Showing papers by "Simon French published in 2014"

Emergency planning and management in health care : priority research topics

Abstract: Many major incidents have significant impacts on people's health, placing additional demands on health-care organisations. The main aim of this paper is to suggest a prioritised agenda for organisational and management research on emergency planning and management relevant to U.K. health care, based on a scoping study. A secondary aim is to enhance knowledge and understanding of health-care emergency planning among the wider research community, by highlighting key issues and perspectives on the subject and presenting a conceptual model. The study findings have much in common with those of previous U.S.-focused scoping reviews, and with a recent U.K.-based review, confirming the relative paucity of U.K.-based research. No individual research topic scored highly on all of the key measures identified, with communities and organisations appearing to differ about which topics are the most important. Four broad research priorities are suggested: the affected public; inter- and intra-organisational collaboration; preparing responders and their organisations; and prioritisation and decision making.

A discussion of the cognitive load in collaborative problem-solving

Abstract: Collaborative problem-solving is inherent to complex participatory systems. Supporting collaborative problem-solving is challenging. Problem-solving, like all knowledge-based collaborative effort, requires significant cognitive effort. Understanding the cognitive load involved is important for the design of group support techniques and tools. This paper presents results on cognitive load related to problem-solving in the decision-making phase, in which alternative solutions or options are evaluated and the group engages in, inter alia, consensus building, negotiation or commitment building to agree on a course of action. This decision-making phase is less often studied than its preceding phases, i.e. divergence or brainstorming of alternatives, and convergence of alternatives to a parsimonious set to consider for the final phase of decision-making. The cognitive activities involved in these two phases precede the cognitive activities involved in decision-making. This paper focuses on managing cognitive load involved in the decision-making phase based on the results of literature analysis, an overview of techniques and finally expert validation. The paper concludes with an outlook of classes of cognitive tasks in collaborative problem-solving and the implications of this perspective.

Societal Decision Making

Abstract: The context of decision making in the public sector is somewhat different from that in business and industry. Decision making may not be confined to a small management team or board of directors; but rather involves many politicians, officials, and different political institutions. There is a need to address many stakeholder concerns and be seen to do so, particularly when the decision involves major technological, health, environmental, or other risks. The issues addressed tend to be more complex and involve many factors and uncertainties. Here, we discuss how decision and risk analyses fit into such contexts and the differences between their approach and that of cost–benefit analysis. Keywords: cost–benefit analysis; decision analysis; regulators and planning; societal decision making

Nuclear Emergency Management: driven by precedent or international guidance?

Abstract: The NREFS project is re-evaluating the management of radiation accidents, paying attention to environmental, financial and safety issues and to the threat and response phase. In designing our project some two years ago, we were concerned to avoid any assumption that a future accident will be similar to a past accident, in particular the Chernobyl and Fukushima Accidents. After a year of research on the issues to be considered and the criteria that could or should drive the decision making, our concern has increased. We have found that international guidance provided by organisations such as ICRP and IAEA lack the specificity to help decision makers. Precedent set in the handling of earlier accidents provides much clearer and tighter guidance ‐ and, moreover, one may feel that that the public will expect them to follow such precedent. Unfortunately the circumstances of a future accident may make precedent inapplicable. Consequently we believe that there is an urgent need to think more widely about nuclear emergency management.

Players in a Decision

Abstract: Different people with different roles may be involved in a decision—decision makers, experts, stakeholders, and decision analysts. Each has different interests and responsibilities in the decision-making process and they interact in different ways. Understanding and respecting these differences is an important aspect in designing an appropriate decision or risk analysis. Keywords: decision analysis; decision maker; decision analyst; expert; stakeholder