DTU ProjectLab - User contributions [en-gb]

Organisational resilience with mindfulness

2015-09-28T21:51:03Z

S140046:

'''Mindfulness''' is a term introduced by the professors Karl E. Weick and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe after studying [[Wikipedia:High_reliability_organization|high reliability organizations]] (HRO). These organizations have no choice but to function reliable. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279 ''Weick and Sutcliffe have studied HRO’s that have developed a way of acting with unexpected events. The processes of the HRO’s have been mapped and provide a template for all organizations that want to be more reliable in managing the unexpected. The principles and mindset behind the HRO’s is introduced as mindfulness. The authors define mindfulness as a management theory with real life examples from US Navy carriers, nuclear power plants and railway companies.''</ref> found that reliability does not mean a complete lack of variation. It is just the opposite. It takes mindful variety to assure stable high performance. The learnings and techniques from the HRO’s can be implemented in projects and in organizations who want a higher reliability.
[[File:Flickr_-_Official_U.S._Navy_Imagery_-_An_airplane_launches_from_the_flight_deck..jpg|400px|thumb|Right|Figure 1: US Navy carrier example of an HRO]]
= Overview =
In brief, mindfulness involves the ability to detect important aspects of the context and take timely, appropriate action. A well-developed capability for mindfulness catches the unexpected earlier when it is smaller, comprehends its potential importance despite the small size of the disruption, and removes, contains or rebounds from the effects of the unexpected. Managing the unexpected, mindful project managers and organizations are able to reliably deliver the task they were asked to do.

The expectations of individuals tend not to correspond with the reality. We are all affected by cognitive biases and the mindful project manager is aware of that.

=== Mindfulness VS Mindlessness ===
To underline the importance of mindfulness its counterpart mindlessness is described. Mindlessness is characterized by at style of mental functioning in which people follow recipes, impose old categories to classify what they see, act with some rigidity, operate on automatic pilot, and mislabel unfamiliar new contexts as familiar old ones <ref name="WS" />

= Application =
An increasing demand for resilience within [[Wikipedia:Sociotechnical_system|sociotechnical systems]] has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations and their project, program and portfolio managers for unexpected events. The awareness of resilience and [[Wikipedia:Antifragility|antifragility]] is crucial for HRO’s, but all organisations can learn from the mind-set of the HRO’s. Even organisations without risks of casualties can improve their practices with mindfulness. It is a matter of context. Once the context, the precautions, the assumptions, the focus of attention is ignored, it becomes obvious that many organizations are just as exposed to the unexpected as HRO’s and just as much in need of mindfulness. E.g an unexpected shutdown at an [[Wikipedia:Assembly_line|assembly line]] is not a severe crisis. However the supervisor did not expect any fails or shutdowns. To him it is an unexpected crisis. Unexpected events occur at all organizational levels.

Project, Program and Portfolio managers are familiar with many project management tools and they are able to define project time, costs, risks, stakeholders etc. by [[Wikipedia:Project_Management_Institute|PMI]] standards. However, when projects become more complex e.g. in order of technical and organisational complexity, social intricacy of human behavior or uncertainty of long lifecycles, standard tools becomes inadequate. We tend to think of ourselves as rational beings, but in fact subconscious processes often drive human behavior. Not being aware of these subconscious thought processes can adversely affect projects. Mindful project managers know that they do not know everything. They know that their thoughts and impressions are affected by [[Wikipedia:Cognitive_bias|cognitive biases]]. Thus, they must be aware of their irrationalities to act in a mindful manner and become rational and fact-based. Mindfulness is instrumental in managing the intersection between human behavior and uncertainties thus generating processes within projects, programs and portfolios that are more reliable.

=== Principles ===

Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name="WS" /> have developed five principles that harness the key characteristics in mindfulness. These guidelines/principles apply upward to divisions and organizations as well as downward to teams, crews and team leaders. The principles can be adopted by anyone. Each principle is given an example from different HRO’s.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left;"
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
! Principle
! Description
! Example(s)
|-
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| '''Preoccupation with failure'''
|A preoccupation with failure focuses the organization to convert small errors and failures into organizational learnings and improvements.

“Pay close attention to weak signals of failure that may be symptoms of larger problems within the system” <ref name="WS" />

Be wary of the potential liabilities of successes such as complacency, the temptation to reduce margins of safety and drift into automatic processes.

Read also [[Early_warning_signals_in_project_management |''Early warning signals in project management'']]

|The airline industry encourage their personnel to report all failures and near misses generating failure catalogs. A big effort is expended in reviewing all reports to improve processes and workarounds.

|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| '''Reluctance to simplify'''
| Simplify mindfully and reluctantly. Have in mind that simplification can become too simple resulting in useless, unprecise simplifications e.g. explanations and categories. Problems faced in complex projects typically offer several options and a nuanced picture to fully understand the best solution.
|A merger of two North American railroad companies in 1996 resulted in a [[wikipedia:Gridlock|gridlock]] of the system from North Platte, Nebraska to Chicago. Many small errors and failures occurred after the merger, but the most obvious reason for the [[wikipedia:Gridlock|gridlock]] was an ignorant and arrogant attitude toward innovative and complex solutions. The top management insisted on doing like they always had done, where trains are made up in central locations called [[wikipedia:Classification_yard|classification yards]], not in dispersed locations called shipper yards, satellite yards or mainline tracks. Freight shipped by railroaders are shipped by rail, not trucks. They insisted even though the merged rail company had successful experiences with innovative solutions. In this case the problems caused by these traditional simplifications were overlooked until the central location or excessive grain shipments became a bottleneck causing the [[wikipedia:Gridlock|gridlock]].
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| '''Sensitivity to operations'''
| An organization must have an integrated overall and aligned picture of operation. Sensitivity to operations is closely related to sensitivity to relationships. Meaning a clear and unprejudiced communication between operation and management is crucial to understand the big picture.

