Y is best: how distributed situational awareness is mediated by organisational structure and correlated with task success

Sorensen, L.J. and Stanton, N.A. (2013) Y is best: how distributed situational awareness is mediated by organisational structure and correlated with task success. [in special issue: Situation Awareness and Safety] Safety Science, 56, 72-79. (doi:10.1016/j.ssci.2012.05.026).

Abstract

Teams are widely used in safety critical environments to deal with high levels of complexity. The ability of teams to develop relevant and appropriate Situational Awareness has been considered a vital part of safe operation with breakdown in Situational Awareness acknowledged as a contributing factor in human error and fratricide. Organisational structure has similarly been found to have an effect upon team performance. Indeed, a relationship has been suggested between Situational Awareness and performance, however, as of yet little research has found a relationship between Distributed Situational Awareness and team performance. This paper presents a study which sought to shed light on this issue. A large experimental study was undertaken where five different organisational structures were compared in terms of team performance and Distributed Situational Awareness. A relationship was found between organisational structure and performance, confirming similar findings presented in the literature. Most importantly, a positive correlation was observed between task success and Distributed Situational Awareness. This study has implications for the organisation of teams and for the further understanding of Distributed Situational Awareness in teams and the impact on performance.

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Contributors

Author: N.A. Stanton

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