Span of control in supervision of rail track work
The supervision of engineering work on the railways has received relatively little examination despite being both safety-critical in its own right and having wider implications for the successful running of the railways. The present paper is concerned with understanding the factors that make differe...
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| Format: | Article |
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Springer Verlag
2016
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32513/ |
| _version_ | 1848794426211565568 |
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| author | Houghton, Robert J. White, Chris Golightly, David Wilson, John R. |
| author_facet | Houghton, Robert J. White, Chris Golightly, David Wilson, John R. |
| author_sort | Houghton, Robert J. |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | The supervision of engineering work on the railways has received relatively little examination despite being both safety-critical in its own right and having wider implications for the successful running of the railways. The present paper is concerned with understanding the factors that make different engineering works perceived as easier or harder to manage. We describe an approach building on notions of ‘span of control’, through which we developed the TOECAP inventory (Team, Organisation, Environment, Communication, Activity and Personal). This tool was validated through both interviews and questionnaires. As well as identifying the physical factors involved, the work also emphasised the importance of collaborative and attitudinal factors. We conclude by discussing limitations of the present work and future directions for development. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:16:00Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-32513 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:16:00Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Springer Verlag |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-325132020-05-04T17:42:59Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32513/ Span of control in supervision of rail track work Houghton, Robert J. White, Chris Golightly, David Wilson, John R. The supervision of engineering work on the railways has received relatively little examination despite being both safety-critical in its own right and having wider implications for the successful running of the railways. The present paper is concerned with understanding the factors that make different engineering works perceived as easier or harder to manage. We describe an approach building on notions of ‘span of control’, through which we developed the TOECAP inventory (Team, Organisation, Environment, Communication, Activity and Personal). This tool was validated through both interviews and questionnaires. As well as identifying the physical factors involved, the work also emphasised the importance of collaborative and attitudinal factors. We conclude by discussing limitations of the present work and future directions for development. Springer Verlag 2016-03-03 Article PeerReviewed Houghton, Robert J., White, Chris, Golightly, David and Wilson, John R. (2016) Span of control in supervision of rail track work. Cognition, Technology & Work, 18 (2). pp. 361-378. ISSN 1435-5558 Span of control ; Rail human factors ; Workload ; Management science http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10111-016-0364-4/fulltext.html doi:10.1007/s10111-016-0364-4 doi:10.1007/s10111-016-0364-4 |
| spellingShingle | Span of control ; Rail human factors ; Workload ; Management science Houghton, Robert J. White, Chris Golightly, David Wilson, John R. Span of control in supervision of rail track work |
| title | Span of control in supervision of rail track work |
| title_full | Span of control in supervision of rail track work |
| title_fullStr | Span of control in supervision of rail track work |
| title_full_unstemmed | Span of control in supervision of rail track work |
| title_short | Span of control in supervision of rail track work |
| title_sort | span of control in supervision of rail track work |
| topic | Span of control ; Rail human factors ; Workload ; Management science |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32513/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32513/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32513/ |