Ella-Mae Hubbard

Toward an Understanding of Culture and the Performance of Teams in Complex Systems

Systems are becoming ever more complex and the practice of systems engineering is becoming more formalized. However, this formalization is aimed primarily at the technical and process components of complex systems and systems of systems. National cultural variations in the human components of such systems (typically functioning as groups or teams) are not typically included in the formal specifications and, as a result, the technical end products do not fully compensate for these variations. This paper provides an introduction to culture, its sources, its measurement, and its effects on team performance. It presents a summary of the research literature on culture and teams, and an overview of a set of pilot studies carried out by the authors. It then describes a methodology and software tool developed by the authors for the assessment of the cultural traits of team members and the estimation of the effects of team member culture on team performance. This paper concludes that despite some disparities in the results of research studies, sufficiently strong relationships between culture and team performance have been established to justify the development of culture-sensitive team performance prediction tools.

Working towards a holistic organisational systems model

This paper presents an integration effort combining a number of soft factors modelling tools and considers the potential impact of such an overall tool in a system of systems environment. The paper introduces the tools developed and how it is envisaged they will work together to provide a comprehensive, coherent output. It is suggested that a suite of interoperable tools of this form could aid the design and operation of organisational systems and ensure they are fit for purpose.

Culture and the Safety of Complex Automated Sociotechnical Systems

Sociotechnical systems are becoming more complex and increasingly automated. Although human error is now widely viewed as playing a key role in the majority of system failures, there is an increasing recognition of the oversimplification inherent in such a view. This paper examines mismatches between the procedures and automation technologies of sociotechnical systems and their operators from the viewpoint of human culture and capabilities, with a particular focus on flight deck automation. Following an introduction to culture, its sources, its measurement, and its effects, this paper describes recent theories of thinking and decision making, and the influence of culture on decisions. Problems that are associated with automation are presented and it is concluded that current automation systems perform as very inadequate team members, leaving the human operators or crew unprepared when failure occurs or unusual events arise.

Culture and the performance of teams in complex systems

The practice of systems engineering is becoming more formalized. However, this formalization is aimed primarily at the technical and process components of complex systems. National cultural variations in the human components of such systems (typically functioning as groups or teams) are not typically included in the formal specifications and, as a result, the technical end-products do not fully compensate for these variations. This paper provides an introduction to culture, its measurement and its effects on team performance. The paper then describes a methodology and software tool for the assessment of the cultural traits of team members and the estimation of the effects of team culture on task or mission performance. The paper concludes that, despite some disparities in the results of research studies, sufficiently strong relationships between culture and team performance have been established to justify the representation of user culture in systems engineering toolsets.

A systems-of-systems approach to the development of flexible, cost-effective training environments

In todays aircrew training context, although there is an abundance of training systems that can enhance training and reduce costs, the challenge for the military training organizations to select the most cost-effective training systems to address their immediate and future needs is unresolved. The urgency of this dilemma is exacerbated by shrinking defense budgets. This paper shows how the systems engineering perspective can help the decision-making process for selecting the training media equipment to construct a cost-effective training media environment. A multidisciplinary approach and systems engineering techniques were used to develop a theoretical model of the Mission Training Environment arrangement. Implications of the approach, such as that the training environment can be viewed as a system of systems and that the choice is based on combination of equipment, will be discussed.

Modelling the human components of complex systems

Complex systems are specified, designed, built and tested by humans, all of whom are immersed in a cultural environment that colours their emotions, cognition, decisions and behaviours. This paper presents a brief overview of culture, its sources, its measurement and its effects on the performance of complex systems. This paper also describes a series of culture and personality modelling tools that the authors have developed for the purpose of assessing the match of individuals and teams to missions or tasks, based on their cultural backgrounds and/or personality traits.

Supporting multi-discipline undergraduate group projects

Abstract Student group projects are an important part of undergraduate engineering programmes. They provide an opportunity for students to apply the theory that they have learned and experience a situation analogous to that which they will encounter after graduation. A number of significant changes have been made to the group projects run by the School of Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering at Loughborough University. One of these changes means that students on different degree courses from across the department will be working together on the same projects. This paper reports on a research project that investigated effective practice in the management and support of major student group projects in the School of Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering and also across Loughborough University. Technological solutions were sought that were of potential use in supporting the student group project process. Requirements for a support system have been identified and an eLearning hub, complete with user guides for both students and staff, has been developed. This new support system will help students manage their group projects, thereby gaining the best experience. It will also aid staff in their understanding of the project and their role in it. Lessons learned here, together with evaluation and guidance, will provide useful points of interest for those involved in other student group projects. This paper focuses on the identification of issues to be addressed during the evolution of a group project module and development of a support system for multi-discipline student group projects.

Computer games for learning: an evidence based approach

Scoring a 50‐point word in Words with Friends, playing Call of Duty over the Internet, and even winning at Solitaire—games like these appeal to many of us because they challenge our abilities and stimulate our imagination. Recent research has focused on the connection between game‐playing and learning. Can playing games make a difference in our ability to learn, and can this learning transfer to new situations?

From preventative to predictive maintenance: The organisational challenge

Introduction of new technology (technology implementation) within an organisation can have wide reaching implications, beyond the effectiveness and efficiency savings that are typically the aim of such an endeavour. The ‘Health and Prognostic Assessment of Railway Assets for Predictive Maintenance’ project developed a prognostic tool, which aimed to support enhancement of the London underground’s remote condition monitoring system to support change from reactive and preventative to predictive maintenance, in order to increase effectiveness and efficiency and reduce lost customer hours. This paper investigates the organisational challenges associated with the introduction of such a tool. The paper describes the approach adopted to model the extant maintenance processes (focusing on role mapping) and associated organisational structures which revealed issues such as unclear processes, poor communication and data sharing links and problems with delineation of responsibility for decision making. It also describes the development of a new maintenance process model that incorporates the additional functionality of the new prognostic tool, taking in to account changes of roles, responsibilities, organisational processes and activities.

Guest Editorial: Special Issue on Systems Engineering in Cooperative and Competitive Distributed Decision Making for Complex Dynamic Systems

The articles in this special section focus on systems engineering in cooperative and competitive distributed networks and systems.