High Reliability and the Management of Critical Infrastructures

Organisation theorists and practitioners alike have become greatly interested in high reliability in the management of large hazardous technical systems and society's critical service infrastructures. But much of the reliability analysis is centred in particular organisations that have command...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:Journal of contingencies and crisis management 2004-03, Vol.12 (1), p.14-28
Hauptverfasser: Schulman, Paul, Roe, Emery, Eeten, Michel van, Bruijne, Mark de
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:Volltext
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:Organisation theorists and practitioners alike have become greatly interested in high reliability in the management of large hazardous technical systems and society's critical service infrastructures. But much of the reliability analysis is centred in particular organisations that have command and control over their technical cores. Many technical systems, including electricity generation, water, telecommunications and other “critical infrastructures,” are not the exclusive domain of single organisations. Our essay is organised around the following research question: How do organisations, many with competing, if not conflicting goals and interests, provide highly reliable service in the absence of ongoing command and control and in the presence of rapidly changing task environments with highly consequential hazards? We analyse electricity restructuring in California as a specific case. Our conclusions have surprising and important implications both for high reliability theory and for the future management of critical infrastructures organised around large technical systems.
ISSN:0966-0879
1468-5973
DOI:10.1111/j.0966-0879.2004.01201003.x