Dynamic Description with Computer Supported Pictures

A methodology was developed and tested in six case studies at four medium-sized manufacturing companies within the machine engineering industry. Existing and planned work environments and production processes were described with the aid of computer-generated pictures. The pictures were used within the framework of an action research methodology in which managers and those employees affected, together with trade unions and company health care representatives, cooperated to establish the preconditions for improved planning from the point of view of both productivity and work environment. The picture methodology using animated pictures, developed to create and present two- and three-dimensional views of a computer model with manipulable objects, was tested both in a workshop with 20 participants from manufacturing companies and corporate health care and in an experimental study with 30 psychology students as experimental subjects. At a Community College with an artistic bet, the way in which different groups within the college described its organization with the aid of pictures and symbols was studied. (Less)