“O que fazer, como fazer”: contribuições da ergonomia da atividade na compreensão dos processos de regulação frente às contradições na lógica da organização do trabalho

Abstract

This research presents a discussion about regulations developed during the work activity to adjust the distance from work organization prescriptions and real situations. From the theoretical basis, which laid the foundation to the field research in a metallurgical industry in the agricultural sector, this study aims to understand how the possibilities of action and the operative strategies develop in an attempt to supply the contradictions of the work organization prescriptions in relation to the real work. There was a gap in the literature on the definition of work organization and, in order to enable this study, based on the theoretical framework, this research considered the following aspects of work organization "what to do"; "how to do"; “tasks division”; “interaction between tasks and activities”; “interaction between operators and hierarchy”; “performance requirements and standards”. This is a qualitative study, with a theoretical approach based on the concepts of activity ergonomics. To understand the work organization from the perspective of prescription, representation of professionals from different areas of activity in the company and regulations and operative strategies, it was analyzed the prescriptive documents provided by the company and conducted semi-structured interviews with social actors of different hierarchical levels, observations of activities and self-confrontation interviews with the operators. The results show that the representations of participants about real work differ according to the professional practice area and according to the proximity level in relation to the routine work situations of operators. As a result, there is a conflict between the prescriptive logics, and in general, the logics of production, quality, engineering and safety conflict with the functioning of technical devices. The prescriptions have different weights in the construction of operative modes, and individual and collective competencies help in these decision conflicts by considering the available resources and the possible results of the activity. The regulations occur within a limit, in terms of health and effectiveness, whose operation depends, mainly, on the availability of resources compatible with the real situation.