Assessing the HRO: Tools and techniques to determine the high-reliability state of an organization

Abstract

The history of High Reliability Organizations (HROs) dates from 1986 when researchers identified similar characteristics found in organizations which appeared to operate error-free despite being very complex and operating under highly error-prone conditions. In 2001 Weick and Sutcliffe published what became a de facto set of five behavioral hallmarks, after which most publishing on the subject of HROs referenced those hallmarks, either individually or collectively, as objectives to be achieved to effect high reliability for an organization. Through the intervening years, HRO concepts have spread into use in multiple industries; however, there is little published on implementation, sustainment, or measurement tools that is widely cited in the literature. The objective of this research was to discover if there are practices of HRO implementation, sustainment, and measurement applicable to a wide variety of industries. The results show that there are some tools proposed for specific applications, but there is not a single toolset applicable to most industries. The results also show the healthcare sector along with the academic research sector to be most prolific industries for developing implementation and measurement strategies for HRO. Our analysis of the literature also supported the observation that the separate initiatives toward critical infrastructure protection not only closely parallel the fundamental objectives of the HRO but converge toward a more generalized construct.