Challenges for teams that ensure security in the presence of a third party: An analysis of airport security screening crews
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2023
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Doctoral Thesis
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Abstract
Teamwork in high-risk environments—that is, the effective and efficient coordination of all team members in complex and threatening situations—has been an important research topic in industrial- and organizational psychology literature for many years. Especially in the fields of medicine and aviation, studies have provided insights and developed measures to promote collaboration and prevent errors caused by misunderstandings or hidden interpersonal barriers. Airport security screening represents a high-risk environment, as security officers are trained to detect prohibited and dangerous items or persons with criminal intent. However, to date, findings from other high-risk areas have found few applications in airport security screening.
The present dissertation is about teamwork in the field of airport security screening. On the basis of three studies, teamwork in the context of airport security screening checkpoints is analyzed, similarities with and distinctions from other high-risk settings are examined, possibilities for promotion are elaborated and a team-centric leadership training program addressed to crew leaders is developed and evaluated. The dissertation follows a very practical approach by transferring previous research findings to the airport security screening checkpoint context and making them applicable. In doing so, a distinction becomes apparent that has not been explored in this form in previous research: the challenge security screening crews face in interacting and coordinating in the permanent presence of third persons, namely passengers and potential suspects.
The thesis is structured as follows: after an introduction and theoretical chapter, the dissertation project is presented, and the three studies that were conducted during this dissertation project are summarized. In the second part of the thesis, I present the three papers, which form the basis for the cumulative dissertation.
Paper 1 describes the first, most basic study, in which I observed security screening crews in a normal working setting and analyzed their interaction behavior. The aim of the study was to determine how crews communicate in different situations, namely routine and threat situations, and which communication strategies have an impact on team performance. It was found that successful crews communicated in threat situations mainly proactively in the sense of “push” communication. In addition, the study showed the high relevance of non task-related communication for team performance.
Paper 2 consists of a qualitative interview study that, together with Study 1, constitutes the foundation of this dissertation. We asked security officers and crew leaders how they define teamwork at a security screening checkpoint and what the crew leader can do to promote it. The findings were incorporated into a model that describes teamwork practices specific to the security screening setting. Furthermore, concrete behaviors of crew leaders were identified, which were integrated into the development of the team-centric leadership training model described in Paper 3.
Finally, Paper 3 reviews the development and evaluation of the team-centric leadership training model, which was created during the dissertation project based on the findings from the first two studies. The training is addressed exclusively at crew leaders and thus has the potential to represent an efficient and economical alternative to costly team training. A total of 188 crew leaders participated in the team-centric leadership training. On the basis of the first two studies, the training was evaluated both on an individual level, i.e., in terms of pedagogical effects on the training participants, and on a team level to measure the integration of these effects into their daily work routines. The evaluation shows the potential of team-centric leadership training to improve teamwork at security screening checkpoints.
This dissertation contributes to a better understanding of teamwork in the specific context of airport security screening and to raising awareness of the challenge of teamwork in the presence of third parties. In addition to contributing to research on teamwork in high-risk environments, the team-centric leadership training developed allows the scientific findings to be practically applied.
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ETH Zurich
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03356 - Grote, Gudela (emeritus) / Grote, Gudela (emeritus)