Furthermore, it is important to be responsive to the changing reality of projects. This can be obtained first by controlling the progress, monitor deviations and implication on projects, and second being mindful to potential unexpected events.

| 1: Studies of nuclear weapons suggest that many problems arise not from a single failure, but when small deviations in different operational areas combine to create conditions that were never imagined in the plans and designs<ref name=Sagan>Sagan S.D. 1993. The limits of safety: Organizations Accidents and Nuclear Weapons. Princeton, NJ. Princeton University. ''Sagan started his research with the belief that an accidental nuclear explosion was very low and he came to a completely different conclusion.''</ref>

2: The microcomputer industry can be characterized as a high velocity environment with a rapid and discontinuous change in demand, competitors, technology and inaccurate, unavailable or obsolete information. Decision-makers deal with this environment by paying close attention to real-time information e.g. concerning current operations or environments.

|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| '''Commitment to resilience'''
|Accommodate unexpected events and react to them quickly as they arise.
Resilience involves (a) the ability to absorb strain and preserve the functioning of the project; (b) ability to recover quickly; (c) ability to learn from the unexpected event and how it impacted the project.<ref name=oehmen>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI ''Oehmen et al discuss complexity, how it impacts projects, programmes and portfolios and what we can do about it. This white paper connect abstract concepts and management approaches to concrete practical examples. Introducing cutting edge tools and strategies such as network analysis, system dynamics, modularization, antifragtility and mindfulness.''</ref>.

| In the North American railroad merger case the meltdown of operations showed an inability to bounce back when the initial problems occurred. The railroad were short of men right after the merger and they had trimmed crews, locomotives and supervisors shortly before the gridlock from Nebraska to Chicago. Slack resources is a common way to create resilience.
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
|'''Deference to expertise (Collective mindfulness)'''
| Deference to expertise is about involving experts in the decision-making. The experts actively involved in the projects are more capable to give articulate solutions to problems. Rigid hierarchies have their own special vulnerability to error where errors at high levels tend to pick up and combine errors at low levels. HRO’s push decision making down where decision is made on the front line. The authority migrate to the people with the most expertise, regardless of their rank.

Collective mindfulness is associated with cultures and structures that promote open discussions of errors, mistakes and awareness.

|In the North American railroad merger case the decisions were made from top management even though their operational expertise were outdated. Furthermore the management were only fed with information that they wanted to hear. A horrible paradigm where management were fed with biased information and insisted to make decisions at top level. This classic command-and-control bureaucracy is adequate for a stable situation but too inflexible in times of change.
|}
The five principles are exemplified within the context of an [[Mindfulness_on_US_Navy_aircraft_carrier|US Navy carrier]] here.

= Topics in Mindfulness =
[[File:Circle of influence.png|300px|thumb|Right|Figure 2: Circle of influence]]
The five principles are general guidelines of mindfulness. However, they have to be converted into processes and mind-sets at organizations or within projects. To be able to implement mindfulness as a manager you must be aware of your cognitive behaviour as a human including how you experience the world. Weick and Sutcliffe describe the cognitive topics of expectations, categorization and the unexpected. These topics are briefly introduced. For further insight, please go to original literature<ref name="WS" /> <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499 Weick and Sutcliffe have updated their first edition “Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity”. The mindfulness theory and principles have been specified further with new case studies etc. </ref>. [[wikipedia:Mahatma_Gandhi|Mahatma Gandhi]] said: ''"Start changing yourself if you want to change the world around you"''. The same goes for a project manager. Figure 2 suggest a manager must understand and live out mindfulness before he can influence his employees and network.

=== Expectations ===
An expectation is to envision something, that is reasonably certain to come true. To expect something is to be mentally ready for it. “ Expectations form the basis for virtually all deliberate action because expectancies about how the world operates serve as implicit assumptions that guide behavioural choices” <ref>Olson, J. M. et al. ''Expectancies''. In Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles, edited by E.T. Higgins & A.W. Kruglanski, pp211-238. New York, NY: Guilford. Olson et al explains the form and function of expectancies in humans. Some of the key properties of expectancies is identified that influence both how expectancies operate and their likely consequences. Finally a simple model of expectancy processes is developed, based on the authors review of how expectancies operate.</ref>. With that in mind, it is important to be mindful about your expectations. Expectations direct your attention to certain features or events, which means that they affect what you notice and remember. Whenever our expectations does not match with reality our minds adjust our expectations to reality. It can be compared with a [[Wikipedia:Hypothesis_test|hypothesis-test]]. The human mind search for confirmation of its expectations but is biased to avoid looking for evidence that disconfirm them. HRO’s work hard to counteract this tendency. They routinely suspect their expectations for being incomplete. With this process, they check if the normal accepted expectation still pass the hypothesis test.

=== The capability for mindfulness (Categories) ===
Whenever people change the way they perceive the world they essentially rework the way they label and categorize what they see. This change in perception can be described with the following process:

# Re-examine discarded information
# Monitor how categories affect expectations and,
# Remove out-dated distinctions

Firstly, to rework one’s categories mindfully implies to evaluate how much information is discarded with a categorization of an instance with similar characteristics. Generally categorization help gaining control in a fast pace world. Categories can predict what will happen and plan one’s own actions. Without categories, any person or situation would be unique and therefore conserve scarce mental resources of attention and thinking. To exemplify categorization a university professor meet hundreds of students each day and have to categorize different types of students. The professor could categorize the students into categories such as active/passive, introvert/extrovert, Intelligent/less intelligent, man/women, young/old etc. The categories guide the professor how (s)he should behave or treat the different students. One category cannot describe all facets of a person and the professor must be aware of the discarded information within each category.

Secondly, mindful reworking of categories also mean that one pay close attention to their effect on the expectations. Categories and expectations are closely related. E.g., a person categorized as an expert is expected to know the answers within his/her field of expertise. These expectations constantly have to be revised and evaluated. It may be necessary to differentiate the expectations, replace them, supplement them, or discard the whole category.

Third, mindful reworking means a check whether the categories remain plausible. Outdated categorization with implausible distinctions of expectations ensure trouble. This is the basic misreading in HRO’s. The trouble starts when you fail to notice that you only look for whatever confirms your categories and expectations. “Believing is seeing. You see what you expect to see. You see what you have the labels to see. You see what you have the skills to manage.” <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>
People who persistently rework their categories and refine them, differentiate them, update them, and replace them notice more and catch unexpected events earlier in their development. That is the essence of mindfulness <ref name="WS" />.

=== The Unexpected ===
Unexpected events can be categorized in three forms <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref>:
The unexpected occur when an event that was
* expected to happen fail to occur.
* not expected to happen does happen.
* simply unthought-of happens (Unknown/unkowns)

Unexpected events are caused by faulty expectations and the fact that we sought to look for evidence that confirm our expectations. These confirmations are found to boost our experience of being in control. However, this confirming behavior has adverse effect on how quick we realize we are wrong and rework our expectations. A slow realization time allows problems to worsen and become harder to solve and they might even be entangled with other problems.
HRO’s strive to minimize the risk that unthought-of events happen by steering people towards mindful practices that encourage imagination. People inadvertently trivialize the importance of imagination. Instead people tend to “''Expect the unexpected''” to maintain their desire for control and predictability.

