Managing the Unexpected: Sustained Performance in a Complex World

by Karl E. Weick, Kathleen M. Sutcliffe

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.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Leadership, Management, Self Help, Psychology, Buisness

185 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 3, 2001

About the author

American organizational theorist who introduced the concepts of "loose coupling", "mindfulness", and "sensemaking" into organizational studies. He is the Rensis Likert Distinguished University Professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.

Reviews

[Davina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am suspicious of business books. An author once posited that business books are all about trying to create an illusion of certainty and predictability in a very unpredictable world. I found this book in line with a lot of traditional thinking on quality such as using bottom up detection, and deference to expertise rather than rank. The overall subject is the idea of a Highly Reliable Organization, I do appreciate such things so NOT going for simplified metrics like "uptime." I see a lot of difficulties in getting something like this going, because it really involved deep cultural change, which involves changing how people think about their jobs, and themselves. I've been an advocate of this for a very long time. The assessments were interesting, yet they are highly subjective, as they simplify some answers down to essentially, never, sometimes, always. I found myself wanting to say things like my group is nearly always but THAT group is probably a never.... I may be biased in how I answered the question. A very quick and easy read. I do recommend.

[Jill · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book, recommended by my boss, is about high reliability organizations. A bit dry, would have liked more stories or case scenarios.

[Ingrid · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting topic, makes a good overview of high reliability organisations, but the book could have been at least half it's length. Repeated the same things many times over 😅

[Victor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fair. No new ground here.

[Trish Bodine · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book may have been well-written for people already in business. It was not written for someone with little to no background in organizational frameworks.

[Rahul · Rating 5 out of 5]

My new favorite book.

[Emanuele Gemelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are two main criticisms about this book and the HRO theory in general:
a) the level of required organizational cognitive effort one has to put up to be a HRO is quite extensive. As such, I wonder reflecting on what Perrow said about Normal Accidents Theory, if complex organizations are a layer a bit too far and they only manage to the brink of failure and chance plays a lot
b) I think that the organizational culture aspects are touched a bit too lightly and don’t get enough attention: for instance the issue about power and culture does not look like is really developed here. Which is odd, when one continues to mention Air Force carriers as primary examples of HRO

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fairly snappy business book that details the qualitites of high reliability organizations -- ones which, if the system or process is comprimised, severe harm can occur. The book does a good job in detailing those qualities through vignettes, and then describing how those qualities can be applied to your organization. Even if your organization isn't an HRO, there are benefits to applying these qualities to it -- even if it's just positive culture change.

[Todd Dixon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an outline of behaviors that result in highly reliable organizations. Some are counter-intuitive. The high performing culture paradigm is that performance results in reward. A highly reliable organization strives to understand failure and on par with rewarding performance…otherwise we miss critical organizational behaviors that contribute to adverse outcomes when complex systems fail.

[Janice Sheufelt · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many excellent concepts in this very readable book.
One of my favorite lines: “Skeptics, curmudgeons and iconoclasts are welcome in any mindful system, even if their presence is not always pleasurable.”

[Alejandro Jaramillo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excelente libro para romper paradigmas

Una gran lección de la complejidad del mundo y como las mejores organizaciones de alta confiabilidad manejan esa complejidad. Las repuestas son contraintuitivas y rompen muchos paradigmas de la gestión empresarial

[Carolyn O'leary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many great ideas to make Organisation's stronger and more resilient to the unexpected.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read for grad school. An excellent overview and dive into High Reliability Organizations, Organizational Resilience, and Organizational Change. Recommended!

[Nina Livermore]

read for work

[Bjarne Siewertsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very insightful book - will probably read it more than once

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concise with powerful insight in managing for reliability in a world that is always changes. I want everyone I work with to have read it.

I’ll have to read it more than once to absorb it all.

[Manoj Joshi · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting text deeply researched and thoughts of . Salutation to the authors for piercing the insides of managing the unexpected and offer insights with valuable context . A must read .

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Themes are nauseatingly repetitive. A few anecdotes are noteworthy, but overall the book is a tough read that could probably be reduced by about 50 pages.

