Skip to main content
  • 4044 Accesses

Abstract

Recently the Danish subway trains have begun to announce “on time” when they arrive at a Station on time. This action reflects a worrying acceptance of the normality of failure.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 49.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 49.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    See Jensen (2008) for a critical interpretation of the health safety movement’s interpretation of Perrow.

  2. 2.

    What is failure? In most cases, it has nothing to do with spectacular crashes, shattering, cracking, smashing to pieces. Failure instead means quietly turning to dust, dying away in a long-drawn-out manner, unspectacularly drifting out of the zone of attention or being tellingly hushed up (Own translation).

  3. 3.

    See Pors (2011) for a comprehensive discussion and analytical use of the concept of noise.

  4. 4.

    See Sennett (1998) for a more recent version of the same basic diagnosis.

Literature

  • Andersen, N. Å. (2009). Power at Play: The Relationships between Play, Work and Governance. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Andersen, N. Å. (2012a). Flygtige forhold: Om ledelse af medarbejdere mellem pcedagogik, kcerlighed og leg. Kjabenhavn: Hans Reitzel Forlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Andersen, N. Å. (2012b). To promise a promise: When contractors desire a life-long partnership. In: N. Ä. Andersen, & I.-J. Sand (eds.), Hybrid Forms of Governance: Self-suspension of Power.Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Andersen, N. Å., & Sand, I.-J. (eds.) (2012). Hybrid Forms of Governance: Self-suspension of Power. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baecker, D. (1999). Organisation als System: Aufsätze. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bovens, M., Hart, P., Dekker, S., & Verheuvel, G. (1999). The politics of blame avoidance: defensive tactics in a dutch crime-fighting fiasco. In: H. K. Anheier, When things go wrong: organizational failures and breakdowns (p. 123-147). Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brockner, J. (1992). The Escalation of Commitment to a Failing Course of Action: Toward Theoretical Progress. TheAcademy of Management Review 1992 77(1), 39–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, A. D., & Jones, M. R. (1998). Doomed to Failure: Narratives of Inevitability and Conspiracy in a Failed IS Project. Organization Studies19(1), 73–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brunsson, N. (2003). Organized Hypocrisy. In: B. Czarniawska, & G. Sevön (eds.), The norther lights – Organization theory in Scandinavia (p. 201-222). Liber: Abstrakt.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corte-Real, I., Nomden, K., Kelly, M., & Petiteville, F. (2000). Administration in Transition: Modernisation of Public Administration in Four Countries: Portugal, the Netherlands, Ireland and France. European Institute of Public Administration.

    Google Scholar 

  • Drepper, T. (2003). Organisationen der Gesellschaft: Gesellschaft und Organisation in der Systemtheorie Niklas Luhmanns. Wiesbaden: Westdeutscher Verlag.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Drummond, H. (1998). Is escalation always irrational? Organization studies19(6), 911–929.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eco, U. (1988). An ars oblivionalis? Forget it!. Publications of the Modern Language Association ofAmerica103(3), 254–261.

    Google Scholar 

  • Esposito, E. (2002). Soziales Vergessen: Formen und Medien des Gedächtnisses der Gesellschaft. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hood, C. (1991). A public management for all seasons?. Public administration 69(1), 3–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hood, C. (2002). The risk game and the blame game. Government and Opposition 57(1), 15–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Janis, I. L. (1972). Victims of groupthink. A psychological study of foreign-policy decisions and fiascoes. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jensen, C. B. (2008). Sociology, systems and (patient) safety: knowledge translations in healthcare policy. Sociology of health & illness 30(2), 309–324.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knudsen, M. (2005). Displacing the paradox of decision making – The Management of contingency in the modernization of a Danish county. In: D. Seidl, & K. H. Becker (eds.), Niklas Luhmann and Organization Studies (p. 107-126). Malmö: Liber.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knudsen, M. (2006). Autolysis Within Organizations: A Case Study. Soziale Systeme12(1), 79–99.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knudsen, M. (2011). Forms of Inattentiveness: The Production of Blindness in the Development of a Technology for the Observation of Quality in Health Services. Organization Studies32(7),963–989.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knudsen, M., & Hojlund, H. (2012). Organizational suspensions: a desire for interaction. In: N. Ä. Andersen, & I.-J. Sand (eds.), Hybrid Forms of Governance: Self-suspension of Power. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lachmann, R. (2002). Erzählte Phantastik: Zu Phantasiegeschichte und Semantik phantastischer Texte. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luhmann, N. (1984). Soziale Systeme: Grundriß einer allgemeinen Theorie. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luhmann, N. (1992). Die Universität als organisierte Institution. In: A. Kieserling (Hrsg.), Universität als Milieu: Kleine Schriften (p. 90-99). Bielefeld: Haux.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luhmann, N. (1995). Social systems. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luhmann, N. (1997). Gesellschaft der Gesellschaft. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luhmann, N. (1999). Zweckbegriff und Systemrationalität. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luhmann, N. (2000). Organisation und Entscheidung. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Luhmann, N. (2005). The paradox of decision making. In: D. Seidl, & K. H. Becker (eds.), Niklas Luhmann and Organization Studies (p. 85-106). Malmö: Liber.