= Putting Mindfulness into Practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager =
Putting Mindfulness into practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager
<ref name="WS" /> have developed concrete processes based on the five principles and on practices identified in the best HRO’s. The processes is organised under two headings. “''Enhancing awareness and anticipation''” concerning the three first principles, involving failure, simplification and operations. “''Containment of those unexpected events that occur''” concerning the last two principles involving resilience and expertise.

{| cellpadding=5 style="border:1px solid #BBB"
|'''Enhancing awareness and anticipation''' || '''Enhancing containment'''
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
|
* Preserve a balance of values
* Restate your goals in the form of mistakes that must not occur
* Remember that mindfulness takes effort
* Create Awareness of vulnerability
* Cultivate humility
* Be glad when you are having a bad day
* Create an error friendly learning culture
* Encourage alternative frames of reference
* Strengthen fantasy as a tool
* Speak up! Just because you see something, do not assume that someone else sees it, too.
* Put a premium on interpersonal skills
* Surface unique knowledge
* Be careful when you label something a fact
* Develop skeptics
* Be suspicious of good news
* Seek out bad news
* Test your expectations
* Welcome uncertainty
* Treat all unexpected events as information, and share this information widely
* Transform close calls into near misses
* Specify the burden of proof
* Adopt complex models because they direct attention to more details and register more facets of context.
* Revise existing models as well as existing practices
* Carry your expectations lightly
* Reward contact with the frontline
* Clarify what constitutes good news
* Frame mindfulness in novel ways
||
* Remember that ambivalence builds resilience
* Use rich media and encourage people to listen
* Be mindful publicly
* Enlarge competencies and response repertoires
* Build excess capacity. Don’t overdo lean, mean ideals
* Create flexible decision structure
* Accelerate feedback
* Balance centralization with decentralization
* Reinforce perishable values
* Mitigate complacency
|}
Read [[Creating_a_positive_culture_around_failure_in_project_management|How to create a positive culture around failure in project management]] here.

= Limitations =
It is important to underline that mindfulness is not a tool – Mindfulness is a mind-set, a management theory. Thus, there is no recipe on how to implement mindfulness in projects, programs, portfolios or in organizations. The processes listed above can serve as inspiration, but have to be adjusted to fit into the context of organization and employees.

Mindfulness is a complex management theory. As the principle “''Reluctance to simplify''” justify, it takes a complex idea to capture a complex phenomenon. To fully implement mindfulness and deal with the unexpected it is required to organize in a complex manner. Likewise mindfulness preach a need for complex set of ideas to understand what people are doing and why it works thus requiring workers with a certain level of receptivity and resources.

Analyzing the mindfulness theory described by Weick and Sutcliffe there is one shortfall. Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name="WS" />. argue that human cognition in the mindfulness theory is the solution to reliability problems, but they tend to over-simplify the resilience concept by neglecting the importance of routine-based reliability. Studies of human systems reveal two strategies for achieving reliable performance shown in Figure 3
<ref name=BG>Butler, B. S., & Gray, P. H. 2006. Reliability, mindfulness, and information systems. Mis Quarterly, 30(2), pp.211–224 ''Butler and Gray examine the concept of mindfulness as a theoretical foundation for explaining efforts to achieve individual and organizational reliability in the face of complex technologies and surprising environments.''</ref>:
[[File:Realibility figure v2.png|600px|thumb|Right|Figure 3: Strategies for achieving reliable performance<ref name="BG" />]]

* Routine-based reliability
* Mindfulness-based reliability

Organizationally, routine-based reliability involves the creation and execution of standard operating and decision-making procedures, which may be unique to the organization or widely accepted across an industry <ref>Spender, J. C. 1989. ''Industry recipes: An Enquiry into the Nature and Sources of Managerial Judgement''. Oxorfd, UK: Basil Blackwell.</ref>. The routine-based reliability strategy rely on predefined procedures, routines and training designed to decrease cognitive human problem solving, to reduce errors, unwanted variation and waste. Defining procedures etc. is a frontloaded process where unknown/unknowns(See [[wikipedia:Johari_window|Johari Window]]) may oppose a major risk because unexpected events cannot be implemented into the procedures. While routine-based approaches focus on reducing or eliminating situated human cognition as the cause of errors, mindfulness-based approaches focus on promoting highly situated human cognition as the solution to individual and organisational reliability problems <ref name="WS" />. Mindfulness focus on one of the two strategies and ignore or assume that optimal routines, procedures and structures are in place. Mindfulness does not describe the interdependencies and synergistic impacts between the two strategies.

=References=

<references/>

== Further Reading ==
* [[Wikipedia:Cognition|Cognition]]
* [[Wikipedia:Mindfulness|Mindfulness]]
* [[Wikipedia:Reliability_engineering|Reliability Engineering]]

Mindfulness on US Navy aircraft carrier

2015-09-28T21:42:32Z

S140046:

This wiki article serve as an example for [[Organisational resilience with mindfulness]]

This wiki-page is a direct quotation of the book: Managing the Unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an age of Complexity by Karl E. Weick and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe.

"Mindfulness is not some kind of unattainable ideal. HRO’s are living testimony that mindfulness can be attained and that it need net reduce production. Take the case of carriers. Their flight operations incorporate the same five processes of mindfulness that we find I other HRO’s. These are the same five processes that were in short supply at the Union Pacific [The railroad company from the examples in the five principles].

First, people on carriers are preoccupied with failure. Every landing is graded and the grades are used to improve performance. Every landing is also televised throughout the ship so that everyone else performs. Near misses are debriefed within the hour and everyone is required to write down what they saw and heard prior to the incident. Small failures such as a plane in the wrong position on a full deck or a pilot’s continued inability to snag the third arresting wire when landing are treated as signs of potential, larger problems within the system such as poor communication among deck handlers or inadequate training protocols for the Air Wing.
Second, people on carriers are reluctant to simplify. They take nothing for granted. They do not assume that any aircraft is ready for launch until it has been checked in multiple was by redundant inspections. Hand signals, voice signals, and colored uniforms are used to convey information about who is responsible for what. If a pilot whose plane is positioned on catapult for launch is then told to reduce engine power, he won’t do so for fear of being launched at reduced power into the ocean. He keeps full power on until the catapult officer walks directly in front of his plane and stands directly over the two million horsepower catapult and signals that he should reduce power. Of course the catapult officer will not do that until he visually confirms that the catapult is safe and he can’t be fired.

Third, People on carriers maintain continuous sensitivity to operations. Officers from the captain on down are in continuous communication during flight operations and exchange information about the status if the activity. The entire ship is attuned to launching and recovering aircraft. The captain, who is on charge of the carrier, and the commander of the Air Wing, who is in charge of the aircraft, are positioned physically to observe all steps of the operations. Insensitivity to operations was clearly evident in a near miss that could have been catastrophic. The carrier was running at high speed in heavy seas when a request was made that is slow down so that aircraft could be moved from the flight deck down to the hanger deck on the deck edge elevator. The ship had other priorities and did not slow down immediately. Growing impatient and thinking the seas has calmed down, the deck officer ordered the elevator lowered. Seven men and an aircraft were washed overboard. All were rescued, itself an amazing fact.

Fourth, people on carriers have a commitment to resilience. Crews know the importance of routines and predictable behavior as, well as doing what they are told. They also know that no one understands the technology, the situation, or the people completely, so surprises are inevitable. And with surprise comes the necessity to improvise, make do with the hand you are dealt, adapt, think on your feet, and contain and bounce back from unexpected events. For example, when Dick Martin, the first captain on carrier Carl Wilson, found himself in an intense storm off the coast of Virginia in 1983, the winds were so strong that he drove the carrier at ten knots in reverse in order to reduce the speed of the winds across the deck and allow the aircraft to land more safely. Rochlin <ref>Rochlin, G. I. 1989. ''Informal Organizational Networking as a Crisis-Avoidance Strategy: U.S. Naval Flight Operations as a Case Study''. Organization & Environment. '''June'''3, pp159-176.</ref> describes a maximum strike launch in which the first aircraft to be put on the catapult malfunctioned and could not be cleared from the catapult. The entire launch had to be reconfigured, and this necessitated the launch of an additional refueling tanker, new strategies for the raid, and new emergency fields. The reconfiguration was finished in less than ten minutes. Resilience like this is possible because people on carriers have dep knowledge of technologies, people, and capabilities.

And fifth, people on carriers maintain deference to expertise. The boss of an air squadron who knows the quirks of his own pilots may momentarily override higher ranking officers in the tower and decide how planes will be landed when a member of his squadron loses hydraulics while attempting to land.
Despite their success in avoiding costly mistakes, no one on a carrier understands carrier operations perfectly or with complete certainty. But the same holds true in any HRO. And it certainly holds true for any organization you’ve ever been part of. What this means is that it is impossible to manage any organization solely by means of mindless control systems that depend on rules, plans, routines, stable categories, and fixed criteria for correct performance. No one knows enough to design such a system so that it can cope with dynamic environment. Instead, designers who want to hold dynamic systems together have to organize in ways that evoke mindful work. People have to find it easy and natural and rewarding to adopt a style of mental functioning whereby they include, as part of their job description, the responsibility to engage in continuous learning as well as ongoing refinement and updating of emergent expectations. Carriers are guided as much by enlightened, updated expectations as they are by computation and analytic targets. If you want to manage the unexpected more skillfully, you would do well to follow the lead of carriers, where significant effort is invested in mindfulness, and significant penalties are assessed for mindfulness."

<references/>

Mindfulness on US Navy aircraft carrier

2015-09-28T21:39:15Z

S140046: Created page with "This wiki article serve as an example for Organisational resilience with mindfulness This wiki-page is an outtake of the book: Managing the Unexpected: Assuring High Perf..."

This wiki article serve as an example for [[Organisational resilience with mindfulness]]

This wiki-page is an outtake of the book: Managing the Unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an age of Complexity by Karl E. Weick and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe.
Mindfulness is not some kind of unattainable ideal. HRO’s are living testimony that mindfulness can be attained and that it need net reduce production. Take the case of carriers. Their flight operations incorporate the same five processes of mindfulness that we find I other HRO’s. These are the same five processes that were in short supply at the Union Pacific [The railroad company from the examples in the five principles].

First, people on carriers are preoccupied with failure. Every landing is graded and the grades are used to improve performance. Every landing is also televised throughout the ship so that everyone else performs. Near misses are debriefed within the hour and everyone is required to write down what they saw and heard prior to the incident. Small failures such as a plane in the wrong position on a full deck or a pilot’s continued inability to snag the third arresting wire when landing are treated as signs of potential, larger problems within the system such as poor communication among deck handlers or inadequate training protocols for the Air Wing.
Second, people on carriers are reluctant to simplify. They take nothing for granted. They do not assume that any aircraft is ready for launch until it has been checked in multiple was by redundant inspections. Hand signals, voice signals, and colored uniforms are used to convey information about who is responsible for what. If a pilot whose plane is positioned on catapult for launch is then told to reduce engine power, he won’t do so for fear of being launched at reduced power into the ocean. He keeps full power on until the catapult officer walks directly in front of his plane and stands directly over the two million horsepower catapult and signals that he should reduce power. Of course the catapult officer will not do that until he visually confirms that the catapult is safe and he can’t be fired.

Third, People on carriers maintain continuous sensitivity to operations. Officers from the captain on down are in continuous communication during flight operations and exchange information about the status if the activity. The entire ship is attuned to launching and recovering aircraft. The captain, who is on charge of the carrier, and the commander of the Air Wing, who is in charge of the aircraft, are positioned physically to observe all steps of the operations. Insensitivity to operations was clearly evident in a near miss that could have been catastrophic. The carrier was running at high speed in heavy seas when a request was made that is slow down so that aircraft could be moved from the flight deck down to the hanger deck on the deck edge elevator. The ship had other priorities and did not slow down immediately. Growing impatient and thinking the seas has calmed down, the deck officer ordered the elevator lowered. Seven men and an aircraft were washed overboard. All were rescued, itself an amazing fact.

Fourth, people on carriers have a commitment to resilience. Crews know the importance of routines and predictable behavior as, well as doing what they are told. They also know that no one understands the technology, the situation, or the people completely, so surprises are inevitable. And with surprise comes the necessity to improvise, make do with the hand you are dealt, adapt, think on your feet, and contain and bounce back from unexpected events. For example, when Dick Martin, the first captain on carrier Carl Wilson, found himself in an intense storm off the coast of Virginia in 1983, the winds were so strong that he drove the carrier at ten knots in reverse in order to reduce the speed of the winds across the deck and allow the aircraft to land more safely. Rochlin <ref>Rochlin, G. I. 1989. ''Informal Organizational Networking as a Crisis-Avoidance Strategy: U.S. Naval Flight Operations as a Case Study''. Organization & Environment. '''June'''3, pp159-176.</ref> describes a maximum strike launch in which the first aircraft to be put on the catapult malfunctioned and could not be cleared from the catapult. The entire launch had to be reconfigured, and this necessitated the launch of an additional refueling tanker, new strategies for the raid, and new emergency fields. The reconfiguration was finished in less than ten minutes. Resilience like this is possible because people on carriers have dep knowledge of technologies, people, and capabilities.

