The Safety of Work

Ep.88 Why do organisations sometimes make bad decisions?


Listen Later

While this paper was written over half a century ago, it is still relevant to us today - particularly in the Safety management industry where we are often responsible for offering solutions to problems, and implementing those solutions, requires decisions to be made by top management. 

This is another fascinating piece of work that will broaden your understanding of why organisations often struggle with solving problems that involve making decisions.

 

Topics:

  • Introduction to the research paper: A Garbage Can Model of Organisational Choice
  • Organised anarchies 
  • Phenomena explained by this paper
  • Examples of the garbage can models
    • Standards Committees
    • Enforceable undertakings process
  • How to influence the process
  • Deciding on who makes decisions
  • Conclusion - most problems will get solved
  • Practical takeaways
    • Not to get discouraged when your problem isn’t solved in a particular meeting
    • Being mindful of where your decision-making energy is spent
    • Problems vs Solutions vs Decision-making 
    • Have multiple solutions ready for problems that may come up - but don’t force them all the time.

 

Quotes:

“Decisions aren’t made inside people’s heads, decisions are made in meetings, so we’ve got to understand the interplay between people in looking at how decisions are made.” - Dr. Drew Rae

“Incident investigations are a great example of choice opportunities.” -  Dr. Drew Rae

“It’s probably a good reflection point for people to just think about how many decisions certain roles in the organization are being asked to be involved in.” - Dr. David Provan

 

Resources:

Griffith University Safety Science Innovation Lab

The Safety of Work Podcast

The Safety of Work LinkedIn

[email protected]

A Garbage Can Model of Organizational Choice (Wikipedia Page)

Administrative Science Quarterly

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

The Safety of WorkBy David Provan

  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8

4.8

20 ratings


More shows like The Safety of Work

View all
Dr Karl Podcast by triple j

Dr Karl Podcast

190 Listeners

Conversations by ABC listen

Conversations

845 Listeners

Freakonomics Radio by Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher

Freakonomics Radio

32,083 Listeners

PreAccident Investigation Podcast by Todd Conklin

PreAccident Investigation Podcast

165 Listeners

The Economy, Stupid by ABC listen

The Economy, Stupid

19 Listeners

Politics Now by ABC listen

Politics Now

84 Listeners

ABC News Daily by ABC

ABC News Daily

129 Listeners

If You're Listening by ABC listen

If You're Listening

297 Listeners

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford by Pushkin Industries

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

5,066 Listeners

The HOP Nerd by Safety FM

The HOP Nerd

17 Listeners

HOP Into Action Podcast Series by Brent Sutton

HOP Into Action Podcast Series

2 Listeners

Not Stupid by ABC Listen

Not Stupid

56 Listeners

Empire by Goalhanger

Empire

2,135 Listeners

A HOP Podcast (With No Name) by Andrea Baker & Matt Florio

A HOP Podcast (With No Name)

15 Listeners

Punk Rock Safety by Ben Goodheart, David Provan, Ron Gantt

Punk Rock Safety

10 Listeners