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Risk Mitigation in Large-Scale Systems: Lessons from High Reliability Organizations
Grabowski, Martha , and Karlene H. Roberts
39/4  (Summer 1997): 152-162

This article argues that we should turn our attention from single organizations to systems of organizations if we are to manage in a way that reduces the potential for catastrophic outcomes in organizations. Risk mitigation measures for large-scale systems are derived from research on high reliability organizations (HROs). The article focuses on characteristics similar to both types of systems--which include simultaneous autonomy and interdependence, intended and unintended consequences of behavior, long incubation periods during which problems can arise, and risk migration--and shows how risk mitigation principles that evolved from HRO research can be applied to large-scale systems.

 

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