Ergonomics and resilience engineering in modelling complex systems : variability management for reconciling work-as-imagined and work-as-done

Abstract

This thesis addresses the problem of managing variability in complex sociotechnical systems. Particularly, it explores how organizational and technological design can offer support to several domains in coping with complexity by means of variability management. To tackle this problem, we propose a methodology – Ergonomic Dynamic Modelling – that bridges tools and methods from Ergonomics and Resilience Engineering to guide system design in managing variability. We examine the value of this methodology by applying it across multiple complex domains under five specific and distinct purposes: A - charting the impact of system’s environment conditions in accomplishing public policies; B - understanding implications of organizational restructuring to resilience and brittleness; C – disclosing software requirements for improving resilient performance; D – strengthening safety practices stemming from workers’ knowledge; and E – predicting system behavior under a crisis situation. Each study builds on the Resilience Engineering framework and produces contributions for managing variability in the addressed domain, both by helping designers to realign planned capacity and system demands and by supporting dynamic adaptations at the sharp-end.