Introducing User-Centered Systems Design - Foundations for Designing User-Centered Systems - page 21

Table 1.7 Example issues on the social level
• A crew distracted by interruptions that failed to complete a safety checklist did not confirm that
the aeroplane's flaps were extended, causing the plane to crash on take-off
• A co-pilot failed to get the attention of a more senior captain about concerns that take-off thrust
was not properly set, causing the aircraft to crash into a river
• A communications breakdown between captain, co-pilot, and air traffic control on the amount
of fuel in the plane caused a crash when the fuel ran out
• You want to buy the same video game as your best friend so you can play him at your house,
and so you can practice to beat him!
Like the previous levels, this level builds upon and uses the constructs and
theories of the previous level. In this case, the cognitive level, including the mental
models of others, is particularly important.
The motivation that people have for performing particular tasks and working in
teams will vary, partly depending on internal factors but also partly on external
factors (e.g., is it a work task, is it being carried out in an informal setting, and so
on).
The social level can be very important. Many of the accidents in safety-critical
systems, for example planes, have their roots in the dynamics of the social pro-
cesses between people controlling various parts of the systems, and their social
environment. Perhaps the most typical failure is for a subordinate not to tell a
superior or not to tell them forcefully enough about an impending problem, which
then becomes unmanageable because of the delay. Simple failures in inter-per-
sonal communications can also cause accidents. Table 1.7 lists some further
examples of issues on the social level.
Flowers ( 1997 ) explains how the task of moving the London ambulance dis-
patching system from paper to computer went wrong. The designers seriously
misunderstood how the dispatchers worked, how the drivers worked, and how the
two groups worked together. There were also software development and imple-
mentation problems. While no loss of life was reported, ambulance response times
were seriously compromised, the director was sacked, and about 3 million pounds
($4.5 million) worth of development was written off. This is an example where
social factors were ignored in system design.
Organizational, professional, and national cultural issues—how users from
different cultural backgrounds have different characteristics—are also grouped
under this heading in this topic. Examples of these differences include how colors
can mean different things in different cultures: green does not always mean go, and
white may be the traditional color for funeral dress rather than black. Other
examples include how the most natural ordering of objects may be left to right in
many cultures but right to left in others, and how some cultures encourage
appropriate questioning of people in responsible positions (such as aircraft pilots),
whilst others frown upon it.
As can be seen from the Kegworth air disaster (described in the Appendix), the
cabin crew (as well as the passengers) knew that the wrong engine may have been