From Crisis to Mindfulness

The world is constantly changing and crises to which organizations and people are exposed are recurrently happening. In this turbulent business environment, companies die, on a daily basis, while other manage to survive and even some facing chaotic situations, not only survive but also develop themselves and be born again, like a Phoenix from the ashes. Those organizations develop a mindful infrastructure that allows them to learn from their errors thereby diminishing the potential negative effects of those crises (Weick & Sutcliffe, 2007). Any kind of organization can implement and develop a mindful infrastructure, in different levels, and different formats between levels, according to their organizational characteristics and needs (Weick, Sutcliffe & Obstfeld, 1999). The mindful infrastructure has five principles (Weick & Sutcliffe, 2001, 2007), that should be followed by an organization that wishes to improve its reliability in the safety context, becoming a High Reliability Organization [HRO]. A HRO is capable of anticipating an unexpected event, and even when it happens, be capable of diminishing the severity of its consequences. This article is part of a Doctoral thesis in progress that aims to explore how organizations learn from crises and unexpected events, transforming such negative events in positive outcomes as learning, consciousness of safety issues, and safety performance development.