My thoughts
Great paper highlighting how much intentionality is needed for High Reliability in organizations. I particularly enjoyed the mention of complacency, people and competing priorities factors that come into play.
Excerpt:
Failures are mostly related to the ability of the industry to effectively adapt to, and absorb variations, changes, disturbances, disruptions, and surprises
Rating organizations:
- Preparedness/Anticipation: is the organization proactive in picking up on evidence of developing problems versus only reacting after problems become significant?
- Opacity/Observability: does the organization monitor safety boundaries and recognize how close it is to “ the edge ” in terms of degraded defenses and barriers? To what extent is information about safety concerns widely distributed throughout the organization at all levels versus closely held by a few individuals?
- Flexibility/Stiffness: how does the organization adapt to change, disruptions, and opportunities?
Read the article: The High Reliability Organization Perspective