Managing the Unexpected: Sustained Performance in a Complex World, 3rd Edition

Managing the Unexpected: Sustained Performance in a Complex World, 3rd Edition

by Karl E. Weick, Kathleen M. Sutcliffe
Released September 2015
Publisher(s): Jossey-Bass
ISBN: 9781118862414

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Book description

Improve your company's ability to avoid or manage crises

Managing the Unexpected, Third Edition is a thoroughly revised text that offers an updated look at the groundbreaking ideas explored in the first and second editions. Revised to reflect events emblematic of the unique challenges that organizations have faced in recent years, including bank failures, intelligence failures, quality failures, and other organizational misfortunes, often sparked by organizational actions, this critical book focuses on why some organizations are better able to sustain high performance in the face of unanticipated change. High reliability organizations (HROs), including commercial aviation, emergency rooms, aircraft carrier flight operations, and firefighting units, are looked to as models of exceptional organizational preparedness. This essential text explains the development of unexpected events and guides you in improving your organization for more reliable performance.

"Expect the unexpected" is a popular mantra for a reason: it's rooted in experience. Since the dawn of civilization, organizations have been rocked by natural disasters, civil unrest, international conflict, and other unexpected crises that impact their ability to function. Understanding how to maintain function when catastrophe strikes is key to keeping your organization afloat.

  • Explore the many different kinds of unexpected events that your organization may face

  • Consider updated case studies and research

  • Discuss how highly reliable organizations are able to maintain control during unexpected events

  • Discover tactics that may bolster your organization's ability to face the unexpected with confidence

    • Managing the Unexpected, Third Edition offers updated, valuable content to professionals who want to strengthen the preparedness of their organizations—and confidently face unexpected challenges.

    Table of contents

    1. Cover
    2. Title Page
    3. Copyright
    4. Preface
    5. Acknowledgments
    6. Chapter 1: Mismanaging the Unexpected
      1. Washington Mutual Mismanages the Unexpected
      2. Conclusion
      3. Overview of Subsequent Chapters
    7. Chapter 2: The Infrastructure of Mindful Organizing
      1. Overview of the Collapse and Recovery
      2. The Unexpected and the Expected
      3. Sensemaking
      4. Organizing and Collective Sensemaking
      5. Adaptive Managing
      6. A Concluding Assessment
    8. Chapter 3: Principle 1: Preoccupation with Failure
      1. Components of Preoccupation with Failure
      2. Connotations of Preoccupation with Failure
      3. The Mind-Set for Preoccupation with Failure
      4. Practicing a Preoccupation with Failure
    9. Chapter 4: Principle 2: Reluctance to Simplify
      1. Organizing More Variety into Processes
      2. Organizing for Sense-Discrediting
      3. Organizing for Action-Based Inquiry
      4. Mind-Set for Reluctance
      5. Practicing a Reluctance to Simplify
    10. Chapter 5: Principle 3: Sensitivity to Operations
      1. Operations as an Anchoring in the Present
      2. Operations as an Integrated Map
      3. Operations as Heedful Interrelating
      4. Operations as Events under Pressure
      5. Operations as Recurring Events
      6. The Mind-Set for Sensitivity to Operations
      7. Practicing a Sensitivity to Operations
    11. Chapter 6: Principle 4: Commitment to Resilience
      1. Anticipation and Resilience
      2. Elasticity and Recovery
      3. Resilience in the Air Traffic System: United Airlines 232
      4. What Do We Learn about Resilience from UA 232?
      5. Mind-Set for Commitment to Resilience
      6. Practicing a Commitment to Resilience
    12. Chapter 7: Principle 5: Deference to Expertise
      1. Background
      2. Properties of Deference to Expertise
      3. Refinements
      4. Expertise Resembles the Role of Reliability Professionals
      5. Mind-Set for Deference to Expertise
      6. Practicing Deference to Expertise
    13. Chapter 8: Organizational Culture and Reliability
      1. What Is Organizational Culture?
      2. How Culture Develops
      3. The Case of Toyota
      4. Reorganizing at Toyota
      5. Chapter Summary
    14. Chapter 9: Sustaining Sustained Performance
      1. Sustained Awareness
      2. Sustained Surfacing
      3. Sustained Organizing
      4. Sustained Updating
      5. Sustained Agency
      6. Sustained Variety
      7. Sustained Change
      8. Conclusion
    15. About the Authors
      1. Karl E. Weick
      2. Kathleen M. Sutcliffe
    16. Index
    17. End User License Agreement

    Product information

    • Title: Managing the Unexpected: Sustained Performance in a Complex World, 3rd Edition
    • Author(s): Karl E. Weick, Kathleen M. Sutcliffe
    • Release date: September 2015
    • Publisher(s): Jossey-Bass
    • ISBN: 9781118862414