From Normaltaktik to Auftragstaktik: Lessons for Safety in the Military

Abstract

In their initiatives to achieve organizational safety goals, managers, but also members of safety institutes – such as regulators – often seem to follow what in the military might be called “normaltaktik” or “order-type tactics”. Also military attitudes towards safety seem to resemble and reinforce normaltaktik. This is somewhat ironic since the military has been forced more and more in the past decennium towards non-conventional warfare – and thus away from the application of normaltaktik. If we would approach safety not from a normaltaktiker but from an auftragstaktiker perspective, not only could this reduce accidents, it could give us a strategic advantage