Nadezhda Gotcheva

System modeling with the DISC framework: evidence from safety-critical domains

The objective of this paper is to illustrate the development and application of the Design for Integrated Safety Culture (DISC) framework for system modeling by evaluating organizational potential for safety in nuclear and healthcare domains. The DISC framework includes criteria for good safety culture and a description of functions that the organization needs to implement in order to orient the organization toward the criteria. Three case studies will be used to illustrate the utilization of the DISC framework in practice.

Safety culture and subcontractor network governance in a complex safety critical project

In safety critical industries many activities are currently carried out by subcontractor networks. Nevertheless, there are few studies where the core dimensions of resilience would have been studied in safety critical network activities. This paper claims that engineering resilience into a system is largely about steering the development of culture of the system towards better ability to anticipate, monitor, respond and learn. Thus, safety culture literature has relevance in resilience engineering field. This paper analyzes practical and theoretical challenges in applying the concept of safety culture in a complex, dynamic network of subcontractors involved in the construction of a new nuclear power plant in Finland, Olkiluoto 3. The concept of safety culture is in focus since it is widely used in nuclear industry and bridges the scientific and practical interests. This paper approaches subcontractor networks as complex systems. However, the management model of the Olkiluoto 3 project is to a large degree a traditional top-down hierarchy, which creates a mismatch between the management approach and the characteristics of the system to be managed. New insights were drawn from network governance studies.

87 Inter-organisational complexity and safety culture in nuclear industry projects

Background Typically, safety culture models aim at grasping a culture of a coherent unit, and it is vague how to apply them in large-scale project networks that consist of multiple varied agents with somewhat conflicting objectives. Recent studies in the nuclear industry identified a set of practical and theoretical challenges for applying the concept of safety culture in a dynamic network of subcontractors involved in the construction of a new nuclear power plant (Macchi et al., 2013; Oedewald and Gotcheva, 2015). The present work focuses on exploring the links between inter-organisational complexity and safety culture with the understanding that projects are complex systems composed of numerous, heterogeneous and interdependent agents. Methods Complex nuclear industry projects provide a relevant context for studying inter-organisational aspects and their relations to safety culture, since they involve multiple different companies and coordination across organisational boundaries is required to achieve the project objectives safely and efficiently. The method is literature review and case studies carried out in the nuclear industry in Finland. Results The study results in characterisation of inter-organisational dynamics and sources of complexity in nuclear industry projects, and discusses implications for safety culture. Some key aspects refer to fragmentation due to many different stakeholders with own practices and value frameworks, local interactions between agents from various national cultures and subcultures, uncertainty, increased diversity and interdependency. Conclusions The study advances the current understanding of inter-organisational complexity and its implications for safety culture in nuclear industry projects.

Developing smart and safe organizations: an evolutionary approach

Purpose – This paper proposes an evolutionary approach to developing smart and safe organizations based on an alignment of two frameworks, an integrated safety culture model and an intelligent organizational systems model. It argues that diversity of propensities, defined as innate tendencies in individuals or groups to behave in particular ways shapes the potential for growth and evolution of organizations. It highlights the critical role of human systems and leadership in maintaining coherence and dealing with the challenges of increased complexity as organizations evolve.Design/methodology/approach – The paper aligns the Intelligent Organizational Systems (IOS) evolutionary model and the Design for Integrated Safety Culture (DISC) model to describe evolutionary development of safety practice in organizations. The result is an ‘evolution matrix’, that reveal the links between safety performance and organizational evolution.Findings – Development of an organizations capacity for safety consciousness thr...