Affiliations: [a] Information Systems, Department of Business, Chowan College, Murfreesboro, NC 27855, USA | [b] Production Quality Management Department, School of Systems and Acquisition Management, US Army Logistics Management College, Fort Lee, VA 23801, USA | [c] School of Management, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102-1982, USA
Correspondence:
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Direct correspondence to: H. Joseph Wen, School of Management, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102-1982, USA. Tel.: (973) 596-8569; Fax: (973) 596-3074; E-mail: wen@admin.njit.edu.
Abstract: Many well-known manmade system disasters exhibit a common path to catastrophe. These functional failures resulted from the gaps that eventually contribute to the development of a tragedy and essentially exist between human and machine capabilities, responses and interfaces and between control processes and control systems. Conducting an analysis of the typical contingency control structures, the authors suggest that management adopt a pessimistic and quasi-intelligent orientation to control and monitor critical systems. This research proposes a threat-driven model base with decision support technologies to enhance conventional control systems and supplement management and operational responses so that the sphere of damage can be minimized.
