Management and Human Reliability: Human Factors as Linchpin of Institutions and Organizations

Abstract

Human factors play a very important role in deciding performance in the workplace. The assessment of these factors, particularly of the staff and people involved in critical operations and sensitive assignments, has been dealt with extensively, and various models are now available. In contrast, the attitude of the management professional responsible for coordination and decision-making has not received the same level of attention or scrutiny. In this chapter, we will discuss how human factors in connection with the management influence overall functioning of organizations by taking some typical examples from the literature. All these examples highlight cases in which the management abjectly failed in its responsibilities—be it through a trust deficit, indecisiveness, or an inability to take the staff into confidence—thus eroding human values. Lastly, based on the author’s experience, an attempt has been made to demonstrate how an ambiance and environment could be created to ensure human factors are nurtured in a research laboratory leading to the overall growth of the organization.