"The nineteenth century was marked by great achievements in engineering. Advances in psychology, sociology, and physiology should lead us to as striking advances in 'humaneering' during the twentieth century." The Psychology of Normal People (1940, p. 24) Joseph Tiffin, Frederic Knight, & Charles Josey
Welcome! - Humaneering Institute is the nonprofit global organization formed to create, share, and oversee humaneering technology. Humaneering simplifies the application of human-science and -practice principles to the design and management of people-dependent work systems, thus enabling significantly higher levels of operations effectiveness and productivity.
The optimal design of work systems involving people requires using both humaneering and engineering. Humaneering focuses on capacitating the complex adaptive functionality of people, while engineering focuses on assuring the standardized functionality of machines and physical processes. The purpose for humaneering and for engineering is the same—operations effectiveness and productivity—yet the principles and methods are as different as human and physical nature.
In today's economy, the predominance of work that is dependent on human functionality has increased the importance to operations managers of having a humaneering technology for maximizing the performance and productivity of people-dependent work. Furthermore, humaneered work systems are easier to manage and naturally support worker motivation and satisfaction.
We invite you to learn more about humaneering technology and how it advances the design and management of work systems and enterprise operations. Learn more. Get involved. Try humaneering now.
What's New
May 3, 2010 - Details Released on Operations-Innovation Trials Option - The eagerly awaited Operations-Innovation Trials option features a work-system design center, emphasis on developing operations managers, and greater financial payoff for "host" companies. These and other features of the new private beta option were conceived based on feedback from companies hosting Single-Application Trials. (more)
Feb. 26, 2010 - Version 4 Approaches Milestone and Prepares for Field Trials - The development of humaneering technology is approaching an important milestone as Version 4 (aka V4, the Professional release, or Base Tech) nears completion of its Stage Two development. (more)
Nov. 3, 2009 - Graduate School Forming to Develop Degree Programs in Humaneering Technology - The Institute Board announced formation of the Humaneering Institute Graduate School, with plans for launching classes as early as 2013. The board also announced that Dr. James S. (Jim) Pepitone, retired management consultant and creator of the prototype for today's humaneering technology, will lead this initiative. (more)
Sep. 27, 2009 - New Channel for Quick Submission of Ideas to Development Process - A structured series of discussions held during the past several months with scholars, practitioners and managers is leading to new opportunities for knowledge contributors to have their newest thinking considered more quickly in the humaneering technology development process. (more)
Aug. 20, 2009 - Institute Board Considers Endorsement Program for Vendors - Responding to requests by product and service vendors for some form of visible recognition that their product or service incorporates humaneering technology in its design, the Institute Board appoints a special committee to consider parameters for an endorsement program. (more)
Jun. 21, 2010 - Auction Gets Underway to Select Hosts for Operations-Innovation Trials in U.S. - Registration started today for companies planning to bid in the Institute's auction of 30 sector-exclusive opportunities to "host" the new Operations-Innovation Trials of humaneering in the U.S. The auction will include three bid-clearing rounds (Aug. 9, 16 and 23), with each round resulting in awards to the highest bidding company in each of the 10 highest bidding industry sectors. (more)
Apr. 19, 2010 - Institute Unveils New EarlyAccess Option for Version 4 Field Trials - Humaneering Institute announces a new option in its EarlyAccess "private beta" field trial program that gives "host" companies extended opportunity to capitalize now on the "power, robustness and simplicity" that operations executives say describe Version 4. (more)
Dec. 1, 2009 - Founder Community Formed - The Humaneering Institute is launching the Founder Community in response to a growing chorus of requests from people of all walks of life and all parts of the world who want to support the development of humaneering technology. (more)
Oct. 3, 2009 - Naming Rights Policy Drafted - Many of the innovations being developed for humaneering technology need names, which has created the opportunity to recognize people with a notable role in these developments. A naming rights policy is being developed, and the proposed draft considers financial and intellectual contributions as equivalent justification for naming. (more)
Aug. 31, 2009 - Open Calls for Research Proposals - Beginning early 2010, the Institute's Tiffin Center for Humaneering Technology Research, Transfer and Commercialization will augment the current Stage One practice of privately soliciting scholars for discipline-specific and trans-disciplinary synthesis papers, testing a new open "call for papers" process that invites all interested scholars to submit papers on solicited topics. (more)
