Assessing Command and Control Effectiveness: Dealing with a Changing World

Assessing Command and Control Effectiveness: Dealing with a Changing World offers a description of the current state of Command and Control (C2) research in imperfect settings, showing how a research process should assess, analyse and communicate results to the development cycle of methods, work, manning and C2-technology. Special attention is given to the development of C2 research methods to meet the current and coming needs. The authors also look forward towards a future where effective assessment of C2 abilities are even more crucial, for instance in agile organisations. The purpose of the C2 research is to improve the process and make it more effective while still saving time and money. Research methods have to be chosen carefully to be effective and simple, yet provide results of high quality. The methodological concerns are a major consideration when working under such circumstances. Furthermore, there is often a need for a swift iterative development cycle, and thus a demand to quickly deliver results from the research process. This book explains how field research experimentation can be quick, simple and effective, being able to draw valid conclusions even when sample sizes are small and resources are limited, collecting empirical data using measures and procedures that are minimally intrusive.

About the Author

Peter Berggren is a senior scientist at FOI, the Swedish Defence Research Agency. He holds a MSc in Cognitive Science from the University of Linköping. His principle research interests lies in measures and analysis of teamwork effectiveness, decision-making, and Command and Control performance assessments. Peter has worked with Human Factors research since 1998. He has studied fighter pilots, individual soldiers, tank commanders, Brigade staffs, as well as civil crisis management and emergency response. By participating in military exercises as a scientist, Peter has a long experience of working closely with the military in field experimentation-like situations. Peter is a project manager for an Armed Forces project on assessing Command and Control effectiveness. Staffan Nählinder is a senior scientist at FOI, the Swedish Defence Research Agency. He holds a PhD in Human Machine Interaction from the University of Linköping and a MSc in Psychology and Statistics from University of Uppsala. His principle research interests lies in training, performance assessment, decision-making, mental workload, and situation awareness. He has worked with Human Factors research since 1998. Among other things he has worked with various psychophysiological measures to assess mental workload in both military and civil pilots in both simulated and real flight. Staffan has also worked with transfer of training questions in military training facilities. Erland Svensson, Ph.D., is retired director of research at the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI) and professor emeritus at the University of Linköping. He is former director of the Department of Man-System-Interaction (FOI-MSI) and of the Institute of Aviation Medicine, Linköping. His research includes measurements of mental workload, situational awareness, operative performance, modelling and simulation. Erland has been Swedish PfP-representative of NATO RTO Human Factors and Medicine Panel. He has been national point of contact for co-operative activities between USAF/RL, TNO, DSTL and DRDC, and governmental expert in European Defence Agency (EDA). Erland has been a member of the Royal Aeronautical Society, London, of the board of the Swedish Society for Human Factors, and he is a member of the Swedish Society for M.P.s and Scientists (RIFO). He has been secretary of the board of the Swedish Aeronautical and Naval Medical Association. In his retired position Erland is developing techniques for measurement of dynamic processes at FOI, and he is associated to the department of cardiology, University of Linköping, in research on psychophysiological modelling.