ML19308C182
| ML19308C182 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Crane  |
| Issue date: | 02/28/1979 |
| From: | Stewart E AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED |
| To: | Weiss B NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE) |
| Shared Package | |
| ML19308C183 | List: |
| References | |
| CON-NRC-05-77-044, CON-NRC-5-77-44, TASK-TF, TASK-TMR NUDOCS 8001210519 | |
| Download: ML19308C182 (15) | |
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EDWARD C. STEWART 12S20 MONTCLAIR DRIVE stLVER SPRING. M ARYLAND 20904 February 28, 1979 Mr. B. H. Weiss Senior Technical Operations Specialist Executive Office for Operations Support United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.C.
20555
Dear Mr. Weiss:
I enclose a proposal along the lines that we have talked about.
I look forward to discussing it with you and adapting it to your needs.
In discussing this project, I have referred to the nature of my interest in it, which I would like to state in this covering letter.
The objective of,the project is to provide a psychological analysis of the process of communication between the decision-makers (EMT) and,IRACT. The operations of NRC are regulatory in the nuclear field. The Operations Center is activated to respond to incidents associated with nuclear materials.
Its activities are conducted in circumstances of crisis; and this aspect requires that an effective study provide a concrete and specific analysis of realistic situations.
The psychological analysis of the crisis management should produce results that will prove useful in other crises both in the government and in the private sector. The potential for applying findings from this study to other situations of communication under conditions of crisis makes this project particularly attractive.
I know of little information available about communi-i cation under crises.
I hope that this proposal meets with your approval.
If you have any questions about it, please contact me.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely yours,.
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PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF COMMUNICATION DURING INCIDENT MANAGEMENT Backaround The Nuclear Regulatory Commission Incident Response Program was developed as a response to inadequate communication among the NRC, its licensee and other organizations during the fire at Browns Ferry nuclear power plant near Decatur, Alabama, on March 22, 1975. The Office of Inspection and En-forcement developed an Incident Management Center (IMC) that received its initial test on March 26, 1976.
Since that initial drill, the system has been repeatedly tested and improved.
The METREK Division of the MITRE Corporation was brought in to perform four tasks: (1) develop system concepts for NRC roles i~n responding to an incident, (2) define communications recuirements for the operational capability selected by NRC, (3) specify initial operational proce-dures for early response, (4) identify NRC actions needed to achieve initial and then full operational capability.
METREK also develops scenarios for training and conducts the exercises.
The IMC eventually became the Incident Response Ce,nter (IRC) and the Center began using increasingly more complex exercises designed to test out specific objectives.
Operations of IRC during the test exercises have been evaluated favorably.
The Incident Response Program is judged to be operating satisfactorily with the technical aspects of communication well managed.
The program is considered stabilized, working well, but not yet irre-trievably fixed and unchangeable. The recent maturity of the program seems to provide an ideal time for assessing it from the psychological point of view.
.i The technical ceiling of the program seems within reach, raising the question
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of the capacity of EMT and IRACT to communicate with the means at their disposal. i t
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. Rationale for psycholoaical Analysis The essential feature of the fluclear Regulatory Commission is that it is a regulatory agency which must rely on other agencies with the resources, authority, responsibility and capability for action and timely response to nuclear c'ontingencies. The " commodity" of the agency is information which must be communicated quickly, precisely, and recorded accurately after reaching the right receiver. A decision has to be made on the basis of the information received, and instructions have to be communicated to the appropriate parties.
The final step in operations is an evaluation of the response of the IRC.
Because the agency deals solely with information in all of these activities, communication is th> essential activity of the agency.
The technical aspects of communication are well developed with the remaining issue an evaluation of the interface between the roles, procedures, techniques and technology on the one hand, and the human communicator and decision-maker on the other. The subject presents two problems:
- 1. Communication under Crisis The agency is in the unusual position of preparing and planning for improbable, remote but critical events which constitute a crisis.
Although the simulation exercises which are conducted introduce stress into the training and anticipate conditions of genuine crisis, still the ability to anticipate what happens to the interface between the human communicator and the technology and procedures deserves evaluation.
There still remains a large gap between the stress of simulation and the genuine crisis.
- 2. Unknown and Improbable Crisis The IRC has been developed for handling a crisis for which there is no precedent.
Therefore the planners in the agency do not have valid experience which can be used to guide their management of an unknown event.
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. Both of these reasons suggest a psychological analysis of communication to attempt to examine the process in depth and therefore be able to assess the current program from the perspective of psychological factors in communication.
