TY - GEN
T1 - Systems ambiguity
T2 - 51st Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, HFES 2007
AU - Lrurses, Ayse P.
AU - Xiao, Yan
AU - Seidl, Kristin
AU - Vaidya, Vinay
AU - Bochicchio, Grant
PY - 2007
Y1 - 2007
N2 - To be a high-reliability organization, organizations need to continually assess risks and predict potential failures before even they actually occur. In this paper, we present a new method to uncover and assess risks and failures embedded in a work system: systems ambiguity framework. We define systems ambiguity as uncertainty or vagueness that may prevent a work system from achieving its purpose. We identified five main types of ambiguity in a work system: task ambiguity, responsibility ambiguity, expectation ambiguity, method ambiguity, and exception ambiguity. Examples for each type of ambiguity are provided from a qualitative study aimed at identifying the underlying causes of non-compliance to evidence based guidelines in intensive care units. We argue that systems ambiguity framework can be used alone or in conjunction with well-known risk assessment methods (e.g., root cause analysis, failure modes and effects analysis) to uncover systems failures both reactively and proactively.
AB - To be a high-reliability organization, organizations need to continually assess risks and predict potential failures before even they actually occur. In this paper, we present a new method to uncover and assess risks and failures embedded in a work system: systems ambiguity framework. We define systems ambiguity as uncertainty or vagueness that may prevent a work system from achieving its purpose. We identified five main types of ambiguity in a work system: task ambiguity, responsibility ambiguity, expectation ambiguity, method ambiguity, and exception ambiguity. Examples for each type of ambiguity are provided from a qualitative study aimed at identifying the underlying causes of non-compliance to evidence based guidelines in intensive care units. We argue that systems ambiguity framework can be used alone or in conjunction with well-known risk assessment methods (e.g., root cause analysis, failure modes and effects analysis) to uncover systems failures both reactively and proactively.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=58149457580&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:58149457580
SN - 9781605600376
T3 - Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
SP - 626
EP - 630
BT - 51st Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, HFES 2007
Y2 - 1 October 2007 through 5 October 2007
ER -