And fifth, people on carriers maintain deference to expertise. The boss of an air squadron who knows the quirks of his own pilots may momentarily override higher ranking officers in the tower and decide how planes will be landed when a member of his squadron loses hydraulics while attempting to land.
Despite their success in avoiding costly mistakes, no one on a carrier understands carrier operations perfectly or with complete certainty. But the same holds true in any HRO. And it certainly holds true for any organization you’ve ever been part of. What this means is that it is impossible to manage any organization solely by means of mindless control systems that depend on rules, plans, routines, stable categories, and fixed criteria for correct performance. No one knows enough to design such a system so that it can cope with dynamic environment. Instead, designers who want to hold dynamic systems together have to organize in ways that evoke mindful work. People have to find it easy and natural and rewarding to adopt a style of mental functioning whereby they include, as part of their job description, the responsibility to engage in continuous learning as well as ongoing refinement and updating of emergent expectations. Carriers are guided as much by enlightened, updated expectations as they are by computation and analytic targets. If you want to manage the unexpected more skillfully, you would do well to follow the lead of carriers, where significant effort is invested in mindfulness, and significant penalties are assessed for mindfulness.

<references/>

Organisational resilience with mindfulness

2015-09-28T21:26:11Z

S140046:

= Overview =
[[File:Flickr_-_Official_U.S._Navy_Imagery_-_An_airplane_launches_from_the_flight_deck..jpg|400px|thumb|Right|Figure 1: US Navy carrier example of an HRO]]
Mindfulness is a term introduced by the professors Karl E. Weick and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe after studying [[Wikipedia:High_reliability_organization|high reliability organizations]] (HRO). These organizations have no choice but to function reliable. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279 ''Weick and Sutcliffe have studied HRO’s that have developed a way of acting with unexpected events. The processes of the HRO’s have been mapped and provide a template for all organizations that want to be more reliable in managing the unexpected. The principles and mindset behind the HRO’s is introduced as mindfulness. The authors define mindfulness as a management theory with real life examples from US Navy carriers, nuclear power plants and railway companies.''</ref> found that reliability does not mean a complete lack of variation. It is just the opposite. It takes mindful variety to assure stable high performance. The learnings and techniques from the HRO’s can be implemented in projects and in organizations who want a higher reliability.

In brief, mindfulness involves the ability to detect important aspects of the context and take timely, appropriate action. A well-developed capability for mindfulness catches the unexpected earlier when it is smaller, comprehends its potential importance despite the small size of the disruption, and removes, contains or rebounds from the effects of the unexpected. Managing the unexpected, mindful project managers and organizations are able to reliably deliver the task they were asked to do.

The expectations of individuals tend not to correspond with the reality. We are all affected by cognitive biases and the mindful project manager is aware of that.

=== Mindfulness VS Mindlessness ===
To underline the importance of mindfulness its counterpart mindlessness is described. Mindlessness is characterized by at style of mental functioning in which people follow recipes, impose old categories to classify what they see, act with some rigidity, operate on automatic pilot, and mislabel unfamiliar new contexts as familiar old ones <ref name="WS" />

= Application =
An increasing demand for resilience within [[Wikipedia:Sociotechnical_system|sociotechnical systems]] has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations and their project, program and portfolio managers for unexpected events. The awareness of resilience and [[Wikipedia:Antifragility|antifragility]] is crucial for HRO’s, but all organisations can learn from the mind-set of the HRO’s. Even organisations without risks of casualties can improve their practices with mindfulness. It is a matter of context. Once the context, the precautions, the assumptions, the focus of attention is ignored, it becomes obvious that many organizations are just as exposed to the unexpected as HRO’s and just as much in need of mindfulness. E.g an unexpected shutdown at an [[Wikipedia:Assembly_line|assembly line]] is not a severe crisis. However the supervisor did not expect any fails or shutdowns. To him it is an unexpected crisis. Unexpected events occur at all organizational levels.

Project, Program and Portfolio managers are familiar with many project management tools and they are able to define project time, costs, risks, stakeholders etc. by [[Wikipedia:Project_Management_Institute|PMI]] standards. However, when projects become more complex e.g. in order of technical and organisational complexity, social intricacy of human behavior or uncertainty of long lifecycles, standard tools becomes inadequate. We tend to think of ourselves as rational beings, but in fact subconscious processes often drive human behavior. Not being aware of these subconscious thought processes can adversely affect projects. Mindful project managers know that they do not know everything. They know that their thoughts and impressions are affected by [[Wikipedia:Cognitive_bias|cognitive biases]]. Thus, they must be aware of their irrationalities to act in a mindful manner and become rational and fact-based. Mindfulness is instrumental in managing the intersection between human behavior and uncertainties thus generating processes within projects, programs and portfolios that are more reliable.

=== Principles ===

Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name="WS" /> have developed five principles that harness the key characteristics in mindfulness. These guidelines/principles apply upward to divisions and organizations as well as downward to teams, crews and team leaders. The principles can be adopted by anyone. Each principle is given an example from different HRO’s.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left;"
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
! Principle
! Description
! Example(s)
|-
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| '''Preoccupation with failure'''
|A preoccupation with failure focuses the organization to convert small errors and failures into organizational learnings and improvements.

“Pay close attention to weak signals of failure that may be symptoms of larger problems within the system” <ref name="WS" />

Be wary of the potential liabilities of successes such as complacency, the temptation to reduce margins of safety and drift into automatic processes.

