Connecting People, Organisations and Technology in Aviation

The overall conference theme “Connecting people, organisations and technology in aviation “ was inspired by the increasing importance of a systems approach to aviation development and safety. Early 1960ies already, Eric L. Trist and Frederik E. Emery, both psychologists at the Tavistock Institute for Social Research pioneering in the field of organisational development, introduced the concept of a “socio-technical system” highlighting the interaction of people and technology in organisations. Jointly the human and technical aspects of an organisation magnify the workplace capability and efficiency. Examples of modern socio-technical systems in aviation include complex air traffic management systems, airport collaborative decision making, controller-pilot-datalink-communications, mulitlateration/ performance based navigation systems, remote and virtual tower centres, unmanned aircraft systems, e-learning and virtual classrooms, to name just a few.