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N O V E M B E R 2 01 1
phOTOS: Witho Worms
1995
Srebrenica peace support mission;
like the peace support mission in
Rwanda (1994), has an impact on
‘command and control’ research:
more focus on leadership, military
decisions and organisational
effectiveness
THE HUMA
IS THE EN
2000
‘The Human in Command’, an
international conference on peace
missions, organised by Essens
along with Professor Vogelaar
(NLDA) and General (ret.) Everts
(book published in 2002)
2008
2011
‘Multi-Team Systems’, the first
specialist workshop about this
emerging organisational form,
is held in Orlando (USA);
knowledge used to set up the
Operational Control Centre for
Rail (OCCR) in Utrecht (2010)
Publication of the book ‘Multiteam Systems, An
Organization Form for Dynamic and Complex
Environments’ (Chapter: Multiteam Systems in
the Public Sector)
DR PETER ESSENS:
‘FIRST DEFINE
HOW TO
COOPERATE,
THEN ORGANISE
AROUND IT’
1985
joined TNO
2005
Publication of ‘The
little yellow book’,
edited by Essens et.
al., an operationally
applicable
effectiveness
assessment tool
(NATO/RTO/HFM
study Command
Team Effectiveness
(CTEF))
N O V E M B E R 2 01 1
AN
NGINE
‘OUR SOCIETY KEEPS GROWING IN
COMPLEXITY: MORE AND MORE
ORGANISATIONS ARE INVOLVED IN
DECISION MAKING. PROCEDURES FALL
SHORT. KNOWLEDGE OF EACH OTHER IS
ESSENTIAL. CRISIS SITUATIONS
ESPECIALLY REVEAL THE LACK OF THIS
KNOWLEDGE.’
It became apparent after fires at two
transmission masts in the Netherlands that
too many different parties had a say in the
matter yet it was completely unclear whose
word was final. The recent fire at a chemicals
warehouse near Rotterdam revealed that the
crisis management in that situation was not
up to the mark. And the Belgian rail chaos on
27 June this year was put down to poor
communication between organisations. These are just three examples in the
Benelux of regular stories that surface about
organisations where there is a considerable
lack of cohesion in cooperation or decisionmaking. Dr Peter Essens is a behavioural and social
scientist, and a keen observer. At TNO’s
Human Behaviour and Organisational
Innovations department his work focuses on
investigating new forms of cooperation to
enable a number of groups and organisations
to cooperate quickly and more effectively in
tackling complex problems. P14
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N O V E M B E R 2 01 1
The OCCR, see box on page 15
On the table at Essens’ home in Doorn, near Utrecht, lies a
stack of books and articles. Essens regularly points out
photos and illustrations from them, now and then drawing a
chart to make his story clearer, such as a cascading
waterfall comprising several smaller waterfalls. ‘Systems
tend to be hierarchically designed: from goals to functions
and processes, in increasing detail. The cascade model
represents the end point: the human who pushes the
buttons. Man as a means, therefore. You see that
expressed in terms like manned systems.’
MAN IN THE CENTRE
Essens believes that human systems must be designed
around the human component. ‘It’s the human as the
engine around which the system revolves. To make this
principle clear, I often revert to an example used by the
American organisation expert Bill Rouse: “You’ve got an
aeroplane and you have to put a pilot in it to fly it. In truth,
that’s not the right way to reason. No, you have a pilot who
has to transport passengers and the plane’s purpose is to
help the pilot achieve his task. The pilot is responsible and
makes the decisions; the aeroplane is not responsible
because it doesn’t take the decisions.” This reasoning flies
in the face of engineering oriented designers that see the
human being, like a machine, as a functional component of
the system. The Rouse example is the right path to take in
developing complex systems: man has operational goals
and so you build an organisation and structure around him
so that he can achieve his intended goals.’
Essens has used this line of reasoning to develop two
design methodologies. ‘The task function concept (Dutch
acronym: TUC) describes the central role played by man in
achieving organisational goals. This then becomes
elaborated in how this role is supported through
organisation, cooperation and design (or OSI). We used to
only look within the organisation in our analyses but now
we also look at the environment and other organisations in
the ecosystem.’
HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION
With his knowledge of human-computer interaction, Essens
was asked to help set up the new Cognitive Psychology
department at TNO in Soesterberg in 1985. He had
acquired this knowledge as a by-product of his PhD
research into rhythmical patterns in Nijmegen, a study he
had not yet finished when he started his new job, the new
work task precedence, but he did eventually complete his
PhD in 1995. After building up the applied research
concentrating on human-computer interaction (mainly for
Defence) for a number of years, Essens’ interest
increasingly shifted to how people work together and
cooperate, and later how organisations cooperate with
each other. During his sabbatical (1992-1994 in Canada)
he studied decision-making in military staff.
In about 1995 Essens became involved in a
recommendation to Rijkswaterstaat (Public Works
department of the Dutch government) concerning the
ergonomically responsible centralisation of the operation of
bridges and locks. ‘Along with Rijkswaterstaat a small team
of us looked at the bridge and lock operations in various
places throughout the country. In Alkmaar, for example, I
suddenly realised how you could responsibly centralise the
operation. The bridgemaster operated the bridge where he
was located and two other bridges remotely. He had good
visibility of the vessels through his window but seldom
made use of this option, preferring to sit with his back to
the window and operate his bridge using the displays, just
as he did to operate the other two bridges remotely. He
simply commuted, as it were, with his desk chair between
the screens. So the idea came to me that using a few
principles based on mental concentration, human
information processing and technical support, several
bridges and locks could be operated properly and safely,
but then without having to commute.’
