Distributed Decision Making in Wildland Firefighting

Abstract

This study examined distributed decision making in a naturalistic context. The subjects--expert, command level, wildland firefighters--were studied as they made decisions about an ongoing set of wildland fires. Interviews were conducted using the critical decision method, which is a semi- structured technique for probing nonroutine incidents. Seventeen decision makers were studied, and a total of 110 decision points were probed. For most of the decision points, recognition strategies were used. This was more pronounced for functional decision points. Researchers found that the decision makers were heavily dependent on outside sources for critical information; sources within the organizational structure as well as sources from other organizations were frequently used. Comparisons were made to military command-and-control organizations, and some conclusions were drawn regarding factors promoting effective distributed decision making. Keywords: Decision making, Command and control systems, Fire fighting.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 01, 1990
Accession Number
ADA225413

Entities

People

  • Gary A. Klein
  • Janie Taynor
  • Marvin L. Thordsen

Organizations

  • Klein Associates

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Classification
  • Combustion
  • Command And Control
  • Command And Control Systems
  • Drinking Water
  • Fire Suppression
  • Management Personnel
  • Materials
  • Military Research
  • Organizational Structure
  • Personnel Management
  • Psychology
  • Security
  • Situational Awareness
  • Social Sciences
  • Training
  • United States

Readers

  • Fire Suppression Systems Design.
  • Systems Analysis and Design
  • Team-Based Human-Centered Cognitive Task Decision Making and Information Performance.

Technology Areas

  • Fully Networked C3
  • Fully Networked C3 - Command and Control