A systemic perspective of situation awareness

Abstract

PurposeMaintaining a high level of situation awareness (SA) is considered one of the most essential elements for safe and effective flight operations. In a study of accidents among major air carriers, 88 per cent of those involving human error could be attributed to problems with SA. In complex domains such as aviation, SA is inherently distributed over multiple people and groups and over human and machine agents. The purpose of this paper is to present an alternative perspective to the hegemony of the cognitive approach to SA that focuses on the systemic nature of SA.Design/methodology/approachAn alternative approach to the hegemony of the cognitive perspective of SA has been presented, that focuses on a systemic or holistic conceptualisation of SA through the application of Somerville's actor network theory (ANT). By advocating a seamless web composed of actors, the actor network approach dissolves the dichotomous relationship between humans and machines and society and technology into a non‐anthropocentric framework. This paper further develops this systemic perspective of SA through an analysis of the tragic 2002 mid‐air collision over Überlingen, Germany case study.FindingsThe application of ANT to this case study brings to light some insights with wide ranging consequences for how we think of SA and accident aetiology.Practical implicationsThe systemic perspective of SA has far‐reaching design implications with regard to complex socio‐technical systems.Originality/valueThis paper facilitates the perspective that looks at the inter‐connectedness of the heterogeneous elements characterized by the technological and non‐technological (human, social, organizational, political) elements of complex socio‐technical systems.