• Title/Summary/Keyword: Socio-technical Systems Engineering

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An Argument-based Approach to Manage Collaborative Negotiations in Software Systems Design

  • Lu, Stephen C-Y.;Jing, Nan
    • Industrial Engineering and Management Systems
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    • v.7 no.3
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    • pp.266-287
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    • 2008
  • To manage collaborative negotiation in software system design, we have built a socio-technical argument-based negotiation management approach by integrating a Socio-technical Co-construction Process (STCP) with an Argument-based Negotiation Process (ABNP). This paper reviews relevant research work and presents each step of this approach. The STCP provides rich contextual information of technical decisions and social interactions in a system design process. The ABNP provides STCP with a negotiation management and conflict resolution strategy by guiding software engineers to generate, exchange and evaluate their argument claims in negotiation activities. In addition, this paper describes a prototype system which implements this new approach using the advanced Web-based software technologies with the goal of demonstrating how to systematically enhance the negotiation management capabilities in a dynamic socio-technical framework.

Needs for Changing Accident Investigation from Blaming to Systems Approach

  • Kee, Dohyung
    • Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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    • v.35 no.3
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    • pp.143-153
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    • 2016
  • Objective: The purposes of this study are to survey needs for changing accident investigation from blaming to systems approach and to briefly summarize systems-based accident analysis techniques. Background: In modern complex socio-technical systems, accidents are caused by a variety of contributing factors including human, technical, organizational, social factors, not by just a single violation or error of a specific actor, but accidents investigation used to be focused on the incorrect action of individuals. A new approach investigating causes of accidents as a symptom of a deficient system is required. Method: This study was mainly based on survey of literatures related to accidents, accidents investigation, which included academic journals, newspapers, etc. Results: This study showed that accidents investigation of Korea focusing on blaming is problematic. This was confirmed by two concepts of migration and hindsight bias frequently found in accident causation studies, and an attribute of accidents having varying causes. This was illustrated with an example of Sewol ferry capsizing accident. Representative systems-based accident analysis models including Swiss cheese model, AcciMap, HFACS, FRAM and STAMP were briefly introduced, which can be used in systematic accidents investigations. Finally, this study proposed a procedure for establishing preventive measures of accidents, which was composed of two steps: public inquiry and devising preventive measures. Conclusion: A new approach considering how safety-critical components such as technical and social elements, and their interactions lead to accidents is needed for preventing reoccurrence of similar accidents in complex socio-technical systems. Application: The results would be used as a reference or guideline when the safety relevant governmental organizations investigate accidents.

Safety-II and Resilience Engineering in a Nutshell: An Introductory Guide to Their Concepts and Methods

  • Ham, Dong-Han
    • Safety and Health at Work
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    • v.12 no.1
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    • pp.10-19
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    • 2021
  • Background: Traditional safety concept, which is called Safety-I, and its relevant methods and models have much contributed toward enhancing the safety of industrial systems. However, they have proved insufficient to be applied to complex socio-technical systems. As an alternative, Safety-II and resilience engineering have emerged and gained much attention for the last two decades. However, it seems that safety professionals have still difficulty understanding their fundamental concepts and methods. Accordingly, it is necessary to offer an introductory guide to them that helps safety professionals grasp them correctly in consideration of their current practices. Methods: This article firstly explains the limitations of Safety-I and how Safety-II can resolve them from the four points of view. Next, the core concepts of resilience engineering and Functional Resonance Analysis Method are described. Results: Workers' performance adjustment and performance variability due to it should be the basis for understanding human-related accidents in socio-technical systems. It should be acknowledged that successful and failed work performance have the same causes. However, they are not well considered in the traditional safety concept; in contrast, Safety-II and resilience engineering have conceptual bases and practical approaches to reflect them systematically. Conclusion: It is necessary to move from a find-and-fix and reactive approach to a proactive approach to safety management. Safety-II and resilience engineering give a set of useful concepts and methods for proactive safety management. However, if necessary, Safety-I methods need to be properly used for situations where they can still be useful as well.

Comparison of Systemic Accident Investigation Techniques Based on the Sewol Ferry Capsizing

