scholarly journals A pursuit to reliability – Toward a structural based reliability framework (FSR)

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmad Ghaith ◽  
Huimin Ma ◽  
Ashraf W. Labib
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Southern China ◽  
High Reliability ◽  
Central China ◽  
Institutional Setting ◽  
High Reliability Organizations ◽  
Content Type ◽  
High Hazard ◽  
Organizational Framework ◽  
Reliability Performance

PurposeHigh-reliability performance and high-hazard are intertwined in High-Reliability Organizations (HROs) operations; these organizations are highly safe, highly hazardous and highly significant for the modern society, not only for the valuable resources they have, but also the indispensable services they provide. This research intend to understand how HROs could produce high quality performance despite their challenging and demanding contexts. The research followed an emic approach to develop an organizational framework that reflects the contribution of the seeming traits of the organizations to the operations safety based on the workers point of views about the safety of workstations.Design/methodology/approachThis research adopted mixed methods of in-depth interviews and literature review to identify the structural characteristics of high-reliability organizations (HROs) embedded in the organizations studies and developed a theoretical based structural framework for HROs. Furthermore, a systemic literature review was adopted to find the evidence from the organizations literature for the identified characteristics from the interviews from the first stage. The setting for this study is six Chinese power stations, four stations in Hubei province central China and two stations in the southern China Guangdong province.FindingsThe organizational framework is a key determinant to achieve high-reliability performance; however, solely it cannot explain how HROs manage the risks of hazard events and operate safely in high-hazard environments. High-reliability performance is attributed to the interaction between two sets of determinants of safety and hazard. The findings of this research indicate that HROs systems would be described as reliable or hazardous depending on the tightly coupled setting, complexity, bureaucracy involvement and dynamicity within the systems from one hand, and safety orientation, failure intolerance, systemwide processing, the institutional setting and the employment of redundant systems on other hand.Originality/valueThe authors developed an organizational framework of organizing the safety work in HROs. The applied method of interviewing and literature review was not adopted in any other researches.

Strengthening reliability in high hazard industries: reconciling tensions for impact

2014 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan H. Offstein ◽  
Raymond Kniphuisen ◽  
D. Robin Bichy ◽  
J. Stephen Childers Jr
Keyword(s):  
Phenomenological Study ◽  
High Reliability ◽  
Critical Factor ◽  
High Reliability Organizations ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Significant Damage ◽  
High Hazard ◽  
Complex Phenomena ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Insight Into

Purpose – Recent lapses in the management of high hazard organizations, such as the Fukushima event or the Deepwater Horizon blast, add considerable urgency to better understand the complicated and complex phenomena of leading and managing high reliability organizations (HRO). The purpose of this paper is to offer both theoretical and practical insight to further strengthen reliability in high hazard organizations. Design/methodology/approach – Phenomenological study based on over three years of research and thousands of hours of study in HROs conducted through a scholar-practitioner partnership. Findings – The findings indicate that the identification and the management of competing tensions arising from misalignment within and between public policy, organizational strategy, communication, decision-making, organizational learning, and leadership is the critical factor in explaining improved reliability and safety of HROs. Research limitations/implications – Stops short of full-blown grounded theory. Steps were made to ensure validity; however, generalizability may be limited due to sample. Practical implications – Provides insight into reliably operating organizations that are crucial to society where errors would cause significant damage or loss. Originality/value – Extends high reliability research by investigating more fully the competing tensions present in these complex, societally crucial organizations.

scholarly journals Crisis management in high-reliability organizations: lessons from Brazilian air disasters

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Meyer Jr ◽  
Miguel Piña e Cunha ◽  
Diórgenes Falcão Mamédio ◽  
Danillo Prado Nogueira
Keyword(s):  
Crisis Management ◽  
High Reliability ◽  
High Reliability Organizations ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Sociotechnical System ◽  
First Case ◽  
Operational Activities ◽  
High Level ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThe focus of this study was to analyze crisis management in a context of high-reliability organizations (HRO) evidenced in two cases of Brazilian air disasters. Aspects of human and technological natures were examined, addressing the complex sociotechnical system.Design/methodology/approachThis in-depth case study addressed the two most serious air disasters on Brazilian territory. The first case involved a midair collision between Gol Flight 1907 and the Legacy jet. In the second case, TAM flight 3054 had difficulty braking when landing at the airport and crashed into a building. Data were collected from official disaster documents.FindingsThe results revealed that the management and operational activities aimed to maintain the necessary conditions that prioritize a high level of reliability. High reliability mainly involves concern over failure, reluctance to accept simplified interpretations, sensitivity to operations, commitment to resilience and detailed structure specifications.Practical implicationsThe implications are based on alerting highly reliable organizations, emphasizing the focus on managing more reliably, resiliently and conscientiously. Changes will be required in the operations of organizations seeking to learn to manage unexpected events and respond quickly to continually improve the responsiveness of their services.Originality/valueIn the perspective of an intrinsic case study for crisis management in a context of HRO and disaster risk management, the originality of this study lies in its examination of the paradoxical nature of control within the systems of dangerous operations in complex organizations, as well as their contradictions in a high-reliability system.

