A Theoretical Framework for Shared Situational Awareness in Sociotechnical Systems Shalini Kurapati 1 , Gwendolyn Kolfschoten 1 , Alexander Verbraeck 1 Hendrik Drachsler 2 , Marcus Specht 2 , and Frances Brazier 1 1 Delft University of Technology, Delft 2600 GA , The Netherlands 2 Open Universiteit, Heerlen 6419 AT, The Netherlands Abstract. Sociotechnical systems are large technical systems compris- ing many stakeholders (e.g.: Supply chains, Transportation networks, Energy distribution systems etc.). Decision making in such systems is complex, as the stakeholders are inter-dependent and the large size of the systems leads to insufficient Shared Situational Awareness (SSA), which is important for participatory decision making. The aim of this paper is to develop a framework to understand the goals and requirements for designing processes to create SSA in such systems. The framework is based on the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) and systems thinking perspective. The framework is initially validated by experts and will be further validated with experiments with stakeholders in several workshop settings. Keywords: Shared Situational Awareness, Sociotechnical Systems, De- cision making 1 Introduction 1.1 Sociotechnical systems and relevance of SSA Sociotechnical systems involve both complex physical-technical systems and net- works of interdependent stakeholders. These systems consist of technology that drives the system, and stakeholders that design, maintain, operationalize, and implement that system [4]. However, during a problem situation, as the number of stakeholders increases, the conflicts of interests become greater, making de- cision making complex and challenging. Eventually, it may become impossible for any one actor to understand the situation in its entirety [4], which can be defined as lack of a ’common operational picture’ or lack of shared situational awareness. For example, according to research conducted by IBM among various supply chain network managers, more than 70% expressed concern about lack of visibility, transparency and awareness in the network due to organizational silos, lack of information sharing, coordination issues, local optimization against global view etc. [13]. The aim of this paper is to design a theoretical framework to gain insight into the objectives and requirements for SSA in sociotechnical sys- tems. Thereby, understand the processes towards better participatory decision 47