Abstract
This study aims to characterize and assess the organizational cultures
of two Nordic nuclear power plant (NPP) maintenance units. The research
consisted of NPP maintenance units of Forsmark (Sweden) and Olkiluoto
(Finland). The study strives to anticipate the consequences of the
current practices, conceptions and assumptions in the given
organizations to their ability and willingness to fulfill the
organizational core task. The methods utilized in the study were
organizational culture and core task questionnaire (CULTURE02) and
semi-structured interviews. Similarities and differences in the
perceived organizational values, conceptions of one's own work,
conceptions of the demands of the maintenance task and organizational
practices at the maintenance units were explored. The maintenance units
at Olkiluoto and Forsmark had quite different organizational cultures,
but they also shared a set of dimensions such as strong personal
emphasis placed on safety. The authors propose that different cultural
features and organizational practices may be equally effective from the
perspective of the core task. The results show that due to the
complexity of the maintenance work, the case organizations tend to
emphasize some aspects of the maintenance task more than others. The
reliability consequences of these cultural solutions to the maintenance
task are discussed. The authors propose that the organizational core
task, in this case the maintenance task, should be clear for all the
workers. The results give implications that this has been a challenge
recently as the maintenance work has been changing. The concepts of
organizational core task and organizational culture could be useful as
management tools to anticipate the consequences of organizational
changes.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 331-345 |
Journal | Reliability Engineering and System Safety |
Volume | 89 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2005 |
MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Keywords
- organizational culture
- maintenance work
- safety culture
- organizational assessment
- work psychology
- task analysis
- nuclear safety
- nuclear power plants