Situation Awareness for Socio Technical Systems: A simulation gaming study in intermodal transport operations

Operating socio technical systems such as energy distribution networks, power plants, container terminals, and healthcare systems is a grand challenge. Decision making in these systems is complex due to their size, diversity, dynamism, social component, distributed nature, uncertainty, and vulnerability to disruptions. Human actors in these systems have to channel their pre-decision time to assess and classify current situation based on their individual or organizational goals rather than analyse possible alternatives for an optimal
outcome. In this effect, Situation Awareness, a human factor required to perceive, comprehend and project the future of a current situation is considered to be an essential prerequisite for decision making in socio technical systems. Although the importance of Situation Awareness is well established it has not
been studied extensively in socio technical systems. Therefore the key objective of this dissertation was to study the role of Situation Awareness on decision making and performance of individuals and teams in socio technical systems
within the context of intermodal transport operations in container terminals.