Organizational error management culture and its impact on performance: a two study replication

The authors argue that a high-organizational error management culture, conceptualized to include norms and common practices in organizations (e.g., communicating about errors, detecting, analyzing, and correcting errors quickly), is pivotal to the reduction of negative and the promotion of positive error consequences. Organizational error management culture was positively related to firm performance across 2 studies conducted in 2 different European countries. On the basis of quantitative and qualitative cross-sectional data from 65 Dutch organizations, Study 1 revealed that organizational error management culture was significantly correlated with both organizational goal achievement and an objective indicator of economic performance. This finding was confirmed in Study 2, using change-of-profitability data from 47 German organizations. The results suggest that organizations may want to introduce organizational error management as a way to boost firm performance

Error culture and its impact on rework: An exploration of norms and practices in a transport mega-project

Rework has been and continues to be a problem during the construction of transport mega-projects. This article examines the error culture of an alliance that forms part of a transport mega-project to determine its effectiveness in mitigating rework. Our article reveals that an error management culture positively correlates with reducing rework and holds a divergent relationship with an error aversion culture. We further show a negative association between an error aversion culture and the ability to reduce rework. It is suggested that more can be done to reduce errors and rework despite the prevalence of a strong error management culture in practice. We thus call for an explicit focus on reducing negative error consequences and developing strategies to handle errors. The article argues that providing a psychologically safe work environment, understanding and focusing on what goes right, and coaching to ensure that learning is transferred from an individual to an organizational level can reduce rework. Our study is the first attempt to examine the homogeneity of error culture (i.e., how errors and their consequences are dealt with) in an alliance mega-project setting. In addition, it provides a new line of exploration to address the issue of rework

Error aversion or management? Exploring the impact of culture at the sharp-end of production in a mega-project

The research we present in this paper addresses the following question: What type of error culture does the rank-and-file workforce experience during construction, and does it help mitigate rework? We undertake an exploratory case study of an Alliance, which forms part of a transport mega-project. An error culture questionnaire is administered to the Alliance's subcontractors' workforce across four projects. We find that an error management culture positively correlates with reductions in rework and holds a divergent relationship with an error aversion culture. We further reveal a negative association between an error aversion culture and the ability to reduce rework. Consequently, we question the contemporary wisdom that assumes that error prevention should be combined with error management to create an adaptive culture, aiming to minimise the negative and maximise positive error consequences. We finally discuss the study's limitations and implications for future research examining error culture in construction projects