Productos: Cursos Skype

A number of authors are generally convinced that new ways of thinking as well as new methods of training are needed if emergency managers are to become better equipped for the challenges posed by present day crises (see Boin and Lagadec 2000; Rosenthal, Boin and Comfort 2001; Boin and ‘t Hart 2007; Alexander 2000). These scholars argue that knowledge derived from ‘normal’ training procedures coupled with the emphasis on routine skills seem no longer sufficient in coping with modern crises. This therefore suggests the need to develop collective capabilities and to acquire “soft” skills that transcend beyond mere technical knowledge (Boin and Lagadec, 2000; Rosenthal et al., 2001).

Although intuitive skills are difficult to acquire in practice, evidence suggests the process of gaining them can be effectively propelled through training (Klein, 1993; Flin, O’Connor and Mearns, 2002; Hogarth, 2003; Clark et al. 2006; Sarfo and Ellen, 2007; Gasaway, 2012). The over-arching goal of training is to help people climb the learning curve at a faster rate (Hutton, Miller and Thordsen, 2003; Phillips, Sieck and Klein, 2004). Thankfully nowadays, the scientific measurement of intuition and how it can be taught or transferred is increasingly gaining more ground as the concept is becoming better understood (Hogarth, 2001). Training people to become better intuitive decision makers basically entails strengthening their experience base, such that their schemata (action scripts, repertoires and mental models) are developed through the training they receive and the lessons learnt from such training. Training allows operators to gain more confidence until they are able to perform non-recurrent

81 tasks or attain automaticity in the tasks they are already familiar with (O’Hare et al., 1998; van Merrienboer, Clark and de Croock, 2002)

In his book entitled “The power of intuition”, Klein (2003, p.52) highlighted some intuitive skills that can be developed through training, showing that less experienced personnel can be trained to become proficient in:

 Sizing up situations faster and more efficiently  Having a good sense of problem recognition

 Feeling very confident that the first option selected will most likely be a good one

 Having a good sense of what is going to happen next

 Understanding how to filter information to avoid data overload  Managing pressure and uncertainties more professionally  Finding alternative solutions when a plan runs into difficulty

 Developing a sense of acknowledging the importance of critical cues and patterns

 Building and validating stories during situational assessment

(Klein, 2003, p.52)

A variety of training methods are available for improving expertise, depending on the available resources and the type of tasks involved (Gaba, 2004). Intuitive skill training does not necessarily have to be complicated (Desanctis and Gallupe, 1987), in fact, it could be as simple as helping personnel make good sense of the decisions they routinely make, or to identify difficulties in the tasks they perform and propose ways to overcome such difficulties in the future (Klein, 2003; Freitas and Neumann, 2008). Examples of training techniques that can thus be explored by emergency response organizations include: Map tactical decision games, sand-table exercises, computer generated simulation exercises, large scale field simulation exercises, and real-life training (Borodzicz and Haperen, 2002; McLennan, Omodei, Holgate and Wearing, 2006; Flin et al., 2008). Depending on the purpose of training, small scale and table top exercises could be used to develop simple routine and recurrent skills, while large-scale field exercises can be focused on developing key skills such as

82 information processing and incident command skills, communication skills and team metacognition.

Sceptics have consistently displayed concerns about the inherent limitations of training officers with simulation games or other decision support systems (Shanteau, 1988; Shanteau, 1992; Serfaty, Mac Millan, Entin and Entin, 1997; Clark et al. 2006; Spender, 2008). Some of these concerns were based on the assumption that simulations cannot absolutely mimic the psychological and cognitive traits of experts. This is because game developers often seem to emphasize aspects of declarative (or codified) knowledge in their design, overlooking the most important aspect of expertise — tacit knowledge (Polanyi, 1958, 1962; Clark and Elen, 2006; Grant, 2007). Shanteau (1992) argued that most decision support systems are quite rigid and that expert systems would be more useful if they could be designed to be as flexible as the experts they aim to mimic (since rigidity is taken to be a characteristic of novices).

But, regardless of the training method employed, it is important to ensure that scenarios and procedures within the training package accurately reflect the context in which they would normally be applied in real life (Wong, Sallis and O’Hare, 1997; Patton and Flin, 1999; Crichton, 2009; Gasaway, 2012). The best training strategy according to van Merrienboer (2002) is therefore one that showcases the challenges that would likely be encountered by decision makers in real life. Also, since the domains referred to here are also characterized by time-pressure and complexities, Wong (2000) suggested that training programmes and instructional curricula should be designed so as to improve the intuitive skills of decision makers through pattern recognition rather than through analytical comparism of options. In other words, trainees should be made to learn new tasks by applying what they already know in solving current problems.

How then do we determine the tasks to be included in a training package? A few strategies have been reported in the literature. First, facilitators can convert people’s personal field experiences into a scenario based on what went right or wrong (Gasaway, 2012). Second, facilitators could capitalize on the particular task constraints that crew members seem to be repeatedly struggling with and then

83 design a part-task practice [i.e. training conducted in repeated sessions until learners gain automaticity (Kirschner and van Merrienboer, 2007; Gaba, 2004)]. Third, taking a new or upcoming project (such as the installation of a new equipment) and turning it into a decision making exercise or scenario (Klein, 2003, p.50). This will ensure,

inter alia, that team members are aware of the project apriori thereby making the

learning of it a lot easier when the equipment is eventually installed. Depending on the difficulty of each task, training sessions can be repeated as much as necessary till learners are able to fully master the required skills (van Merrienboer and Kirschner, 2007). The first and second strategies are the focus of the current research i.e. converting expert knowledge to forms that can be used to enhance learning.

2.11. A REVIEW OF THE VARIOUS APPROACHES TO DECISION MAKING