Prosaic Organizational Failure
- 1 August 1996
- journal article
- Published by SAGE Publications in American Behavioral Scientist
- Vol. 39 (8) , 1040-1056
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764296039008008
Abstract
We use the case of the now-dead Shoreham Nuclear Power Station to pose some questions, and a few answers, about organizational failure. The analysis centers on the symbolism of organizational plans, specifically how organizations use plans to justify increasingly complex systems to themselves and to others. That such plans are based on sparse or nonexistent experience, and that they are often wildly unrealistic, suggests some reasons why high-technology, high-risk systems do not foster organizational learning.Keywords
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