Nicola Power
Nikki’s research focuses on the socio-cognitive processes involved in decision-making and teamwork in high-stakes organisations. She is an applied social scientist / organisational psychologist who conducts research with practitioners across a range of high-pressured work environments (e.g., Emergency Services, NHS, Nuclear industry).
She has two main strands to her research. First, she conducts research on indecision and decision inertia to understand the psychological processes that underpin choice derailments in crisis situations. Second, she explores the psychology of interoperability to identify ways to promote teamwork in complex multi-team systems. She takes a mixed methods approach to research, adopting quantitative and qualitative techniques including cognitive task analysis, interviewing, observations, and simulations.
CREST Outputs
Projects
Articles
Academic Publications
Communication and coordination across event phases: A multi-team system emergency response
This paper explores how multi-agency response teams communicate and coordinate in different phases of a simulated terrorist incident. Procedural guidelines state that responders should coordinate their response to a major emergency across two phases: ‘response’ (when the incident is ongoing) and ‘recovery’ (when the threat has subsided, but the legacy of the incident is ongoing). However, no research has examined whether these phases map to the behaviours of responders in situ. To address this, we used measures of communication and coordination to examine how behaviours evolved during a simulated terrorist incident in the United Kingdom. We grounded our approach within the theoretical literature on multi-team systems. It was found that the current response/recovery classification does not fit the nuanced context of an emergency. Instead, a three-phase structure of ‘response/resolve/recovery’ is more reflective of behaviour. It was also found that coordination between agencies improved when communication networks became less centralized. This suggests that collaborative working in multi-team systems may be improved by adopting decentralized communication networks.
(From the journal abstract)
Brown, O., Power, N. and Conchie, S.M. (2021), Communication and coordination across event phases: A multi-team system emergency response. J Occup Organ Psychol.
https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.12349Immersive simulations with extreme teams
Extreme teams (ETs) work in challenging, high pressured contexts, where poor performance can have severe consequences. These teams must coordinate their skill sets, align their goals, and develop shared awareness, all under stressful conditions. How best to research these teams poses unique challenges as researchers seek to provide applied recommendations while conducting rigorous research to test how teamwork models work in practice. In this article, we identify immersive simulations as one solution to this, outlining their advantages over existing methodologies and suggesting how researchers can best make use of recent advances in technology and analytical techniques when designing simulation studies. We conclude that immersive simulations are key to ensuring ecological validity and empirically reliable research with ETs.
(From the journal abstract)
Brown, O., Power, N., & Conchie, S. M. (2020). Immersive simulations with extreme teams. Organizational Psychology Review, 10(3–4), 115–135.
https://doi.org/10.1177/2041386620926037The psychology of interoperability: A systematic review of joint working between the UK emergency services
Emergency responding requires effective interoperability, whereby different emergency teams combine efforts and expertise to contain and reduce the impact of an emergency. Within the United Kingdom, the capacity for the Emergency Services to be interoperable has been criticized by public enquiries. This systematic review had three goals to: (i) define interoperability; (ii) identify the structural principles that underpin interoperability and (iii) identify the psychological principles that outline how interoperability can be achieved. A PRISMA framework was used to identify 137 articles, including 94 articles from the systematic review, 15 articles from grey literature and 28 articles based on author expertise. We identified two structural principles of interoperability: (i) being able to communicate and exchange information effectively; and (ii) having a decentralized and flexible team network. We identified three psychological principles that informed how interoperability might be embedded in the team: (i) establishing trust between team members; (ii) developing secure team identities and (iii) building cohesive goals. We defined interoperability as a shared system of technology and teamwork built upon trust, identification, goals, communication and flexibility. Regular psychologically immersive training that targets these psychological principles will help to embed interoperability into the social fabric of multi-team systems operating in high-reliability organizations.
