Ergonomics issues in future systems

Sports Organizations as Complex Systems: Using Cognitive Work Analysis to Identify the Factors Influencing Performance in an Elite Netball Organization

There is increasing interest in the adoption of a complex systems thinking approach when attempting to understand and optimize sports performance. Despite this, few studies have attempted to model elite sports organizations. The aim of this study was to use methods from the Cognitive Work Analysis (CWA) framework to develop a model of an elite netball organization and identify wider organizational functions and constraints influencing performance. Two phases of CWA were used: (i) Work Domain Analysis (WDA); and, (ii) Social Organization and Co-operation Analysis (SOCA). A WDA model of the elite netball organization was developed via subject matter expert (SME) workshops, and a SOCA was undertaken to identify the different functions, roles, and responsibilities of key actors within the organization. The findings identify various factors that influence performance. Functions that appear to provide a competitive edge are discussed, including a strong club ethos, a shared responsibility for performance, and a focus on player and staff health and well-being. Factors that potentially have a negative impact on performance include organizational priorities not related to playing netball, and additional coach and athlete roles beyond coaching, training, and playing. The implications for understanding and optimizing elite sports organizations are discussed.

When paradigms collide at the road rail interface: evaluation of a sociotechnical systems theory design toolkit for cognitive work analysis

The Cognitive Work Analysis Design Toolkit (CWA-DT) is a recently developed approach that provides guidance and tools to assist in applying the outputs of CWA to design processes to incorporate the values and principles of sociotechnical systems theory. In this paper, the CWA-DT is evaluated based on an application to improve safety at rail level crossings. The evaluation considered the extent to which the CWA-DT met pre-defined methodological criteria and aligned with sociotechnical values and principles. Both process and outcome measures were taken based on the ratings of workshop participants and human factors experts. Overall, workshop participants were positive about the process and indicated that it met the methodological criteria and sociotechnical values. However, expert ratings suggested that the CWA-DT achieved only limited success in producing RLX designs that fully aligned with the sociotechnical approach. Discussion about the appropriateness of the sociotechnical approach in a public safety context is provided. Practitioner Summary: Human factors and ergonomics practitioners need evidence of the effectiveness of methods. A design toolkit for cognitive work analysis, incorporating values and principles from sociotechnical systems theory, was applied to create innovative designs for rail level crossings. Evaluation results based on the application are provided and discussed.

Human factors/ergonomics implications of big data analytics: Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors annual lecture

In recent years, advances in sensor technology, connectedness and computational power have come together to produce huge data-sets. The treatment and analysis of these data-sets is known as big data analytics (BDA), and the somewhat related term data mining. Fields allied to human factors/ergonomics (HFE), e.g. statistics, have developed computational methods to derive meaningful, actionable conclusions from these data bases. This paper examines BDA, often characterised by volume, velocity and variety, giving examples of successful BDA use. This examination provides context by considering examples of using BDA on human data, using BDA in HFE studies, and studies of how people perform BDA. Significant issues for HFE are the reliance of BDA on correlation rather than hypotheses and theory, the ethics of BDA and the use of HFE in data visualisation.

Designing sociotechnical systems with cognitive work analysis: putting theory back into practice

Cognitive work analysis (CWA) is a framework of methods for analysing complex sociotechnical systems. However, the translation from the outputs of CWA to design is not straightforward. Sociotechnical systems theory provides values and principles for the design of sociotechnical systems which may offer a theoretically consistent basis for a design approach for use with CWA. This article explores the extent to which CWA and sociotechnical systems theory offer complementary perspectives and presents an abstraction hierarchy (AH), based on a review of literature, that describes an 'optimal' CWA and sociotechnical systems theory design system. The optimal AH is used to assess the extent to which current CWA-based design practices, uncovered through a survey of CWA practitioners, aligns with sociotechnical systems theory. Recommendations for a design approach that would support the integration of CWA and sociotechnical systems theory design values and principles are also derived.

