Psychology of Interoperability: Critical Decision Method Interviews, 2023

To obtain a free account please register with the UKDA.

This research aimed to explore the social psychological processes underpinning interoperability (i.e., multi-agency working) between the emergency services. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a 16 participants (using the principle of data saturation) across the three emergency service groups (Police, Fire, Ambulance) to identify behaviours and attitudes that interfere with or promote interoperability. Interviews were designed using Cognitive Task Analysis (Crandall, Klein & Hoffman, 2006), where participants were interviewed using the Critical Decision Method; a narrative-based approach to understand how experts navigate their complex work domains and has been previously used successfully to understand complex choices in emergency response contexts (Power & Alison, 2017). Themes of interest included: (i) challenges to interoperability; (ii) indicators of effective interoperability; and (iii) the interplay between organisational identity, values, and intergroup attitudes. There were several key findings. Firstly, participants were in favour of the concept of interoperability but in practice, this was more complex. Findings were grouped across 3 levels: i) macro-systemic, ii) meso-organisational and iii) micro-psychological. Macro-systemic included a frustration with a lack of funding), lack of training, and scope of JESIP. Meso-organisational factors highlighted incompatible command structures, differences in hierarchy/heterarchy, risk appetite. Finally, micro-psychological findings included struggles with stress/strain.

Emergency response requires effective interoperability, whereby different emergency teams combine efforts and expertise to contain and reduce the impact of a major incident. Within the UK, however, the capacity for the Emergency Services to be interoperable has been repeatedly criticised by public enquiries (for example, see the Manchester Inquiry; Saunders, 2022). The overall project aims to discover factors influencing interoperability within the UK emergency services, and make recommendations regarding how this may be improved. The current study comprises a part of this broader project, and used interviews to discover the views and understanding regarding interoperability and its barriers and facilitators