(From the journal abstract)
Power, N., Alcock, J., Philpot, R., & Levine, M. (2023). The psychology of interoperability: A systematic review of joint working between the UK emergency services. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 00, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.12469
https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/joop.12469Bridging the Principle-Implementation Gap: Evaluating organizational change to achieve interoperability between the UK Emergency Services
From the journal abstract:
Improving inter-agency working across organizations is an important goal across public and private sectors. The UK Emergency Services have spent a decade implementing organizational change to improve interoperability between the Police, Fire and Ambulance Services. JESIP—the group tasked with realising this change—have faced criticism. We evaluated JESIP's efforts by interviewing expert commanders, finding participants supported the principle of change, but issues impeded its implementation. We developed the Principle-Implementation Change Framework for Interoperability (PICI) to describe the gap between change principles and change implementation, identifying the macro-systemic, meso-organizational and micro-psychological processes between them. Key obstacles to implementation included macro-level funding issues, incompatible meso-level organizational structures and strained micro-level peer-to-peer relationships. Participants also reflected on the facilitators of change. At the meso-organizational level, JESIP was perceived to have improved inter-team communication and flexibility. At the micro-psychological level participants described enhanced trust, shared identities and the emergence of a new type of interoperability leader. This study highlights the importance of gaining support for the principle of interoperability while addressing implementation challenges posed by the inherent social complexities involved in this change. Change efforts must be monitored over time, considering the macro, meso and micro-level processes that influence the principle-implementation gap.
Practitioner points
- JESIP's approach to organizational change has been limited by a principle-implementation gap. There is wide support for the principle of interoperability, but issues have impeded its implementation.
- A principle-implementation gap was identified across three levels: the macro-systemic level, the meso-organizational level and the micro-psychological level. Efforts to bridge the gap can use this structure to scaffold change.
- We recommend three ways to bridge the principle-implementation gap for interoperability: (i) increasing financial investment and widening the scope of JESIP (macro-level); (ii) mapping the organizational structures across emergency teams to inform alignment (meso-level); and (iii) developing team-oriented interoperability training aimed at building the social-psychological metacognitive skills required for cohesive interoperability (micro-level).
- The Principle-Implementation Change Framework for Interoperability (PICI) is a comprehensive evaluation tool for researchers and policymakers to categorize and understand organizational change towards interoperability, helping to structure the ongoing evaluation of change interventions and bridge the gap between the principle of change and its implementation.
Power, N., Philpot, R., Levine, M., & Alcock, J. (2025). Bridging the Principle-Implementation Gap: Evaluating organizational change to achieve interoperability between the UK Emergency Services. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 98, e70010. https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.70010
https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.70010
Projects
Articles
Academic Publications
Communication and coordination across event phases: A multi-team system emergency response
This paper explores how multi-agency response teams communicate and coordinate in different phases of a simulated terrorist incident. Procedural guidelines state that responders should coordinate their response to a major emergency across two phases: ‘response’ (when the incident is ongoing) and ‘recovery’ (when the threat has subsided, but the legacy of the incident is ongoing). However, no research has examined whether these phases map to the behaviours of responders in situ. To address this, we used measures of communication and coordination to examine how behaviours evolved during a simulated terrorist incident in the United Kingdom. We grounded our approach within the theoretical literature on multi-team systems. It was found that the current response/recovery classification does not fit the nuanced context of an emergency. Instead, a three-phase structure of ‘response/resolve/recovery’ is more reflective of behaviour. It was also found that coordination between agencies improved when communication networks became less centralized. This suggests that collaborative working in multi-team systems may be improved by adopting decentralized communication networks.
(From the journal abstract)
Brown, O., Power, N. and Conchie, S.M. (2021), Communication and coordination across event phases: A multi-team system emergency response. J Occup Organ Psychol.
Immersive simulations with extreme teams
Extreme teams (ETs) work in challenging, high pressured contexts, where poor performance can have severe consequences. These teams must coordinate their skill sets, align their goals, and develop shared awareness, all under stressful conditions. How best to research these teams poses unique challenges as researchers seek to provide applied recommendations while conducting rigorous research to test how teamwork models work in practice. In this article, we identify immersive simulations as one solution to this, outlining their advantages over existing methodologies and suggesting how researchers can best make use of recent advances in technology and analytical techniques when designing simulation studies. We conclude that immersive simulations are key to ensuring ecological validity and empirically reliable research with ETs.
