4. FUNDAMENTAL ASPECTS OF FOREIGN MATERIAL MANAGEMENT
4.9. Communication
Success of FMM is strongly dependent on the correct and timely communication and exchange of activity information (e.g. plans, schedules, requirements, challenges, needs, means, points of importance, work area status, changes and updates) that needs to be shared prior to, during and after the performance of activities. The lack of such communication can impact the activity, its schedule and resources (human and financial). For example, in an outage, if/when there is a lack of communication between the maintenance and warehouse organisations to provide/receive the information on when a task is to start, appropriate component/equipment/
material/part support cannot be provided when it is needed, delaying the activity and occupying the resources that may further trickle into overall outage schedule.
Furthermore, the FMI events, close calls or near misses, including the FMI incidents and nonconformances, are often caused (or amplified) by a lack or deficiency in communicating requirements, task conditions and criteria, as well as roles and responsibilities and the documentation and coordination of task planning and performance among the plant’s/project’s individuals and organisations. Such occurrences of ‘lack of communication’ include, for example:
— Inadequate or incomplete written and verbal communication;
— Failure or non-existence of formal or informal communication mechanisms;
— Undefined or weakly established interfaces between organisations relevant to the activity;
— Omitted, contradictory or misleading information, directions and instructions;
— Insufficient coordination between individuals and groups at every level of the organisation.
The communication needs to be in all directions. Therefore, programmatic and organisational arrangements, mechanisms and methods need to be in place to also promote receipt and provision of feedback from individuals on their own experience and programmatic observations, concerns, challenges and successes. This feedback receipt and delivery, such as feedback arrangements, mechanisms and methods from/to individuals, include not only on FMM requirements for specific task, but also the overall FMMP framework, structure and implementation. It is also important that the groups and individuals at all levels in the organisation are open, honest and responsive to feedback received to avoid inhibiting effective communication. Communication in every direction (both vertical and horizontal, as depicted in Fig. 15) is a key aspect of an effective FMM and associated programme, process and procedure implementations.
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FIG. 15. Typical interfaces and communication between and among levels for foreign material management (FMM) activities. (Only to illustrate communication types. The specific roles, responsibilities and activities shown in Fig. 15 will be further discussed in Section 5.4.1 and Section 5.6).
Vertical communication is generally essential in the communication of corporate commitment, FMM policy and FMMP expectations and needs in order to permeate through the organisation and for the organisational alignment on the FMM principles. As such, timely, clear and consistent communication by the senior management is necessary in order to have everyone in the organisation to understand and to consistently and collectively adhere to the commitment, FMM policy and programme expectations.
Horizontal communication, whether between the organisations or between the individuals, builds up and fortifies individual or team role, responsibilities, situational awareness, ownership and learning/informing elements of FMM and FMMP. The horizontal information exchange also maintains and enhances the organisational and individual interfaces prior to, or during, the conduct the activities and ensures that all involved parties exchange the needed and correct information about the activity, work area and the status and progress, in a timely and orderly manner such that miscommunication, misunderstanding, omission and delay of information are avoided.
In either direction, both formal and informal communication methods and tools could be utilised for vertical and horizontal communication of FMM and FMMP aspects. Typically:
— Formal mechanisms include interface documents, procedural review and check requirements, scheduled and required meetings, periodic programme and task review
sessions (including required pre and post job briefings), checklists, flowcharts that are part of the work orders and instructions;
— Informal mechanisms may include prompt verbal feedback to line colleagues and leaders, discussions between internal and external points of contact, occasional discussions within groups and senior management, activity knowledge or observation notes (these notes may be a formal mechanism, if they are required by the programme, in some organizations).
In all organisations, both formal and informal communication are utilised for vertical or horizontal communication both in verbal or written forms depending on the purpose, significance, timeliness and extent of the information and the interface between the delivering and receiving individuals and/or groups (for example, vertical communication of FMM commitment, policy and expectations could include informal methods, such as senior managers communicating face-to-face with presence and visibility at the activity areas, as well as in training classroom, group/staff meetings, shop floors. Similarly, horizontal communication could be in form of formal FMM plan review and commenting or informal group discussions between organisations). In effective organisations, however, it is ensured that these dependencies are clearly defined and described as to their applicability and boundaries and conditions.
Regardless of what method is used vertically or horizontally, the purpose and content of message need to be clear such that the receiving party ought to know why the information was provided and understand and use it correctly. On the other side, the providing party needs to make sure why the information is to be used and confirm that the message is correctly and appropriately received and understood (for example, by practicing three-way communication technique). In order accomplish these, the interfaces need to be defined such that the nature and characteristics of information exchange (e.g. counterparts, place, type and direction) is clear and integrated.
Moreover, ownership and management responsibilities and accountabilities of the FMMP are assumed by the individuals based on the levels of effort, i.e. administration, coordination and execution levels, similar to that is shown in Fig. 15. Considering these combined/corresponding efforts of FMM and FMMP and associated information exchange, it is also beneficial to establish interfaces at and between all levels to ensure all involved parties are informed on the background, requirements, expectations and instructions on the matters related to activities in an integrated manner. The types of interfaces may be:
— Required communication interfaces: These are the interfaces that are used to convey the information required, by laws, regulations, owner requirements such as the interface between the owner/operating organisation and regulatory authorities on compliance, assessment, approval and oversight;
— Informative communication interfaces: These are the interfaces that are open to exchange of FMM and FMMP related information between the organisations, associated with activities which have impact or involvement of individuals or groups in these organisations. For example, a particular maintenance activity needs to comply with the FMMP requirements and expectation as well as the radiation protection programme requirements. The activity also needs components and their timely availability for installation. As such, activity organisation would be closely associated with, and would have an impact on, other organisations, such as radiation protection and warehouse which also need to comply with their applicable FMM and FMMP requirements. These organisations need to involve each other in the activity. Additionally, it could be necessary to interface with other proxy organisations, for example, FMMP administration
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staff. As such, informative communication interfaces are established and used to convey and exchange information and knowledge so that all parties can make balanced and informed decisions and efforts in their tasks.
It is critical that these interfaces need to be carefully controlled by administrative procedures to prevent omission of required and expected communication and the omission of necessary information.