A Systems Approach to Controlling Destructive Behavior in the Navy
Abstract
Research on dysregulated behaviors, more generally referred to as destructive behaviors (DB), has primarily focused on understanding why and how such behaviors occur. Although important given the chronic DB prevalence rates and their impact on military readiness,most of the existing literature is not specific or necessarily generalizable to the servicemember population. Although Lai, Jameson, and Russell (2022) and Bowling and Lyons (2020) do identify organizational differences and individual characteristics that help inform the development of policies, practices, and interventions for military organizations, especially contextually in regards to one#s hierarchical order (e.g., military rank), this literature does not provide model designs by which to develop, sustain and assess such efforts.This proposal seeks to help address this shortcoming by moving beyond psychological methodologies and leveraging engineering system design methodologies to devise actionable solutions. A new losscausality model, called STAMP (System-Theoretic AccidentModel and Processes) forms the basis for the modeling and analysis that will be performed to understand the current system and its limitations. The process will include identifying responsibilities, authority, and accountability for DB in the different parts of the Navy ecosystem. One of the initial tasks will be a fact-finding, iterative process to determine the practicality of modeling large numbers of DBs or alternatively to first focus on one or two types of DBs. One of the factors in this decision will be how different the approaches currently are for controlling the various types of DB and whether they need to be different. The modeling will require interviews and travel to speak to those involved in the current activities.Once the detailed model is completed, which will take about a year, we can evaluate the system design. Some design flaws will be obvious from only informally examining the model, such as missing feedback. Other flaws may need to be evaluated using formal evaluation techniques. We plan to extend STPA to do this typeof analysis. The deliverable will be a report that analyzes the current controls for DB in the Navy and how they might be improved.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jun 29, 2023
- Source ID
- N000142312551
Entities
People
- Nancy Leveson
Organizations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy