Potential for including an understanding of human and

organisational behaviour

Chris Clegg

c.w.clegg@leeds.ac.uk

14.05.09

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Centre for Socio-TechnicalSystems Design

• New centre, £2m+ investment by Leeds University• Focus on human and organisational behaviour in

complex systems• Inter-disciplinary -- Business School, Mech. Eng, Civil

Eng, Process Eng, Computing, Psychology, Geography, Health Services, …..

• Directed by Chris Clegg• Focused on

– Design of new ways of working (incl. computer systems)– Design of new buildings and infrastructures

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Socio-technical Systems

(Chris Clegg, 2008)

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Capability maturity

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Simulation of Process

• Routinely simulate products• Long-standing and improving capability (taken

years to develop)• Extend logic and capability to process• One way of climbing the S-curve• Early days -- modest expectations but develop

capability now for future benefits

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Relevant projects• Modelling retail behaviours

– Funded by EPSRC (Nottingham)– Undertaken in John Lewis

• Modelling engineering design teams – Funded by DTI and Rolls-Royce (Soton)– Undertaken in Rolls-Royce and Jaguar

• Understanding crowd behaviours– Funded by Cabinet Office/ Emergency Planning College– Included analysis of simulation models and gaps

• Modelling energy provision and use– Funded by EPSRC (just about to start) (Nottingham)– Undertaken in Leeds City

• Reducing energy (and water) usage in existing office buildings– Draft proposal to EPSRC and/ or TSB– Arup, Amey, Imperial, RCA

• Modelling human behaviour in financial systems– Seeking funding for a scoping study

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Customer Agent

Global Parameters

Leadership quality, length of service, competencies,

training etc.

Customer Agent

Sales Agent

Manager Agent

Customer AgentShopping need, attitudes,

demographics etc.

Customer Agent

Attitudes, length of service, competencies, training etc.

Sales Staff Agent

Number of customers, sales staff, managers etc.

Visual Dynamic Stochastic Simulation Model

Interface for User Interaction during Runtime

Performance Measures

Staff utilisation, average response time, customer

satisfaction etc.

Data Envelopment Analysis

Inputs for DEA Outputs for DEA

Emergent behaviour on macro level

Understanding about interactions of entities within

the system

Identification of bottlenecks

Relative efficiency of different simulated scenarios

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What psychology might be able to offer?

• Offer and test valid theories of human behaviour• Collate and collect valid and reliable data• Develop and use typologies for humans and

organisations• Help select and populate parameters in models• Help develop rules of behaviour• Offer a different mindset• Develop and test new hypotheses• Ask different questions• Introduce additional techniques

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• Offer and test valid theories of human behaviour (e.g., theories on attitude and behaviour change)

• Collate and collect valid and reliable data (e.g., using surveys, games, observations, behaviour sampling, knowledge elicitation techniques)

• Develop and use typologies for humans and organisations (e.g., Innovators, Early Adopters, …. Laggards)

• Help select and populate parameters in models (e.g., for households, is it income, family size, ‘green commitment’, group membership and norms, or what?)

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• Help develop rules of behaviour (e.g., if short-term perceptions of child safety > perceived longer-term social costs of driving, then school run will persist)

• Offer a different mindset (e.g., humans and organisations are pragmatic creatures of habit and routine, but also subject to social influence, and they can be ‘nudged’)

• Develop and test new hypotheses (e.g., human behaviour at home spills over into behaviour at work)

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• Ask different questions (e.g., how can we understand and address ‘resistance to change’? how do we address habits and routines at home and at work? how can we get users to ‘own’ their energy use and costs? what is the role of good design?)

• Introduce additional techniques (e.g., scenarios planning, social network analysis, behaviour sampling)

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Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen 1991)

Attitude toward the behaviour

Subjective Norm

Perceived Behavioural

Control

Control Beliefs

Normative Beliefs

Behavioural Intentions

Behaviour

Outcome Beliefs

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Influence Network

Support StaffConsultantsReciprocal relationshipNon-reciprocal relationshipMaleFemale

Percentage of overall work time designers of different grades spent using different computer software [sum=variable for each grade]

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Computer software

% o

f ove

rall

wor

k tim

e

Technologist 14.12 6.12 3.18 2.37 0.72 13.28 2.58 0.48 0.16 0.04 1.37 1.41 0.04 3.06

Advanced Technologist 12.67 6.68 3.55 1.88 0.84 12.35 2.40 1.46 0.28 0.45 1.77 2.09 0.07 2.61

Principal Technologist 15.10 6.19 3.60 2.26 1.85 7.68 2.23 1.41 0.04 0.07 1.22 0.52 0.07 2.67

Staff Technologist 13.99 11.59 4.91 3.44 1.15 7.62 1.77 0.73 0.00 0.94 0.52 0.84 0.00 4.28

E-mail MS Word MS ExcelMS

Pow er Point

MS Project

CAD PDM SAPKey

SystemSC03 Intranet Internet DRed

Other softw are

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What psychology might be able to offer?

• Offer and test valid theories of human behaviour• Collate and collect valid and reliable data• Develop and use typologies for humans and

organisations• Help select and populate parameters in models• Help develop rules of behaviour• Offer a different mindset• Develop and test new hypotheses• Ask different questions• Introduce additional techniques

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Nudge

• Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, 2008, Yale University Press, New Haven

• Core ideas

• Design can nudge people’s behaviour, in part because busy people in a complex world adopt rules of thumb to get by

• Social norms and expectations matter

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Examples

• Stripes on the road that get closer together to persuade drivers to slow down

• Ceramic fly in the bowl to help men aim better

• Wattson (smart meter)

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Business SchoolCentre for Organisational Strategy, Learning And Change

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Nuances

• Drinking – Montana– Most students (81%) have < 5 alcoholic drinks a week– Most Montana teens (70%) are tobacco free– Most of us exaggerate problems because of

availability bias (e.g., use of knives)– Aiming for accurate perceptions

• Tax compliance -- Minnesota– Told taxes went to good works– Risk of punishment– How to get help– > 90% already complied in full

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• Energy use in California (c. 300 households)• Informed of actual energy use + average use• The above average reduced• The below average increased (boomerang

effect)• Then given a non-verbal signal (emoticon)• Above average reduced even more• Below average stayed low