High-reliability organizing and communication during naturalistic decision making: U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) forecasting teams’ use of ‘floating’

Arden C. Roeder; Ryan S. Bisel; William T. Howe

doi:10.1080/00909882.2021.1907855

High-reliability organizing and communication during naturalistic decision making: U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) forecasting teams’ use of ‘floating’

Arden C. Roeder, Ryan S. Bisel, William T. Howe

Communication

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study explores how a high-reliability team (HRT) employed an informal communication norm to facilitate access to members’ distributed expertise during forecast decisions, despite time pressures. The communication norm was documented during observations of U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) forecast team members’ naturalistic decision making (NDM) regarding forecasts. We labeled the norm, floating. Although NWS members did not have an explicit term for their communication norm, follow-up interviews revealed they readily confirmed its existence and expressed an expectation that other members would engage in floating during collective forecast decision making. Additionally, analysis of interview data suggested floating facilitated team cognition and helped enact reluctance to simplify, sensitivity to operations, and deference to expertise. Implications for high-reliability team and organization (HRT&O) theory, naturalistic decision making, expertise, and team cognition conclude the paper.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	441-459
Number of pages	19
Journal	Journal of Applied Communication Research
Volume	49
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/00909882.2021.1907855
State	Published - 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors wish to acknowledge and offer gratitude to the team of National Weather Service forecasters who participated in this study and helped this project come to life. We also wish to thank the editors and reviewers for their constructive and insightful comments on drafts of this manuscript.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 National Communication Association.

Keywords

communication norms
expertise
high-reliability organization theory
naturalistic decision making
team cognition

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Communication
Language and Linguistics

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10.1080/00909882.2021.1907855

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title = "High-reliability organizing and communication during naturalistic decision making: U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) forecasting teams{\textquoteright} use of {\textquoteleft}floating{\textquoteright}",

abstract = "This study explores how a high-reliability team (HRT) employed an informal communication norm to facilitate access to members{\textquoteright} distributed expertise during forecast decisions, despite time pressures. The communication norm was documented during observations of U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) forecast team members{\textquoteright} naturalistic decision making (NDM) regarding forecasts. We labeled the norm, floating. Although NWS members did not have an explicit term for their communication norm, follow-up interviews revealed they readily confirmed its existence and expressed an expectation that other members would engage in floating during collective forecast decision making. Additionally, analysis of interview data suggested floating facilitated team cognition and helped enact reluctance to simplify, sensitivity to operations, and deference to expertise. Implications for high-reliability team and organization (HRT&O) theory, naturalistic decision making, expertise, and team cognition conclude the paper.",

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author = "Roeder, {Arden C.} and Bisel, {Ryan S.} and Howe, {William T.}",

note = "Funding Information: The authors wish to acknowledge and offer gratitude to the team of National Weather Service forecasters who participated in this study and helped this project come to life. We also wish to thank the editors and reviewers for their constructive and insightful comments on drafts of this manuscript. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 National Communication Association.",

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AU - Bisel, Ryan S.

AU - Howe, William T.

N1 - Funding Information: The authors wish to acknowledge and offer gratitude to the team of National Weather Service forecasters who participated in this study and helped this project come to life. We also wish to thank the editors and reviewers for their constructive and insightful comments on drafts of this manuscript. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 National Communication Association.

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - This study explores how a high-reliability team (HRT) employed an informal communication norm to facilitate access to members’ distributed expertise during forecast decisions, despite time pressures. The communication norm was documented during observations of U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) forecast team members’ naturalistic decision making (NDM) regarding forecasts. We labeled the norm, floating. Although NWS members did not have an explicit term for their communication norm, follow-up interviews revealed they readily confirmed its existence and expressed an expectation that other members would engage in floating during collective forecast decision making. Additionally, analysis of interview data suggested floating facilitated team cognition and helped enact reluctance to simplify, sensitivity to operations, and deference to expertise. Implications for high-reliability team and organization (HRT&O) theory, naturalistic decision making, expertise, and team cognition conclude the paper.

AB - This study explores how a high-reliability team (HRT) employed an informal communication norm to facilitate access to members’ distributed expertise during forecast decisions, despite time pressures. The communication norm was documented during observations of U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) forecast team members’ naturalistic decision making (NDM) regarding forecasts. We labeled the norm, floating. Although NWS members did not have an explicit term for their communication norm, follow-up interviews revealed they readily confirmed its existence and expressed an expectation that other members would engage in floating during collective forecast decision making. Additionally, analysis of interview data suggested floating facilitated team cognition and helped enact reluctance to simplify, sensitivity to operations, and deference to expertise. Implications for high-reliability team and organization (HRT&O) theory, naturalistic decision making, expertise, and team cognition conclude the paper.

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KW - high-reliability organization theory

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High-reliability organizing and communication during naturalistic decision making: U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) forecasting teams’ use of ‘floating’

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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