Extending systems ergonomics thinking to accommodate the socio-technical issues of Systems of Systems

Socio-technical issues for Systems of Systems (SoS) differ in several ways from those for systems, mainly because the individual systems that are components of the SoS are usually owned by different organisations, each responsible for the optimisation and operation of its own system. Consequently, management of the SoS is about negotiation and management of the interfaces. Because of issues of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs), commercial confidence, and the like, there is seldom sufficient, timely information in circulation about the SoS. Surprises are endemic to SoS, and resilience is a fundamental requirement. This paper outlines the different characteristics of SoS compared to ordinary systems, discusses many of the socio-technical issues involved, and then outlines a generic approach to these issues, treating the SoS as a 'wicked problem'. Endemic to this is the need for governance, which is discussed briefly. This is followed by a description of the evident gaps in knowledge about the functioning of SoS, and a listing of tool classes, the development of which would enable progress to be made more effectively. Finally, the paper discusses how the SoS approach might be the best way to entrain ICT to address global drivers, thus pointing to the importance of the SoS approach.

Ergonomics action research II: a framework for integrating HF into work system design

This paper presents a conceptual framework that can support efforts to integrate human factors (HF) into the work system design process, where improved and cost-effective application of HF is possible. The framework advocates strategies of broad stakeholder participation, linking of performance and health goals, and process focussed change tools that can help practitioners engage in improvements to embed HF into a firm's work system design process. Recommended tools include business process mapping of the design process, implementing design criteria, using cognitive mapping to connect to managers' strategic goals, tactical use of training and adopting virtual HF (VHF) tools to support the integration effort. Consistent with organisational change research, the framework provides guidance but does not suggest a strict set of steps. This allows more adaptability for the practitioner who must navigate within a particular organisational context to secure support for embedding HF into the design process for improved operator wellbeing and system performance.

PRACTITIONER SUMMARY

There has been little scientific literature about how a practitioner might integrate HF into a company's work system design process. This paper proposes a framework for this effort by presenting a coherent conceptual framework, process tools, design tools and procedural advice that can be adapted for a target organisation.

Trust in technology-mediated collaborative health encounters: constructing trust in passive user interactions with technologies

The present study investigated factors that explain patient trust in health technology and the relationship between patient trust in technology and trust in their care provider. Sociotechnical systems theory states that changes in one part of the system are likely related to other parts of the system. Therefore, attitudes about technologies, like trust, are likely related to other aspects of the system. Contributing to appropriate trust at the technological, interpersonal, and system levels can potentially lead to positive health outcomes. The study described in this manuscript used data collected from 101 patients with a Trust in Medical Technology instrument. The instrument measured patients' trust in (1) their providers, (2) the technology, and (3) how their providers used the technology. Measure 3 was positively associated with measures 1 and 2, while measures 1 and 2 were not positively or negatively associated with one another. These results may indicate that patient assessments of the trustworthiness of care providers and technologies are based on their observations of how providers use technologies.

PRACTITIONER SUMMARY

Though patients are not active users of technologies in health care, the results of this study show that their perceptions of how providers use technology are related to their trust in both technology and the care provider. Study findings have implications for how trust is conceptualised and measured in interpersonal relationships and in technologies.

Translating concepts of complexity to the field of ergonomics

Since 1958 more than 80 journal papers from the mainstream ergonomics literature have used either the words 'complex' or 'complexity' in their titles. Of those, more than 90% have been published in only the past 20 years. This observation communicates something interesting about the way in which contemporary ergonomics problems are being understood. The study of complexity itself derives from non-linear mathematics but many of its core concepts have found analogies in numerous non-mathematical domains. Set against this cross-disciplinary background, the current paper aims to provide a similar initial mapping to the field of ergonomics. In it, the ergonomics problem space, complexity metrics and powerful concepts such as emergence raise complexity to the status of an important contingency factor in achieving a match between ergonomics problems and ergonomics methods. The concept of relative predictive efficiency is used to illustrate how this match could be achieved in practice. What is clear overall is that a major source of, and solution to, complexity are the humans in systems. Understanding complexity on its own terms offers the potential to leverage disproportionate effects from ergonomics interventions and to tighten up the often loose usage of the term in the titles of ergonomics papers. STATEMENT OF RELEVANCE: This paper reviews and discusses concepts from the study of complexity and maps them to ergonomics problems and methods. It concludes that humans are a major source of and solution to complexity in systems and that complexity is a powerful contingency factor, which should be considered to ensure that ergonomics approaches match the true nature of ergonomics problems.

