Managing the Unexpected: Sustained Performance in a Complex World, Third Edition.
According to Weick and Sutcliffe, high-reliability organizations operate under challenging conditions yet experience fewer problems than would be anticipated as they have developed ways of "managing the unexpected" better than most organizations. The authors, professors at the University of Michigan School of Business, use both case studies and theory-based analysis to explain the methods that result in organizational mindfulness, and, through it, a more robust culture of safety. This third edition of their classic text provides individual chapters on each of the five elements of high reliability and pays increased attention to the roles of interaction, sensemaking, and language in achieving more reliable performance under risky conditions.