Book Review
Managing the Unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty (2nd edn)
Karl E Weick and Kathleen M Sutcliffe
ISBN: 978-0-7879-9649-9; 2007; 194 pages; Wiley & Sons;
David M Clarke
Rolls-Royce Plc, Derby, United Kingdom
High reliability organizations (HROs) research is a prominent body of sociological work originating in the United States concerned with how organization for high performance can be achieved in challenging circumstances where the potential for error and disaster is overwhelming. Activities in HROs that have been studied include flight operations on aircraft carriers, fire fighting, responses to emergencies in hospitals, and nuclear power plant operation. Managing the Unexpected describes the findings of this research for managers of non-HROs who can learn the principles and practices of HROs and apply them to increase competitiveness.
From a HROs perspective, the challenge to reliable performance comes in the form of the unexpected. Expectations create not only the orderliness and predictability necessary for organization but also blind spots. A blind spot can result in failure to notice a small event, such as an organizational lapse, that has the potential to escalate into a crisis. HROs exhibit mindfulness, a quality that gives them a pronounced ability to notice the unexpected in the making and halt its development. If, despite all efforts, an unexpected event continues to develop, mindful attention shifts to practices of containment. Mindfulness is achieved through application of the five HRO principles. The first three principles - preoccupation with failure, reluctance to simplify and sensitivity to operations - support anticipation of the unexpected. The last two - commitment to resilience and deference to expertise - engender the capacity to contain unexpected events.
To communicate the findings of HROs research and describe how managers in other organizations can benefit from them, the book begins with an overview of organization for high reliability. Next, expectation and mindfulness are characterized and the five HRO principles are described in detail. Turning to the question of how to implement the results of this analysis, a framework for auditing an organization is described whereby conditions necessary for reliable and resilient performance can be assessed. The role of organizational culture in achieving mindfulness is described. The last chapter proposes guidelines for converting the HRO principles into local practices. Throughout, illustrative examples are provided from a range of industries.
Several changes have been made for the second edition of the book, published 6 years after the first. The topic of resilience figures slightly more prominently, new examples have been substituted or added (including the Cerro Grande wild-land fire of 2000 in New Mexico and the Columbia space shuttle disaster), and the treatment of anticipation and containment has been expanded. In the discussion of implementation of mindful management, the second edition introduces a ‘small wins' strategy. Using this approach, consistent, incremental, small changes are made that produce visible results but avoid confronting the system directly or aggressively.
The strengths of the book include the connection made between theory and practice. The notion of mindfulness is related to the five supporting principles. The authors provide an explicit strategy for converting these principles into local practices. Examples further clarify the importance of the principles and the means for applying them. These features of the book are essential given its objective to provide a basis for transfer of lessons from HROs to other organizations.
In discussions concerned with the safety of hazardous technologies, some have questioned whether the recommendations generated by HROs research represent suitable guidance for the most complex and tightly coupled of systems (where coupling refers to the extent to and speed with which disruptions can propagate through the system). This criticism has been made despite the fact that HROs research includes study of nuclear power plant operation. However, the target audience for this book is managers of non-HROs whose systems are unlikely to be characterized by this degree of complexity and coupling.
Reliability is not just about organization. It must be remembered, therefore, that in many companies it is important that other facets of the system are also the focus of efforts to achieve necessary levels of reliability. For example, in engineering systems, use of techniques to support and assess reliability of hardware and software sub-systems must be integrated with organizational approaches (good organization supports effective use of such techniques).
In conclusion, Managing the Unexpected is a well-crafted book that clearly explains the idea of mindfulness and the principles that underlie it. For managers of non-HROs, practical guidelines of broad applicability are described for the purpose of anticipation and response with respect to surprises in today's dynamic and uncertain business environments. For academics, the book offers a valuable and succinct summary of the lessons of HROs research.
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