"Cognitive Ergonomics" ⁽¹⁾

OFFICE FURNITURE MAKER 
TAKES ERGONOMICS TO NEXT, i.e. CEREBRAL, LEVEL 
Study of cognitive ergonomics, chunking, off-loading reflects changing nature of work and challenges clean-desk policies, hoteling programs 

HOLLAND, MICH. -- June, 1997 -- "Your mind is like a bucket of water, and the goal of your office should be to help preserve that water for important, intellectual tasks and avoid wasting it on energy-sapping distractions," says Jay Brand, an organizational behaviorist at office furniture manufacturer Haworth, Inc. 

Employers and employees alike today are unknowingly impeding individual performance and, by extension, organizational productivity. Clean-desk policies, hoteling and telecommuting programs, fixations on real estate costs, and a limited understanding of what hinders and supports cognitive tasks can all adversely impact office workers' performance. 

Haworth's research and development group, called Ideation, continues to focus on cognitive ergonomics -- the aim of which is to maximize companies' intellectual assets by creating work environments that help people think. A key principle Ideation is applying to the office environment is that traces of a person's thoughts are consciously and unconsciously off-loaded into their surroundings -- then called cognitive artifacts -- in essence making the work space an extension of their mind. 

In his book, Kinds of Minds, Daniel C. Dennett, director of Tufts University's Center for Cognitive Studies, states: 

"Putting deliberate marks on the environment to use in distinguishing what are for you its most important features is an excellent way of reducing the cognitive load on your perception and memory... A human mind is not only not limited to the brain but would be rather severely disabled if these external tools (artifacts) were removed -- at least as disabled as the near-sighted are when their eyeglasses are taken away." 

Research in the educational field has proven that students' test scores are significantly higher when tests are taken in the same room where the class typically meets, further illustrating the natural process of consciously and unconsciously embedding mental cues into the environment. 

Jeff Reuschel, manager of officing research at Haworth, equates the stripping away of cognitive artifacts -- promoted by telecommuting and hoteling programs and clean-desk policies -- as "environmental lobotomies." "With each move or cleaning of the desk at day's end, people lose the cognitive artifacts and embedded cues that a more steady environment provides. Workers in such environments can sometimes feel like they spend more time getting organized each day than working on actual projects," adds Reuschel. 

Conversely, Haworth's Brand uses the term "cognitive resonance" when describing work spaces that reflect and augment people's mental tasks. 

Ideation's research into cognitive ergonomics can be seen in their prototypical work stations of the future, called Flo and Eddy. Flo and Eddy were also influenced by the results of a three-month test at Gould Evans Goodman, a Kansas City, Mo.-based interior design firm where a dozen employees used an earlier prototype for a week each. Their interaction with the product was captured on videotape. 

"Thoughts and ideas hover inside our heads, waiting to be pursued. Work settings organized in the same manner can help us interact better with our work-in-progress," says Reuschel. 

Enter Flo and Eddy. 

Flo consists of a surfboard-like work top with a wire mesh display area. The concept behind Flo is to provide a visual connection to work-in-progress making it more accessible and easier to recall. Flo adds several flat-panel monitors to the artifact mix, but treats the flat panels simply as tools or big Post-itâ Notes, that can be shuffled seamlessly in and out of the individual's work process. Flo has a clamshell-shaped carryall that allows work to travel with the user, providing the ability to re-create a more familiar, meaningful surround wherever the user works. In addition, Flo's storage structure breaks from the tradition of repetitive, camouflaged paper management units (files, in-boxes) by providing open, coral-like cells that help make the contents more memorable. 

Eddy is a tiered work space that allows users to display reference materials (those cognitive artifacts that normally end up in stacks on the fringes of a work surface). This arena-like arrangement provides greater visibility of work that is often concealed within the skyscrapers of a paper city-scape. Eddy's curvilinear, fiberglass tiers and gooseneck fittings accommodate the smaller cognitive artifacts and act as mental scratch pads. The folding organizers allow work to be "chunked," or put into packets of related information while retaining the ability to see their key ingredients. The "chunk house" then provides a means to store and organize these packets. 

For more information on Haworth, call 1-800-344-2600. Haworth, Inc., is a world-leading supplier of office and institutional furniture and seating, with 1997 sales of US$1.51 billion. Based in Holland, Michigan, the international company employs 10,000 members and has over 60 showrooms worldwide. 

COGNITIVE ERGONOMICS VOCABULARY 

HOLLAND, MICH. -- June 1, 1998 -- The importance of thinking in today's information-driven, knowledge-based workplace is universally applauded, but the attention given to supporting and improving thinking is virtually missing, according to Jeff Reuschel, researcher at Haworth, Inc. 

Cognitive ergonomics, the discipline of creating work environments that help people think, represents a top priority at Haworth, one of the world's largest office furniture manufacturers. The company has created a number of prototype products inspired by this new discipline, and additional research and testing are ongoing. 

According to Reuschel though, increasing the awareness and understanding of cognitive ergonomics among both employers and employees will also play an important part in supporting cognitive tasks and creativity in today's workplace. 

Terms and ideas that managers should be aware of when evaluating or reevaluating clean-desk policies and telecommuting, free-address and hoteling programs include: 

Active Sitting -- The best posture is the next posture; an alternative to prolonged sitting and physical inactivity, which lead to mental fatigue, physical movement throughout the day helps workers feel more energetic -- physically and mentally. 

Attention Surplus -- Preserving creative energy, avoiding entropy by reducing distractions and eliminating energy-sapping activities: creating a mental reservoir. 

Chunking -- Consolidating related subject matter into fewer but larger, overarching groups of information, thereby reducing visual noise in the work space; paper piles, often viewed as a mess or lack of storage space, are visible signs of chunking. 

Churn -- The cyclical activity of purging, absorbing, creating and relocating artifacts (e.g. file folders, reports, Post-it notes) as they become more or less relevant, ensuring that the exposed work and work space reflects the most important and current tasks and projects. 

Cognitive Artifacts -- Objects assigned a specific meaning by an individual which represent a type of mental shorthand; examples include Post-it notes, file folders, paper stack, underlined text, etc.; cognitive artifacts are created when a person off-loads information into the environment from their mind. 

Cognitive Dissonance -- A condition of conflict between a person's cognitive processes and the surrounding work environment; a situation where distractions prevent concentration on the task at hand. 

Cognitive Resonance -- A harmonious relationship between a person, their cognitive tasks, and their surrounding work environment. 

Memory Extension -- The physical environment acts as an external storage device for people's thoughts; their limited capacity for recall (seven plus or minus two thoughts in short-term memory) demands that their work spaces assist with retention. 

Off-Loading -- The conscious embedding and unconscious projection of mental cues into the environment; these extensions of our memory shift part of the burden of remembering into the physical environment. 

Spatial Organization -- The space relationship between people and their surroundings and the idiosyncratic nature of organizing things. 

Visual Noise -- Objects and materials in the work space which distract from rather than support current and important mental tasks; taking time to churn helps reduce visual noise. 

Haworth, Inc., is a world-leading supplier of office and institutional furniture and seating, with 1997 sales of $1.51 billion. Based in Holland, Michigan, the international company employs 10,000 members and has more than 60 showrooms worldwide. 

Contact: Beth A. Owens Haworth, Inc.(616) 393-4293

http://www.haworth.com/

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