Abstract
Motivation - To shed light on the context and content of the human
operators' work in maintaining the dependability of telecommunication
networks. Research approach - A case study was accomplished in a large
telecommunication company. The research focused on clarifying the impact of
human operators on the dependability of telecommunication network. 20
professionals were interviewed related to their conceptions of the possible
generic role of human error to network dependability, and to the
human-centric requirements of network control. Findings/Design - Interviews
confirmed the existence of the assumption among members of the Communication
Network Operations (CNO) community that the human operator has an important
impact on the network dependability. Specific sources of errors in daily work
were identified and strategies of avoiding erroneous action were described.
Moreover we defined generic control demands of the CNO work domain, and
operators' ways of coping with these demands. Focusing on these demands would
provide proactive practices to increase dependability. Research
limitations/Implications - The study was restricted to one Finnish
telecommunication company. This limits possible empirical generalisation of
the findings. Originality/Value - There is a scarcity of scientific
literature about the characteristics of the control work and its demands in
this critical domain. Take away message - Regarding human dependability of
communication network operations, a combination of resilient and proactive
ways of acting is needed. Due to daily changes in the network and the
continuous increase of its complexity, specifically change management on both
organisational and work practice levels is required
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Proceedings of the 29th Annual European Conference on Cognitive Ergonomics |
| Place of Publication | Rostock |
| Publisher | Association for Computing Machinery ACM |
| Pages | 35-42 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-1-4503-1029-1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2011 |
| MoE publication type | A4 Article in a conference publication |
| Event | European Conference on Cognitive Ergonomics - Rostock, Germany Duration: 24 Aug 2011 → 26 Aug 2011 Conference number: 29 |
Conference
| Conference | European Conference on Cognitive Ergonomics |
|---|---|
| Abbreviated title | ECCE '11 |
| Country/Territory | Germany |
| City | Rostock |
| Period | 24/08/11 → 26/08/11 |
Keywords
- Human dependability
- communication network operation
- work demands
- human error