Organisations are Social Institutions I saw a meme the other day from the safety sphere that stated: ‘We, all of us, are just one new executive away from having to start again at the very beginning’. Of course, this is utter nonsense. The idea that ‘we’ (the organized) are shaped by the shifting of … [Read more...] about Organisations are Social Institutions
Just Culture
The Discourse of Just Culture in Safety
The Discourse of Just Culture in Safety One of the most important skills in Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is to look and listen to text-narrative and consider critical language omitted. Discourse is about power embedded in language, discourse is just about the flow of conversation and text. … [Read more...] about The Discourse of Just Culture in Safety
Is Just Culture Unjust?
One of the strange things about the Just Culture phenomenon in risk and safety is the strange idea that somehow Justice and Culture can be controlled. Most often what Safety does with most things it touches is redefine Justice or Culture as ‘behaviours’. This is what Safety does with most things it … [Read more...] about Is Just Culture Unjust?
The Visible and Invisible in Risk and Culture
In response to questions about culture as observable, measureable and behavioural Creative people dream and imagine, they see things and envision possibilities that don’t exist. They write poems, songs and stories about the things they see and ‘tell forward’ their vision for what might be … [Read more...] about The Visible and Invisible in Risk and Culture
Culture is NOT ‘What We Do Around Here!’
The KISS principle is alive and well in the safety industry under the belief that if you keep repeating slogans, myths and mantras, they must be true. Let’s look at how dangerous and harmful just one of these slogans is: Culture is ‘what we do around here’ The danger of this naïve and simplistic … [Read more...] about Culture is NOT ‘What We Do Around Here!’
Safety as a Knowledge Culture
We all know the saying ‘you can’t see the forest for the trees’ meaning, when you are so deep in something you can’t see what you are in. The saying also captures the dynamic of immersion, of being so deeply committed to something that it takes on a life of its own, on other words it becomes an … [Read more...] about Safety as a Knowledge Culture
So, You Want Culture Change
Grappling with culture is one of the issues Safety does poorly. After all, the industry and its STEM gestalt are not well equipped to even define culture well. This is most evident in the OHS Body of Knowledge (https://www.ohsbok.org.au/). Once again, unless the industry is prepared to step outside … [Read more...] about So, You Want Culture Change
Risk Culture and Cultural Risk
Risk Culture and Cultural Risk When the risk and safety industry defines culture it doesn’t consider critical aspects of culture. The most common definition is that culture is ‘what we do around here’ which fits in nicely with the behaviourist-cognitivist worldview that dominates the sector. So … [Read more...] about Risk Culture and Cultural Risk
Organisational culture
Organisational culture See the mice in their million hordes from Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads David Bowie 1 Safety culture like many soft system change management elements is somewhat vague and subject to definitional dilemma. It is often envisaged as a predictable and concrete entity that is … [Read more...] about Organisational culture
Understanding Just Culture
Understanding Just Culture The idea of Just Culture is not a neutral concept. Within the mechanistic worldview of safety and positivism Just Culture often is defined to mean ‘fair systems’ or ‘low-blame’ systems. This is evident in many presentations on Just Culture including the following … [Read more...] about Understanding Just Culture
