Modeling safety culture as a socially emergent phenomenon: a case study in aircraft maintenance
Authored by Alexei Sharpanskykh, David Passenier, Colin Mols, Jan Bim
Date Published: 2016
DOI: 10.1007/s10588-016-9212-6
Sponsors:
Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO)
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Model Documentation:
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Mathematical description
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Abstract
Safety culture is often understood as encompassing organizational
members' shared attitudes, beliefs, perceptions and values associated
with safety. Safety culture theory development is fraught with
inconsistencies and superficiality of measurement methods, because the
dynamic and political nature of culture is often ignored. Traditionally, safety culture is analyzed by survey-based approaches. In this paper we
propose a novel, systemic, interdisciplinary approach for investigating
safety culture that combines multi-agent system modeling with
organizational ethnography. By using this approach, mechanisms of
emergence of safety culture from daily practices, operations and
interactions of organizational actors can be modeled and analyzed. The
approach is illustrated by a case study from the aircraft maintenance
domain, based on existing ethnographic data. Using the proposed approach
we were able to reproduce and explain emergent characteristic patterns
of commitment to safety in the maintenance organization from this study.
The model can be used for theory development and as a management tool to
evaluate non-linear impacts of organizational arrangements on workers'
commitment to safety.
Tags
Management
Of-the-art