A cognitive typology of scheduling situations: a contribution to laboratory and field studies

Abstract

Scheduling activities are carried out in the domains of industry (production scheduling), personnel (nurse scheduling) and transportation (train scheduling). Nevertheless, there is little available knowledge on how operators schedule. In general, laboratory studies have been found to be not entirely representative of real situations (i.e. there are problems of ecological validity). Furthermore, it is difficult to make generalizations because field studies are usually conducted with just one scheduler. To overcome these two issues, this paper suggests bringing laboratory and field studies closer together using a cognitive typology. First, typologies that do not explicitly refer to a cognitive point of view are discussed. Second, the properties of a cognitive typology are detailed. A cognitive typology specific to scheduling situations is presented. This typology associates seven dimensions with their related human strategies: complexity; uncertainty; time pressure; cycle synchronicity; process steadiness; process continuity; multiple and contradictory objectives. For each dimension, the theoretical, methodological and practical implications are detailed.

Keywords:

• Cognitive typology
• Ecological validity
• Scheduling
• Planning
• Complexity
• Uncertainty

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Jean-Michel Hoc for the constructive comments that have helped to improve this manuscript. I am very grateful to Susan Watts for proof reading this article. This research is supported by COST Action (European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research) A29: ‘Human and Organisational Factors in Industrial Planning and Scheduling’ (HOPS).