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Understanding and Improving Work & Life

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  • Systems Thinking

Diversity of Thought: Surviving and Thriving in a Changing World

  • by Steven Shorrock
  • Posted on 29/09/202330/10/2025

In a rapidly evolving world, organisations must adapt to survive and thrive. However, the key lies not only in technological innovation, but in the diversity of thought within an organisation. This article sheds light on the crucial role diversity of thought plays in navigating the complexities of our changing world.

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  • Human Factors/Ergonomics

Twenty Five Years: Reflections on the Practice of Improving Work

  • by Steven Shorrock
  • Posted on 06/11/202217/03/2023

In this post, I reflect on what I learned since graduating and have found to be most important to practice in the design and improvement of work.

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  • Health and Wellbeing

Navigating the New Reality

  • by Steven Shorrock
  • Posted on 07/05/202204/10/2023

While we sometimes talk about the ‘new normal’, the only thing that is normal is change. So how might we navigate the new reality? The following five practices are important in adjusting and adapting and are supported by research on resilience and growth.

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  • Culture

Learning About Aviation Work in a Pandemic

  • by Steven Shorrock
  • Posted on 27/09/202010/12/2024

Everyday work in aviation COVID-19 pandemic has been affected almost beyond recognition, and with it how we feel about work and the future. So what might we learn about work from the perspectives of two front-line professions: air traffic controllers and professional pilots?

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  • Human Factors/Ergonomics

Learning About Healthcare Work in a Pandemic

  • by Steven Shorrock
  • Posted on 17/09/202010/12/2024

The COVID-19 pandemic has had one of the biggest effects on work-as-done in healthcare in living memory. So what might we learn about work from the perspectives of frontline workers? I asked a variety of practitioners to give a short answer.

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About the Author

Steven Shorrock is an interdisciplinary humanistic, systems and design practitioner interested in understanding and improving work and life.

Chartered Psychologist (CPsychol) | Chartered Ergonomist and Human Factors Specialist (CErgHF) | BSc (Hons) MSc (Eng) PhD

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Categories

  • safety (122)
  • Human Factors/Ergonomics (95)
  • Systems Thinking (84)
  • Culture (30)
  • Humanistic Psychology (21)

Tags

  • safety (75)
  • human factors (64)
  • Systems Thinking (59)
  • safety-II (51)
  • work-as-done (51)

Year

  • 2026 (139)
  • 2025 (30)
  • 2024 (36)
  • 2023 (107)
  • 2022 (52)

Human Factors & Ergonomics in Practice

'Human Factors & Ergonomics in Practice' concerns the real practice of human factors and ergonomics (HF/E), conveying the perspectives and experiences of practitioners and other stakeholders in a variety of industrial sectors, organisational settings and working contexts. Buy direct from Routledge.

Tags

ABCD accidents album1 album2 album3 album4 album5 album6 album7 album8 album9 album10 album11 album12 art ATC aviation blame change communication community competency context culture decision making deformation professionelle design empathy ep4 ergonomics expertise fatigue featured healthcare human error human factors Humanistic psychology human performance just culture justice language learning local rationality management mental health methods multiple perspectives normal work organisational culture organisations practice profession professionalism psychology research safety safety-I safety-II safety culture safety management systems safety Systems Thinking targets teams teamwork technology theatre training wellbeing work work-as-disclosed work-as-done work-as-imagined work-as-judged work-as-prescribed

Top Posts

  • I Crash: Texts from M.E.
  • Reflections on the Autistic Spectrum: A Critical Response to Uta Frith's Views
  • Twelve Properties of Effective Classification Schemes
  • The Varieties of Human Work
  • Proxies for Work-as-Done: 1. Work-as-Imagined
  • Human Factors and Ergonomics: Looking Back to Look Forward
  • Four Kinds of Thinking: 2. Systems Thinking
  • 'Human Factors' and 'Human Performance': What's the Difference?
  • Human Performance in the Spotlight: ‘Human Error’ and ‘Honest Mistakes’
  • Four Kinds of 'Human Factors': 1. The Human Factor

Archives

    Work-as-done is the work that people actually do, cognitive, verbal and manually. Work-as-judged is the judgement, evaluation or appraisal of work, via other proxies for work-as-done. Work-as-simulated is the work that is imitated or recreated in some way for the purposes of learning, testing, design, research, assessment, or exploration. Work-as-instructed is the explanation and demonstration describing how work is to be conducted or performed; the work that people are taught to do. Work-as-analysed is the process and product of examination, decomposition, categorisation, modelling and representation of work. Work-as-measured is the quantification of aspects of work: the work that is represented through numbers, metrics, indicators, scores, targets, dashboards, and other forms of quantification. Work-as-observed is the observation of the work of others, formally or informally - directly, remotely, live, or recorded - and the interpretation of what is observed by the observer. Work-as-disclosed is the work that people say that they (or others) do or did, either in formal or informal accounts. Work-as-prescribed is the formalisation, specification and design of work. It is the work that people ‘should do’, especially according to policies, procedures, rules, and so on.

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