Title

Measuring Resilience

Keywords

adaptability; macrocognitive systems; measurement capacity; resilience; sensemaking

Abstract

Objective: As human factors and ergonomics (HF/E) moves to embrace a greater systems perspective concerning human-machine technologies, new and emergent properties, such as resilience, have arisen. Our objective here is to promote discussion as to how to measure this latter, complex phenomenon. Background: Resilience is now a much-referenced goal for technology and work system design. It subsumes the new movement of resilience engineering. As part of a broader systems approach to HF/E, this concept requires both a definitive specification and an associated measurement methodology. Such an effort epitomizes our present work. Method: Using rational analytic and synthetic methods, we offer an approach to the measurement of resilience capacity. Results: We explicate how our proposed approach can be employed to compare resilience across multiple systems and domains, and emphasize avenues for its future development and validation. Conclusion: Emerging concerns for the promise and potential of resilience and associated concepts, such as adaptability, are highlighted. Arguments skeptical of these emerging dimensions must be met with quantitative answers; we advance one approach here. Application: Robust and validated measures of resilience will enable coherent and rational discussions of complex emergent properties in macrocognitive system science.

Publication Date

6-1-2017

Publication Title

Human Factors

Volume

59

Issue

4

Number of Pages

564-581

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1177/0018720816686248

Socpus ID

85015945822 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85015945822

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