Exploring stakeholders’ expectations regarding human-machine interaction : A case study within a warehouse environment

Sammanfattning: Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the expectations of different stakeholders regarding human-machine interaction. After finding the expected benefits and drawbacks to human-machine interaction, is it important to seek the causes that may lead to misalignment concerning human-machine interaction. This to find if there are any misalignment between stakeholders, and causes to why they are misaligned, to develop strategies to prevent these misalignments. To achieve the purpose of the study, these two research questions have been chosen: 1. What are the expected benefits and drawbacks to human-machine interaction from the perspectives of different stakeholders? 2. What are the causes of the stakeholder perspective misalignment concerning human-machine interaction? Method: The study was conducted at a case company at their newly opened warehouse south of Jönköping, the company is a well-established logistics company in Europe. The researchers had good communication with the supervisor at the case company and after discussion, it was deemed that this subject was interesting and useful to study. A theoretical framework was built to back up the study and to gain more knowledge about the subject. To fulfill the purpose and research questions, a qualitative data was collected through interviews. To answer the research questions, the theoretical framework and the collected data have been analyzed and discussed to draw conclusions. Findings: The study shows that different stakeholders have different expectations regarding human-machine interaction. The different expectations depend on what each stakeholder prioritize and other aspects such as, earlier experience. Another finding of the study is that a specific aspect cannot be named a benefit or a drawback, because that all aspects can both be a benefit and a drawback from different stakeholders’ perspectives. The study also shows that different stakeholders’ can be misaligned and that it depends on different aspects such as earlier experience, level of responsibility and different human behaviors. Implications: The study contributes to the existing literature by highlighting some of the expectations associated with human-machine interaction. The study also explored new subjects which have not yet been extensively explored in literature, such as financial and continuous improvements aspects. Limitations: The study is limited to one case company and focuses on what expectations different stakeholders can have before operating with a new machine.