Preventing Accidents and Building a Culture of Safety: Insights from a Simulation Model

Research has approached the topic of safety in organizations from a number of different perspectives. On the one hand, psychological research on safety climate gives evidence for a range of organizational factors that predict safety across organizations. On the other hand, organizational learning theorists view safety as a dynamic problem in which organizations must learn from mistakes. Here, we synthesize these two streams of research by incorporating key organizational factors from the safety climate literature into a dynamic simulation model that also includes the possibility for learning. Analysis of simulation results sheds insight into the nature of reliability and confirms the dangers of over-reliance on 'single loop learning' as a mechanism for controlling safety behaviors. Special emphasis is placed on strategies that managers might use to encourage learning and prevent erosion in safety behaviors over time.Work reported herein was supported, in part, by the Singapore Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA)

How to Save a Leaky Ship: Capability Traps and the Failure of Win-Win Investments in Sustainability and Social Responsibility

Can managers enhance social responsibility while also improving profitability? Research demonstrates that there are “win-win” investments that improve both socially desirable outcomes and the bottom line, from energy and the environment to wages and workplace safety. Yet many such opportunities are not taken—money is left on the table. Here we explore this puzzle using the case of energy efficiency in a large research university, a setting that should favor implementation of win-win actions. However, despite a long time horizon, large endowment and pro-social mission, the university failed to implement many programs offering both large environmental and financial benefits. Using ethnographic field study and panel regression we develop a novel simulation model integrating energy use, maintenance, and facilities renewal. We find that the organization inadvertently fell into a capability trap in which poor performance prevented investments in win-win opportunities and the capabilities needed to realize them, perpetuating poor performance. Escaping the trap requires investments large enough and sustained long enough to cross tipping thresholds that convert the vicious cycle in to a virtuous cycle of better performance, greater investment and still better performance. We discuss how the organization is escaping from the trap and whether the results generalize to other contexts

Dynamics of risk management in complex organizations

Thesis (Ph. D. in Management)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2012.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references.Organizations today devote substantial resources towards the development of governance systems to increase transparency and accountability in areas such as quality, safety, financial accounting, and environmental performance. In this dissertation, I combine ethnographic and simulation methods to understand the implementation and performance of such systems. In the first essay, I compare the implementation of a safety management system in two industrial plants following accidents. Despite a common process, workers at one plant resist portions of the new system, while at the other plant the system is a relative success. My argument has two parts. First, I argue that resistance to bureaucratic rules is rooted in the lack of involvement that front line actors are afforded in managing anomalies that occur in the application of rules. Second, lack of involvement is more likely to result in active resistance to rules when actors are familiar with one another and with work tasks. While much research emphasizes the benefits of familiarity for performance, I find that actors who are familiar have both the motivation and the ability to resist bureaucratic control, even when rules are designed to serve their own interests. In the second essay, I extend the findings in the first essay to develop a dynamic theory of the success and failure of governance systems in organizations. Consistent with existing literature, I find that pressure to conform to externally imposed norms of bureaucratic rationality can cause dynamics of gradual decoupling between rules and practice. However, I find that the mechanism by which such pressures operate can be different than previously described. Rather than compelling organizations to adopt practices that are inefficient or opposed to the interests of managers or workers, external pressure creates a conflict that is temporal: necessary efforts to demonstrate compliance in the short run directly undermine efforts to make rules effective in the longer term. When organizational actors have the flexibility to build organizational capabilities absent imperatives to demonstrate strict compliance at all times, formal structure can evolve to become a highly effective means of organizing. Absent such flexibility, rules can become a source of conflict characterized by worker resistance, tighter control, and decoupling. In the third essay, I develop and calibrate a detailed simulation model to illustrate why management efforts to develop capabilities that support governance systems so often fall short. For this essay, I study the case of energy efficiency and maintenance reliability in the built environment. Even where proactive investments would improve both regulated outcomes and the bottom line, I show that managers might easily abandon investments early, before crossing a tipping threshold that allows for the realization of full benefits. Thus, successful self-regulation depends not only on managers recognizing and acting on opportunities, but also on managers understanding tipping dynamics and sustaining investments beyond levels that might initially appear sufficient.(cont'd) Essay 2 - The phenomenon of decoupling between formal organization and work practice has been a central theme in organization studies for decades. How do we account for the prevalence of formal structure if it is so often ineffective? Existing theories of decoupling emphasize the inherent conflict that formal structure produces, between external legitimacy and efficiency on the one hand, and between worker consent and management control on the other. Yet, such theories fail to fully explain how formal structure is occasionally highly effective as a means of achieving reliable outcomes. Based on a comparative ethnography of the implementation of a safety management system in two industrial plants, I develop a dynamic theory of the success and failure of rule systems in organizations. Consistent with literature in the institutional tradition, I find that pressure to conform to externally imposed norms of bureaucratic rationality is an important source of decoupling. However, rather than compelling organizations to adopt practices that are inefficient or opposed to the interests of managers or workers, external pressure creates a conflict that is temporal: necessary efforts to demonstrate compliance in the short run directly undermine efforts to make rules effective in the longer term. When organizational actors have the flexibility to build organizational capabilities absent imperatives to demonstrate strict compliance at all times, formal structure can evolve to become a highly effective means of organizing. Absent such flexibility, rules can become a source of conflict characterized by worker resistance, tighter control, and decoupling. These results have important implications for modern efforts to manage risk in areas such as quality, safety, and environmental performance through governance systems based on transparency, accountability and standard rules.(cont'd) Essay 3 - In recent years a growing stream of research has sought to identify how the actions of managers can influence compliance with regulation and corporate social responsibility in areas such as environmental performance, workplace safety, and financial accounting. One such strategy that has received widespread attention is the search for proactive "winwin" investments that improve both regulated outcomes and the bottom line. Yet, the prevalence of win-win investments raises an important question: if proactive investments are really profitable, why are they so often not performed, especially when their existence is so widely acknowledged? To develop insight into this question, we develop a detailed simulation model of a proactive investment in building maintenance and energy use. While a proactive investment can produce substantial positive returns, we illustrate why achieving full returns can be so difficult. Specifically, even when managers make substantial proactive investments, investments may not be large enough or long enough to cross a tipping threshold. In such cases, despite the appearance of success in the shortterm, performance gradually erodes to its original state, wiping out gains. Thus, successful self-regulation and process improvement depends not only on managers recognizing and acting on opportunities, but also on managers understanding tipping dynamics and sustaining investments beyond levels that might initially appear sufficient.by John Landry Lyneis.Ph.D.in Managemen

