Shop floor control and namely the problem of job shop scheduling have been fields of research for a long time. However, until now no comprehensive framework on the various aspects exists. This book will provide a systems perspective towards shop floor control by stressing its sociotechnical and cybernetical nature. It focuses on the behavioral aspects of control activities and sees the shop floor as the center of value-adding manufacturing activities within an enterprise. The book enables the reader to understand the interaction of organization, information technology and human resources. This eventually allows to achieve holistic and agile solutions and facilitates profound organizational change. The book will therefore provide a welcome addition to several standard textbooks on the issue.

Understanding Shop Floor Control - A Close Look at Realitiy: The Reality of Shop Floor Control - Approaches to Systems Innovation.- Control on the Verge of Chaos - Analysis of Dynamic Production Structures.- Rationality, Culture and Politics of Production. Systems and Organizations: Models, Systems and Reality: Knowledge Generation and Strategies for Systems Design.- Systems Concepts and Organizational Design. Control Strategies for Complex Manufacturing Systems: From Central Planning and Control to Self-Regulation on the Shop Floor.- System Models and Concepts for Distributed Production Planning and Control. Planning, Scheduling and Control: Aspects of Decision Making: Approaches to Shop Floor Control - A Critical Review.- The Link to the 'Real World': Information, Knowledge and Experience for Decision Making. Making Use of Information Technology: Man - Machine Interaction: The Application of Information Technology at Shop Floor Level: Use and Acceptance.- Supervisory Control Principles for Dynamic Operations Management of Manufacturing Shop Floors.- IT at the Shop Floor - Criteria-based Methodologies for Man-Machine Task Allocation.- Guidelines for Systems Design for Operational Production Management. On the Road to Agility: Changing Organizational Structures: Making Teams Work - A Key to Effective Shop Floor Control.- Shop Floor Control as a Task of Organizational Development.- Work-Process Knowledge and the School-to-Work Transition.