Organizing in and for the Unexpected
High-reliability organizations are organizations that have succeeded in evading catastrophes in a setting where due to the risk factors and complexity of the activities, normal accidents can be expected. Hospitals, film crews, fire departments, and police forces are examples of such organizations (Bigley & Roberts, 2001). Though they are high-reliability organizations, they must make sure that they practice flexibility and, at the same time, maintain their core operations. The paper will discuss how these organizations can exercise flexibility as well as manage their core operations.
The high-reliability organizations are faced with surprises every day, which is the nature of their work, and therefore they have to develop senses of responses and be flexible and still focus on their core operations at the same time. Most of these organizations can do so by following the set of guidelines that are laid out to guide their activities. Their systems are usually highly formalized in that they contain strict rules, policies, and procedures that the employees have to follow (Bechky & Okhuysen, 2011). The rules and procedures, therefore, dictate how they should respond under different circumstances, but their response should be in line with what is expected of them. In addition, they may choose to restructure their activities like, for instance, introducing role shifting. Role shifting is done mainly in hospitals and in the police force where they work in shifts since their positions are not supposed to be left blank in case of emergencies. The role shifting helps them practice flexibility, and at the same time, the main operations are still conducted.
The organizations also adopt a system switching mechanism where systems are changed if they are seen not to yield any results. The disengagement from such systems is done in such a manner that is fast and one that does not cause a lot of harm. The organizations may also result in authority migration where authority is formally distributed such that not few people give orders, and at the same time, not too many people have authority.
References
Bigley, G. A., & Roberts, K. H. (2001). The incident command system: High-reliability organizing for complex and volatile task environments. Academy of Management Journal, 44(6), 1281-1299.
Bechky, B. A., & Okhuysen, G. A. (2011). Expecting the unexpected? How SWAT officers and film crews handle surprises. Academy of Management Journal, 54(2), 239-261.