Systems Integration and the Social Solution of Technical Problems in Complex Systems
As has been shown in well‐recognised books such as Charles Perrow's Normal Accidents, it is difficult to build reliable complex technologies. The primary reasons revolve around the communication of deep and heterogeneous information between design engineers, compounded by the difficulty of assuring foolproof manufacturing and integration of thousands of components. Shows that most technical failures ultimately result from human error or miscommunication and, furthermore, that the solutions to these problems, including systems integration, are likewise social in nature. Here, both engineering and historical analysis are used to point to the social basis of failure and dependability.
Keywords: complex weapons, defence industry, history of systems integration, human‐machine interaction, social basis of failure and dependability
Oxford Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .