Márta Juhász

Humane Orientation as a New Cultural Dimension of the GLOBE Project A Validation Study of the GLOBE Scale and Out-Group Humane Orientation in 25 Countries

We validate, extend, and empirically and theoretically criticize the cultural dimension of humane orientation of the project GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness Research Program). Theoretically, humane orientation is not just a one-dimensionally positive concept about being caring, altruistic, and kind to others as discussed by Kabasakal and Bodur (2004), but there is also a certain ambivalence to this concept. We suggest differentiating humane orientation toward in-group members from humane orientation toward out-group members. A multicountry construct validation study used student samples from 25 countries that were either high or low in humane orientation (N = 876) and studied their relation to the traditional GLOBE scale and other cultural-level measures (agreeableness, religiosity, authoritarianism, and welfare state score). Findings revealed a strong correlation between humane orientation and agreeableness, welfare state score, and religiosity. Out-group humane orientation proved to be the more relevant subfacet of the original humane orientation construct, suggesting that future research on humane orientation should make use of this measure instead of the vague original scale. The ambivalent character of out-group humane orientation is displayed in its positive correlation to high authoritarianism. Patriotism was used as a control variable for noncritical acceptance of one’s society but did not change the correlations. Our findings are discussed as an example of how rigid expectations and a lack of tolerance for diversity may help explain the ambivalent nature of humane orientation.

Human Aspects of NPP Operator Teamwork

The aim of this Chapter is to describe several important human aspects of NPP operator teams that have significant effect on safe and efficient operations. The first part of the Chapter provides an overview about the concept of high reliability organisations, safety culture, focusing on the question how to conceptualise and measure safety culture, presenting two distinct perspectives about background of human unsafe acts. Based on theoretical and empirical works made in high reliability organisations, the second part of the Chapter aims to detail the paradox of human factors, describing the main task, job and teamwork characteristics of first line personnel. The first line personnel in the NPP control room works in team. There have been several attempts to describe the characteristics of efficient teamwork, although little is known about the antecedents of efficient teamwork in high reliability organisation. Based on the InputProcess-Output model the empirical works aim to understand those inputs and processes that determine safe and efficient operator teamwork. After the theoretical considerations, the chapter synthesise different empirical works made in NPP control room analysing operator teamwork from different perspectives. Based on the theoretical works about specific task loads, the goal of Case study is to identify particular sources of task load, as inputs that influence operators well being. The revealed list of task load offers a practical guidance how to enhance operators’ well-being, safe and efficient work performance. Another important input of operator teamwork is the team members’ personality. Even though the NPP environment is strongly standardised, providing little room for individuals’ personality, team members’ characteristics influence how they behave and perform in this restricted environment. Based on Five Factor Model of personality the goal of Research 1 is to determine those personality traits that count for efficient teamwork, relating personality to team communication, to behavioural markers of team members, and performance. Operator team is a professional work team, requiring the interaction of team members representing different areas of speciality. It is important to understand how the operator team members having specific technical and professional knowledge are able to operate and manage jointly the plant system. Communication as a key process is used to share specific technical and human aspects of the plant parameters, operations, establishing the shared knowledge about the plant, environment, task and team members. This shared knowledge helps the operator team to develop joint strategies in order to manage the plant and to share different levels of task load during their operation. Research 2 aims to describe

Impact of non-technical skills on NPP Teams’ performance: Task load effects on communication

Working in a high risk environment as a nuclear power plant (NPP) is inherently stressful. The teams of front line personnel play a major role in the effective functioning of the organization. Team efficacy does not only depend on the professional knowledge of its members but also on their non- technical skills. In our present research we emphasize the importance of communication, cooperation and stress management. We video-tape recorded and analyzed the communi- cation of the control room operator teams and investigated specific communication dimensions of the NPP field. We found significant differences in the communication dimensions under high task load. We also proved the effect of familiarity in communication among team members under and after high task load situations.

Field measurement protocol for team communication: a study of medical rehabilitation team interaction

The paper is introducing an online communication behavior measurement protocol, developed for medical team work, especially for studying the medical rehabilitation teams on interdisciplinary meetings. The purpose of the research is to analyze the development and usage of shared mental models (SMM) through the communication in medical practice of interdisciplinary rehabilitation teams in order to identify the factors determining the patient safety, and the effectiveness of rehabilitation. The online quantitative rating method uses two parallel raters to count and record the communication utterances of each participant directed to another. The quantitative and interactional data is analyzed, and visualized by AGNA network analysis software. Based on the results (network indices, and communication network diagram) the strong and weak points of communication can be recognized, as the important areas of SMM development. This can be a basis of a development process to enhance team effectiveness, and patient safety.