A performance improvement case study in aircraft maintenance and its implications for hazard identification

Aircraft maintenance is a highly regulated, safety critical, complex and competitive industry. There is a need to develop innovative solutions to address process efficiency without compromising safety and quality. This paper presents the case that in order to improve a highly complex system such as aircraft maintenance, it is necessary to develop a comprehensive and ecologically valid model of the operational system, which represents not just what is meant to happen, but what normally happens. This model then provides the backdrop against which to change or improve the system. A performance report, the Blocker Report, specific to aircraft maintenance and related to the model was developed gathering data on anything that 'blocks' task or check performance. A Blocker Resolution Process was designed to resolve blockers and improve the current check system. Significant results were obtained for the company in the first trial and implications for safety management systems and hazard identification are discussed. Statement of Relevance: Aircraft maintenance is a safety critical, complex, competitive industry with a need to develop innovative solutions to address process and safety efficiency. This research addresses this through the development of a comprehensive and ecologically valid model of the system linked with a performance reporting and resolution system.

Studying large-scale programmes to improve patient safety in whole care systems: challenges for research

Large-scale national and multi-institutional patient safety improvement programmes are being developed in the health care systems of several countries to address problems in the reliability of care delivered to patients. Drawing upon popular collaborative improvement models, these campaigns are ambitious in their aims to improve patient safety in macro-level systems such as whole health care organisations. This article considers the methodological issues involved in conducting research and evaluation of these programmes. Several specific research challenges are outlined, which result from the complexity of longitudinal, multi-level intervention programmes and the variable, highly sociotechnical care systems, with which they interact. Organisational-level improvement programmes are often underspecified due to local variations in context and organisational readiness for improvement work. The result is variable implementation patterns and local adaptations. Programme effects span levels and other boundaries within a system, vary dynamically or are cumulative over time and are problematic to understand in terms of cause and effect, where concurrent external influences exist and the impact upon study endpoints may be mediated by a range of organisational and social factors. We outline the methodological approach to research in the United Kingdom Safer Patients Initiative, to exemplify how some of the challenges for research in this area can be met through a multi-method, longitudinal research design. Specifically, effective research designs must be sensitive to complex variation, through employing multiple qualitative and quantitative measures, collect data over time to understand change and utilise descriptive techniques to capture specific interactions between programme and context for implementation. When considering the long-term, sustained impact of an improvement programme, researchers must consider how to define and measure the capability for continuous safe and reliable care as a property of the whole care system. This requires a sociotechnical approach, rather than focusing upon one microsystem, disciplinary perspective or single level of the system.

A critical review of the systems approach within patient safety research

The application of concepts, theories and methods from systems ergonomics within patient safety has proved to be an expanding area of research and application in the last decade. This paper aims to take a step back and examine what types of research have been conducted so far and use the results to suggest new ways forward. An analysis of a selection of the patient safety literature suggests that research has so far focused on human error, frameworks for safety and risk and incident reporting. The majority of studies have addressed system concerns at an individual level of analysis with only a few analysing systems across multiple system boundaries. Based on the findings, it is argued that future research needs to move away from a concentration on errors and towards an examination of the connections between systems levels. Examples of how this could be achieved are described in the paper. The outcomes from the review of the systems approach within patient safety provide practitioners and researchers within health care (e.g. the UK National Health Service) with a picture of what types of research are currently being investigated, gaps in understanding and possible future ways forward.

The classification of vigilance tasks in the real world

The ability to generalise vigilance research to operational environments has been questioned, largely due to differences between laboratory research and real-world settings. The taxonomy of vigilance tasks proposed by Parasuraman and Davies (1977) represents an attempt to classify vigilance tasks so that tasks with similar information-processing demands can be compared and the ability to generalise results enhanced. Although the taxonomy originally included complexity, the term specifically referred to multiple sources of information. Complexity has been overlooked in much of the traditional vigilance literature, although it is included in more recent studies of jobs such as air traffic control. In this paper, the taxonomy is evaluated in relation to two vigilance intensive jobs - closed circuit television surveillance operators and air traffic controllers. In its present form, the existing taxonomy of experimental settings has limited applicability to these operational settings. Therefore, recommendations for expanding the taxonomy to include more aspects of complexity are made. It is argued that the revised taxonomy be used in conjunction with situation awareness, which makes provision for the cognitive processes involved in these jobs.