Ergonomics–the word seems strange to the school children and some of the other persons–who has no technical knowledge or who have not done some of the management studies. This subject is a new concept and must be looked after carefully as far as the industrial management is concerned. The HR department of every organization is concerned about the health of the worker and the employees in the factory area. Organizational psychology makes the base for most of the organizational management. In India particular, this subject has been overlooked since times, but recently due to many MNC’s implementing the management from foreign industries, it has gotten major boost. But as according to the subject, it’s not bounded only for factories and organizations; but it is also applicable in everyday life.
Even the children, right from infancy, practise this ergonomics.
Let’s take the example the children who have just started going school: when they are asked to write on the notebook, they prefer to write on the recto and not on the verso; but, this practice reverses as they reach at the rear of the notebook; they prefer to write on the verso. When asked from the grown ups and even the schoolteachers, they also admitted following the same tradition during their childhood.
Now let’s take some of the inputs from the followers of this tradition:
- It’s comfortable for the hand to write with a heavy bunch of papers underneath.
- The handwriting comes out good.
- The ball pen and the fountain pen run smooth.
Now let’s consider each of the input separately
The first input says that it’s easy to write, which is a sign of ergonomics. But the child that has just started the school and even don’t know how to write can’t claim that it’s easy to write. The main consideration of that mind is easiness. It’s an intuition that propels him to assert that it’s easy-almost everybody seeks to find the easiness in any work.
The second input says about the handwriting; but the person who does not know anything about writing can’t assert what is good and what is bad. Even the grown ups find it difficult to say good about a written language which they have not seen or studied earlier. And ergonomics again supports the fact, as the comfort of the hand would assist in good writing. So the second input also suggests that it only the intuition of ergonomics that makes the persons to give this second input.
The third input says that the pens run smoothly. This is a direct indication of ergonomics as the smooth running of the pen is associated with the placement of the hand on the paper. Ye can try placing your hand in a difficult manner and then writing on the paper. Ye will find it difficult to run the pen smoothly. Here comes the question of legendary ‘classical conditioning’-as the grown ups are conditioned or used to write with the placement of hand as they have done it before–but, it is the input from the starters also. It means they find the placement by which the pen will run smoothly, –again a direct example of intuition of ergonomics.
Conclusion
It’s clear from the above considerations that even the infants or the young children have an intuition of ergonomics. The inputs may vary from place to place, as the above inputs are only that I get from m colleagues, students, young children and even my parents. Some of them say they can’t describe it but it happens to them instinctively. So, I can infer that the ergonomics comes right from the childhood or may be from the birth with a person. It’s not merely a subject that can be taught later–of course some of its way according to the place and technology may–or may be introduced in the studies of management of organization.