Read also [[Early_warning_signals_in_project_management |''Early warning signals in project management'']]

|The airline industry encourage their personnel to report all failures and near misses generating failure catalogs. A big effort is expended in reviewing all reports to improve processes and workarounds.

|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| '''Reluctance to simplify'''
| Simplify mindfully and reluctantly. Have in mind that simplification can become too simple resulting in useless, unprecise simplifications e.g. explanations and categories. Problems faced in complex projects typically offer several options and a nuanced picture to fully understand the best solution.
|A merger of two North American railroad companies in 1996 resulted in a [[wikipedia:Gridlock|gridlock]] of the system from North Platte, Nebraska to Chicago. Many small errors and failures occurred after the merger, but the most obvious reason for the [[wikipedia:Gridlock|gridlock]] was an ignorant and arrogant attitude toward innovative and complex solutions. The top management insisted on doing like they always had done, where trains are made up in central locations called [[wikipedia:Classification_yard|classification yards]], not in dispersed locations called shipper yards, satellite yards or mainline tracks. Freight shipped by railroaders are shipped by rail, not trucks. They insisted even though the merged rail company had successful experiences with innovative solutions. In this case the problems caused by these traditional simplifications were overlooked until the central location or excessive grain shipments became a bottleneck causing the [[wikipedia:Gridlock|gridlock]].
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| '''Sensitivity to operations'''
| An organization must have an integrated overall and aligned picture of operation. Sensitivity to operations is closely related to sensitivity to relationships. Meaning a clear and unprejudiced communication between operation and management is crucial to understand the big picture.

Furthermore, it is important to be responsive to the changing reality of projects. This can be obtained first by controlling the progress, monitor deviations and implication on projects, and second being mindful to potential unexpected events.

| 1: Studies of nuclear weapons suggest that many problems arise not from a single failure, but when small deviations in different operational areas combine to create conditions that were never imagined in the plans and designs<ref name=Sagan>Sagan S.D. 1993. The limits of safety: Organizations Accidents and Nuclear Weapons. Princeton, NJ. Princeton University. ''Sagan started his research with the belief that an accidental nuclear explosion was very low and he came to a completely different conclusion.''</ref>

2: The microcomputer industry can be characterized as a high velocity environment with a rapid and discontinuous change in demand, competitors, technology and inaccurate, unavailable or obsolete information. Decision-makers deal with this environment by paying close attention to real-time information e.g. concerning current operations or environments.

|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| '''Commitment to resilience'''
|Accommodate unexpected events and react to them quickly as they arise.
Resilience involves (a) the ability to absorb strain and preserve the functioning of the project; (b) ability to recover quickly; (c) ability to learn from the unexpected event and how it impacted the project.<ref name=oehmen>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI ''Oehmen et al discuss complexity, how it impacts projects, programmes and portfolios and what we can do about it. This white paper connect abstract concepts and management approaches to concrete practical examples. Introducing cutting edge tools and strategies such as network analysis, system dynamics, modularization, antifragtility and mindfulness.''</ref>.

| In the North American railroad merger case the meltdown of operations showed an inability to bounce back when the initial problems occurred. The railroad were short of men right after the merger and they had trimmed crews, locomotives and supervisors shortly before the gridlock from Nebraska to Chicago. Slack resources is a common way to create resilience.
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
|'''Deference to expertise (Collective mindfulness)'''
| Deference to expertise is about involving experts in the decision-making. The experts actively involved in the projects are more capable to give articulate solutions to problems. Rigid hierarchies have their own special vulnerability to error where errors at high levels tend to pick up and combine errors at low levels. HRO’s push decision making down where decision is made on the front line. The authority migrate to the people with the most expertise, regardless of their rank.

Collective mindfulness is associated with cultures and structures that promote open discussions of errors, mistakes and awareness.

|In the North American railroad merger case the decisions were made from top management even though their operational expertise were outdated. Furthermore the management were only fed with information that they wanted to hear. A horrible paradigm where management were fed with biased information and insisted to make decisions at top level. This classic command-and-control bureaucracy is adequate for a stable situation but too inflexible in times of change.
|}

= Topics in Mindfulness =
[[File:Circle of influence.png|300px|thumb|Right|Figure 2: Circle of influence]]
The five principles are general guidelines of mindfulness. However, they have to be converted into processes and mind-sets at organizations or within projects. To be able to implement mindfulness as a manager you must be aware of your cognitive behaviour as a human including how you experience the world. Weick and Sutcliffe describe the cognitive topics of expectations, categorization and the unexpected. These topics are briefly introduced. For further insight, please go to original literature<ref name="WS" /> <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499 Weick and Sutcliffe have updated their first edition “Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity”. The mindfulness theory and principles have been specified further with new case studies etc. </ref>. [[wikipedia:Mahatma_Gandhi|Mahatma Gandhi]] said: ''"Start changing yourself if you want to change the world around you"''. The same goes for a project manager. Figure 2 suggest a manager must understand and live out mindfulness before he can influence his employees and network.

=== Expectations ===
An expectation is to envision something, that is reasonably certain to come true. To expect something is to be mentally ready for it. “ Expectations form the basis for virtually all deliberate action because expectancies about how the world operates serve as implicit assumptions that guide behavioural choices” <ref>Olson, J. M. et al. ''Expectancies''. In Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles, edited by E.T. Higgins & A.W. Kruglanski, pp211-238. New York, NY: Guilford. Olson et al explains the form and function of expectancies in humans. Some of the key properties of expectancies is identified that influence both how expectancies operate and their likely consequences. Finally a simple model of expectancy processes is developed, based on the authors review of how expectancies operate.</ref>. With that in mind, it is important to be mindful about your expectations. Expectations direct your attention to certain features or events, which means that they affect what you notice and remember. Whenever our expectations does not match with reality our minds adjust our expectations to reality. It can be compared with a [[Wikipedia:Hypothesis_test|hypothesis-test]]. The human mind search for confirmation of its expectations but is biased to avoid looking for evidence that disconfirm them. HRO’s work hard to counteract this tendency. They routinely suspect their expectations for being incomplete. With this process, they check if the normal accepted expectation still pass the hypothesis test.

=== The capability for mindfulness (Categories) ===
Whenever people change the way they perceive the world they essentially rework the way they label and categorize what they see. This change in perception can be described with the following process:

# Re-examine discarded information
# Monitor how categories affect expectations and,
# Remove out-dated distinctions

Firstly, to rework one’s categories mindfully implies to evaluate how much information is discarded with a categorization of an instance with similar characteristics. Generally categorization help gaining control in a fast pace world. Categories can predict what will happen and plan one’s own actions. Without categories, any person or situation would be unique and therefore conserve scarce mental resources of attention and thinking. To exemplify categorization a university professor meet hundreds of students each day and have to categorize different types of students. The professor could categorize the students into categories such as active/passive, introvert/extrovert, Intelligent/less intelligent, man/women, young/old etc. The categories guide the professor how (s)he should behave or treat the different students. One category cannot describe all facets of a person and the professor must be aware of the discarded information within each category.

