Group problem-solving

For this approach, operations persoimel met volimtarily to discuss safety issues and problems, and to develop action plans for safety improvement (Saarela, 1990). This approach is analogous to quality circles where employees who perform similar types of work meet regularly to solve problems of product quality, productivity, and cost. 

Various investigation methods have been developed that use a team-organisation and group-problem-solving techniques (Kjellen, 1983 Carter 

Access to the necessary knowledge and skills during the investigation by involving persons representing different areas of knowledge and competence. 

Organisational learning, whereby the team members detailed knowledge about conditions at the workplace of relevance to the investigation are made available in the decision-making. Team discussions also contribute, first, to a transfer of tacit knowledge between team members in a process called socialisation, and second, to the development of a shared understanding of causal mechanisms. 

Exchange of opinions on alternative interpretations between team members in order to avoid bias and arrive at judgements of a satisfactory quality. 

A basis for influencing the decisions on the part of the employees. Ownership of and loyalty to decisions made by the team. 

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One definition of context-rich problems is given on page 55 of Cooperative Group Problem Solving Heller, P. Heller, K. University of Minnesota Minneapolis, 1999. 

Brainstorming A group problem solving technique that involves the spontaneous contribution of ideas from all members of the group. 

Siebold, D. R. (1992), Making Meetings More Successfijl Plans, Formats, and Procedures for Group Problem-Solving, in Small Group Communication, 6th Ed., R. Cathcart and L. Samovar, Eds., Brown, Dubuque, lA, pp. 178-191. 

Cooperative Group Problem Solving (CGPS Heller and Heller 2007a, b)... 

Heller, P, Heller, K. (2007a). Cooperative group problem solving in physics. Minneapolis University of Minnesota. http //groups.physics.umn.edu/physed/Research/CGPS/. Accessed 10 March 2012. 

Used in group problem solving as a brainstorming tool to explore and display the possible causes of a particular problem. 

In workplace inspection systems that function according to the principles of first-order feed back, the same types of deviations will recur. By periodic (e.g. yearly) analysis of the inspection reports, systematic recurrences of deviations will be identified. The group problem-solving technique that was presented in Section 13.5 is also applicable to the development of measures to prevent such recurrence. 

In the design and construction of new production systems, technical specifications play an important role. They represent a company s collective experiences from their production systems in operation. The company s project organisation instructs machinery and equipment vendors and engineering contractors to comply with the requirements in the specifications. We have to interpret the experiences from individual accidents and near accidents and from analyses of accident concentrations and translate them into specific requirements for use in such specifications. It is recommended that group problem-solving techniques be applied in this process. Regulatory requirements and standards on safety are similar experience carriers at the national or branch-of-industry levels. We will come back to this issue in Chapter 27. 

An important attribute of risk analysis is that it is systematic. Ideally, all possible hazards should be found and evaluated. The various risk-analysis methods apply different analytic tools and checklists to accomplish this goal. Often, they combine the use of analytic tools and checklists with brainstorming and group problem-solving techniques. There are many textbooks and standards describing various risk-analysis methods (see e.g. Suokas and Rouhiainen, 1993 Harms-Ringdahl, 1993 ISO, 1999). Table 21.1 below summarises some of the methods. 

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