Working as a team is a fantastic way to learn and possibly apply some of the human factors skills you have acquired from the course up to this point. Your assigned group will conduct a task analysis of someone's job.

Group decides- whose job (or simple task) will be used for the assignment (or simple task)?

Note: You may want to use your handheld device to record and show team members your tasks to help decide whose job or simple task will be used.

Describe the job inno fewer than ten steps(break down even the simplest actions in order to get at least ten).

You may have discovered from your studies that not all tasks are suitable for a formal task analysis. One prolific task analysis researcher, Erik Hollnagle, from the University of Southern Denmark simplifies this determination with three simple conditions: (1) Does the effort required to do the job exceed the ability of one person? (2) Is the complexity of the job such that one person cannot maintain control? (3) Does the worker have to receive training in order to understand how to use the needed tools? Think of the difference between just picking up a knife and using it versus figuring out how to use some other kitchen appliance to do the same task. (Hollnagel, 2012)

Reference: Hollnagel, E. (2012). Task Analysis: Why, What, and How. In G. Salvendy, Handbook of human factors and ergonomics (pp. 385-432). Hoboken: Wiley & Sons.

If you answered yes to any one of these questions, that job is a good candidate for this assignment.

Details for the Assignment:

Worth 50 points: For the breakdown of your job, you may break down your job graphically or using a list of steps.

Build a flow chart showing the beginning, end, and all decision points in-between.

Answer the following questions with detailed responses, they are worth 25 points each:

1. Are there any steps that pose a potential ergonomics risk? (covered in Module 3 - engineering design processes and administrative controls)
2. Are there any steps that can be automated?

Review theBig Dog, Little Dog http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/tasks.htmlwebsite for a quick overview of tasks, task analysis, and job design.