  • Kee, Dohyung
    • Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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    • v.36 no.5
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    • pp.485-498
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    • 2017
  • Objective: This study aims to survey and compare three systemic accident investigation techniques of Accimap, STAMP and FRAM, based on the application studies of the Sewol ferry accident. Background: Traditional accident investigation methods such as domino models, FTA, etc. work well for losses caused by physical component failures or actions of human in relatively simple systems, but are unable to depict mechanisms generating errors and violations in the current complex socio-technical systems. For better understanding the structure and behavior of the socio-technical systems, systemic techniques have been developed and used. Method: This study was mainly based on survey of literatures through surfing webpages of ScienceDirect and Google, and ergonomics relevant journals. The key words of Sewol, Sewol ferry, Sewol ferry accident, etc. were used in the survey. Results: Three systemic accident investigation methods included similar actors in the Sewol ferry accident including government, Ministry of Ocean and Fisheries, Korean Coast Guard, Korean Register of Shipping, Korea Shipping Association, Chonghaejin Marine Company, crew members. The methods graphically represented each level's failures or performance variabilities of relevant functions and relationships between them. It was shown that the systemic methods consider the entire system, ranging from the environment in which the accident occurred, to the role of government in shaping the system of work. Each method has its own comparative pros and cons, but the Accimap has advantages in terms of time of analysis, data required, model complexity and degree of comprehensiveness. Conclusion: This study reviewed and compared three systemic accident investigation methods, which showed that there are systemic characteristics and pros and cons in the methods. Application: The results would be used as a guideline when selecting accident investigation methods.

Cognitive Systems Engineering as a New Approach to Designing Software-Based Systems (소프트웨어 기반 시스템을 설계하는 새로운 접근법으로서의 인지시스템공학)

  • Ham, Dong-Han
    • Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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    • v.14 no.3
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    • pp.229-236
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    • 2012
  • 소프트웨어 기반의 시스템 설계과정에서 설계자가 고려해야 하는 요소들이 다양해지면서 시스템 설계가 점점 어려워지고 있다. 다양한 설계 요소들이 존재하지만 사용자의 특성 및 직무, 사용가능한 정보기술의 특성 등이 핵심적인 요소로 간주된다. 또한 정보기술이 발달하면서 인간과 시스템의 상호작용이 점점 인지적인 특징을 지니게 되었다. 따라서 사용성 높고, 효율적이면서 안전한 소프트웨어 기반의 시스템을 개발하기 위해서는 시스템 설계자가 사용자의 인지적인 요구사항 및 그들의 직무를 시스템 설계과정에서 체계적으로 다룰 수 있어야 한다. 그러나 소프트웨어 공학, 시스템 공학 및 인간-컴퓨터 상호작용 등에서의 전통적인 시스템 설계 방법은 이러한 설계자의 설계활동을 효과적으로 지원하는데 한계가 있었다. 그 대안으로 인지시스템공학(cognitive systems engineering; CSE)은 인간중심의 설계철학을 바탕으로 소프트웨어 기반의 복잡한 시스템 설계과정에서 설계자의 활동을 체계적으로 도와줄 수 있는 유용한 개념과 방법을 제공해주고 있다. CSE는 원래 사람이 실시간으로 감시 및 제어해야 하는 복잡한 사회기술적 시스템(예: 원자력발전소 및 공항관제소)의 분석, 설계 및 평가를 위해 태동한 학문이다. 그러나 CSE에서 제공하는 이론적 및 방법론적 프레임워크는 소프트웨어 기반의 시스템을 설계하는 데에도 유용하게 활용할 수 있는 충분한 가능성을 갖고 있다. 이 논문은 CSE의 근간을 이루는 핵심 개념 및 원칙을 고찰하고 소프트웨어 기반 시스템 설계에의 활용가능성 및 그 방안을 논의한다.

On Improving the Electrical Safety Systems based on the Systems Engineering Method (시스템 공학 기법에 의한 전기안전시스템 체계 개선에 관한 연구)

  • Shin, Heung-Sik;Lee, Jae-Chon;Lee, Byoung-Gil
    • Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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    • v.9 no.6
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    • pp.39-46
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    • 2007
  • In this paper we discuss the problems related with the existing electrical safety system that is influenced by all the socio-technical factors including the electrical safety law, government organizations, and their practicing rules and regulations. Sometimes intangible practices also affect the safety issues. It is our intention to incorporate all those factors effectively and systematically in improving the electrical safety system. Since, the problem in nature is so complex, an approach based on the systems engineering (SE) method could be a good candidate. Specifically, as a first step of the SE process we performed the requirements analysis of all the factors mentioned above and some recommendations from the experts in the field. In the work environment utilizing a computer-aided SE tool, the requirements are verified and managed efficiently although the data base is complicated in general in tracking the changes. Next, by analyzing the verified requirements, a functional architecture is developed to achieve an improved electrical safety system. We also did the reverse engineering of the existing electrical safety system to explore potential problems there. The result can also help improve the existing one. Overall, a systematic approach to constructing electrical safety system based on SE is proposed for the first time in this paper. Note that the method described here can be adopted in the study of other safety systems.

