Much of the allocation of functions in manufacturing environments has been
technologically driven, leaving leftover tasks for humans to perform and fa
iling to consider sociotechnical characteristics. An exploratory experiment
is reported that sought a greater empirical understanding of participation
in function allocation The experiment involved student-based design teams
charged with allocating functions for a real-life inspection task. Specific
techniques such as the Nominal Group Technique (NGT) and the "think aloud"
problem-solving technique were seen as useful to augment function allocati
on methodologies. Results suggest that design teams may be more effective t
han individuals for the task of function allocation in manufacturing. (C) 2
001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.