INM386 - Socio-technical systems, risk and resilience
This module can be taken as part of a Postgraduate course or as a 5 day Continuous Professional Development (CPD) course.Rationale
The study of risk and resilience is increasingly considering the role of human users and the social and organisational contexts of computer use. Humans play varied crucial roles, whether as users or skilled operators of the computer applications or as administrators in charge of the maintenance of computerised equipment, or as designers and developers of the tools.
Humans affect dependability and resilience in many different ways. Humans can increase risks, by making mistakes or via malicious behaviour, but they can also have also a positive contribution to system dependability and resilience because of their flexibility and ability to detect problems and to initiate recovery actions
The purpose of this module is to provide an understanding of the contribution of human operators and organisational factors to risk, resilience and dependability.
Educational Aims
This module aims to enable a student to:
- understand the role played by humans in complex computer-based systems;
- understand the concept of human error and the ways in which it can be anticipated and mitigated;
- understand the concepts of automation surprises, computer-induced decision bias, responsibility, trust and trustworthiness;
- understand the concept of resilience engineering, including the roles played by individuals and organisations;
- understand, implement and apply principles, tools and procedures of human error assessment;
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this programme, a student will be expected to be able to
Knowledge and understanding
- Critically evaluate the role of human performance and human limitations in the dependability of computer based systems
- Apply some human error assessment tools and procedures, and understand the implications of relevant techniques for risk and resilience
- Identify the role of organisational factors in system resilience
Values and Attitudes
- Identify the potential problems associated with human error and automation surprises;
- Consider humans as crucial components in socio-technical systems, not only as potential sources of problems but also as positive contributors to resilience and dependability
- Be sensitised to social, organisational, managerial issues in risk and resilience
Cognitive/Intellectual Skills
- Critically evaluate research and literature relating to human factors and resilience engineering
- Evaluate and use appropriate tools and methods for assessing human error
Subject Specific Skills
- Identify and explain the psychological, social and organisational factors affecting risk and resilience
- Apply a method for human error assessment, at a basic level, with reference to a specific problem
Transferable Skills
- Account for psychological and social factors in the operation of systems and organisations
- Detect and explain the standard fallacies with respect to human error and computerised decision support
- Research and use scientific literature for research purposes
Indicative Content
- Introduction to Human Factors
- Cognitive processes and human performance
- Human error (concepts and classifications)
- Human error assessment
- Risk perception and communication
- Responsibility, Trust and Trustworthiness
- Mode confusion and automation surprises (biases)
- Decision support systems and operators
- Organisational factors: normal accidents, high reliability organisations, resilience engineering