    Google Scholar 

  • March, J. G. (1978). Bounded rationality, ambiguity, and the engineering of choice. The Bell Journal ofEconomics9(2), 587–608.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marquard, O (1995). Inkompetenzkompensationskompetenz? Über Kompetenz und Inkompetenz der Philosophie (lecture in München 28thof September 1973). In: O. Marquard, Abschied vom Prinzipiellen: Philosophische Studien (p. 23-38). Stuttgart: Reclam.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mellahi, K., & Wilkinson, A. (2004). Organizational failure: a critique of recent research and a proposed integrative framework. InternationalJournal of Management Reviews 5/6(1), 21–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mellahi, K., & Wilkinson, A. (2010). Managing and coping with organizational failure: introduction to the special issue. Group & Organization Management 35(5), 531–541.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Merton, R. K. (1936). The unanticipated consequences of purposive social action. American sociological review 1(6), 894–904.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, J. W., & Rowan, B. (1977). Institutionalized organizations: Formal strueture as myth and ceremony. In: W. W. Powell, & P. J. DiMaggio (eds.), The new institutionalism in organizational analysis. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moldaschl, M. (2009). Erkenntnisbarrieren und Erkenntnisverhütungsmittel. Warum siebzig Prozent der Changeprojekte scheitern. In: J. Kramer, H. Stark, & F. von Ameln, Organisationsberatung – blinde Flecken in organisationalen Veränderungsprozessen (p. 301-312). Wiesbaden: VS.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nassehi, A. (2005). Organizations as decision machines: Niklas Luhmann’s theory of organized social systems. The Sociological Review53, 178–191.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perrow, C. (1999). Normal accidents. Living with high-risk technologies. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pors, J. G. (2011). Noisy Management: A History of Danish School Governing from 1970-2010. CBS, PhD Series 24.2011.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reason, J. (2000). Human error: models and management. British Medical Journal320(1237), 768–770.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ross, J., & Staw, B. M. (1993). Organizational escalation and exit: Lessons from the Shoreham nuclear power plant. Academy of Management Journal36(4), 701–732.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sennett, R. (1998). The corrosion of character: The personal consequences of work in the new capitalism. New York: Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stäheli, U. (2000). Sinnzusammenbrüche. Eine dekonstruktive Lektüre von Niklas Luhmanns Systemtheorie. Weilerswist: Velbrück Wissenschaft.

    Google Scholar 

  • Staw, B. M. (1981). The escalation of commitment to a course of action. Academy of management Review6(4), 577–587.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vaara, E. (2002). On the discursive construction of success/failure in narratives of post-merger integration. Organization Studies23(2), 211–248.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vaughan, D. (1999). The dark side of organizations: Mistake, misconduct, and disaster. Annual review of sociology25, 271–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vogd, W. (2011). Systemtheorie und rekonstruktive Sozialforschung – eine Brücke. Opladen: Budrich.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Knudsen, M. (2014). Failing Decisions. In: Bergmann, J., Hahn, M., Langhof, A., Wagner, G. (eds) Scheitern – Organisations- und wirtschaftssoziologische Analysen. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-01652-4_4

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics