Reconfiguration of ATC Tower working positions as an adaptive strategy to achieve resilient performance

Sammanfattning

Air traffic control (ATC) is a safety-critical activity in which practitioners must continuously navigate uncertainty, trade-offs, and operational variability. In such environments, resilience emerges not from strict adherence to procedures alone but from the adaptive strategies that air traffic controllers employ to sustain safe performance. One striking property of air traffic control is that controllers are the technology, they don’t just watch the technology (Weick, 1987). This thesis examines the reconfiguration of working positions in the Gdańsk Tower as an adaptive strategy that enables ATC teams to manage complexity, redistribute workload, and preserve system stability in dynamic conditions. Using a qualitative case study approach, the research combines document analysis with semi-structured interviews grounded in the Critical Decision Method (CDM) and narrative storytelling. The findings reveal that reconfiguration—through the merging or splitting of Aerodrome Control (ADC), Ground Control (GND) and Tower Assistant (AS TWR) positions—is the key strategy to maintain resilient performance. Controllers continuously assess complexity, workload drivers, and performance variability, drawing on anticipation, experience-based judgement, and tacit knowledge to make context-based decisions. Team dynamics, cultural norms, and trust strongly influence when and how reconfiguration occurs, while informal coordination and improvisation frequently compensate for the limitations of work-as-prescribed (WAP). The analysis shows that work-as-done (WAD) sometimes diverges from formal procedures, reflecting the reality that resilient performance depends on ongoing negotiation between procedural structure and contextual demands. The study concludes that reconfiguration is a manifestation of resilient performance rather than an isolated action. It is embedded in a joint cognitive system where individuals, technologies, and organisational expectations interact to manage the margins of air operation. Theoretically, the findings contribute to resilience engineering by illustrating how graceful extensibility and adaptive strategies are enacted in real-world ATC practice. Practically, the thesis highlights the need to incorporate reconfiguration into training, strengthen team-based learning mechanisms, and ensure that organisational narratives reflect the complexity of everyday work. Recommendations for future research include exploring adaptive strategies across units and examining how different pressures shape safety-critical decision-making.