Human Factors in Automated and Robotic Space Systems Proceedings of a Symposium (1987) / Chapter Skim
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Productivity in the Space Station
Productivity in the Space Station
Pages 31-81
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From page 31... ...
But quantifying productivity only In terms of output is not very useful from an economic point of view, and as it relet== to chickens and cows as producers it would be grossly unfair to the chickens; we must also take into account how much chickens and cows consume IN order to produce a given amount of nutritive capital by means of eggs and milk respectively. And to round out the picture we must factor into the equation not only what the producers -at, but 31
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From page 32... ...
This all makes intuitive sense. When one tries to apply the same type of thinking to human productivity, one has no trouble as long as the human activity involved is analogous to laying eggs and giving milk, in the sense of producing tangible goods that can be Bled to satisfy basic human needs, and consuming resources in the process of doing so.
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From page 33... ...
These have typically involved analyzing production tusks into observable components. The development of tack-analysis techniques Hal received considerable attention from human factors engineers (Van Cott and Kincaid, 1972; Woodson, 1981~.
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From page 34... ...
Frequently in this paper, the discussion focuses on variables that influence performance, the justification being the assumption that what affects performance for better or worse will affect productivity in a comparable way. ASSESSING PRO WCTIVITY It is helpful in the present context to distinguish between the problem of determining what the level of productivity is at any given time and that of determinirg Nether pr~uctivi~ is Wing, or has Carded.
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From page 35... ...
Differential Productivity Differential productivity in a business context is sometimes measured in terms of changes In the number of employees or amount of employee time required to get a fixed amount of work done, or conversely by changes in the amount of work accomplished by a fixed staff. Thus a retail company is said to have doubled the productivity of its bill collection departments when it managed, by computerizing its operation, to place the same number of reals with a 50% reduction in staff.
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From page 36... ...
Several investigators have commented on the variability of measurements of productivity, especially those that relate to individual'' human productivity, and on the resulting need to make many measurements over a considerable period of time if reliable numbers are to be obtained (Muckier, 1982~. It is especially difficult to measure productivity in intellectual tasks, inasmuch as methods for assessing cognitive performance are not well developed.
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From page 37... ...
m e experimental psychologists summarized the fir conclusions this way: " m e concept [mental workload] reflects a genuine dimension or
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From page 38... ...
Candidate n ~ sates that have been studied include opinion scales (subjects' ratings of the task in terms of specified descriptors) , physiological measures (heart rate, respiration rate, pupil diameter, eye-blink frequency, eye-fixation fraction)
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From page 39... ...
(1980) have argued that some of the ~ysiologim=1 measures that have been tried; ~ vanic skin response, heart rate variability, and pupil diameter reflect changes in autonomic nervoll,= system activity and so are sensitive to changes in emotional state independently of their origin.
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From page 40... ...
It may be that the detrimental effects associated with Motivation becoming too high are better attributed to anxiety over the possibility of failing; fear, especially den it beds panic, unsubtly can cause performance to deteriorate. Ac cording to thin vicar, if privation becalms arbitrarily high but is not accompanied by such fur, we Ward not nosily expect perforate to fall off.
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From page 41... ...
Training Performance, especially of complex Basks, obviously improves with training and practice. An aspect of the relationship between training and performance that is especially important relative to the Space Station context has to do with the obscuring of differences by ceiling effects.
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From page 42... ...
42 Person-~6hine Function Allocation An i~ortant~eterminantof system productivity, es distinct f~iboth human productivity are] machine productivity, ~st be the way in which system functions are assigned to people and to marines.
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From page 43... ...
m e most important contribution to the productivity of the factory offered by new data processing technology is its capability to link design, management, and manufacturing Into a network of commonly available information". Gunn's emphasis on the importance of a single integrated information system, serving various needs of a manufacturing operation, applies with as much, if not greater, force to the Space Station context.
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From page 44... ...
