Kelly Calder Muzyczka, Kelly Chapman, Christopher McCarty
This paper examines the presence and role of culture in the transportation, power, and communication industry. These are tightly connected infrastructure systems and therefore when one system fails, it often cascades to the others. These cascading risks are partly due to the number of components, internal and external, necessary for a fully functioning system. People interact with these systems daily, both those who work with them and everyday user. Through mixed methods, this study tests whether a cohesive work culture is present in these systems. With free-list interviews and cultural consensus analysis the authors identify system halting disturbances both within each system and throughout all industries. How much participants agree on the frequency and importance of these problems measures the industry culture. The authors found agreement within each industry’s sample on major system failures. Amount of time an individual has worked the industry positively correlates to the frequency of training. Further application of this research is how industry culture affects information dissemination, decision-making, and protocol adherence.