Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Introduction
This book is concerned with the economic value of investing in people. A range of types of investments is of interest, for example:
- Investments in work technologies directly augment people's performance.
- Investments in education and training enhance people's potential to perform.
- Investments in health and safety enhance people's availability to perform.
- Investments in organizational processes enhance people's willingness to perform.
Such investments interact, as shown in Figure 1.1, to enable work performance that translates demands for products and services into supply of products and services.
Figure 1.1 Examples of investments in people.
Note that this line of reasoning applies to people who operate, maintain, and manage systems, as well as to those who research, design, and invest in systems. There are many stakeholders in the success of a system. It is likely that investing in the performance of several types of stakeholders can enhance this success. Therefore, for example, investing solely in enhancing the performance of
aircraft pilots will result in less success than achievable by also investing in aircraft mechanics and, perhaps, in aircraft designers.
Often the monies associated with these types of investments are simply viewed as operating costs. Investments in technologies such as computer workstations or manufacturing ...
