Human Centred Systems In The Global Economy

The arrival of the information society in Japan has radically altered the industrial structure, work patterns and cultural values of its society. The innovation and implementation of information technology has accelerated this change and made its effects more profoundly felt. Because of this, there is now a need to widen the debate on human-centred manufacturing systems to include broader issues such as industrial culture, international economies and global knowledge. Human Centred Systems in the Global Economy contains the proceedings of an international workshop held at Tokyo Keizai University which looked at the design of human-centred systems in the context of these technological and social changes. The workshop attracted contributions from internationally known researchers in Europe, Japan, the USA, South East Asia, Eastern Europe and the USSR. The resulting volume is unique in that it addresses the relationship of information technology to Japanese society as a whole, rather than concentrating on technical issues. The papers have been divided into three areas, covering the structure, dimensions, and policies and perspectives of the information society. Specific areas covered include: social and cultural shaping of technology, economic interdependence, technology and knowledge transfer, computer-aided design, management culture and communication technologies. Human Centred Systems in the Global Economy provides a comprehensive assessment of the debates on human-centred systems and will be of interest to people in a wide variety of disciplines including information technology, economic development, management science and related studies of social science and humanities.

European competitiveness in a global perspective is a major issue on the agenda of the European Union and European industry. The question of competitiveness is often re lated to continual technological change and changing work structures to create more flexible and adaptive work places. But these changes are in themselves insufficient to meet the demands of a turbulent business environment, if they are not brought about in close relationship with and anchored to the development of the human resource poten tial. Technological innovation and modern post-Tayloristic work structures place new demands on workers. Workers' abilities and competencies must be raised in virtually every sphere - in what are termed the new key/core competencies related to knowl edge and cognitive skills, social skills, general and work related personality character istics together with a high level of technological ability. At the same time, to make optimal use of the human potential, the way in which work is organised and accord ingly the way in which people are managed, must allow workers to develop and use the required competencies. An integrated Human Resource Development approach is needed in which workers abilities and competencies take a central place. European competitiveness, from this perspective, implies a strategic choice by European compa nies and policy makers to invest in people and their (potential) abilities.

There is now a serious discussion taking place about the moment at which human beings will be surpassed and replaced by the machine. On the one hand we are designing machines which embed more and more human intelligence, but at the same time we are in danger of becoming more and more like machines. In these circumstances, we all need to consider: • What can we do? • What should we do? • What are the alternatives of doing it? This book is about the human-centred alternative of designing systems and technologies. This alternative is rooted in the European tradition of human-centredness which emphasises the symbiosis of human capabilities and machine capacity. The human-centred tra dition celebrates the diversity of human skill and ingenuity and provides an alternative to the 'mechanistic' paradigm of 'one best way', the 'sameness of science' and the 'dream of the exact language'. This alternative vision has its origin in the founding European human-centred movements of the 1970s. These include the British movement of Socially Useful Technology, the Scandinavian move ment of Democratic Participation, and the German movement of Humanisation of Work and Technology. The present volume brings together various strands of human-centred systems philosophy which span the conceptual richness and cultural diversity of the human-centred movements. The core ideas of human-centredness include human-machine symbiosis, the tacit dimension of knowl edge, the system as a tool rather than a machine, dialogue, partici pation, social shaping and usability.

The Background to the Institute The NATO Advanced Study Institute (ASI) 'People and Computers - Applying an Anthropocentric Approach to Integrated Production Systems and Organisations' came about after the distribution of a NATO fact sheet to BruneI University, which described the funding of ASls. The 'embryonic' director of the ASI brought this opportunity to the attention of the group of people, (some at BruneI and some from outside), who were together responsible for the teaching and management of the course in Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) in BruneI's Department of Manufacturing and Engineering Systems. This course had been conceived in 1986 and was envisaged as a vehicle for teaching manufacturing engineering students the technology of information integration through project work. While the original idea of the course had also included the organisational aspects of CIM, the human factors questions were not considered. This shortcoming was recognised and the trial run of the course in 1988 contained some lectures on 'people' issues. The course team were therefore well prepared and keen to explore the People, Organisation and Technology (POT) aspects of computer integration, as applied to industrial production. A context was proposed which would allow the inclusion of people from many different backgrounds and which would open up time and space for reflection. The proposal to organise a NATO ASI was therefore welcomed by all concerned.

Human-centredness: A Challenge to Post-industrial Europe? The key power in industrial society has been linked to the possession of capital and factory. In the "information society" it could be rather different. If one accepts that that the key power in the information society will be linked not so much to the ownership of information but to human creativity nourished by that information, the productive force of today and tomorrow, could be more and more the human brain. Making use of one's intelligence is always accompanied by positive emotion, which in turn further activates the intelligence. But, unfortunately, under present conditions workers of all levels live in fear, anxiety and stress rather than desire and motivation. The question of "basic human ecology" (quality of life) is, therefore, a major strategic factor. It is precisely the opposite to the mechanisms of exclusion that currently dominate our society: exclusion of young people through joblessness - but also exclusion through technology, as with the helplessness of older people or the poorly educated confronted with ticket dispensing machines or other automats. This is not idle theorizing, it corresponds to concrete facts. It is, for example, how some observers interpret the crisis at IBM. Because its programs were less 'human-friendly', it was shaken to its foundations by Apple and Microsof- though it seems since to have learnt its lesson.

This proceedings book reflects the alternative way of development of the modern global economic system. It sets evolutionary development in opposition to revolutionary leap. The search for the best way to develop the world economy in the present and future is carried out. The social environment and the human-centered development of the modern global economic system have been explored. The features of training of personnel for the modern global economic system through the development of vocational education and training have been studied. Sustainable development, energy and food security have been identified as significant milestones of the progress of the modern global economic system. Innovations and digital technologies have been suggested as the drivers of growth and development of the modern global economic system. Consideration has been given to the institutional framework and legal groundwork for the development of the modern global economic system. The fundamentals have been identified and recommendations have been put forward for improving governmental regulation, financial and capital investment support for integration in the modern global economic system. The book includes the best works based on the results of the 22nd International Research-to-Practice Conference “Current Issues of the Global Economy” which was held on June 19, 2020, at the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (PFUR) (Moscow, Russia) and the 14th National Research-to-Practice Conference “A New Paradigm of Social and Economic Development in the Age of Intelligent Machines,” which was held on May 14–16, 2020 (Nizhny Novgorod, Russia), VIII International Research-to-Practice Conference “Multipolar Globalization and Russia,” which was held on May 21–23, 2020 (Rostov-on-Don, Russia), III All-Russian Research-to-Practice Conference “Power, Business, and Education: The Ascent to Man,” which was held on May 21–22, 2020 (Krasnoyarsk, Russia), International Research-to-Practice Conference “Current Issues and Ways of Industrial Development: Engineering and Technologies,” which was held from September 28, 2020, till October 1, 2020 (Komsomolsk-on-Amur), and the 15th National Research-to-Practice Conference “New Models of Behavior of Market Players in the Conditions of Digital Economy,” which was held on October 29–30, 2020, at Ufa State Oil Technical University, Institute of Economics and Service (Ufa, Russia). The target audience of the book consists of scholars studying the features of development of the global economic system at the present stage and the prospects for its future progress.