Improving long-term care services: insights from high-reliability organizations

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maryam Memar Zadeh ◽  
Nicole Haggerty
Keyword(s):  
Management Practices ◽  
Long Term Care ◽  
High Reliability ◽  
High Reliability Organizations ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Traditional Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Management Approaches

Purpose Long-term care (LTC) organizations have struggled to protect their vulnerable clients from the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although various suggestions on containing outbreaks in LTC facilities have gained prominence, ensuring the safety of residents is not just a crisis issue. In that context, the authors must reasses the traditional management practices that were not sufficient for handling unexpected and demanding conditions. The purpose of this paper is to suggest rethinking the underlying attributes of LTC organizations and drawing insight from the parallels they have to high-reliability organizations (HROs). Design/methodology/approach The authors analyzed qualitative data collected from a Canadian LTC facility to shed light on the current state of reliability practices and culture of the LTC industry and to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the traditional management approaches. Findings To help the LTC industry develop the necessary crisis management capacity to tackle unexpected future challenges, there is an urgent need for adopting a more systemic top-down approach that cultivates mindfulness, learning and resilience. Originality/value This study contributes by applying the HRO theoretical lens in the LTC context. The study provides the LTC leaders with insights into creating a unified effort at the industry level to give rise to a high-reliability-oriented industry.

scholarly journals Safety coaching: a literature review of coaching in high hazard industries

2015 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 195-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Passmore ◽  
Victoria Krauesslar ◽  
Rachel Avery
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Content Type ◽  
High Hazard ◽  
Offshore Oil And Gas ◽  
Offshore Oil ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to critically review the research literature on safety coaching, with a particularly focus towards work in safety critical environments such as oil and gas, manufacturing and driving. Design/methodology/approach – A literature review was undertaken of existing research, specifically in high-hazard industries, to assess whether safety coaching could be applied in the offshore oil and gas industry. Findings – The paper suggests that coaching may offer some potential in helping support learning, behaviour change and is consistent with feedback and development approaches used in behavioural-based safety. Research limitations/implications – Further research would be needed to test the value of coaching to this new environment. Practical implications – The paper informs practice on the development of coach training for safety coaching offshore. Originality/value – The paper offers a new understanding of the potential of safety coaching in a new area of practice.

Are Public Bureaucracies Supposed to Be High Reliability Organizations?

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Seibel
Keyword(s):  
Child Protection ◽  
Organization Theory ◽  
Goal Attainment ◽  
High Reliability ◽  
Human Action ◽  
High Reliability Organizations ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Public Bureaucracy ◽  
Account Standard

This article addresses the question of to what extent conventional theories of high reliability organizations and normal accidents theory are applicable to public bureaucracy. Empirical evidence suggests precisely this. Relevant cases are, for instance, collapsing buildings and bridges due to insufficient supervision of engineering by the relevant authorities, infants dying at the hands of their own parents due to misperceptions and neglect on the part of child protection agencies, uninterrupted serial killings due to a lack of coordination among police services, or improper planning and risk assessment in the preparation of mass events such as soccer games or street parades. The basic argument is that conceptualizing distinct and differentiated causal mechanisms is useful for developing more fine-grained variants of both normal accident theory and high reliability organization theory that take into account standard pathologies of public bureaucracies and inevitable trade-offs connected to their political embeddedness in democratic and rule-of-law-based systems to which belong the tensions between responsiveness and responsibility and between goal attainment and system maintenance. This, the article argues, makes it possible to identify distinct points of intervention at which permissive conditions with the potential to trigger risk-generating human action can be neutralized while the threshold that separates risk-generating human action from actual disaster can be raised to a level that makes disastrous outcomes less probable.

