The last several decades have demonstrated dramatic technological changes that influence work conditions in all applied domains, including manufacturing, transportation, and human-computer interactions. These changes require new approaches to the study of human performance. Activity theory, in particular has become increasingly popular with those who study human work dynamics.

A Systemic-Structural Theory of Activity: Applications to Human Performance and Work Design discusses general activity theory (AT) and introduces systematic structural activity theory (SSAT) and its...

The opening of the former Soviet Union to the West has provided an opportunity to describe Russian human factors/ergonomics and to compare American theories and methods with it. Although this book is principally dedicated to describing the theory of activity as it applies to issues of design and training, it is also offered to a general audience of psychologists and interested lay readers. This theory studies the goal-directed behavior of man and attempts to integrate the cognitive, motivational, and behavioral aspects of activity into a holistic system. Such fundamental notions as goal,...