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Human factors contributes to queuing theory: Parkinson's law and security screening

  • SUNY Buffalo

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

It is the thesis of this paper that queuing theory should take into account not just the behavior of customers in queues, but also the behavior of servers. Servers may change their behavior in response to queue length, which has implications for service quality as well as for customer waiting time. Parkinson's Law would be one explanation of any speed-up effect as queue length increases. We provide empirical evidence for this assertion in one queuing situation with high visibility and high error consequence: security screening at an airport.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication51st Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, HFES 2007
Pages602-606
Number of pages5
StatePublished - 2007
Event51st Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, HFES 2007 - Baltimore, MD, United States
Duration: Oct 1 2007Oct 5 2007

Publication series

NameProceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
Volume2
ISSN (Print)1071-1813

Conference

Conference51st Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, HFES 2007
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityBaltimore, MD
Period10/1/0710/5/07

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