Much is known about how these factors relate to performance and thus to productivity in earth environments. Much remains to be learned too, however, and while the themes may seem familiar, the new context of space gives the problems new dimensions.
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From page 45... ...
In addition to the issue of safe=, that of habitability is receiving considerable attention (Clearwater, 1985; Clearwater and X = per, 1986)
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From page 46... ...
The list makes clear the enormous challenge the Space Station program represents. It also points up the fact that the uniqueness of the space station environment stems not so much from any given constraint or small subset of them, but from the set as a whole.
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From page 47... ...
Productivity in the Space Station Productivity can have several connotations relative to the Space Station. It can refer to the impact of the Space Station program as a whole on the GNP or GWP.
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From page 48... ...
LAND6AI) and other sensors can produce information that can affect productivity by producing a better understanding of weather patterns, energy sources, climatic trends, and so on.
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From page 49... ...
Individual Productivity in Space Individual productivity the effectiveness and efficiency with which the individual participants in the Space Station program carry out their assignments is of special interest to the human factors community, inasmuch as the other types of productivity are contingent to no small degree on how well individuals function in their various roles. All of the determinants of productivity mentioned earlier in this chapter represent important considerations for the Space Station, as they do for any complex system.
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From page 50... ...
, ~ , _ _ _ _ When people are On space for months at a time and the work becomes less of an adventure and more of a job, it will not be surprising if morale becomes an issue, an] one that could affect productivity, from time to time.
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From page 51... ...
51 The Evolving Role of humans in Space A here has been and continues to be a debate about the advantages arx! disadvantages of a space program that includes manned Spacecraft as ~ to one ~t does not.
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From page 52... ...
52 this function may go more satisfactorily if there has been more opportunity for the crew members to work with the scientists prior to the space mission. As the human's role has expanded and diver ified, the need for specialized capabilities and talents on space crews has increased, and consequently the crew members are less and less interchangeable.
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From page 53... ...
A major challenge for extended space missions, especially those involving long periods of time simply getting to a destination (e.g. interplanetary travel)
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From page 54... ...
54 case, one ~st be concerned not only with provision of short periods of free time at frequent intervals (e.g. daily)
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From page 55... ...
Decisions about such compromises, and selections among various possible tradeoffs, should be made with the best understanding possible of their implications. Among the issues relating to workstation and interface design that will be of special concern in the Space Station context are the following: · How to design multifunction input-ou~put devices so as to preclude confusion among functions.
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From page 56... ...
Speech understanding by computer is not so far along, but progress there is also being made. m e technology for isolated word recognition probably is sufficiently mature to be used in a Space Station context, and more ambitious uses of speech understanding technology may be feasible by the time the Station becomes operation21.
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From page 57... ...
57 section with a brief discussion of stress in general terms and then to consider specific environments characteristics or stressors that might be expected to affect performance and hence productivity significantly. Affects of Stress on Performance Stress is likely to be a factor An The Space Station and to affect productivity in several ways.
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From page 58... ...
In the remainder of this section, several of the stressors that could be-especially important in the Spare Station environment are briefly noted. Exactly how these factors, especially in combination, will affect performance art productivity is not known; that their effects will be substantive, however, seems highly likely.
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From page 59... ...
. Sensory and Perceptual Restriction What is known about the effects of sensory and perceptual deprivation or restriction on human performance has been summarized by Schultz (1965)
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From page 60... ...
The results of such studies do provide a basis for raising questions and suggesting directions for research that can be relevant in the space flight context, and had they yielded solid evidence of large effects of isolation on sensory or motor functions, they would have raised some concerns about potential effects ~ the Space Station program. "As it turns out, the results of studies summarized in this paper suggest that only minimal and relatively insignificant change= in sensory and motor function are likely to occur during long-~uration missions" (Eason and Harber:103~.
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From page 61... ...
