The human and organizational dimensions of feedback

Feedback is an essential part of risk control and management, safety and quality. Whether in industry, the public sector or the private sector, it is unthinkable not to collect and exploit the experience that accumulates in order to "better know, better understand, better profit". Knowing your system's performance in relation to conditions, understanding the influence on performance of factors you control or factors whose effect you can control, protecting yourself, taking advantage of this knowledge and understanding to optimize your system.

People and human collectives play a decisive role in the performance of socio-technical systems. It is generally accepted, even if it is disputed and questionable, that the majority of accidents are due to the "human factor". It is also agreed that human resources have the highest value; they are both the most costly and the richest in possibilities. What's more, the human contribution to system performance is extremely varied, complex and subtle. It can only be understood through observation and experience.

So it's only natural that "human factor feedback" should be a particularly valuable approach for all those in charge of socio-technical systems. The application of human, social and economic sciences to risk management and to the design, operation and maintenance of socio-technical systems is booming, and while progress has already been significant, this is a field that is still evolving and progressing.

This report is not intended to provide an update on the research and theories underpinning the "human factor" feedback approach. It is based on the experiences and practices of major companies and organizations that have shared the lessons of their experiences in working groups, think tanks and research groups. The recommendations that can be presented today owe much indirectly to specialists and researchers from all over the world, but above all directly to the practitioners who agreed to share their experiences in structures organized directly by these companies or by research institutions or associations.

The first part of this dossier is devoted to the principles that have proved their worth in the construction of a feedback approach applied to a socio-technical system. It discusses the aims and means of the feedback approach, and what is specific to taking into account the contribution of people and human groups.

The second part describes three examples of tools (questionnaires) that can be used to implement a feedback approach, taking into account the human and social dimension. These tools have proved their worth, but it is better to adapt them than to copy them. Appropriation and understanding of the tools by those leading the process is...