Decision Making Effectiveness in Wildfire Incident Management Teams

During large scale wildfires, suppression activities are carried out under the direction of an Incident Management Team (IMT). The aim of the research was to increase understanding of decision processes potentially related to IMT effectiveness. An IMT comprises four major functions: Command, Operations, Planning, and Logistics. Four methodologies were used to study IMT processes: computer simulation experiments; analyses of wildfire reports; interviews with IMT members; and cognitive ethnographic studies of IMTs. Three processes were important determinants of IMT effectiveness: information management and cognitive overload; matching component function goals to overall goals; and team metacognition to detect and counter task‐disruptive developments. These processes appear to be complex multi‐person analogues of individual Incident Command processes identified previously. The findings have implications for issues such as: creating IMTs; training IMTs; managing IMTs; and providing decision support to IMTs.     

Creativity‐Stimulating Leadership: A Critical Incident Study of Leaders' Influence on Creativity in Research Groups

This study examines how group leaders in academic and industrial research settings stimulate creativity in group members. The study uses a modified version of the critical incident technique to collect creative incidents as perceived and reported in interviews with research group members. These incidents were content analysed according to the reported creative situation and the creativity‐stimulating leadership behaviours. Reasons for the importance of the incidents are given (each incident is subdivided into categories and subcategories). The highest ranked categories deal with how leaders provide expertise in research meetings and in supervisory situations, in particular for the advancement of research. Four types of creativity‐stimulating leadership behaviours are also discussed. The study finds few differences between how leaders in universities and industries stimulate creativity.     

Development of a behavioural marker system for incident command in the UK fire and rescue service: THINCS

Non-technical skills in high-reliability industries include decision making, interpersonal communication and personal resilience. It has been argued that these skills are key to effective performance, safety and welfare. However, there is no agreed upon set of such skills or formal means to identify and assess them for incident commanders in the UK fire and rescue service (FRS). The aim of this research was to identify the non-technical skills that underpin effective incident command in the UK FRS, and to develop a behavioural marker system that captures these skills. Our research assessed the current range of training offered in non-technical skills across the UK FRS, and identified the non-technical skills of incident command within the UK FRS through interviews with incident commanders, and workshops with subject-matter experts. The six non-technical skills were: assertive, effective and safe leadership; effective decision making and planning; interpersonal communication; personal resilience; situational awareness; and teamwork and interoperability. A bespoke behavioural marker system, called THINCS, was developed with exemplary behaviours for each skill.     

National Perspectives in Multinational Headquarters: The Case of EUFOR Tchad/RCA

Recent studies of the European Union crisis management capability argue for establishing a permanent Operations Headquarters (OHQ) instead of the temporary alternatives currently available. These studies picture temporary OHQs as slow starters hampered by multiple interests and a lack of common grounds. This paper corroborates these studies by reporting on the empirical findings of a year‐long case study of the EUFOR Tchad/RCA OHQ. The combined results of observations, interviews, and surveys indicate that national perspectives not only existed in the OHQ, but were also asymmetric in the sense that staff members from France and Ireland nations displayed stronger national perspectives than staff members from other nations. However, the general trust between staff members seems to have been largely unaffected by this. The findings also indicate a process of familiarization spanning over several months. This paper argues that temporary multinational headquarters are likely to work around frictions and mature into well‐functioning organization, but that this is a time‐consuming process in which national parallel chains of command may remain. Prior training should prepare staff members for this. In addition, leading nations need to understand their strong visibility and to be careful not to dominate the day‐to‐day staff work.     

A Preliminary Examination of Command and Control by Incident Commanders of Dutch Fire Services during Real Incidents

In this paper, we attempt to get a better understanding of command and control practices of incident commanders from Dutch fire services (battalion chiefs, BCs) by examining the recordings made by helmet‐mounted cameras during 55 real incidents. The aim is to examine the degree to which the BCs issued orders to front‐line workers and the degree to which these orders were carried out appropriately. The results indicate that incident commanders were able to influence the work at the front line, but were generally not in control of what happened at the front line.     

