Design of systems for productivity and well being

It has always been an ambition within the ergonomic profession to ensure that design or redesign of production systems consider both productivity and employee well being, but there are many approaches to how to achieve this. This paper identifies the basic issues to be addressed in light of some research activities at DTU, especially by persons responsible for facilitating design processes. Four main issues must be addressed: (1) determining the limits and scope of the system to be designed; (2) identifying stakeholders related to the system and their role in the system design; (3) handling the process' different types of knowledge; and (4) emphasizing that performance management systems, key performance indicators (KPIs), and leadership are also part of the system design and must be given attention. With the examples presented, we argue that knowledge does exist to help system design facilitators address these basic issues.