Fratricide: defective decision making

Motivation – to explore the applicability of a Human Factors methodology for the investigation of fratricide. Research approach – The EAST methodology was used to analyse an incident of fratricide and its ability to explore the Famous Five of Fratricide (F3) model was investigated. Findings/Design – the analysis revealed that EAST was able to provide explicit discussion of the Famous Five of Fratricide (F3) models five causal factors of communication, cooperation, coordination, schemata and situation awareness. Research limitations/Implications – the research explored a single case study and as such is couched at the initial phases of investigation. Originality/Value – the analysis provides a contribution to the knowledge urrounding fratricide both with respect to the novel application of the EAST methodology to an incident of fratricide, and also the causal factors identified by EAST within the fratricide incident. Take away message – the EAST methodology provides an innovative way of exploring causality in incidents of fratricide<br/

Phase space shifts in command structures in networked systems

This paper presents the rationale behind an important enhancement to the NATO SAS-050 approach space, combined with empirical results which take advantage of these enhancements. In Part 1 a new theoretical legacy for the NATO model is presented. This legacy inspires a number of developments which allow live data to be plotted into it, and we demonstrate that the model is well able to discriminate between alternative C2 structures. Part 2 illustrates this feature with multinational data from the ELICIT community. It is surprising to see that teams in both C2 and Edge conditions operate in broadly the same area of the phase space cube. The structure of the pre-ordained ELICIT ‘classic C2’ hierarchy and the deterministic nature of the shared task are put forward as explanations for this, and as future enhancements to the ELICIT paradigm

Servitisation and value co-production in the UK music industry

Since the rise of music on the internet, record companies have reported falling sales of physical products. This has occurred at a time when technology has radically increased choice, availability and the opportunity for the consumer to purchase music. As the music industry has moved from a product to a service business model, has the loss of sales meant they have not taken their customers with them? This paper provides a description of different music consumers based upon quantitative analysis of consumer characteristics. The paper then undertakes an exploration of the relationship between the consumer groups and their purchasing preference in relation to intangible ‘service’ purchase such as downloaded music and the purchase of a tangible physical product such as CDs or vinyl. In addition, we analyse the relationship between consumer types and their propensity to actively engage with music communities, such as through engagement with social media, and thus their willingness to coproduce greater value. Finally we explore the moderating effects of age and time devoted to listening to music on purchasing preferences and music discovery

Combining social network analysis and the NATO Approach Space to define agility. Topic 2: networks and networking

This paper takes the NATO SAS-050 Approach Space, a widely accepted model of command and control, and gives each of its primary axes a quantitative measure using social network analysis. This means that the actual point in the approach space adopted by real-life command and control organizations can be plotted along with the way in which that point varies over time and function. Part 1 of the paper presents the rationale behind this innovation and how it was subject to verification using theoretical data. Part 2 shows how the enhanced approach space was put to use in the context of a large scale military command post exercise. Agility is represented by the number of distinct areas in the approach space that the organization was able to occupy and there was a marked disparity between where the organization thought it should be and where it actually was, furthermore, agility varied across function. The humans in this particular scenario bestowed upon the organization the levels of agility that were observed, thus the findings are properly considered from a socio-technical perspective

Analysing end-user energy rescheduling intentions using signal detection theory

AbstractTwo interfaces, co-created by designers and people living in eco-villages, were tested for their effects on end-user energy-use rescheduling intentions. When analysed with Signal Detection Theory both interfaces were implicated in biased user responses, but in opposite directions. Despite some favourable behavioural effects the majority of the 75 respondents chose not to reschedule their energy-use behaviours no matter what interface was displayed. The paper provides a demonstration of the role of behavioural factors in the apparently simple task of providing more information to energy-users on the assumption behaviour will change

A human factors approach to analysing military command and control

This paper applies the Event Analysis for Systemic Teamwork (EAST) method to an example of military command and control. EAST offers a way to describe system level 'emergent properties' that arise from the complex interactions of system components (human and technical). These are described using an integrated methods approach and modelled using Task, Social and Knowledge networks. The current article is divided into three parts: a brief description of the military command and control context, a brief description of the EAST method, and a more in depth presentation of the analysis outcomes. Numerous findings emerge from the application of the method. These findings are compared with similar analyses undertaken in civilian domains, where Network Enabled Capability (NEC) is already in place. The emergent properties of the military scenario relate to the degree of system reconfigurability, systems level Situational Awareness (SA), team-working and the role of mediating technology. It is argued that the EAST method can be used to offer several interesting perspectives on designing and specifying NEC capability in military context

What the Death Star can tell us about ergonomics methods

Imagine having to identify a critical flaw in a highly complex planetoid-sized orbital battle station under extreme time pressure, and with no clear idea at the outset where the vulnerability will lie? This was the challenge faced by the Rebel Alliance in the film Star Wars. One of the belligerents, the Imperial Empire, considered it highly unlikely a weakness would be found even if the other combatant were in possession of a full technical readout of the station. How could it be done? The first option presented in this paper is to employ traditional error identification methods of the sort contemporaneous with the film's release in 1977 and still in widespread use today. The findings show the limitations of this deterministic world-view because the method selected did not predict the actual vulnerability exploited. The second option is to use a systems-based method to model the Death Star's functional constraints and affordances and use this to assess the system's resilience. This method did detect the film ending, and several others. What began as an amusing aside has turned into a highly effective means to communicate across disciplines and enhance ergonomic teaching and learning. It also provides a compelling narrative around the use of reductionist methods for systems problems, and some wider implications for ergonomic method selection in more earth-bound settings

Trust in vehicle technology

Driver trust has potentially important implications for how vehicle technology is used and interacted with. In this paper, it will be seen how driver trust functions and how it can be understood and manipulated by insightful vehicle design. It will review the theoretical literature to define steps that can be taken to establish trust in vehicle technology in the first place, maintain trust in the long term, and even re-establish trust that has been lost along the way. The paper presents a synthesis of the wider trust literature, integrates key trust parameters, describes practically how to measure trust, and presents a set of principles for vehicle designers to use in assessing existing design decisions and justify new ones