Safety Culture: a Western Bias or Universal Appeal?
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Safety Culture: a Western Bias or Universal Appeal? Multi-cultural Implications for Nuclear Build Projects IAEA Technical Meeting Safety Culture during Pre-operational Phases Cape Town 25-30 November 2012 Johann Kritzinger Corporate Consultant: Human Performance Nuclear Operating Unit Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd.
Transcript of Safety Culture: a Western Bias or Universal Appeal?
Safety Culture: a Western Bias or Universal Appeal?
Multi-cultural Implications for Nuclear Build Projects
IAEA Technical Meeting Safety Culture during Pre-operational Phases
Cape Town25-30 November 2012
Johann KritzingerCorporate Consultant: Human PerformanceNuclear Operating UnitEskom Holdings SOC Ltd.
In this presentation…
• Differences in risk evaluation across societies evaluation
• Culture differences across societies
• Implications for nuclear build environments
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Subjective Perceptions of Risk and Hazards
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How predictable or controllable is the hazard?
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Risk perceptions also has a national / societal flavour
High personal control & optimism and control
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More pessimistic that something bad will actually happen to them
Higher levels of unrealistic optimism than Japanese or
Americans
Culture in societies
• Archeologically-speaking the oldest concept in human pre-history
• Artefacts – tools; weapons; clothing; jewellery
• Symbols – burials; rituals; marriage;
• Kinship / clans/ tribes / war/ competition/ collective behaviour
• Formally studied in Anthropology and Sociology since 18th
century; Organisational Studies only since 1980s
• Societal Culture moderates & shapes organisational (and safety cultures), but do not determine them
• Hofstede, Trompenaars and House –dimensions to compare across nationalities
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Definition of culture in society
… those shared motives, values, beliefs, identities and
interpretations or meanings of significant events that result
from common experiences of members of collectives that
are transmitted across generations…
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Explicit Culture
Implicit Culture
Señor Onion’s Cultural Elements
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What is visible physical items, behaviours, buildings, equipment
Norms are social rules that guides acceptable behaviour in groups, e.g. jokes; dress code
Values are important and enduring beliefs or ideals about what is good or desirable and what is not
Core / basic assumptions are taken-for-granted premises about the world; MOSTLY not questioned; unconscious
Societal Culture
Societal Culture
Influence of societal culture on organisational and safety culture
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Societal Culture shapes:
• Our world views
• Taken-for-granted & Un-questioned
• Unconscious
Cross cultural dimensions & findings: Project GLOBE
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Dimension & Description Illustrative Countries
Uncertainty avoidance: Seek certainty by relying on established norms, rituals and practices
High – Singapore & Switzerland
Low: Russia & Greece
Power Distance : Expectations about distribution of power in society
High: India, Brazil, South Korea, Russia
Low: Denmark, Netherlands
Assertiveness: Confrontational/ aggressive; favours direct communication; “can-do” attitude
High: US, Austria, Germany, Nigeria
Low: Sweden, Japan, New Zealand
Performance orientation: Encourages and rewards performance improvement and excellence
High: US, Singapore, China, Switzerland
Low: Greece, Russia; Argentina, Venezuela
Cross cultural dimensions & findings: Project GLOBE (cont.)
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Dimension & Description Illustrative Countries
Future orientation: Future orientated planning and investing
High: Singapore, Switzerland, Malaysia
Low: Italy, Russia, Poland, Argentina
Humane Orientation: Society rewards fairness, kindness to others, generosity
High: Egypt, Ireland, Zambia
Low: Germany, Spain, Poland
Institutional collectivism: Rewards collective action and distribution of resources
High: Sweden, Japan, Singapore
Low: Greece, Brazil
In-group collectivism: Pride, loyaltycloseness to family and organisations
High: India, China, Egypt
Low: US, UK, Canada, Finland
Gender egalitarianism: Genderdifferences and gender equality
High: Sweden, France, Canada
Low: India, Egypt, South Korea
Implications of cross-cultural research for safety culture
• Implicit Assumptions of Safety Culture in the Nuclear Industry:
• Open & reporting
• Low power differential between leader and follower
• Degree of assertiveness (courage of safety convictions)
• High trust in institution and individual
• Learning driven, rather than blame / punishment driven
• Performance and results orientated (high standards and low tolerances)
• Uncertainty avoidant (conservative decision-making)
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Implications for the nuclear construction industry
• A Western bias in the safety culture principles?
• One international safety culture vs different safety cultures?
• Implications of cross-cultural studies for safety culture?
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Thank You
