Developing the HFI Social & Organisational Domain: Final Report

HFIDTC/2/WP2.18/3Version 2/14th May 2009Figure 1 – SOF linked to DLODsWhile the new HFI social and organisational domain reflects many existing areas ofknowledge in human factors, e.g. macroergonomics, guidance to support designers ofdefence capability was limited. This research by the HFI DTC was established to addressthis issue and to enable socio-technical impact to be assessed at an early stage ofcapability development. The background to this work is discussed further in [1].The aim of the project was to provide definition and guidance for incorporating SOF intoHFI. Based on the content of the SOF framework the following formal definition isproposed for the HFI 7 th domain:“The process of applying tools and techniques from organisational psychology,management studies, information science and system of systems domains in orderto consider the organisational configuration, social environment and ways ofworking in a capability”.This definition could be used in future updates of MOD’s HFI process guidance.This report describes the SOF framework and associated guidance and processinformation. It was recognised during the course of this research that information onSOF could be useful for other areas of defence, e.g. planning for operational activities,and so the information and guidance has been made generic where possible to facilitatebreadth of application.2.3 ObjectivesThe goal of this HFI DTC work was to provide definition and guidance forincorporating Social and Organisational Factors (SOF) into HFI. The objectives ofthe original work plan were:• To conduct a scoping study to define the problem,• To develop a framework of key SOF,3