Radioactive ion beam development in Berkeley

Two radioactive ion beam projects are under development at the 88" Cyclotron, BEARS (Berkeley Experiment with accelerated radioactive species) and the 14O experiment. The projects are initially focused on the production of 11C and 14O, but it is planned to expand the program to 17F, 18F, 13N and 76Kr. For the BEARS project, the radioactivity is produced in form of either CO2 or N2O in a small medical 10 MeV proton cyclotron. The activity is then transported through a 300 m long He-jet line to the 88" cyclotron building, injected into the AECR-U ion source and accelerated through the 88" cyclotron to energies between 1 to 30 MeV/ nucleon. The 14O experiment is a new experiment at the 88" cyclotron to measure the energy-shape of the beta decay spectrum. For this purpose, a target transfer line and a radioactive ion beam test stand has been constructed. The radioactivity is produced in form of CO in a hot carbon target with a 20 MeV 3He from the 88" Cyclotron. The activity diffuses through an 8m long stainless steel line into the 6 GHz ECR ion source IRIS (Ion source for Radioactive ISotopes). It is then ionized and accelerated to 30 keV to mass separate the 14O and then implanted into a carbon foil. In order to optimize the on-line efficiencies of the LBNL ECR ion sources, off-line ionization efficiency studies are carried out for various gases. A summary of the ionization efficiency measurements is presented

Progress report of the third Generation ECR ion source fabrication

Recent progress in the construction of the 3rd Generation ECR ion source at the 88" cyclotron in Berkeley is reported. Test results of a full scale prototype superconducting magnet structure, which has been described in the last ECR Ion Source Workshop, lead to an improved coil design for the 3rd Generation ECR ion source. Solenoids of the new design have been fabricated and exceeded the design field values without quench. The new sextupole coils are currently being wound and will be tested this summer. This magnet structure consists of three solenoids and six race track coils with iron poles forming the sextupole. It is described in the report along with the structural support and coil winding specifications. The coils are designed to generate a 4T axial mirror field at injection and 3T at extraction and a radial sextupole field of 2.4 T at the plasma chamber wall. The high axial magnetic field of the 3rd Generation ECR ion source influences ion beam extraction considerably and we have initiated simulations of the extraction and beam transport system in order to enhance transmission through the injection beam line of the 88" cyclotron

Fourth generation electron cyclotron resonance ion sources.

The concepts and technical challenges related to developing a fourth generation electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion source with a rf frequency greater than 40 GHz and magnetic confinement fields greater than twice B(ECR) will be explored in this article. Based on the semiempirical frequency scaling of ECR plasma density with the square of operating frequency, there should be significant gains in performance over current third generation ECR ion sources, which operate at rf frequencies between 20 and 30 GHz. While the third generation ECR ion sources use NbTi superconducting solenoid and sextupole coils, the new sources will need to use different superconducting materials, such as Nb(3)Sn, to reach the required magnetic confinement, which scales linearly with rf frequency. Additional technical challenges include increased bremsstrahlung production, which may increase faster than the plasma density, bremsstrahlung heating of the cold mass, and the availability of high power continuous wave microwave sources at these frequencies. With each generation of ECR ion sources, there are new challenges to be mastered, but the potential for higher performance and reduced cost of the associated accelerator continues to make this a promising avenue for development

Simulation in manufacturing and business: A review

Copyright @ 2009 Elsevier B.V.This paper reports the results of a review of simulation applications published within peer-reviewed literature between 1997 and 2006 to provide an up-to-date picture of the role of simulation techniques within manufacturing and business. The review is characterised by three factors: wide coverage, broad scope of the simulation techniques, and a focus on real-world applications. A structured methodology was followed to narrow down the search from around 20,000 papers to 281. Results include interesting trends and patterns. For instance, although discrete event simulation is the most popular technique, it has lower stakeholder engagement than other techniques, such as system dynamics or gaming. This is highly correlated with modelling lead time and purpose. Considering application areas, modelling is mostly used in scheduling. Finally, this review shows an increasing interest in hybrid modelling as an approach to cope with complex enterprise-wide systems