Title :
Reexamining Threat Rigidity: Implications for Design
Author :
Plotnick, L. ; Turoff, Murray ; Van Den Eede, G.
Author_Institution :
New Jersey Inst. of Technol., Newark, NJ
Abstract :
Emergencies today seem larger, more complex, and unique than those of the past. Responding to them requires flexibility and creativity not easily achieved. The threat-rigidity thesis proposed by Staw, Sandelands, and Dutton proposes that response to an environmental threat is often one of constriction of control and restriction of information that results in a rigidity of response that can be maladaptive in a new and/or large crisis. However, there are ways to mitigate maladaptive responses. For example, the principles of High Reliability Organizations and Crew Resource Management can ameliorate rigidity of response. In a synthesis of the theory and empirical results from a number of different areas we show how they fit together to explain some of the observed properties of the threat rigidity syndrome. We propose a model of an individual´s cognitive responses to threat and review system design principles that can support flexible, adaptive responses in crisis.
Keywords :
emergency services; human resource management; reliability; security; systems analysis; cognitive responses; crew resource management; emergencies; high reliability organizations; maladaptive responses; system design; threat rigidity; Absorption; Centralized control; Context modeling; Decision making; Degradation; Delay; Drugs; Psychology; Resource management; Stress;
Conference_Titel :
System Sciences, 2009. HICSS '09. 42nd Hawaii International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Big Island, HI
Print_ISBN :
978-0-7695-3450-3
DOI :
10.1109/HICSS.2009.365