Advances in the Human Side of Service Engineering

If there is any one element to the engineering of service systems that is unique, it is the extent to which the suitability of the system for human use, human service, and excellent human experience has been and must always be considered. An exploration of this emerging area of research and practice, Advances in the Human Side of Service Engineering covers a broad spectrum of ergonomics and human factors issues highlighting the design of contemporary manufacturing systems.

• Adoption of health information technology (HIT)
• Aging society: the impact of age on traditional service system constructs
• Anthropology in service science
• Applying service design techniques to healthcare
• Co-creating value
• Cognitive systems modeling of service systems
• Context-related service: the human aspect of service systems
• Designing services for underserved populations
• Ethics dividend in services: how it may be cultivated, grown, and measured
• Governance of service systems
• Human aspects of change when applying Lean Six Sigma methods and tools
• Human side of service dominant logic in B2B settings
• Human-computer interaction and HF in software technologies
• Service network configuration impacts on customer experience
• Simulating employees and customers in service systems
• Systems design and the customer experience
• Usability and human side of electronic financial services

The book also discusses issues that arise in shop floor and office environments in the quest for manufacturing agility, i.e. enhancement and integration of human skills with hardware performance for improved market competitiveness, management of change, product and process quality, and human-system reliability. It provides a foundation upon which researchers and practitioners can contribute to this quickly evolving area and make lasting contributions.