Operationalising learning from rare events: framework for middle humanitarian operations managers

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the learning from rare events and the knowledge management processinvolved, which presents a significant challenge to many organizations. This is primarily attributed to the inability tointerpret these events in a systematic and “rich” manner, which this paper seeks to address. We start by summarizing therelevant literature on humanitarian operations management (HOM), outlining the evolution of the socio-technical disasterlifecycle and its relationship with humanitarian operations, using a supply chain resilience theoretical lens. We then out-line theories of organizational learning (and unlearning) from disasters and the impact on humanitarian operations. Subse-quently, we theorize the role of middle managers in humanitarian operations, which is the main focus of our paper. Themain methodology incorporates a hybrid of two techniques for root cause analysis, applied to two related case studies.The cases were specifically selected as, despite occurring twenty years apart, there are many similarities in the chain ofcausation and supporting factors, potentially suggesting that adequate learning from experience and failures is not occur-ring. This provides a novel learning experience within the HOM paradigm. Hence, the proposed approach is based on amultilevel structure that facilitates the operationalization of learning from rare events in humanitarian operations. Theresults show that we are able to provide an environment for multiple interpretations and effective learning, with emphasison middle managers within a humanitarian operations and crisis/disaster management context

Liberals vs. Communitarians on the Self

In quale senso vi può essere un "progresso" nelle discussioni filosofiche? Attraverso il modello dialettico di razionalità, l'Autore mostra come il dibattito tra liberals e communitarians sulla nozione del "sé" non sia stato un dialogo tra sordi, sebbene non siano mancati fraintendimenti

Why Economists Should Be Unhappy with the Economics of Happiness

The economics of happiness is an influential research programme, the aim of which is to change welfare economics radically. In this paper I set out to show that its foundations are unreliable. I shall maintain two basic theses: (a) the economics of happiness shows inconsistencies with the first person standpoint, contrary claims on the part of the economists of happiness notwithstanding, and (b) happiness is a dubious concept if it is understood as the goal of welfare policies. These two theses are closely related and lead to a third thesis: (c) happiness should be replaced by autonomy as the fundamental goal of welfare economics. To defend my claims I shall show that a hedonic approach to happiness leads to an awkward trilemma. Furthermore, I shall clarify the meaning of “happiness” and “autonomy”, along with their conceptual relationships

Facts and Values in Ecology. Philosophical Insights from Rachel Carson's 'Silent Spring'"

Through the analysis of the world-famous book by Rachel Carson, I set out to defend three theses concerning ecological science: 1)scientists should not be wary of crossing the line between facts and values, since dialectical rationality clearly shows that including moral values in scientific debates does not make science irrational or biased. On the contrary, if scientists are committed to a moral value, it is altogether rational for them to state it explicitly if this is required in a dialogue; 2) some scientific terms in ecology are “thick” in the sense that they have both a descriptive and a moral import. For positivists this implies that the language of ecology itself is biased, but I shall argue that this conclusion is not reasonable; 3)in order to be a good scientific advisor the ecologist must also have a good command of the moral discourse. None of my arguments infringe the so-called Hume’s law. Rather I shall show that facts and values are strongly intermingled in ecological science independently of the law