A systematic literature review of healthcare supply chain and implications of future research

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 405-435 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anuj Dixit ◽  
Srikanta Routroy ◽  
Sunil Kumar Dubey
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Inventory Management ◽  
Cold Chain ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Papers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Drug Manufacturing ◽  
Customer Training

Purpose This paper aims to review the healthcare supply chain (HSC) literature along various areas and to find out the gap in it. Design/methodology/approach In total, 143 research papers were reviewed during 1996-2017. A critical review was carried out in various dimensions such as research methodologies/data collection method (empirical, case study and literature review) and inquiry mode of research methodology (qualitative, quantitative and mixed), country-specific, targeted area, research aim and year of publication. Findings Supply chain (SC) operations, performance measurement, inventory management, lean and agile operation, and use of information technology were well studied and analyzed, however, employee and customer training, tracking and visibility of medicines, cold chain management, human resource practices, risk management and waste management are felt to be important areas but not much attention were made in this direction. Research limitations/implications Mainly drug and vaccine SC were considered in current study of HSC while SC along healthcare equipment and machine, hospitality and drug manufacturing related papers were excluded in this study. Practical implications This literature review has recognized and analyzed various issues relevant to HSC and shows the direction for future research to develop an efficient and effective HSC. Originality/value The insight of various aspects of HSC was explored in general for better and deeper understanding of it for designing of an efficient and competent HSC. The outcomes of the study may form a basis to decide direction of future research.

Utilizing a systematic literature review to develop an integrated framework for information and knowledge management systems

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 250-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chulatep Senivongse ◽  
Alex Bennet ◽  
Stefania Mariano
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Systematic Literature Review ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Specific Area ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Knowledge Management Systems ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Integrated Framework ◽  
Information And Knowledge Management

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the value of using a systematic literature review to develop an integrated framework for information and knowledge management systems. Design/methodology/approach First, the systematic literature review method is introduced, differentiating it from traditional literature reviews in terms of value-added and limitations. Second, this methodology is used in a research application focused on absorptive capacity internal capabilities with regard to the processes of acquisition, assimilation, transformation and exploitation. Third, an integrated framework for information and knowledge management systems is developed from this application. Findings The systematic literature review approach provides a rigor that can assist in reducing researcher bias while simultaneously enabling the definition of a precise scope of review, with a clear explanation of selection criteria with the objective to find and review all the studies that are relevant to the search definitions. As a research method, it effectively supports a qualitative, quantitative or mixed methodology. Research limitations/implications This methodology was applied to one specific area of research. Specific limitations include the availability of articles in subscribed databases and the analytical capabilities of the tools used for text mining and analytics. Originality/value This paper demonstrates the usefulness of the systematic literature review methodology in developing an integrated framework for analysis.

scholarly journals Veränderte Kompetenzanforderungen an Mitarbeitende infolge zunehmender Automatisierung – Eine Arbeitsfeldbetrachtung

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michèle Rieth ◽  
Vera Hagemann
Keyword(s):  
High Reliability ◽  
High Reliability Organizations ◽  
High Reliability Organization

ZusammenfassungBasierend auf einer Arbeitsfeldbetrachtung im Bereich der Flugsicherung in Österreich und der Schweiz liefert dieser Artikel der Zeitschrift Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation. (GIO) einen Überblick über automatisierungsbedingte Veränderungen und die daraus resultierenden neuen Kompetenzanforderungen an die Beschäftigten im Hochverantwortungsbereich. Bestehende Tätigkeitsstrukturen und Arbeitsrollen verändern sich infolge zunehmender Automatisierung grundlegend, sodass Organisationen neuen Herausforderungen gegenüberstehen und sich neue Kompetenzanforderungen an Mitarbeitende ergeben. Auf Grundlage von 9 problemzentrierten Interviews mit Fluglotsen sowie 4 problemzentrierten Interviews mit Piloten werden die Veränderungen infolge zunehmender Automatisierung und die daraus resultierenden neuen Kompetenzanforderungen an die Beschäftigten in einer High Reliability Organization dargestellt. Dieser Organisationskontext blieb bisher in der wissenschaftlichen Debatte um neue Kompetenzen infolge von Automatisierung weitestgehend unberücksichtigt. Die Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass der Mensch in High Reliability Organizations durch Technik zwar entlastet und unterstützt werden kann, aber nicht zu ersetzen ist. Die Rolle des Menschen wird im Sinne eines Systemüberwachenden passiver, wodurch die Gefahr eines Fähigkeitsverlustes resultiert und der eigene Einfluss der Beschäftigten abnimmt. Ferner scheinen die Anforderungen, denen sie sich infolge zunehmender Automatisierung gegenüberstehen sehen, zuzunehmen, was in einem Spannungsfeld zu ihrer passiven Rolle zu stehen scheint. Die Erkenntnisse werden diskutiert und praktische Implikationen für das Kompetenzmanagement und die Arbeitsgestaltung zur Minimierung der identifizierten restriktiven Arbeitsbedingungen abgeleitet.

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