DYNAMIC TEAM PRINCIPLE
You can let people do various things at the same time but
people are quite limited in the ability to multitask: you can
only focus on one thing at a time. It is easier if the activities
are related to each other and you literally have an overview
of them. In such a way you can switch between two tasks.
Essens: ‘We call this zipping operations: you do part of one
process and part of another at an appropriate moment and
then back to the first process, and so on. Then, later, the
dynamic team principle was added: if a person in a team is
busy working while a new operating request comes in that
he is unable to accommodate, he should be able to pass it
on to a less busy colleague, provided the work environment
is suitably organised. Work pressure is, after all, subject to
fluctuations.’
These principles enabled a room to be accommodated in
an existing operations building in Helmond so that seven or
eight bridges and locks could be operated by a team of
three people. Rijkswaterstaat was able to save millions
since no new building was needed, and the operation was
more efficient. Essens: ‘In the province of Zeeland
Rijkswaterstaat also wanted to have a more centralised
bridge and lock operation. That is now happening from two
operating centres designed according to the TNO principles
for organisation of the work.’ The Traffic Centre in Utrecht
has also been designed along similar lines, just like the
Operational Control Centre for Rail (OCCR), now running for
just over a year. Essens: ‘In the OCCR teams from different
independent organisations work very closely together to
ensure effective incident and disaster management of the
railway network.’ (see below)
COOPERATION
The tendency towards ad-hoc cooperation between
organisations is one of the key trends in this era of
networks, Essens claims. ‘To be able to tackle emerging
N O V E M B E R 2 01 1
complex problems there is a need for models that enable
rapid ad hoc collective to be formed among very different
kinds of organisations: multi-team systems. Again it is
essential not to think from the perspective of organisation
and procedures but from the perspective of the human
engine, across the organisation and sectors.’
A ‘secret’ wish that Essens harbours is the urge to make
a contribution in a developing country, something he had
been working on earlier. ‘Teaching at a university perhaps
... but whether they are eager to attend lectures on
human-computer interaction or cooperation models, I’m
not so sure. I’d probably have more impact there if I were a
doctor or a farmer.’
NETWORKS
IN PIE
WEDGES
‘When an organisation doesn’t work as it should,’
Peter Essens says, ‘you tend to hear the same
standard solutions: introduce a better technical
system, improve communication and then, if that
fails, change the culture. But that is not where the
essence lies. The issues are becoming more and
more complex and the old hierarchical decisionmaking structures are no longer adequate. The
future seems to lie in decision-making according
to a network model. The distribution of
information enables faster and better responses
to unexpected problems in unpredictable
situations. The expertise lies in people. The
structures and processes have to be designed
such that they bring together this expertise at the
right moment.’
Essens studies these network models of the
future at various levels both at home and abroad.
Such as the intensive study together with Prof. Ad
Vogelaar of the Netherlands Defence Academy
(NLDA) into cooperation and decision-making in
military missions. Essens also leads a number of
task groups in the NATO Research and Technology
Organisation as well as cooperates with research
groups in Canada, Sweden and the United States.
In the Netherlands Essens is Senior Research
Fellow at the NLDA, and also has good
collaboration with the University of Groningen with
a shared PhD student.
TNOTIME
PETER ESSENS
principal scientist
Behavioural and Societal
Sciences
BORN
19 August 1948 in
Brunssum
EDUCATION
1965-1970:
Teacher training college/
Pedagogical Academy,
Heerlen
1972-1976:
Educational Theory,
University of Groningen
1976-1981:
Experimental Psychology,
University of Groningen
PHD
January 1995: Radboud
University Nijmegen;
subject: Perception of
Temporal Patterns
OCCR
Cooperation between TNO, the University of
Groningen and the NLDA can be seen in the PhD
research of Thom de Vries who is investigating
new ‘multi-team’ forms of partnership, including
the Operational Control Centre for Rail (OCCR) in
Utrecht, established in October 2010. This is the
railway’s national centre, controlling and
managing the effects of incidents and calamities
24 hours a day. The OCCR is where teams from
ProRail, NS (Dutch Railways), Nedtrain, local
transporters and construction companies, among
others, join forces to deal with the problems that
arise. Prior to the OCCR employees were spread
across different locations. Essens: ‘All those
people from completely different backgrounds,
cultures and vested interests now really have to
cooperate.’
The multi-team idea is that a representative
from each group (ProRail, NS, etc.) has a seat on a
kind of fraternal board in which everyone is equal
and there is an independent technical chairman.
Essens: ‘Consider the OCCR as a round pie, cut
into wedges. Each wedge is a participating team,
with the team leader at the point of the wedge. So
in the middle of the pie are all the leaders who
consult with each other. Swivel around on your
chair and you are again part of your team, either
physically or virtually via displays. In this setup,
the team members are also more and more
interactive with each other, forming a social
network and quickly connecting the right expertise
and information to the incidents that occur. Look,
this is how we are developing ideas which that
could be breakthroughs in tackling the major
issues faced by society nationally as well as
internationally.’
PREVIOUS JOBS
include:
1972 - 1973:
teacher, primary school
1982 - 1984:
PhD candidate, Radboud
University Nijmegen
1992 - 1994:
researcher Defence
Research & Development
Canada, Toronto
JOINED TNO
1 May 1985
CIVIL STATUS
Since 1976 married to
Walburg (Wallie) van der
Voet (61), theologist,
executive manager of a
Medical-Ethics Review
Board
CHILDREN
Alwine (33), Oda (32)
HOBBIES
photography, running,
classical music (Brahms,
Bach)
peter.essens@tno.nl
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