Leadership and teamwork in safety-critical systems

Sammanfattning: Devastating catastrophes during the 1980s together with recent years’ fatal accidents, including the Boeing 737 MAX plane crashes in 2018 and 2019, have altogether highlighted the need for researchers’ attention within the field of safety-critical systems. Additionally, as a result from technological advancement and globalization, the prevalent complexity and ambiguity within today’s systems continue to increase. This thesis therefore aims to explore the latest research conducted on leadership and teamwork within safety-critical systems, to see how these together can enhance system safety and facilitate the management of the previously described challenges. This thesis work has been based on an extensive literature study together with interviews conducted with leaders from two different safety-critical systems. The literature shows that the “Big-Five” framework can provide a lens through which teamwork and leadership can be analyzed with respect to team effectiveness and safety work. Together with information concerning historical safety theories, along with the most recent leadership and teamwork science, the information highlights important concepts that must be considered when talking about leadership and teamwork within this context. The thesis’s results show that the definition of a safety-critical system must be extended. The definition must include a multidimensional perspective since today’s organizations are comprised of several collaborative and geographical dispersed teams, all of which work towards common goals. The importance of communication and coordination are emphasized and can further be facilitated through the usage of shared mental models, which in turn are enabled through a good safety culture and leadership. Altogether, the result shows the complex and dynamical relationship between teamwork, leadership and safety, and further highlight their interrelated nature in which one concept highly impact the others two.