Secondly, mindful reworking of categories also mean that one pay close attention to their effect on the expectations. Categories and expectations are closely related. E.g., a person categorized as an expert is expected to know the answers within his/her field of expertise. These expectations constantly have to be revised and evaluated. It may be necessary to differentiate the expectations, replace them, supplement them, or discard the whole category.

Third, mindful reworking means a check whether the categories remain plausible. Outdated categorization with implausible distinctions of expectations ensure trouble. This is the basic misreading in HRO’s. The trouble starts when you fail to notice that you only look for whatever confirms your categories and expectations. “Believing is seeing. You see what you expect to see. You see what you have the labels to see. You see what you have the skills to manage.” <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>
People who persistently rework their categories and refine them, differentiate them, update them, and replace them notice more and catch unexpected events earlier in their development. That is the essence of mindfulness <ref name="WS" />.

=== The Unexpected ===
Unexpected events can be categorized in three forms <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref>:
The unexpected occur when an event that was
* expected to happen fail to occur.
* not expected to happen does happen.
* simply unthought-of happens (Unknown/unkowns)

Unexpected events are caused by faulty expectations and the fact that we sought to look for evidence that confirm our expectations. These confirmations are found to boost our experience of being in control. However, this confirming behavior has adverse effect on how quick we realize we are wrong and rework our expectations. A slow realization time allows problems to worsen and become harder to solve and they might even be entangled with other problems.
HRO’s strive to minimize the risk that unthought-of events happen by steering people towards mindful practices that encourage imagination. People inadvertently trivialize the importance of imagination. Instead people tend to “''Expect the unexpected''” to maintain their desire for control and predictability.

= Putting Mindfulness into Practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager =
Putting Mindfulness into practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager
<ref name="WS" /> have developed concrete processes based on the five principles and on practices identified in the best HRO’s. The processes is organised under two headings. “''Enhancing awareness and anticipation''” concerning the three first principles, involving failure, simplification and operations. “''Containment of those unexpected events that occur''” concerning the last two principles involving resilience and expertise.

{| cellpadding=5 style="border:1px solid #BBB"
|'''Enhancing awareness and anticipation''' || '''Enhancing containment'''
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
|
* Preserve a balance of values
* Restate your goals in the form of mistakes that must not occur
* Remember that mindfulness takes effort
* Create Awareness of vulnerability
* Cultivate humility
* Be glad when you are having a bad day
* Create an error friendly learning culture
* Encourage alternative frames of reference
* Strengthen fantasy as a tool
* Speak up! Just because you see something, do not assume that someone else sees it, too.
* Put a premium on interpersonal skills
* Surface unique knowledge
* Be careful when you label something a fact
* Develop skeptics
* Be suspicious of good news
* Seek out bad news
* Test your expectations
* Welcome uncertainty
* Treat all unexpected events as information, and share this information widely
* Transform close calls into near misses
* Specify the burden of proof
* Adopt complex models because they direct attention to more details and register more facets of context.
* Revise existing models as well as existing practices
* Carry your expectations lightly
* Reward contact with the frontline
* Clarify what constitutes good news
* Frame mindfulness in novel ways
||
* Remember that ambivalence builds resilience
* Use rich media and encourage people to listen
* Be mindful publicly
* Enlarge competencies and response repertoires
* Build excess capacity. Don’t overdo lean, mean ideals
* Create flexible decision structure
* Accelerate feedback
* Balance centralization with decentralization
* Reinforce perishable values
* Mitigate complacency

|}
Read [[Creating_a_positive_culture_around_failure_in_project_management|How to create a positive culture around failure in project management]] here.

= Limitations =
It is important to underline that mindfulness is not a tool – Mindfulness is a mind-set, a management theory. Thus, there is no recipe on how to implement mindfulness in projects, programs, portfolios or in organizations. The processes listed above can serve as inspiration, but have to be adjusted to fit into the context of organization and employees.

Mindfulness is a complex management theory. As the principle “''Reluctance to simplify''” justify, it takes a complex idea to capture a complex phenomenon. To fully implement mindfulness and deal with the unexpected it is required to organize in a complex manner. Likewise mindfulness preach a need for complex set of ideas to understand what people are doing and why it works thus requiring workers with a certain level of receptivity and resources.

Analyzing the mindfulness theory described by Weick and Sutcliffe there is one shortfall. Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name="WS" />. argue that human cognition in the mindfulness theory is the solution to reliability problems, but they tend to over-simplify the resilience concept by neglecting the importance of routine-based reliability. Studies of human systems reveal two strategies for achieving reliable performance shown in Figure 3
<ref name=BG>Butler, B. S., & Gray, P. H. 2006. Reliability, mindfulness, and information systems. Mis Quarterly, 30(2), pp.211–224 ''Butler and Gray examine the concept of mindfulness as a theoretical foundation for explaining efforts to achieve individual and organizational reliability in the face of complex technologies and surprising environments.''</ref>:
[[File:Realibility figure v2.png|600px|thumb|Right|Figure 3: Strategies for achieving reliable performance<ref name="BG" />]]

* Routine-based reliability
* Mindfulness-based reliability

Organizationally, routine-based reliability involves the creation and execution of standard operating and decision-making procedures, which may be unique to the organization or widely accepted across an industry <ref>Spender, J. C. 1989. ''Industry recipes: An Enquiry into the Nature and Sources of Managerial Judgement''. Oxorfd, UK: Basil Blackwell.</ref>. The routine-based reliability strategy rely on predefined procedures, routines and training designed to decrease cognitive human problem solving, to reduce errors, unwanted variation and waste. Defining procedures etc. is a frontloaded process where unknown/unknowns(See [[wikipedia:Johari_window|Johari Window]]) may oppose a major risk because unexpected events cannot be implemented into the procedures. While routine-based approaches focus on reducing or eliminating situated human cognition as the cause of errors, mindfulness-based approaches focus on promoting highly situated human cognition as the solution to individual and organisational reliability problems <ref name="WS" />. Mindfulness focus on one of the two strategies and ignore or assume that optimal routines, procedures and structures are in place. Mindfulness does not describe the interdependencies and synergistic impacts between the two strategies.

