Can Cwa Inform the Design of Networked Intelligent Systems?

Cognitive work analysis, originally formulated for the process control domain, has seen increasing use in command and control (C2) domains. Process control applications of CWA occur in causal domains, in which the actual process and related limitations of natural laws constrain the system. However, C2 domains are intentional domains which are human-activity based, as opposed to process-control based. The goals of intentional systems are organizationally driven and not constrained by the laws of nature, which means there is an exponential increase in degrees of freedom for possible outcomes. This is particularly true for intentional domains that are characterized by time-pressured, dynamic problems with a high interdependency of human decisions which is characteristic of C2. While CWA has been applied to command and control systems with varying degrees of success, its applicability to intentional C2 domains remains unclear due to inherent limitations. Moreover, because CWA cannot represent embedded systems, its future use in C2 systems with an emphasis on developing intelligent technologies to support network centric C2 operations remains questionable. This paper will discuss the theoretical underpinnings of CWA and demonstrate that in its current state, CWA has significant shortcomings that make it ineffectual for the design of networked intelligent C2 systems.