Focus of Analysis Preliminary discussions have suggested several factors which should enter into the psychological analysis of communication between EMT and IRACT.
These cluster under five categories.
- 1. Contextual factors Lighting, distractions in the environment and general physical aspects should influence communication and may produce unexpected effects in times of crisis.
- 2. Group dynamics The social relationships among members of EMT and IRACT will undoubtedly influence communication.
Among the potcatial factors of significance here are the questions of hierarch-::s and hence the problems of hierarchic communication.
- 3. Channels of communication What are the relative merits, strengths and weaknesses of visual versus verbal communication?
- 4. Functions of communication The major task of participants in the Incident Response Center is to
,commun ca e information, to use the referential function.
Nevertheless i t communication also serves other functions.
It can be used to express anxieties of the communicator, to assist the understanding of a situation, etc.
People have different needs and uses when their communication is approached from the aspect of functions.
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. 5. Principles
- a. Intensity of response The first principle that comes to mind refers to a strategy for respond-ing, to incur the risks of overreacting or of underreacting.
It is clear that generally, the response must be overreaction.
(The acceptable risk is to respond to a false threat as if it were real rather than to respond to a real threat as if it were false.) On a more microscopic level, it might be useful to evaluate information from the angle of over-or underreacting.
- b. Quantity versus quality Technical systems generally increase the capacity for receiving and storing information.
Transmission of a message is also quicker.
The question can be asked whether there is too much' information transmitted and whether a '
better strategy would be to consider the quality of information rather than the quantity.
- c. Sequencing The same item of information introduced at different phases of a l
process of connunication will carry different meanings.
Items which precede and those which follow a given item modify the meaning conveyed by a message and thereby affect the judgment made of the information received.
- d. Intentions versus consequences Judgments used for the individual's own behavior are different from the judgments used about the behavior of others.
The individual typically views his own behavior from the perspective of his own intentions, but views the behaviors of others from the point of view of the consequences of their acts, typically disregarding their intentions.
This and other principles carry considerable weight in influencing the judgments which people make of 4
k others.
These factors will be used in the initial steps of evaluation of current procedures, and as work progresses, the focus will undoubtedly shift to accom-modate the information collected.
Method
- 1. Interviews Interviews will be conducted with the members of EMT, with congressional and public affairs officers, with directors of IE and other offices, and with various liaison officers. The total number of interviews should be between 15 and 20.
- 2. Analysis of exercises The various exercises which have been run will be analyzed.
- 3. Participant observation The writer will be an observer for the exercise scheduled for March 13, 1979.
Product A written report will be produced summarizing the findings of the psychological analysis of communication between EMT and IRACT.
Time Frame The interviews will be conducted between March 19 and 30. The analysis of the exercises and the participant observation will take place during the same time, and before.
The report will be written during the first two weeks of April with a deadline of April 13.
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- Budget The project calls for fifteen man days.
Honorarium, Edward C. Stewart (15 x S150.00) 52,250 Clerical expenses 100
$2,350 6
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CURRICULUM VITA EDWARD C. STEWART Name in full: Edward Charles Pereira Stewart Address:
12528 Montclair Dr.
Born:
Nove=ber 24, 1924, Brazil Silver Spring, MD 20904 Married:
Four children Telephone:
(301) 622-1343 EDUCATION University of Maryland College Park, MD 1946-50 B.A. Psychology University of Texas Austin, Texas 1950-51 University of Texas Austin, Texas 1953-56 Ph.D. (1957) Psychology MILITARY SERVICE Unit'ed States Army 1943-1946 1951-1952 EhtI.OYMENT Business Council for American University 1974-Senior Specialist, International Under-Washington, D.C.
Intercultural standing Co=munication University of Minn.
Minneapolis, Minn.
Fall, 1976, Visiting Professor University of Va.
Charlottesville, Va.
Spring, 1976 Visiting Professor University of Southern Washington, D.C.
1975-Adjunct Professor California, Washington Educ. Center Washington Inter-Washington, D.C.
1975-1976 Director of Inter-national Center cultural Research ACTION / Peace Corps Washington, D.C.
1971-1974 Education and Training Specialist University of Newark, Delaware 1969-1971 Associate Professor Delaware University of Pittsburgh, PA 1967-1969 Associate Research Pittsburgh Professor i
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I Human Resources Research Washington, D.C.
1962-1966 Senior Research Office, The George Scientist l
'a*ashington University Monterey, CA 1959-1962 Research Scientist Lehigh University Bethlehem, PA 1956-1959 Assistant Professor f
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VITA Edward C. Stewart was born in SEo Paulo, Brazil, in 1924.