Creativity for Engineering Plant Design: An Exploratory Study

A pilot study of creativity enhancement techniques took place within a large engineering firm in the UK. Exploratory interviews were carried out with professionals in the areas of creativity, mechanical design engineering and management in order to identify informally acquired skills of successful design practice.¹ Engineers participated in an introductory one day training programme applying creative techniques to real design problems from the heavy industrial engineering field. Initial feedback on the programme was recorded in addition to impact studies which took place after a ten-week interval. The impact of the programme was reported during the course of interviews which were complemented with the completion of detailed questionnaires. Results suggest that traditional training programmes for such professionals may need to be modified to become more user-friendly.     

Important characteristics of software development team members: an empirical investigation using Repertory Grid

An information system is typically developed by a team of information systems (IS) professionals. Research shows that teams staffed with the right people are more likely to be effective and efficient. There is a paucity of study that examines the important traits of IS professionals in team contexts. The objective of this research is to identify and understand the important characteristics of good team members in software development projects. We applied an established psychological technique (Repertory Grid) to guide our interviews with 21 experienced IS professionals, who have had extensive experience in software development teams. The comprehensive list of important characteristics was analysed qualitatively using open coding method of grounded theory. Fifty‐nine unique characteristics were identified and classified into eight categories. Among them, attitude/motivation, knowledge, interpersonal/communication skills, and working/cognitive ability were perceived by research participants to be the most important categories. Our study provides a context‐specific (i.e. software development team) evaluation of important characteristics of IS professionals. The results have significant implications for IS recruiting, IS training, IS staffing, and IS human resource management. Our study also supplements the research on management of IS development teams.     

A new simulation based robot command library applied to three robots

A new type of high‐level robot command library is presented and demonstrated. Three robot programming languages have been analyzed and new robot command libraries created for three types of robot. The programming of three robots using the new high‐level robot command library demonstrated that it was possible to program robots with different kinematic configurations without the programmer having any knowledge of the physical structure of the robots. The library commands contained simulations of the abilities of the robots as well as having the ability to control the physical robots. This paper shows how simulation can be incorporated into a high‐level robot command library and how the command library can be used for the programming of three industrial robots. ©1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Creative Knowledge Environments: An Interview Study with Group Members and Group Leaders of University and Industry R&D Groups in Biotechnology*

This study shows that effective knowledge management is essential in a creative knowledge environment of R&D groups in cutting‐edge fields such as biotechnology. To a great extent, knowledge management is revealed as a group leadership task. Moreover, group leaders emphasize group organization as a way to generate ideas, while group members are concerned with creative leadership. Group climates are unanimously perceived to be conducive to creative output. Theoretical starting points taken in creativity are seen as fostered by the environment rather than by individual characteristics. Data were collected by semi‐structured, oral interviews (N = 84) with group leaders and group members at universities and biotechnical companies in Sweden. Data were analysed by content and categorized accordingly. Future research on creative micro‐environments should focus on leadership issues and knowledge management.     

Dynamic Workflow Modeling and Analysis in Incident Command Systems

The workflow management of incident command systems (ICSs) has been challenged by the systems' special requirements on flexibility, intuitiveness, and capacity of correctness verification. The significance of applying formal approaches to the modeling and analysis of workflows has been well recognized, and many such approaches have been proposed. However, these approaches require users to master considerable knowledge of the particular formalisms, which impacts the application of these approaches on a larger scale. This paper presents a new formal, yet intuitive, approach for the modeling and analysis of workflows, which attempts to overcome the aforementioned problem. In addition to the abilities of supporting workflow validation and enactment, this new approach possesses the distinguishing feature of allowing users who are not proficient in formal methods to build up and dynamically modify the workflow models that address the flexibility needs of ICSs.      

