Cultural Factors in Systems Design ─ Decision Making and Action

The 16 chapters are based on invited presentations at an April 2010 international industrial engineering symposium held at Purdue University. Specialists in cultural influences on decision making explain how the principles can be applied in systems design. They cover contemporary perspectives on decision making and culture, international partnership and collaboration, decision making in health care, and specific applications. Among the topics are dynamic decision making and cultural affiliation, building global teams for effective industrial research and development, effects of group orientation and communication style on making decisions and interacting with robots, cultural factors in adopting and implementing health information technology, and factors influencing decisions and actions of pilots and air traffic controllers in three plausible next-generation environments. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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 (1^st and 2^nd 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 (1^st and 2^nd 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.