His family moved to the United States in 1933 and settled in Atlanta, Georgia. He attended public schools there, with the exception of the last year of high school at Greenbelt, Maryland.
He served in the United States Army from 1943 to 1946 and again fro =
1951 to 1952.
During the first years of military service, he spent a year and a half in Europe. His undergraduate college education was conducted at the University of Maryland, culminating in a B.A. degree in 1950, with a major in psychology.
Graduate studies then began at the University of Texas, with an interruption for military service.
The degree of Ph.D. in psychology was awarded in 1957.
Prom 1956 to 1959, he was Assistant Professor of Psychology at Lehigh Univer-sity, teaching primarily in the areas of perception and social psychology.
He then joined the Human Resources Reserrch Office (HumRRO) of George Washing-ton University, conducting research in the area of leadership, in Monterey, California.
In 1962, he went to Washington, D.C., to join a new group formed within HumRRO to conduct research in the area of intercultural co==unication. Since 1964, his research and interest have been in the area of culture--specifically American culture--and the development of simulation as a method of education and training for intercultural communication.
Completing his research-on si=ulation in 1966, he left HumRRO and joined the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh.
He went to France for six months to lecture to a group of international businessmen, and then returned to Pittsburgh.
In the fall of 1969, he joined the University of Delaware, which was just starting a program in the field of Intercultural Co=munication. In addition to research and academic works, he has participated as a consultant in areas of intercultural communication for the Peace Corps, AID, Foreign Service Institute, Military Assistance Institute, and Business Council for International Understandin,g (BCIO), at the A=erican University, Washington, D.C.
As a con-sultant for Westinghouse Corporation, he has applied the intercultural e
5 perspective to problems and issues within American culture itself.
His basic interest has been culture and cultural differences. Within the last few years, however, he has developed materials and lectures and gathered ex-perience in the fields of health and education.
In the former field, he has had an association with the Medical Mission Sisters, consulting and training for them in their hospitals throughout the world and in Philadelphia.
As Educational and Training Specialist in the Peace Corps, part of his respon-sibilities lay in administration of training. He has worked with contracting procedures, constructed new forms of statements of work, and developed and ad-ministrated a system for evaluating training programs throughout Latin America.
In the areas of conduct of training, he has participated in training of staff, planning and conducting training activities, and continued work in the develop-ment of training methods and content.
Since 1974, he has been actively associated with the Business Council for International Understanding, American University, in developing art and aesthetics in intercultural communication, using mimes anong other artistic means, and linguistics.
As Director, Intercultural Research, Washington International Center, he con-ducted an investigation of patterns of thinking, employing both cultures and disciplines as fields of study.
For the spring semester of 1976, he returned to teaching at the University of Virginia. For the fall term, 1.976, he was Visiting Professor, University of Minnesota, teaching intercultural com=unication. He has continued teaching in the Washington area at the University of Southern California, Georgetown and The George Washington University.
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CONSULTING AND TRAINING Agency for International Development (AID)
Washington, D.C.
Business Council for International Understanding The American University (BCIU)
Washington, D.C.
Control Data Corporation Minneapolis, Minnesota E. I. Dupont de Nemours Wilmington, Delaware Foreign Service Institute (FSI)
Arlington, Virginia Medical Mission Sisters Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Organizatioh of American States (OAS)
Washington, D.C.
Peace Corps Washington, D.C.
International Com=unication Agency (ICA)
Washington, D.C.
Washington International Center (WIC)
Washington, D.C.
Westinghouse Corporation Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania World Bank Washington, D.C.
TEACHING Lehigh University University of Pittsburgh University of Michigan
, University of Delaware University of California (Berkeley)
University of Virginia San Jose State College, California University of Minnesota Monterey Peninsula College (Calif.)
University of Southern California George Washington University Georgetown University PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS American Psychological Association (APA)
American Anthropological Association (AAA)
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)'
International Communication Association (ICA)
Society for Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI)
Speech Communication Association (SCA)
Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research (SIETAR)
LISTED M THE FOLLOWING PUBLICATIONS American Men and Women ol[ Science i
12th Edition of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Dictionary of[ International Biocraphy Since 1971-1972 i
Who's Who in Eastern United States Since 1971 s
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9 WORK AND TRAVEL ABROAD Work 3g Research 1962 Ecuador 1967 France, Great Britain 1969 Bangladesh, Malawi, Ghana 197.1 Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, Italy 1972 Brazil 1973 Guatemala 1976 Belgium Militarv Service 1944-1946 Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Netherlands Conferences and Travel 1966 Germany 1969 Belgium, India, Laos, Thailand, Turkey, West Pakistan 1971 Denmark i
1973 Puerto Rico 1974 Puerto Rico 1976 Japan 1977 Germany l
1978 Germany
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o PUBLICATIONS
- Stevenson, H. W.,
and Stewart, E. C.
