ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes ways to manage the possible occurrences of uncontrolled performance variability - or possible conditions of functional resonance. If uncontrolled performance variability may lead to adverse and unwanted outcomes, the purpose is of course to make sure this does not happen. The primary purpose of the Functional Resonance Analysis Method (FRAM) is to build a model of the functions of a system that describes how performance variability may occur in everyday operations and how the effects may spread through the system. When an accident is explained in terms of non-linear dynamic dependencies among functions rather than simple or complex cause-effect relations, the consequences of the explanation are different. The FRAM model can therefore be used as a basis for proposing indicators, hence as a basis for monitoring. Not surprisingly, variability can be dampened by reducing the variability in the Output from upstream functions.
