Impact of Different Cultural Attribute Sets on S/AS Decision Structures and Interfaces

The aim of this paper is to introduce a novel approach to determining how the decision – making behaviour of a military system could be influenced by the cultural attributes demonstrated by the system both as a whole and by its sub-systems. The research will also address how well a system with a particular configuration of cultural attributes will function in a designated operating environment. Both of these aspects have critical implications in deciding what are acceptable levels of autonomy for a given system. Definitions of automation v autonomy are provided together with the military rationale for the research and project aims and objectives. A discussion on culture in general and specifically how cultural attributes influence system performance is followed by a brief description of initial findings.