Organizational attributes of Highly Reliable complex systems

Organizations that effectively anticipate, resist, and recover from disasters and system disturbances follow the successful practices of organizations that embody high organizational quality, reliability, disaster resistance, and resilience as a precondition for product or service quality and reliability. The model proposed herein was developed and derived from acomprehensive examination of the following organizational models: the High Reliability Organization, the Disaster Resistant University, the Resilient Enterprise, Enterprise Risk Management, Risk-Based Process Safety, Reactor Oversight Process, Hearts and Minds, and Business Continuity Planning. The proposed model, named the Highly Reliable Resilient Organization, integrates the common attributes of each these models and optimizes the balance of complexity and simplicity to ensure that the model is comprehensive enough to reflect reality and yet manageable within the operational systems of the organization. This balance provides value to the organization and ensures sustained use of the model. A case study describing the method used by a stakeholder group to verify the model and assign weights to the criteria therein is included. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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