Managing the Unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity

High reliability organizations (HROs) such as ER units in hospitals or firefighting units are designed to perform efficiently under extreme stress and pressure. Using HROs as the model for the 21st century organization, Karl Weick and Kathleen Sutcliffe show readers how to respond to unexpected challenges with flexibility rather than rigidity and to reduce the disruptive effects of change by using tools such as sensemaking, stress reduction, migrating decisions, and labeling. Introducing the powerful new concept of mindfulness, the authors outline five qualities of the mindful organization and the organizational skills needed to achieve them. Each concept is clearly expressed in vivid case studies of…