A developmental study of racial awareness in young children.
Child Devalop=ent, 29 (3), Septe=ber, 1953.
Stewart, E. C.
The Gelb Effect. Journal cd[ Experimental Psychology, 57 (4),
1959.
Stewart, E. C.
Aspects of American Cultsre: Assumptions and values that affect cross-cultural effectiveness. Human Resources Research Office, Training Manual,. August, 1966.
Stewart, E. C., and Pryle, J. B.
An approach to cultural self-awareness.
Paper for American Psychological Association convention, New York, Septem-ber, 1966.
Issued as Professional Paper 14-16, December, 1966.
Danielian, J.,
and Stewart, E. C.
New perspectives in training and assessment of overseas personnel.
Paper for First Counter-insurgency Research and Development Symposium, Institute for Defense Analyses, Arlington, Virginia, June, 1966.
Issued as Professional Paper 6-67, February, 1967.
Hood, P.
D.,
- Shovel, M., Taylor, J.
E.,
Stewart, E.
C., and Boyd, J.
Prelim-inary assessment of three NCO leadership preparation training systems.
Technical Report 67-8, June, 1967.
Hood, P. D., Showel, M., and Stewart, E. C.
Evaluation of three experimental systems for nonco=missioned officer training. Technical Report 67-12, with Appendix Supplement, 248 pp., September,1967.
Stewart, E. C.
The simulation of cultural differences. The Journal ej[ Communi-cation, XVI (4), December, 1966.
Stewart, E. C.
Simulation exercises in area training. Paper for lith Annual Army Human Factors Research and Development Conference, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, October, 1965.
Issued as Professional Paper 39-67, Septe=ber, 1967.
Stewart, E. C.
The simulation of cross-cultural communication.
In G. Maletzke (Ed.), International and Cross-Cultural Communication between Industrialized and Develooing Nations.
Berlin: German Development Ir.stitute,1967.
Stewart, E. C.
Theory, method and instruction for cross-cultural interaction.
Paper read at conference on Research on Cross-Cultural Interaction.
Washington, D.C.: Office of Naval Research, May, 1968.
Stewart, E.
C.,
Danielian, J., and Foster, R. J.
Simulating intercultural com=unication through role-playing: A strategy for area training. Tech-nical Report, 1969.
Stewart, E. C.
Cultural differenc-s are human resources. For NATO conference:
Special Training for Multilat< ;al Forces, July 22-26, 1969, NATO Head-quarters, Brussels, 1970.
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.l Stewart, E. C.
American cultural patterns: A cross-cultural perspective.
Regional Counc,11 for International Education, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1971.
Stewart, E. C.
American advisor overseas.
In L. A. Samovar and R. E. Porter (Eds.), Intercultural Communication: A Reader. Belmont, California:
Wadsworth Publishing Company,1972.
Stewart, E. C.
Outline of intercultural co==unication. In D. S. Hoopes (Ed.),
Readings in Intercultural Communications, Volume III.. Pittsburgh, PA:
Intercultural Co=munications Network, University of Pittsburgh, 1973.
Stewart, E. C.
Definition and process observation of intercultural communica-tion.
In Nezi Jain, M. Prosser and M. Miller (Eds.), Intercultural Com-munication: Proceedines of[ the Speech Communication Associatien Seminar Conference X.
SCA, 5205 Leesburgh Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041, 1974.
Bystrom, John, Casmir, Fred, Stewart, E. and Tyler, V.
Development of Strategies for Closing the Gap between "the is" and "the ought-to-be."
International and Intercultural Communication Annual, SCA, December,1974.
Volume 1, p.152.
Stewart, E. C.
Cultural sensitivities in counseling.
In P. Pedersen, W. J.
Lonner and J. G. Draguns (Eds.), Counseling across Cultures. Honolulu, Hawaii: The University Press of Hawaii, 1976.
Stewart, E. C.
The survival stage of intercultural com=unication.
International and Intercultural Communication Annual, Vol. IV, SCA, 5205 Leesburgh Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041, 1977.
Stewart, E. C.
Outline of intercultural co=munication. In Fred L. Casmir (Ed.), Intercultural and International Communication. Washington, D.C.:
University Press, 1978.
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- Professional Papers and Technical Reports refer to a classification of the publications of the Human Resources Research Of fice, The George Washington University.
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