tools and equipment is paramount for improved production. It is important to
seek feedback from the users through questionnaires on the effectiveness of the tools and
equipment used.
Literature Review
There are many studies conducted to assess the effectiveness of working from home.
According to Sowcik & Stein (2020), working remotely has become the norm today. Many
institutions and companies closed down due to the COVID-19 pandemic and asked their
employees to work from home. Working from home can only be effective if human factors
principles are incorporated in building design for life and work activities (Attaianese et al.,
2012). Social factors principles, also known as ergonomics, focus on designing the workplace
to make them more adaptive and secure for the employees. One of the critical aspects of
ergonomics is the active involvement of the end-user. The workplace design must take into
consideration the characteristics and capabilities of the end-user.
Working from home will require employers to come up with systems and gadgets that
can be effectively used by the workers from home. The user must be involved in assessing
whether the tools and equipment are working for them. Over the last three decades, the
participation of the users has increased in building design context. However, the attitude
towards the users is ambiguous and needs to be reassessed. For quality control, user
satisfaction is essential when developing a design. With this in mind, the companies should
think of coming up with systems and models that the end-user, in this case, the employee will
be comfortable with to maximize the production.
Another parameter of the human factor principle is human variability. Human
variability refers to the diversities of people who are involved in the whole context. It is
essential to consider that employees have diverse capabilities and limitations. These people
also have different physical, social, and mental characteristics (Michaud, 2017). Other
factors include body conditions, gender, age, race, and orientation. Working from home
means that these people are working under different environments and situations. The
designers of work contexts should consider the complex scenarios that the workers are in.
Variability and diversity is a valuable consideration when coming up with systems and tools.
The design has to comply with other factors such as the health conditions of the users, the
strength, experiences, and exposure to be sufficient.
Although it is not easy to come up with a system that will accommodate all the
diversities and variability, companies should strive to think of designs that focus on human –
systems interactions (Greenbaum, 2019). Such models can be achieved by considering the
total environments that will affect real people who are using it. The design should be
simplified to reflect the reality of human activities. The use of a system-oriented approach is
essential, whereby the employees are allowed to interact with the physical and technical
system. They should also be allowed to interact with the more compr...


Anonymous
Really great stuff, couldn't ask for more.

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