Effects of an automated maintenance management system on organizational communication

Studies sponsored by the Electric Power Research Institute have identified organizational communication at nuclear power plants as a problem warranting special attention. The authors describe a project that examined ways to alleviate communication problems related to the maintenance work control process. The primary purpose was to evaluate the effectiveness of two techniques for improving organizational communications: (1) an automated maintenance management system (AMMS), and (2) interdepartmental coordination meetings. Four nuclear power plants participated in the evaluation. Two plants installed AMMSs, one plant instituted interdepartmental job coordination meetings, and the fourth plant serves as a control for the evaluation. The results of the evaluations showed that, for many of the communication criteria, automation yielded more improvement than coordination meetings. However, on an overall effectiveness basis, persistent differences existed between the two AMMS plants. It is concluded that the automation of the maintenance work order process has the potential to improve communication and plant maintenance but that the developers should exercise care in selecting the AMMS functions to include in their system.<>