Cultural Factors in Systems Design: Decision Making and Action

Cultural factors, in both the narrow sense of different national, racial, and ethnic groups, and in the broader sense of different groups of any type, play major roles in individual and group decisions. Written by an international, interdisciplinary group of experts, Cultural Factors in Systems Design: Decision Making and Action explores innovations in the understanding of how cultural differences influence decision making and action. Reflecting the diverse interests and viewpoints that characterize the current state of decision making and cultural research, the chapter authors represent a variety of disciplines and specialize in areas ranging from basic decision processes of individuals, to decisions made in teams and large organizations, to cultural influences on behavior.

Balancing theoretical and practical perspectives, the book explores why the best laid plans go awry, examining conditions that can yield unanticipated behaviors from complex, adaptive sociotechnical systems. It highlights the different ways in which East Asians and Westerners make decisions and explores how to model and investigate cultural influences in interpersonal interactions, social judgment, and decision making. The book also reviews decision field theory and examines its implications for cross cultural decision making.

With increasing globalization of organizations and interactions among people from various cultures, a better understanding of how cultural factors influence decision making and action is a necessity. Much is known about decision processes, culture and cognition, design of products and interfaces for human interaction with machines and organizational processes, however this knowledge is dispersed across several disciplines and research areas. Presenting a range of current research and new ideas, this volume brings together previously scattered research and explores how to apply it when designing systems that will be used by individuals of varied backgrounds.

Robert W. Proctor is Distinguished Professor of Psychological Sciences at Purdue University. Dr. Proctor has a courtesy appointment in the School of Industrial Engineering and is co-coordinator of the interdisciplinary Human Factors program. Dr. Proctor teaches courses in human factors in engineering, human information processing, attention, and perception and action. He is faculty advisor of the Purdue Student Chapter of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. Dr. Proctor’s research focuses on basic and applied aspects of human performance. He has published over 200 articles on human performance and is author of numerous books and book chapters. His books include Human Factors in Simple and Complex Systems (1st and 2nd editions, co-authored with Trisha Van Zandt), Skill Acquisition and Human Performance (co-authored with Addie Dutta), and Handbook of Human Factors in Web Design (1st and 2nd editions, co-edited with Kim-Phuong L. Vu). Dr. Proctor is currently editor of the American Journal of Psychology. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science and an honorary fellow of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

Shimon Y. Nof is Professor of Industrial Engineering, Purdue University, and held visiting positions at MIT and at universities in Chile, EU, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, and Mexico. He is the Director of the NSF-industry supported PRISM Center (Production, Robotics and Integration Software for Manufacturing & Management), recent Chair of the IFAC Coordinating Committee "Manufacturing & Logistics Systems", recent President of IFPR (International Federation of Production Research), Fellow of the IIE (Institute of Industrial Engineers), and inaugural member of Purdue’s Book of Great Teachers. He is the author, co-author and editor of 10 books, including the Handbook of Industrial Robotics 1st and 2nd editions, the International Encyclopedia of Robotics, (both winners of the "Most Outstanding Book in Science and Engineering",) Information and Collaboration Models of Integration, Industrial Assembly, and Springer Handbook of Automation.

Dr. Yuehwern Yih is a Professor of the School of Industrial Engineering at Purdue University and Director of Smart Systems and Operations Laboratory. She is a Faculty Scholar of the Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering. Dr. Yih’s expertise resides in system and process design, monitor, and control to improve its quality and efficiency. Her research has been focused on dynamic process control and decision making for operations in complex systems (or systems in systems), such as healthcare delivery systems, manufacturing systems, supply chains, and advanced life support system for mission to Mars. Dr. Yih published over 100 journal papers, conference proceedings, and book chapters on system design and operation control. Her recent book, Handbook of Healthcare Delivery Systems, was published in December 2010. She is an IIE Fellow.