If you haven’t caught up with it, BOSS magazine has a nice roundup of news from the journals each month. Unfortunately they don’t put the roundup on the website which is a pity.
Also unfortunately, one of the articles that caught my eye this month Lessons in organizational ethics from the Columbia disaster: Can a culture be lethal? Organizational Dynamics vol 33, issue 2 is also not easily available online. I did some searching around and found I could get if for a $30 (US) download fee. Seems like a lot of money for one article.
Reading Malcolm Rimmer’s BOSS review of the article tempts me though.
I have long been interested in the culture of NASA and the way that there seems to be an unwritten rule that certain potential problems don’t get reported up the chain.
Rimmer notes:
A disregard for safety was no secret to its employees, but they feared for their jobs and would not speak up.
Because a culture of production at all costs can be lethal,
Mason proposes an antidote: the “highly reliable organisation” (HRO), based on the concept of “mindfulness”. Designing an HRO is not difficcult, but finding the desire to build one may be tougher – until it is too late.
The list of organisations that poison themselves goes on and on.
Looks like I might subscribe to Organizational Dynamics. I note that they have a sample issue which is currently vol 33 #1. Maybe in a month’s time it will be vol 33 #2 and I’ll be able to get the article. I can only hope!