HRD Implications of Robotic Technology in Organizations (조직 내 로봇 기술의 사용에 관한 HRD 함의)

  • Heo, Se-Jin
    • Management & Information Systems Review
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    • v.34 no.3
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    • pp.251-271
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    • 2015
  • This article examines the HRD implications of using robotic technology in the workplace. Because existing literature has been primarily about the technical engineering aspects of robotics, it is difficult to understand the socio-cultural perspective about the challenges and potentials of robotization in the workplace. Especially, in order to identify the best organizational support appropriate for working with robots, this article indicates alternative perspective for observing human-robot interaction in the workplace. In addition, this article points out four implications of robotic technology in organizations for practice and research development in HRD. These implications were identified as (1) defining the components of expertise in terms of human-robot interaction, (2) coping with organizational change process resulting from robotic technology, (3) designing appropriate interventions for an organization to effectively assist human-robot interaction, and (4) establishing the code of work ethics in the robotic age. The suggested implications can contribute to shaping conceptual frameworks for further empirical social science research.

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Theoretical analysis of e-commerce in global economic market in terms of benefits and disadvantageous

  • He, Xiaoqiang;Li, Jialing;Hani, Ibrahim Rasool;Nhu, B.N.;Assilzadeh, H.;Ali, H. Elhosiny;Elattar, Samia
    • Smart Structures and Systems
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    • v.30 no.5
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    • pp.545-556
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    • 2022
  • Through the examination of literatures, electronic commerce is a subject which is accepted in enterprises to define e-commerce adoption, trends, and issues that are assisting and obstructing its efficacy. E-commerce offers numerous advantages to consumer satisfaction in any place and helps the company to get a competitive benefit over its competitors. The Internet has expanded the scope of business. Many business information is available by the global network that supports information gathering between organizations, businesses and their clients, while various divisions of a business is increasing at an exponential rate. Meanwhile, there are a few barriers to proper e-commerce usage and adoption, such as reliable internet connections, poor e-commerce supporting infrastructures, logistics systems presenting socio-regulatory and poor transportation barriers and demonstrating the significant improvement of e-commerce reliable and affordable Internet provisions, i.e., Internet cost, intensity, and reasonable level of e-readiness. The operational and strategic significance of information-based virtual value chains for all organizations cannot be emphasized. As a consequence, this study confirms worldwide market elements of e-commerce, such as its issues, benefits, relevance, scope, facilitators and projects prospective obstacles in a developing economy.

An algorithm for evaluating time-related human reliability using instrumentation cues and procedure cues

  • Kim, Yochan;Kim, Jaewhan;Park, Jinkyun;Choi, Sun Yeong;Kim, Seunghwan;Jung, Wondea;Kim, Hee Eun;Shin, Seung Ki
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.53 no.2
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    • pp.368-375
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    • 2021
  • The performance time of human operators has been recognized as a key aspect of human reliability in socio-complex systems, including nuclear industries. Because of the importance of the time factor, most existing human reliability assessment methods provide ways to quantify human error probabilities (HEPs) that are associated with the performance time. To quantify such kinds of HEPs, it is crucial to rationally predict the length of time required and time available and compare them. However, there have not been detailed guidelines that identify the critical cue presentation time or initial time of human performance, which is important to calculate the time information. In this paper, we introduce a time-related HEP calculation technique with a decision algorithm that determines the critical cue and its timing. The calculation process is presented with the application examples. It is expected that the proposed algorithm will reduce the variability in the time-related reliability assessment and strengthen the scientific evidence of the assessment process. The detailed description is provided in the technical report KAERI/TR-7607/2019.

Conceptual Design of Information Displays Supporting Severe Accident Management in Nuclear Power Plants Based on Ecological Interface Design (EID) Framework (생태학적 인터페이스 디자인 프레임워크에 기반한 원전 중대사고 지원 정보디스플레이 개념설계)

  • Cho, Piljae;Ham, Dong-Han;Lee, Hyunchul
    • Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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    • v.24 no.1
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    • pp.61-72
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    • 2022
  • This study aims to propose a conceptual design of information displays for supporting responsive actions under severe accidents in Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs). Severe accidents in NPPs can be defined as accident conditions that are more severe than a design basis accident and involving significant core degradation. Since the Fukushima accident in 2011, the management of severe accidents is increasing important in nuclear industry. Dealing with severe accidents involves several cognitively complex activities, such as situation assessment; accordingly, it is significant to provide human operators with appropriate knowledge support in their cognitive activities. Currently, severe accident management guidelines (SAMG) have been developed for this purpose. However, it is also inevitable to develop information displays for supporting the management of severe accidents, with which human operators can monitor, control, and diagnose the states of NPPs under severe accident situations. It has been reported that Ecological Interface Design (EID) framework can be a viable approach for developing information displays used in complex socio-technical systems such as NPPs. Considering the design principles underlying the EID, we can say that EID-based information displays can be useful for dealing with severe accidents effectively. This study developed a conceptual design of information displays to be used in severe accidents, following the stipulated design process and principles of the EID framework. We particularly attempted to develop a conceptual design to make visible the principle knowledge to be used for coping with dynamically changing situations of NPPs under severe accidents.