(From the journal abstract)
Brown, O., Power, N., & Conchie, S. M. (2020). Immersive simulations with extreme teams. Organizational Psychology Review, 10(3–4), 115–135.
The psychology of interoperability: A systematic review of joint working between the UK emergency services
Emergency responding requires effective interoperability, whereby different emergency teams combine efforts and expertise to contain and reduce the impact of an emergency. Within the United Kingdom, the capacity for the Emergency Services to be interoperable has been criticized by public enquiries. This systematic review had three goals to: (i) define interoperability; (ii) identify the structural principles that underpin interoperability and (iii) identify the psychological principles that outline how interoperability can be achieved. A PRISMA framework was used to identify 137 articles, including 94 articles from the systematic review, 15 articles from grey literature and 28 articles based on author expertise. We identified two structural principles of interoperability: (i) being able to communicate and exchange information effectively; and (ii) having a decentralized and flexible team network. We identified three psychological principles that informed how interoperability might be embedded in the team: (i) establishing trust between team members; (ii) developing secure team identities and (iii) building cohesive goals. We defined interoperability as a shared system of technology and teamwork built upon trust, identification, goals, communication and flexibility. Regular psychologically immersive training that targets these psychological principles will help to embed interoperability into the social fabric of multi-team systems operating in high-reliability organizations.
(From the journal abstract)
Power, N., Alcock, J., Philpot, R., & Levine, M. (2023). The psychology of interoperability: A systematic review of joint working between the UK emergency services. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 00, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.12469
Bridging the Principle-Implementation Gap: Evaluating organizational change to achieve interoperability between the UK Emergency Services
From the journal abstract:
Improving inter-agency working across organizations is an important goal across public and private sectors. The UK Emergency Services have spent a decade implementing organizational change to improve interoperability between the Police, Fire and Ambulance Services. JESIP—the group tasked with realising this change—have faced criticism. We evaluated JESIP's efforts by interviewing expert commanders, finding participants supported the principle of change, but issues impeded its implementation. We developed the Principle-Implementation Change Framework for Interoperability (PICI) to describe the gap between change principles and change implementation, identifying the macro-systemic, meso-organizational and micro-psychological processes between them. Key obstacles to implementation included macro-level funding issues, incompatible meso-level organizational structures and strained micro-level peer-to-peer relationships. Participants also reflected on the facilitators of change. At the meso-organizational level, JESIP was perceived to have improved inter-team communication and flexibility. At the micro-psychological level participants described enhanced trust, shared identities and the emergence of a new type of interoperability leader. This study highlights the importance of gaining support for the principle of interoperability while addressing implementation challenges posed by the inherent social complexities involved in this change. Change efforts must be monitored over time, considering the macro, meso and micro-level processes that influence the principle-implementation gap.
Practitioner points
- JESIP's approach to organizational change has been limited by a principle-implementation gap. There is wide support for the principle of interoperability, but issues have impeded its implementation.
- A principle-implementation gap was identified across three levels: the macro-systemic level, the meso-organizational level and the micro-psychological level. Efforts to bridge the gap can use this structure to scaffold change.
- We recommend three ways to bridge the principle-implementation gap for interoperability: (i) increasing financial investment and widening the scope of JESIP (macro-level); (ii) mapping the organizational structures across emergency teams to inform alignment (meso-level); and (iii) developing team-oriented interoperability training aimed at building the social-psychological metacognitive skills required for cohesive interoperability (micro-level).
- The Principle-Implementation Change Framework for Interoperability (PICI) is a comprehensive evaluation tool for researchers and policymakers to categorize and understand organizational change towards interoperability, helping to structure the ongoing evaluation of change interventions and bridge the gap between the principle of change and its implementation.
Power, N., Philpot, R., Levine, M., & Alcock, J. (2025). Bridging the Principle-Implementation Gap: Evaluating organizational change to achieve interoperability between the UK Emergency Services. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 98, e70010. https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.70010