Exactly how rest breaks should be scheduled, however, or ha' this should depend on the nature of the work being done, has not been ~st~hTished very precisely. It is not even clear that it is always optimal for work breaks to occur on a fixed periodic schedule.
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From page 62... ...
(1972) note the possibility that studies that measure performance under the circumstances in which motivation might be expected to be low often risk artifactual results by virtue of the possibility that the experim£nt=1 task itself, if unusual within the context, may be sufficiently arousing and ~ *
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From page 63... ...
Task demands in the Space Station are unlikely to be excessive for sustained periods of time, although they cculd be high at critical ssion junctures and could become excessive during emergencies. Perhaps more important is the ever-present possibility of human error having a catastrophic result.
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From page 64... ...
64 Acute M - Oman Problems With respect to the control of medical probers withy a spacecraft, the emphasis has to be first on prevention Chaser et al., 1972~. Hying taken all r~onabie preventive measures, however, the chance that medical problems will arise on any Conjuration mission is high.
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From page 65... ...
QONclllSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS The Space-Station program is an ambitious undertaking. Establishing a permanently manned facility in space will be expensive and risky, but the long-range benefits for humankind that could result freon success in this endeavor are surely very great.
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From page 66... ...
Inclusion in this list signifies only my opinion that the topic deserves attention; if it is getting it already, so much the better. While all of these recommendations are considered important to the Space Station program, they are not all uniquely applicable to it.
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From page 67... ...
is among the most critical problems to be solved, from a human factors point of view. There is a body of literature relating to the design of workstations and displays that should be consulted; however, much remains to be learned about how best to represent and present information in various Space Station contexts.
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From page 68... ...
the ability to measure and monitor mental workload could be useful, especially for the est~hlishm==nt of crew responsibilities in the Station's day-to-day operation and in high-activi~y situations. But techniques that are to be used in operational contexts must be unlntrusive, and this rules out the
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From page 69... ...
. A detailed study of human errors that are actually made in the Space Station environment will be very useful, as it has been in other' contexts (blister, 1966; Swain, 19~e, 1978~.
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From page 70... ...
. TO the extent that variables in the latter category can be shown to be reliable indicants of the quality of specific types of human performance, consideration should be given to the development of unintrusive ways of monitoring them, at least at critical times, and using the results of the mom taring to enhance performance in various ways (Johnson et al., 1972~.
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From page 71... ...
W 1983 A Orison of rating scale, se~rx~ary task, physiological, and primary-task workload estimation ~hniqu~s in a simulated flight task Sizing ~nications load.
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From page 72... ...
W 1983 A cc mparison of rating scale, secon~ary-task, physiological, and primary-~ck workload estimation techniques in a simN1ated flight task emphasizing communications load.
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From page 73... ...
The C- System User Vol I: A Review of Research on Human Performance as it Relates to the Design and Operation of Command, Control, and Fornication Systems. ~ Report 3459.
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From page 74... ...
Washington, DC.: Hicks, T., and Wierwille, W 1979 Cc mparison of five mental workload assessment procedures in a ~ inq-base simulator.
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From page 75... ...
101-114 in N ~ray, ea., Mental Workload: Its lheor~r and asu~t.
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From page 76... ...
Mean Factors in Lor~-Du~tion Spaceflight. Washington, DC.: Nations Academy of Sc:ier~ces.
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From page 77... ...
L 1983 Subjective pilot workload assessment.
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From page 78... ...
W 1979 Tc ward the Definition and Measurement of the Mental Workload of Transport Pilots.
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From page 79... ...
79 1978 Estimat mg Human Error Rates and their Effects on System_ Reliability. Sandia Corporation Report SAND77-1240, Albuquerque, NM: Sandia Corporation.
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From page 80... ...
G 1985 Evaluation of sixteen measures of my workload using a si~rn~ated flight task ~asizing mediations activity.
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From page 81... ...
M 1969 Behavioral and physiological changes during prolonged immobilization plus perceptual deprivation.
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