Attentional Triangulation: Learning from Unexpected Rare Crises

Abstract

Attention to weak cues lies in the eyes of the beholder, but there are ways to entice such cues into collective view. To examine the link between attention to weak cues and learning from rare events, I use longitudinal, qualitative data to develop an attention-based perspective on how organizations learn from a crisis, a specific type of rare event. Learning from a crisis involves understanding why the crisis occurred and developing organizational designs for preventing the crisis from reoccurring. My data illustrate how disparity in attention to issues across the chain of command and the inability to coherently attend to weak signs of danger resulted in an unexpected crisis at Novo Nordisk, a world leader in diabetes care. The main contribution of my study is the development of the concept of attentional triangulation, which refers to the intersection of three interdependent dimensions of organizational attention (stability, vividness, and coherence) to identify issues that have the potential of having critical consequences for the organization. I also elaborate on the structures and processes that organizations can enact to facilitate attention triangulation for learning from rare events.