Introducing the structured exploration of complex adaptations to learn from operations in an air navigation service provider

Understanding the nuances of everyday work requires in-depth exploration of system’s properties. The respective organizational knowledge should be the result of a collaborative sharing spanning over tacit and explicit knowledge dimensions to exploit system’s resilience potentials. In this context, this manuscript presents a novel tool called SECA (Structured Exploration of Complex Adaptations) to help detecting weak signals in normal operations for complex socio-technical systems. Besides the description of the situation at hand, SECA encompasses four areas of investigation: response in action, experience, pressures, and goal conflicts. The data obtained from SECA interviews are then coded and analysed systematically to generate and aggregate contents from different respondents across multiple work processes. This semantic analysis following grounded theory is meant to support analysts at identifying concerns affecting system’s safety or productivity. The paper introduces exemplary results as obtained from the application of SECA into a large European Air Navigation Service Provider to improve risk management in the air traffic management system.