Chasing shared understanding in drilling operations

Abstract

Lack of shared understanding is frequently found to be the main cause when accidents are investigated. Still, few studies explicitly explore and document the causal effects of shared understanding in successful work. Thus, the attribution of insufficient shared understanding as an accident cause lacks the substantiation of shared understanding as a contributor to successful work. In this article a case of measurement discrepancies in an offshore drilling operation is studied, and in the elaboration of the case shared understanding is found not to qualify as a condition with significant impact on the collaborative work. One important reason for this is the epistemological inadequacy of the different concepts of shared understanding. Although more critical research on shared understanding is needed before one can conclude more generic on this topic, the findings are important to the current development of Integrated Operations where shared understanding is pointed out as an important target area. Keywords Shared understanding Á Coordination Á Cooperative work Á Distributed cognition Á Integrated operationsA scene from an offshore drilling operation: at two different stages of the operation, the measurements of the same depth show different results. Due to different types of risks and success criteria, the significance of the depth measurement reliability is different in the short and the long time perspective. The relevant time perspective also differs for the actors involved; while the drilling engineers have a short time perspective and are willing to accept an accuracy in the range of decimetres, the reservoir engineers have a longer time perspective and require less uncertainty of measurements. What role does shared understanding between the actors play in such a situation?

Distributed situation awareness

“…Other researchers are beginning to catch on and find the DSA concept, theory and methodology useful in their work, including, but not restricted to Bourbousson et al 2011;Fioratou et al 2010;Golightly et al 2013;Golightly et al 2010;Macquet and Stanton 2014;Patrick and Morgan 2010;Haavik 2011;Schulz et al 2013. The groundswell of evidence suggests that DSA has much to offer to our understanding of some of the complexities of socio-technical systems, and this is just the beginning.…”

Keep your coats on: augmented reality and sensework in surgery and surgical telemedicine

“…Studies of sensework presuppose an acknowledgement of the role of materiality and technology for sensing and thus expand the meaning of cognition from a mental process to a sociotechnical practice [and demonstrating the relation to (Latour 1986;Hutchins 1995a)]. Shared understanding, including shared situation awareness, is another category that is challenged by the sociotechnical constructivism of sensework (see Haavik 2011). The examples of sensemaking and shared situation awareness are mentioned to underscore that in the rich variety of approaches to understand collaborative work in sociotechnical systems, some ideas are indeed overlapping but not all are-and being precise on these nuances are important.…”

Let the Reader Decide

“…We contend that DSA presents a new paradigm for analyzing and explaining SA in systems, and there is a groundswell of studies that are tipping the balance of evidence in that direction (Bourbousson, Poizat, Saury, & Seve, 2011; Fioratou, Flin, Glavin, & Patey, 2010; Golightly et al, 2013; Golightly, Wilson, Lowe, & Sharples, 2010; Macquet & Stanton, 2014; Patrick & Morgan, 2010; and others). We do not expect the debate to end here, but we do encourage readers to approach all of the ideas with an open mind, try out the approaches, and decide for themselves (e.g., Haavik, 2011; Schulz, Endsley, Kochs, Gelb, & Wagner, 2013).…”