Safety Intelligence of Senior Safety Intelligence of Senior Managers and Safety OutcomesManagers and Safety Outcomes

Laura Fruhen

What is Safety Intelligence?What is Safety Intelligence?

• Skills and traits of senior executive managers in relation to safety

• Abilities and Understanding regarding– Information – Safety risks to the

organization– Decision making

(Kirwan, 2008)

Who and where?Who and where?

Why should we look at this?Why should we look at this?• […], managers can change and improve existing

corporate culture by establishing safety – recognisable for all staff members – as high priority. ” (German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Investigation, 2004)

• Management commitment is one of the main drivers of employees safety performance (Michael, Evans, Jansen & Haight, 2005)

• Management is one of the most frequent employed safety climate factors (Guldenmund, 2000)

Leadership and Safety: what do we know?Leadership and Safety: what do we know?

• Leadership style has an impact on safety (e.g. Kelloway, Mullen

& Francis, 2006; Clarke & Ward, 2006)

• Two examples – The full range leadership

model (Bass, 1985)

– Leader-member exchange (Dansereau, Cashman, & Graen, 1973)

Leadership and Safety: Leadership and Safety: The full range of Leadership Model The full range of Leadership Model

(Bass, 1985)(Bass, 1985)

Transformational Leadership

Transactional leadership

Laissez Faire Leadership

The full range of Leadership Model and The full range of Leadership Model and SafetySafety

• Transformational Leadership – has a strong positive effect on safety (e.g. Zohar,

2002)

• Laissez faire leadership – has a strong negative effect on safety (e.g. Zohar,

2002)

• The effects of transformation leadership style on performance are stronger in maximum contexts (Lim & Ployhart, 2004).

Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) and Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) and SafetySafety

• LMX has been shown to be positively related to safety citizenship behaviour.

• LMX has been shown to be positively related to safety citizenship role definitions.

(Hofmann, Morgeson & Gerras, 2003)

Leadership and Safety: Leadership and Safety: Leader-Member Exchange (LMX)Leader-Member Exchange (LMX)

(Danserau, Graen & Haga, 1975)(Danserau, Graen & Haga, 1975)

• LMX focuses on the relation of the leader to each of their followers– Followers are divided into in-group and

out-group members

• Task of the leader: drive the relationship from a tentative first stage to a deeper more meaningful one

What we don’t know so far!What we don’t know so far!• What are the characteristics of the

people at the top of an organisation who achieve high quality safety performance?

• How do senior executive managerial skills and traits affect safety outcomes?

• How does an executive manager indicate to the workforce that he or she is highly committed to safety?

What Leadership Model is suitable for the What Leadership Model is suitable for the top of the organisation?top of the organisation?

• Only 5% of the leadership literature focuses on Senior executive management

• Interpersonal theories of leadership do not apply to executive forms of influence

(Horn & Zaccaro, 2003)

Skill based Leadership

Mumford et al., 2000 – revised model

PersonalityMotivation

Problem SolvingSocial Competence

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TraitsSkills

Outcomes measures

Knowledge

Investigation of Safety IntelligenceInvestigation of Safety IntelligenceQuestionnaire studyQuestionnaire study

Aim: What constructs identified from the literature review are really relevant?

Sample: • Subject matter experts (n=38)

– senior executive managers – other managers that frequently interact with CEOs

Measures• Questionnaire with two open questions

How would you answer these two How would you answer these two questions?questions?

– ‘What kind of person would you like an ideal CEO to be regarding his or her effect on safety?’

– ‘What behaviour would you like an

ideal CEO to demonstrate regarding

his or her effect on safety?’.

How did we analyse the data?How did we analyse the data?

• Qualitative content analysis (Mayring, 2000)– Carried out by two independent coders – Interrater Agreements:

• Behaviours: Cohen’s Kappa = 0.66 (p<.001) ; Kripp α = .664• Characteristics: Cohen’s Kappa = 0.78 (p<.001) ; Kripp α = .776• Overall: Cohen’s Kappa = .776 (p<.001) ; Kripp α = .773

Derived from Literature

Emerged from Dataset

Social Competence X

Safety Knowledge X

Problem Solving X

Personality X

Motivation/ Safety Prioritisation

X X

Leadership X

Results of Questionnaire Analysis

Results of Questionnaire Analysis

SocialCompetence

SafetyKnowledge

ProblemSolving

Personality

SafetyMotivation

Leadership

2929

2222

41413939

3939

4242

For further Exploration: Interview StudyFor further Exploration: Interview Study

Sample: • CEOs and Board members (3 ANSPs)

Measures• Exploratory Semi Structured Interview

– Open questions & Probing questions– Trying out and development of scenarios

Analysis• Qualitative content analysis

– Carried out by two coders

Results interview studyResults interview studyHow do you show your commitment

to safety?– engagement in terms of ‘talking about

safety and publishing material about safety’

– being ‘clear about one’s safety goals and safety itself’

– having safety on the top of the agenda– being proactive– be safe– give positive feedback and rewards

The next step…Aim: How do the identified constructs

affect safety outcomes?Sample: • CEOs and Board members (n = 12-

15 ANSPs)Measures• Semi Structured Interview

– Open questions– Scenarios

• Questionnaires• Outcome Variables

– Organisational level measures– Individual level measures

From your point of view • What will be the benefits for an

organisation that has knowledge about senior management safety commitment?

• How would you transfer this knowledge into the organisation?

Thank you for your attention!