Learning and unlearning from disasters: an analysis of the Virginia Tech, USA shooting and the Lion Air 610 Airline crash

Bianca Schmidt,Ashraf Labib,Sara Hadleigh-Dunn

doi:10.20517/jsss.2019.02

Abstract

Learning and unlearning from disasters: an analysis of the Virginia Tech, USA shooting and the Lion Air 610 Airline crash

Highlights

Failures are often associated with negative implications and illustrated to be something that should be avoided in organisations
When failures are not detected in time, they can cause a chain reaction resulting in a major failure or disaster
The aim of this paper is to explore whether and how far organisations learn from failures

Summary

Introduction

Failures are often associated with negative implications and illustrated to be something that should be avoided in organisations. When failures are not detected in time, they can cause a chain reaction resulting in a major failure or disaster Within organisations, these major failures are often seen as Black Swans as their occurrence is low, but their impact is severe[7]. According to Fortune and Peters[8], failures that have such a destructive impact that they receive widespread media attention and investigation are considered disasters. These impacts are not limited to a number of fatalities and casualties and related to the wider influence on for example economies, policies and communities. The shooting comprised two attacks that took place in two different locations on campus, which are illustrated in Figure 1[35]. The plane went up and down more than a dozen times before disappearing from the radar[39]

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Conclusion