ABSTRACT
In complex joint cognitive systems, work is subdivided into assigned subtasks that bring workers together ostensibly when there is a need for subtasks to interact and not necessarily specific individuals (Nemeth, 2003). Such collaboration among workers becomes large in scale when the scope or the work extends beyond what small, stable groups can accomplish within limited time spans (Obradovich & Smith, 2003), for example, when the task requires additional input or expertise from other groups. During normal operations, the interdependency and adaptive capabilities of these complex cognitive systems are “hard to see,” embedded in the work for which the system is organized to perform (Hutchins, 1996; Wears, 2005). The study of such systems in context is challenging as one is attempting to learn about visible and invisible activities of coordinated and collaborative work and how these are shaped by the artifacts, goals, and constraints of the organization and the work domain (Woods, 2000). This chapter will discuss three cases where large-scale coordination was needed in a joint cognitive system in which groups were forced beyond the “horizon of tractability” (Voß, Procter, Slack, Hartswood, & Rouncefield, 2006) into situations of increasing risk, growing unpredictability, and expanding complexity. Each case provides a glimpse of the embedded and generally invisible adaptive dynamics that were made visible during off-normal operations and irregular functioning.