[Maggie McCabe · Rating 3 out of 5]

good tips for managing in a constantly changing field (like healthcare) but it is a little dry. I read this for my internship and did enjoy the examples and points made but it is a business book so it’s not the most engaging read.

[Jean M · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book while thinking of a major project that we're currently working on. The title, Managing the Unexpected, gave me a sense that I might learn something that I can apply right away. The book is a little dry and can feel academic. It is chalk full of fantastic definitions, amazing ways of diving into words we use loosely on an everyday basis, and also offers practical ways of thinking to apply the theory of managing the unexpected. There are several takeaway's including:
- Unexpected events occur mostly because we create organizations that construct an enact expected events in the 1st place.
- Firefighting may strengthen rather than weaken resilience because it gives people multiple experiences with coping and closure. That capability may come from learning that experiences of interruptions are accompanied by manageable anxiety, finite duration, an acceptable recovery.
- When people enlarge their ability to act on problems, they also enlarge the range of issues they can now notice.
- Making sense of emerging patterns is just as important as anticipating and planning.

Yet, I feel that the book is much deeper than this and may require a full reread. I would actually recommend this book as a study book for a group of managers or leaders within an organization who want to build or adapt their organizational culture to be more resilient. Honestly, each Chapter could easily become a book on to itself.

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting study of highly resilient companies

Karl E. Weick and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe give readers something new and useful in this book. Countless manuals explain how to plan for crises and make it sound like everything will go smoothly if you just plan correctly. Weick and Sutcliffe know better. Planning, they say, may even stand in the way of smooth processes or be the cause of failure. They base this discussion on their studies of “high reliability organizations” (HROs), like fire fighting units and aircraft carrier crews, organizations where the unexpected is common, small events make a difference, failure is a strong possibility and lives are on the line. From those examples, they deduce principles for planning, preparation and action that will apply to any company facing change. The book is not perfect – the authors overuse quotations and rely on buzzwords that don’t add much – but it addresses often-neglected aspects of management. getAbstract recommends it to anyone who is trying to make an organization more reliable and resilient amid change.

[TQM Doctor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weick and Sutcliffe (2001) introduced the concept of high reliability organizations (HROs) as exemplars of the systems and mindsets useful to other organizations in managing the unexpected. The authors formulated a conceptual framework for companies that need to go beyond the standard crisis management concepts. One of the important notions of the book was the detrimental effect of expectations and planning on the creative ability of an organization to address unique and dynamic situations. Not that expectations and planning are negative concepts, only that we must understand and attempt to mitigate the limiting effects of both.

[Todd Webb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating real-world stories from wildland firefighting teams, aircraft carrier commands, nuclear power plant staff, and more provide a colorful illustration of the culture and principles underlying High Reliability Organizations. Weick does a great job making the case that resilient organizations work differently. They know that strategy and planning create blind spots. The lessons Weick shares are directly applicable to software development teams that need to maintain highly available systems. Recommended.

[Mmetevelis · Rating 3 out of 5]

To survive we prevent ourselves from thinking about the worst that can happen. This is precisely how preventable disasters happen, when warning signs are there and not acted upon or actively ignored. This book gives steps to add to your managerial practice and corporate culture to assist you in the difficult work about being mindful as to unexpected issues and does so well with real life examples and easily related principles - all backed up by strong research. I read this with colleagues at work and cannot wait to discuss it.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very thought provoking and a good reminder that successful organizations focus on how did the system fail rather than who failed. The question their success and their failures looking for learning points and weaknesses and that routine can mask bigger problems. I'm going to have to add this to my to-read again pile.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite book from coursework in organizational change management this year. I'd say that at its essence this outlines an approach to empowering employees to make sense of their work and act proactively on behalf of their organization. Sensible and too often absent.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

The president of quality at IU health keeps giving me books to read and research to finish. I love her, but I'm strapped for time on some of these. This isn't a long book, but it takes some concentration.

[Anaïs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would recommend this book to every manager, as well as the french "Les décisions absurdes" by Christian Morel if you read french. This book offers a lot of key elements to understand reliability in organizations and how to manage teams.

[Wilma Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the few textbooks I've kept from graduate school.

[Mark McGranaghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid introductory text on "High Reliability Organizations", what differentiates them, and how to bring these qualities to your own organization.

Recommended for engineering/operations managers.