Since the first edition of 2001 it appears that we are dealing more and more with the unexpected, and not just in the form of news about terrorist attacks. Fires, floods, hurricanes, financial disasters, tornadoes and even the occasional volcano seem to be on the increase, with the result being a constant state of apprehension and, in the case of many organizations, sense of perpetual panic. Weick and Sutcliffe (organizational behavior and psychology, and management and organization, respectively, U. of Michigan Business School) update the text to reflect current conditions, laws, practices and policies as they get managers ready to expect the unexpected and plan accordingly. They admit that in real life everything can go wrong, but they do show models in which the unexpected is part of daily life, such as emergency rooms and airports, and how managers cope. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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Since the first edition of Managing the Unexpected was published in 2001, the unexpected has become a growing part of our everyday lives. The unexpected is often dramatic, as with hurricanes or terrorist attacks. But the unexpected can also come in more subtle forms, such as a small organizational lapse that leads to a major blunder, or an unexamined assumption that costs lives in a crisis. Why are some organizations better able than others to maintain function and structure in the face of unanticipated change?Authors Karl Weick and Kathleen Sutcliffe answer this question by pointing to high reliability organizations (HROs), such as emergency rooms in hospitals, flight operations of aircraft carriers, and firefighting units, as models to follow. These organizations have developed ways of acting and styles of learning that enable them to manage the unexpected better than other organizations. Thoroughly revised and updated, the second edition of the groundbreaking book Managing the Unexpected uses HROs as a template for any institution that wants to better organize for high reliability.
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