Developing radical innovation capabilities: Exploring the effects of training employees for creativity and innovation

The resilience of organizations is increasingly dependent on their ability to develop radical innovation capabilities. While the literature documents numerous cases of organizations that already have radical innovation capabilities, the question of organizational devices that can be used to stimulate the emergence of such capabilities remains poorly addressed. Specifically, training for innovation and creativity has been proposed as a means to foster innovation capabilities; however, there has been little empirical evidence concerning the long‐term impacts of such training. To fill this gap, this article aims to document and evaluate the efforts of the research institute of a major Canadian energy company to provide training for innovation and creativity to initiate a radical innovation capability. We rely on a longitudinal study over the span of 18 months, where we observed 128 h of training and conducted 70 semi‐structured interviews with a sample of 40 researchers. We found that training for creativity and innovation has the potential to develop individual creative skills for exploration, to catalyze and federate collective action through common methods and a shared sense of what innovation entails, and to help create a common language and vocabulary between the different groups or divisions of an organization to talk about exploration.     

From cockpit to operating theatre to drilling rig floor: five principles for improving safety using simulator-based exercises to enhance team cognition

For over 30 years, aviation has conducted training courses to enhance team performance and improve safety involving simulation with observation and directed feedback. Participants’ performance is observed by trained and experienced observers who then provide feedback using behaviour-based evidence noted during the simulator exercise. More recently, in healthcare, operating theatre personnel have adopted simulator-based training (SBT), observation and feedback for learning and practice to reduce the potential for human errors and improve safety. Maritime and nuclear power also incorporate high-fidelity simulators and feedback in team training interventions including technical and non-technical skills. The design and development of drilling rig simulators means that drill crews can now practise and test out their decision-making and receive feedback from observers, with the aim of improving team non-technical skills and consequently reducing the potential for errors. This paper presents five principles gleaned from research and the experiences of both aviation and healthcare to be applied to the development of simulator-based exercising for drilling teams. The principles include: (a) developing learning objectives and expected performance standards; (b) training the team as a whole; (c) using a structured observation tool; (d) providing feedback during a structured debrief; (e) repeat the SBT regularly to enhance expertise and retain performance standards. It is anticipated that these principles can be generalised for simulator-based exercising to benefit team social and cognitive competences in other high-hazard or process industries.

     

vKASS: a surgical procedure simulation system for arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

Arthroscopic surgeries, which are widely used for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction, not only require advanced hand–eye coordination but also involve complicated surgical procedure, necessitating simulation‐based training for surgeons. This paper describes a surgical procedure simulation system for the training of arthroscopic ACL reconstruction. Different from existing simulation‐based training systems for basic surgical skills, this system provides a complete simulation for the entire procedure of arthroscopic ACL reconstruction, involving operations such as puncturing, probing, incision, and drilling. In this system, we employ a linear elastic finite element method and position‐based dynamics for deformable modeling. Simplified vertex duplicating method and an implementation of real‐time Boolean operations are proposed for the topological change of tissue models involved in the incision simulation and tunnel construction. Two specially designed force feedback models are introduced for the haptic rendering of probing and drilling operations. By using these fast and stable simulation methods, this system is able to provide real‐time realistic graphical and haptic feedback to the user, making it efficient and practical for training purpose. Feedback from the surgeon trainees shows that this system is very effective in training not only for basic surgical skills but also for the complex surgical procedure. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Social skills as predictors of communication,performance and quality of collaboration in project‐based learning

The assumption that social skills are necessary ingredients of collaborative learning is well established but rarely empirically tested. In addition, most theories on collaborative learning focus on social skills only at the personal level, while the social skill configurations within a learning group might be of equal importance. Using the integrative framework, this study investigates which social skills at the personal level and at the group level are predictive of task‐related e‐mail communication, satisfaction with performance and perceived quality of collaboration. Data collection took place in a technology‐enhanced long‐term project‐based learning setting for pre‐service teachers. For data collection, two questionnaires were used, one at the beginning and one at the end of the learning cycle which lasted 3 months. During the project phase, the e‐mail communication between group members was captured as well. The investigation of 60 project groups (N = 155 for the questionnaires; group size: two or three students) and 33 groups for the e‐mail communication (N = 83) revealed that personal social skills played only a minor role compared to group level configurations of social skills in predicting satisfaction with performance, perceived quality of collaboration and communication behaviour. Members from groups that showed a high and/or homogeneous configuration of specific social skills (e.g., cooperation/compromising, leadership) usually were more satisfied and saw their group as more efficient than members from groups with a low and/or heterogeneous configuration of skills.     

