Cooperation, reliability of socio-technical systems and allocation of function

Communication and co-ordination practices in software engineering projects

“…For example, if engineers tended to find the answers to their queries on the Intranet rather than through personal interaction, then aspects of heedful interrelating might not be enacted, leading to a deterioration in collective mind. This is supported by other work in human factors which demonstrates the need to maintain human cooperation in work design in order to achieve effective and reliable system performance [30]. While a project manager might aim for quality and efficiency gains through increased automation of the development process (for example using CASE tools), such a strategy may have the effect of inhibiting the software engineers' shared understanding of the project environment -an understanding which ultimately leads to improved project performance.…”

Configurations of activity: from the coupling of individual actions to the emergence of collective activity. A study of mathematics teaching situation in primary school

“…According to these authors, the agents cooperate when they are engaged side by side in verbal or non-verbal interactions, when their actions are coordinated and synchronised, and when the aims they pursue are equally coordinated. The articulation between the preoccupations of helping and accomplishing classroom work contributes to the production of mutual intelligibility and shared understanding, the characteristics of cooperative activity (Rognin, Salembier, and Zouinar 2000) that help to regulate coordination between agents. Improvised and informal processes -of validation, the institution of actions, inquiry -take over from mechanisms of adaptation and self-organisation.…”

“…This organisation is situated in the school culture (Gallego, Cole, and the Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition 2001): the organisation of groups is linked to the ideas of 'constructivist pedagogy' that are frequently evoked in teachers' training centres. Their inquiry is simultaneously cooperative and competitive (Rognin, Salembier, and Zouinar 2000) within each group and between groups. According to these authors, the agents cooperate when they are engaged side by side in verbal or non-verbal interactions, when their actions are coordinated and synchronised, and when the aims they pursue are equally coordinated.…”

Les automatismes dans l’activité : pour une réhabilitation et un bon usage

“…Mais quand ces activités deviennent centrales et que la situation de conduite demande réflexion, alors un incident peut se produire (d'où l'interdiction de l'usage du téléphone dans la conduite automobile). Les tâches en temps partagé souvent signalées dans les travaux modernes sont plus faciles à traiter quand l'une d'elles est plus ou moins automatisée : c'est le cas, par exemple de l'attention flottante qui a été repérée dans certains travaux au cours desquels l'opérateur saisit, dans les échanges verbaux qui ont lieu dans son environnement, des informations qui ne lui sont pas destinées, mais qui peuvent être utiles à la gestion personnelle ou collective du travail (Dusire, 2000 ;Rognin, Salembier, & Zouinar, 2000). L'automatisation de l'activité principale favorise cette écoute.…”