Errors, error taxonomies, error prevention, and error management: Laying the groundwork for discussing errors in organizations
Research output: Contributions to collected editions/works › Chapter › peer-review
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Errors in Organizations. ed. / David A. Hofmann; Michael Frese. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2011. p. 1-43 (SIOP organizational frontiers series).
Research output: Contributions to collected editions/works › Chapter › peer-review
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TY - CHAP
T1 - Errors, error taxonomies, error prevention, and error management
T2 - Laying the groundwork for discussing errors in organizations
AU - Hofmann, David A.
AU - Frese, Michael
PY - 2011/7/21
Y1 - 2011/7/21
N2 - Every organization is confronted with errors; these errors can result in either positive (e.g., learning, innovation) or negative (e.g., loss of time, poor-quality products) consequences. On the positive side, errors can lay the foundation for outcomes such as innovation and learning (e.g., Sitkin, 1992). For example, both Edmondson (1996) and van Dyck, Frese, Baer, and Sonnentag (2005) found that a positive and constructive approach to errors is associated with organizational outcomes such as learning and performance. With regard to the negative aspects of errors, the majority of the attention within the organizational sciences has focused on the investigation of highly salient and visible organizational failures (e.g., Challenger, Columbia, Chernobyl; Perrow, 1984; Reason, 1987; Starbuck & Farjoun, 2005; Starbuck & Milliken, 1988a; Vaughan, 1996). These investigations have taught us a great deal about how many seemingly independent decisions, actions, and organizational conditions can become interconnected and create extreme failure. These extreme examples, however, do not really capture the lion’s share of errors occurring within organizations. Individuals working in organizations make errors every day and every hour and (sometimes) make multiple errors in the span of a minute. Researchers, for example, have estimated that for some computer tasks, up to 50% of work time is spent on error recovery (Hanson, Kraut, & Farber, 1984; Kraut, Hanson, & Farber, 1983; Shneiderman, 1987), and Brodbeck, Zapf, Prümper, and Frese (1993) found that 10% of computer work time is spent handling and recovering from errors. Other computer-based research suggested that individuals average 18 unnecessary cursor movements per hour (Floyd & Pyun, 1987).
AB - Every organization is confronted with errors; these errors can result in either positive (e.g., learning, innovation) or negative (e.g., loss of time, poor-quality products) consequences. On the positive side, errors can lay the foundation for outcomes such as innovation and learning (e.g., Sitkin, 1992). For example, both Edmondson (1996) and van Dyck, Frese, Baer, and Sonnentag (2005) found that a positive and constructive approach to errors is associated with organizational outcomes such as learning and performance. With regard to the negative aspects of errors, the majority of the attention within the organizational sciences has focused on the investigation of highly salient and visible organizational failures (e.g., Challenger, Columbia, Chernobyl; Perrow, 1984; Reason, 1987; Starbuck & Farjoun, 2005; Starbuck & Milliken, 1988a; Vaughan, 1996). These investigations have taught us a great deal about how many seemingly independent decisions, actions, and organizational conditions can become interconnected and create extreme failure. These extreme examples, however, do not really capture the lion’s share of errors occurring within organizations. Individuals working in organizations make errors every day and every hour and (sometimes) make multiple errors in the span of a minute. Researchers, for example, have estimated that for some computer tasks, up to 50% of work time is spent on error recovery (Hanson, Kraut, & Farber, 1984; Kraut, Hanson, & Farber, 1983; Shneiderman, 1987), and Brodbeck, Zapf, Prümper, and Frese (1993) found that 10% of computer work time is spent handling and recovering from errors. Other computer-based research suggested that individuals average 18 unnecessary cursor movements per hour (Floyd & Pyun, 1987).
KW - Business psychology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=82955225795&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.4324/9780203817827
DO - 10.4324/9780203817827
M3 - Chapter
SN - 978-0-8058-6291-1
T3 - SIOP organizational frontiers series
SP - 1
EP - 43
BT - Errors in Organizations
A2 - Hofmann, David A.
A2 - Frese, Michael
PB - Routledge Taylor & Francis Group
CY - New York
ER -