Human Factors Engineering (HFE) in NAME Selection and Training New Spring L. 8

Human Factors Engineering (HFE) in NAMESelection and TrainingNew Spring L. 9Professor Thomas G. Dobie, MD, PhD, DSc, FRAeS, MIAASM,Director and Human Engineering Head,National Biodynamic Laboratory,College of Engineering,University of New Orleans.

(With due acknowledgements to C. D. Wickens et al. for summarized extracts from Chapter 18 of An Introduction to Human Factors Engineering, Second Edn., 2004.1/51IntroductionToday we shall discuss selection and training, two of the keys to attaining effective performance.Selection means choosing the right person for the job, a choice that, ideally, should be made via assessment before hiring. Much of selection involves prediction, on the basis of an assessment, of who will do well or poorly in a particular job. This can be made, assuming that we believe that certain enduring abilities and personality traits can be measured in advance, before hiring or job assignment.

2Introduction (Contd.)Training is putting knowledge in the head to support effective performance, (Norman, (1988), but how is the question.How can we train workers to get this knowledge, use it effectively at work, so that it will stay and not be forgotten?For a start, selection and training go hand in hand. Not everyone has the abilities to be effective at the job, but it would be great to select those who will succeed, not fail. But all jobs need a lot of knowledge that has to be acquired on the job or in separate specialized training programs.3Introduction (Contd.)In addition to selection and training, we shall consider a third element, performance support, that is closely allied to training. Performance supports are really training tools in the workshop. They provide worldly knowledge to support effective performance, but at the same time, they also support practical knowledge in terms of how the job should be done. The importance of performance support for those who have disabilities is discussed here.

4Personnel Selection Clearly, selection is the first approach taken to amplify the skills and knowledge that an employee needs to do the job. It has been a critical concern for the armed forces, and a long tradition of research in areas such as personnel psychology has occurred (Borman et al., 1997). The main aim of that research has been to identify reliable ways of predicting a workers future job performance.A second aim has been to classify acceptable workers into the types of jobs for which they are likely to be best at.

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