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Failure to Mobilize in Reliability‐Seeking Organizations: Two Cases from the UK Railway

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  • J. S. Busby

Abstract

abstract There is a considerable line of research on organizations dealing with large scale, intrinsic hazards. We know a good deal, as a result, about both the causation of catastrophic failure and its avoidance. Past work has explained failure in terms of (for example) structural vulnerabilities and organizational degradation – and reliability in terms of collective mindfulness, rigorous enculturation and high levels of social redundancy. This paper presents a study, based on a qualitative analysis of two disastrous collisions on the UK railway, of organizations that are strongly reliability seeking yet ultimately experience catastrophic failure. It argues that these cases implicated an organizational incapacity to mobilize systemic reform. The possibility of the two failures had been well‐known in the organizations before their occurrence, but this knowledge could not be converted into modification. A model is presented to explain how processes of systemic reform co‐exist with a set of phenomena that tend to undermine them. It is these that need to be the principal focus of efforts at managing catastrophic failure risks.

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  • J. S. Busby, 2006. "Failure to Mobilize in Reliability‐Seeking Organizations: Two Cases from the UK Railway," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(6), pages 1375-1393, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jomstd:v:43:y:2006:i:6:p:1375-1393
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2006.00649.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Ben Lupton & Richard Warren, 2018. "Managing Without Blame? Insights from the Philosophy of Blame," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(1), pages 41-52, September.
    2. Volker H. Hoffmann & Thomas Trautmann & Jens Hamprecht, 2009. "Regulatory Uncertainty: A Reason to Postpone Investments? Not Necessarily," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(7), pages 1227-1253, November.
    3. Kontogiannis, Tom & Malakis, Stathis, 2012. "A systemic analysis of patterns of organizational breakdowns in accidents: A case from Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) operations," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 193-208.
    4. Sanne, Johan M., 2012. "Learning from adverse events in the nuclear power industry: Organizational learning, policy making and normalization," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 239-250.

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