Striving for safety: communicating and deciding in sociotechnical systems
How do communications and decisions impact the safety of sociotechnical systems? This paper frames this question in the context of a dynamic system of nested sub-systems. Communications are related to the construct of observability (i.e. how components integrate information to assess the state with...
| Glavni autori: | , , , |
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| Format: | Članak |
| Jezik: | en_US |
| Izdano: |
Taylor & Francis
2015
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| Online pristup: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/98524 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9919-1908 |
| _version_ | 1826195790202142720 |
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| author | Flach, John M. Dainoff, Marvin J. Hamilton, W. Ian Carroll, John Stephen |
| author2 | Sloan School of Management |
| author_facet | Sloan School of Management Flach, John M. Dainoff, Marvin J. Hamilton, W. Ian Carroll, John Stephen |
| author_sort | Flach, John M. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | How do communications and decisions impact the safety of sociotechnical systems? This paper frames this question in the context of a dynamic system of nested sub-systems. Communications are related to the construct of observability (i.e. how components integrate information to assess the state with respect to local and global constraints). Decisions are related to the construct of controllability (i.e. how component sub-systems act to meet local and global safety goals). The safety dynamics of sociotechnical systems are evaluated as a function of the coupling between observability and controllability across multiple closed-loop components. Two very different domains (nuclear power and the limited service food industry) provide examples to illustrate how this framework might be applied. While the dynamical systems framework does not offer simple prescriptions for achieving safety, it does provide guides for exploring specific systems to consider the potential fit between organisational structures and work demands, and for generalising across different systems regarding how safety can be managed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:15:28Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/98524 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:15:28Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/985242022-09-26T16:45:48Z Striving for safety: communicating and deciding in sociotechnical systems Flach, John M. Dainoff, Marvin J. Hamilton, W. Ian Carroll, John Stephen Sloan School of Management Carroll, John Stephen How do communications and decisions impact the safety of sociotechnical systems? This paper frames this question in the context of a dynamic system of nested sub-systems. Communications are related to the construct of observability (i.e. how components integrate information to assess the state with respect to local and global constraints). Decisions are related to the construct of controllability (i.e. how component sub-systems act to meet local and global safety goals). The safety dynamics of sociotechnical systems are evaluated as a function of the coupling between observability and controllability across multiple closed-loop components. Two very different domains (nuclear power and the limited service food industry) provide examples to illustrate how this framework might be applied. While the dynamical systems framework does not offer simple prescriptions for achieving safety, it does provide guides for exploring specific systems to consider the potential fit between organisational structures and work demands, and for generalising across different systems regarding how safety can be managed. 2015-09-16T11:45:09Z 2015-09-16T11:45:09Z 2015-03 2013-08 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0014-0139 1366-5847 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/98524 Flach, John M., John S. Carroll, Marvin J. Dainoff, and W. Ian Hamilton. “Striving for Safety: Communicating and Deciding in Sociotechnical Systems.” Ergonomics 58, no. 4 (April 3, 2015): 615–34. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9919-1908 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00140139.2015.1015621 Ergonomics Creative Commons Attribution http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf Taylor & Francis Taylor & Francis |
| spellingShingle | Flach, John M. Dainoff, Marvin J. Hamilton, W. Ian Carroll, John Stephen Striving for safety: communicating and deciding in sociotechnical systems |
| title | Striving for safety: communicating and deciding in sociotechnical systems |
| title_full | Striving for safety: communicating and deciding in sociotechnical systems |
| title_fullStr | Striving for safety: communicating and deciding in sociotechnical systems |
| title_full_unstemmed | Striving for safety: communicating and deciding in sociotechnical systems |
| title_short | Striving for safety: communicating and deciding in sociotechnical systems |
| title_sort | striving for safety communicating and deciding in sociotechnical systems |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/98524 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9919-1908 |
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