Decision making by on-scene incident commanders in nuclear emergencies

A study is reported into the cognitive structures that support incident command decision making by the on-scene incident commander in a nuclear emergency response organisation. These cognitive structures assist incident commanders to assess the situation and make decisions. A card-sorting task was conducted with nuclear on-scene incident commanders (OICs) (n=14) and identified that decision making was influenced by four main factors: availability of procedures; uncertainty; typicality of the decision; and advice from others. The results are discussed in relation to findings from other domains, e.g., emergency services and aviation, and emphasise the importance of considering the specific characteristics of the environment in which the emergency occurs. The findings can be used to determine objectives for directed decision making training for OICs on nuclear installations.     

Accessibility and acceptance of responsive virtual human technology as a survey interviewer training tool

Research on survey non-response suggests that advanced communication and listening skills are among the best strategies telephone interviewers can employ for obtaining survey participation, allowing them to identify and address respondents’ concerns immediately with appropriate, tailored language. Yet training on interaction skills is typically insufficient, relying on role-playing or passive learning through lecture and videos. What is required is repetitive, structured practice in a realistic work environment. This research examines acceptance by trainees of an application based on responsive virtual human technology (RVHT) as a tool for teaching refusal avoidance skills to telephone interviewers. The application tested here allows interviewers to practice confronting common objections offered by reluctant sample members. Trainee acceptance of the training tool as a realistic simulation of “real life” interviewing situations is the first phase in evaluating the overall effectiveness of the RVHT approach. Data were gathered from two sources – structured debrief questionnaires administered to users of the application, and observations of users by researchers and instructors. The application was tested with a group of approximately 50 telephone interviewers of varying skill and experience levels. The research presents findings from these acceptance evaluations and discusses users’ experiences with and perceived effectiveness of the virtual training tool.     

ManPy: an open‐source software tool for building discrete event simulation models of manufacturing systems

In this paper, we present a new open‐source (OS) software library for building discrete event simulation objects with focus on manufacturing environments. ManPy stands for ‘Manufacturing in Python’ but employs a generic approach that can be extended to other types of business processes such as services, logistics and supply chain management. It is written in Python and makes use of the SimPy library to implement a process interaction world view. The goal in developing ManPy is to provide an expandable OS layer of well‐defined manufacturing objects, which can be used by users with multiple levels of expertise in discrete event simulation, namely, a super user and an industrial engineer. This object repository follows a structured architecture, allowing developers to extend it, exchange ideas and methodologies, with the goal of forming an OS community. We explain how ManPy is developed on SimPy, present its architecture and give examples of its utilization. We also give insight of how this work is planned to progress in order to attract software developers, modellers and practitioners in an OS community. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Designing and evaluating a crew resource management training for manufacturing industries

This article presents the evaluation of crew resource management (CRM) training specifically designed for employees within manufacturing industries. The central objective of this training program was to improve teamwork, communication, and stress management skills as well as to increase the workers' situational awareness of potential errors that can occur during the manufacturing process. Eighty employees, all of whom were working in a production unit for gearbox manufacturing, participated in the training program in this study. Effectiveness of the CRM training course was evaluated. The results showed a significant improvement in a wide range of CRM‐relevant categories, especially in teamwork‐related skills, in addition to an increase in the workers' situational awareness after the training program. When comparing the data regarding human error occurring in gear production that were derived from the trained group and a control group, mixed results were produced. Based on the results, it can be stated that CRM training, which was originally developed for the aviation industry, can be transferred to the manufacturing industry. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.