Decision Making, Dashboard Displays, and Human Performance in Service Systems

Service systems are often characterized by large components of human work and the need to make decisions based on human performance. Human cognitive limitations and the abilities of computers to compensate led to decision support systems (DSS). While a computerized DSS fits the needs of human cognitive limits, the strengths of human cognitive abilities are often overlooked. Human performance is often monitored by task completion in terms of timeliness and accuracy. A failure of this is that cognitive feedback is generally not given to the operator until after the task. Dashboard displays that are already widely used in manufacturing and other operational applications give current performance information and can take advantage of human cognitive capabilities. This paper presents the concept of decision support in human performance by exploring the extension of the dashboard display concept to human performance monitoring as a cognitive feedback mechanism. Examples specific to the service sector are provided in the context of a Help Desk environment.