Organization at the Limit: Lessons from the Columbia Disaster - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 140513108X ISBN 13: 9781405131087

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell, 2005

Synopsis

The book offers important insight relevant to Corporate, Government and Global organizations management in general. The internationally recognised authors tackle vital issues in decision making, how organizational risk is managed, how can technological and organizational complexities interact, what are the impediments for effective learning and how large, medium, and small organizations can, and in fact must, increase their resilience. Managers, organizational consultants, expert professionals, and training specialists; particularly those in high risk organizations, may find the issues covered in the book relevant to their daily work and a potential catalyst for thought and action.

• A timely analysis of the Columbia disaster and the organizational lessons that can be learned from it.
  
• Includes contributions from those involved in the Investigation Board report into the incident.
  
• Tackles vital issues such as the role of time pressures and goal conflict in decision making, and the impediments for effective learning.
  
• Examines how organizational risk is managed and how technological and organizational complexities interact.
  
• Assesses how large, medium, and small organizations can, and in fact must, increase their resilience.
  
• Questions our eagerness to embrace new technologies, yet reluctance to accept the risks of innovation.
  
• Offers a step by step understanding of the complex factors that led to disaster.

About this title

About the Author

William H. Starbuck is ITT Professor of Creative Management in the Stern School of Business at New York University. He has been the editor of Administrative Science Quarterly and chaired the screening committee for senior Fulbright awards in business management; he was the President of the Academy of Management, and he is a Fellow in the Academy of Management, American Psychological Association, American Psychological Society, British Academy of Management, and Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. He has published more than 120 articles on accounting, bargaining, business strategy, computer programming, computer simulation, forecasting, decision-making, human--computer interaction, learning, organizational design, organizational growth and development, perception, scientific methods, and social revolutions.

Moshe Farjoun is an associate professor at the Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto. His research interests lie in the intersection of strategic management and organization. His research has explored market and organizational dynamics, particularly as they pertain to the processes of strategy formulation, implementation and change. His articles have appeared in Strategic Management Journal, Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, and Academy of Management Review.

From the Back Cover

Tragedies like the Columbia disaster are distressing reminders that things can go wrong in large, highly regarded organizations. Although we embrace new technologies eagerly, we are reluctant to accept the risks of innovation. Moreover, some technologies and organizations may be too complex to control effectively. What makes some organizations more prone to accidents? Do the very measures taken to increase safety contribute to accidents? Can societies, organizations, and individuals learn from failures and reduce risks?

Against this backdrop, Professors William H. Starbuck of New York University and Moshe Farjoun of York University have invited diverse experts to contribute insights about the Columbia accident and the organizational lessons it suggests. This book thus presents many viewpoints on the complex behavioral factors that led to disaster.

Against this backdrop, Professors William H. Starbuck of New York University and Moshe Farjoun of York University have invited diverse experts to contribute insights about the Columbia accident and the organizational lessons it suggests. This book thus presents many viewpoints on the complex behavioral factors that led to disaster.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 140513108X
• ISBN 13: 9781405131087
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 416
• Editor: Starbuck William, Farjoun Moshe