A new study from Leonie Boskeljon-Horst, Robert J. de Boer and Sid Dekker exploring micro-experiments and a rule management framework to close gaps between work-as-imagined (WAI) and work-as-done (WAD).
This was based in an operational squadron of the Royal Netherlands Air Force. Summary to be posted soon.
In this study they applied micro-experiments and a rule management framework (focusing on monitoring and adapting rules) to four real scenarios within the squadron, in order to close the gap between WAI and WAD.
Some key findings were:
· Micro-experiments were “technically successful in showing the effectiveness of the interventions and generating shop floor commitment for them”
· Reducing the gap between WAI and WAD was accomplished in 3 of the 4 situations
· However, “changing the rules to better match daily operations, was only partly achieved”.
It’s explained that reducing the gap by modifying rules is a “separate step that does not follow automatically” when combining a procedural approach with micro-experiments.
These findings indicated that “closing a gap is easy when no rules are involved but when rules are involved it can actually be difficult”.
Reducing the gap by modifying rules was impeded when “the mandate for the rules lay outside the group involved”.
Breaking through the “organisational complicity” was challenged by belief systems. Here it seems that “the belief system regarding compliance … ultimately gets in the way of structural change”.
Technical alignment with rules and practice isn’t in itself sufficient for overcoming the obstacles to rules
On the above, success also requires a “focus on the softer side of an organisation, that of psychological safety, restorative just culture, psychological contracts and betrayal and moral disengagement”.
I can’t do this paper justice so I recommend you check it out.
Authors: Boskeljon-Horst, L., de Boer, R. J., & Dekker, S. W. A. (2024). Safety Science, 170, 106291.
Study link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2023.106291
SafetyInsights.org 
One thought on “Micro-experiments and monitoring and adapting rules to close the gap between work-as-imagined and work-as-done”