Psychological Aspects of Risk Management and Technology – G. Grote ETHZ, Fall09 Psychological Aspects of Risk Management and Technology – Overview

Psychological Aspects of Risk Management and Technology – G. Grote ETHZ, Fall09 Required reading  Grote, G. (2009). Management of uncertainty – Theory and application in the design of systems and organizations. London: Springer. Chap. 3 Generic Principles for Managing Uncertainties (Sept. 23/30) Chap. 4 Coordination in Organizations: Creating Flexible Routines (Nov. 11/Dec. 2) Chap. 6 Limits to Control in Automated Systems (Nov. 4/Dec. 9) Chap. 7 When Uncertainty Implies Safety Risk (Nov. 18/25)  Renn, O. (2008). Risk governance – coping with uncertainty in a complex world. London: Earthscan. C hap. 4 Risk perception (only pp ) (Oct. 7/10) Chap. 7 Risk communication (Oct. 21/28)  Shafir, E. & LeBoeuf, R.A. (2002). Rationality. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, (Oct. 7/10)

Psychological Aspects of Risk Management and Technology – G. Grote ETHZ, Fall09 Organization of course  3 ETCS points (approx work hours).  Besides the lecture, the prerequisite for credits points is the completion of a graded report on a selected topic from the lecture (max. two groups per topic). The reports will be compiled as a reader for all participants in the end. Reports due Jan. 25,  Students work in pairs on the report, which entails reading the text assigned for the topic, obtaining additional relevant literature, preparing discussion questions for the lecture on the topic, and writing a comprehensive essay on the topic based on all these materials (approx. 20 pages).  Material for the lecture at

Psychological Aspects of Risk Management and Technology – G. Grote ETHZ, Fall09 The lecturers Simon Maurer – Chief Safety Officer Skyguide Master in Physics, First Officer MD80/AirbusA , various management positions at Swissair/SWISS, Deputy Civil Aviation Safety Officer DETEC Dr. Reto Schneider – Head Emerging Risk Management Swiss Re Master in Biology, Ph.D. in immunology, Post Doc Scripps Institute La Jolla/Institute for Allergy and Asthma Research Davos, various positions in risk management at Swiss Re Marcel Zumbühl – Head Security Swisscom (Switzerland) Master in Computer Science/Applied Mathematics, statistics and IT-consultant Federal Office of Population, IT-consultant and manager Accenture Prof. Dr. Gudela Grote – Professor of Work and Organizational Psychology ETH Zürich

Psychological Aspects of Risk Management and Technology – G. Grote ETHZ, Fall09 Course objectives  Increase awareness of the impact of uncertainty and risk in business operations from a socio- technical perspective  Learn about psychological underpinnings of decisions on risk and uncertainty and their effects in work organizations  Learn about approaches to risk management in different industries  Know about and (partially) apply some risk management tools  Gain some more in-depth knowledge of one selected field within risk management

Psychological Aspects of Risk Management and Technology – G. Grote ETHZ, Fall09 Introduction of students  Your background  Your interest in risk management / in technology  Particular topics you would like to discuss