Fatal flaws. The acquisition of imperfect mental models and their use in hazardous situations
| Published date | 01 December 2001 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000006087 |
| Date | 01 December 2001 |
| Pages | 398-409 |
| Author | Judith Ann Chapman,Tania Ferfolja |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & finance,HR & organizational behaviour,Information & knowledge management |
JIC
2,4
398
Journal of Intellectual Capital,
Vol. 2 No. 4, 2001, pp. 398-409.
#MCB University Press, 1469-1930
Fatal flaws
The acquisition of imperfect mental
models and their use in hazardous
situations
Judith Ann Chapman
School of Management at the University of Western Sydney,
Penrith South, Australia, and
Tania Ferfolja
The Learning Centre at the University of New South Wales,
Sydney, Australia
Keywords Organizational learning, Model, Intellectual property, Liability, Safety,
Organizational development
Abstract This paper is concerned with the relationship between poor learning processes and the
acquisition of imperfect mental models, and their consequences in workplace situations which are
hazardous. Seven different factors which may influence mental models to become flawed are
proposed. The links between these flaws and three recent Australian industrial disasters are then
explored. The paper concludes by discussing the benefits of a greater understanding of poor
learning processes as a basis for more focused and contextualised approaches to organisational
development.
Introduction
Interest in processes of learning in organisations has grown in recent years,
spurred by theorists such as Argyris and Schon (1978, 1996), Kim (1993) and
Senge (1990). An important underlying assumption in most accounts is that
organisations which learn are more effective than others. Further, learning is
an adaptive process and organisational performance can be improved as long
as the rate of learning is commensurate with the rate of change in the
surrounding environment (Robinson et al., 1997). It follows that a failure to
learn, or a tendency to learn the wrong things (Field, 1997) can have
detrimental consequences for an organisation. It is therefore disturbing that
commentators (e.g. Senge, 1990) regularly decry the adequacy of effective
learning in organisations. This is not often matched, however, by attempts to
identify the factors which act as impediments to learning, or to specify the
consequences when these factors are present. This paper is an attempt to turn
this situation around by addressing processes of poor learning and their impact
on organisations in terms of the consequences for safety in situations which are
inherently hazardous.
The literature encompasses many different views about the nature of
organisational learning, reflecting the diverse range of disciplinary groups that
share an interest in this field (Easterby-Smith et al., 1998). From the systems
perspective of Argyris and Schon (1978), Senge (1990) and Huber (1991),
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