=References=

<references/>

== Further Reading ==
* [[Wikipedia:Cognition|Cognition]]
* [[Wikipedia:Mindfulness|Mindfulness]]
* [[Wikipedia:Union_Pacific_Railroad|Union Pacific Railroad]]
* [[Wikipedia:Reliability_engineering|Reliability Engineering]]

Organisational resilience with mindfulness

2015-09-28T21:15:31Z

S140046: /* Principles */

= Overview =
[[File:Flickr_-_Official_U.S._Navy_Imagery_-_An_airplane_launches_from_the_flight_deck..jpg|400px|thumb|Right|Figure 1: US Navy carrier example of an HRO]]
Mindfulness is a term introduced by the professors Karl E. Weick and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe after studying [[Wikipedia:High_reliability_organization|high reliability organizations]] (HRO). These organizations have no choice but to function reliable. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279 ''Weick and Sutcliffe have studied HRO’s that have developed a way of acting with unexpected events. The processes of the HRO’s have been mapped and provide a template for all organizations that want to be more reliable in managing the unexpected. The principles and mindset behind the HRO’s is introduced as mindfulness. The authors define mindfulness as a management theory with real life examples from US Navy carriers, nuclear power plants and railway companies.''</ref> found that reliability does not mean a complete lack of variation. It is just the opposite. It takes mindful variety to assure stable high performance. The learnings and techniques from the HRO’s can be implemented in projects and in organizations who want a higher reliability.

In brief, mindfulness involves the ability to detect important aspects of the context and take timely, appropriate action. A well-developed capability for mindfulness catches the unexpected earlier when it is smaller, comprehends its potential importance despite the small size of the disruption, and removes, contains or rebounds from the effects of the unexpected. Managing the unexpected, mindful project managers and organizations are able to reliably deliver the task they were asked to do.

The expectations of individuals tend not to correspond with the reality. We are all affected by cognitive biases and the mindful project manager is aware of that.

=== Mindfulness VS Mindlessness ===
To underline the importance of mindfulness its counterpart mindlessness is described. Mindlessness is characterized by at style of mental functioning in which people follow recipes, impose old categories to classify what they see, act with some rigidity, operate on automatic pilot, and mislabel unfamiliar new contexts as familiar old ones <ref name="WS" />

= Application =
An increasing demand for resilience within [[Wikipedia:Sociotechnical_system|sociotechnical systems]] has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations and their project, program and portfolio managers for unexpected events. The awareness of resilience and [[Wikipedia:Antifragility|antifragility]] is crucial for HRO’s, but all organisations can learn from the mind-set of the HRO’s. Even organisations without risks of casualties can improve their practices with mindfulness. It is a matter of context. Once the context, the precautions, the assumptions, the focus of attention is ignored, it becomes obvious that many organizations are just as exposed to the unexpected as HRO’s and just as much in need of mindfulness. E.g an unexpected shutdown at an [[Wikipedia:Assembly_line|assembly line]] is not a severe crisis. However the supervisor did not expect any fails or shutdowns. To him it is an unexpected crisis. Unexpected events occur at all organizational levels.

Project, Program and Portfolio managers are familiar with many project management tools and they are able to define project time, costs, risks, stakeholders etc. by [[Wikipedia:Project_Management_Institute|PMI]] standards. However, when projects become more complex e.g. in order of technical and organisational complexity, social intricacy of human behavior or uncertainty of long lifecycles, standard tools becomes inadequate. We tend to think of ourselves as rational beings, but in fact subconscious processes often drive human behavior. Not being aware of these subconscious thought processes can adversely affect projects. Mindful project managers know that they do not know everything. They know that their thoughts and impressions are affected by [[Wikipedia:Cognitive_bias|cognitive biases]]. Thus, they must be aware of their irrationalities to act in a mindful manner and become rational and fact-based. Mindfulness is instrumental in managing the intersection between human behavior and uncertainties thus generating processes within projects, programs and portfolios that are more reliable.

=== Principles ===

Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name="WS" /> have developed five principles that harness the key characteristics in mindfulness. These guidelines/principles apply upward to divisions and organizations as well as downward to teams, crews and team leaders. The principles can be adopted by anyone. Each principle is given an example from different HRO’s.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left;"
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
! Principle
! Description
! Example(s)
|-
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| '''Preoccupation with failure'''
|A preoccupation with failure focuses the organization to convert small errors and failures into organizational learnings and improvements.

“Pay close attention to weak signals of failure that may be symptoms of larger problems within the system” <ref name="WS" />

Be wary of the potential liabilities of successes such as complacency, the temptation to reduce margins of safety and drift into automatic processes.

Read also [[Early_warning_signals_in_project_management |''Early warning signals in project management'']]

|The airline industry encourage their personnel to report all failures and near misses generating failure catalogs. A big effort is expended in reviewing all reports to improve processes and workarounds.

|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| '''Reluctance to simplify'''
| Simplify mindfully and reluctantly. Have in mind that simplification can become too simple resulting in useless, unprecise simplifications e.g. explanations and categories. Problems faced in complex projects typically offer several options and a nuanced picture to fully understand the best solution.
|A merger of two North American railroad companies in 1996 resulted in a gridlock of the system from North Platte, Nebraska to Chicago. Many small errors and failures occurred after the merger, but the most obvious reason for the gridlock was an ignorant and arrogant attitude toward innovative and complex solutions. The top management insisted that trains are made up in central locations called classification yards, not in dispersed locations called shipper yards, satellite yards or mainline tracks. Freight shipped by railroaders are shipped by rail, not barge. In this case the problems caused by these simplifications were overlooked until the central location or excessive grain shipments became a bottleneck causing the gridlock.
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| '''Sensitivity to operations'''
| An organization must have an integrated overall and aligned picture of operation. Sensitivity to operations is closely related to sensitivity to relationships. Meaning a clear and unprejudiced communication between operation and management is crucial to understand the big picture.

Furthermore, it is important to be responsive to the changing reality of projects. This can be obtained first by controlling the progress, monitor deviations and implication on projects, and second being mindful to potential unexpected events.

| 1: Studies of nuclear weapons suggest that many problems arise not from a single failure, but when small deviations in different operational areas combine to create conditions that were never imagined in the plans and designs<ref name=Sagan>Sagan S.D. 1993. The limits of safety: Organizations Accidents and Nuclear Weapons. Princeton, NJ. Princeton University. ''Sagan started his research with the belief that an accidental nuclear explosion was very low and he came to a completely different conclusion.''</ref>

2: The microcomputer industry can be characterized as a high velocity environment with a rapid and discontinuous change in demand, competitors, technology and inaccurate, unavailable or obsolete information. Decision-makers deal with this environment by paying close attention to real-time information e.g. concerning current operations or environments.

|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| '''Commitment to resilience'''
|Accommodate unexpected events and react to them quickly as they arise.
Resilience involves (a) the ability to absorb strain and preserve the functioning of the project; (b) ability to recover quickly; (c) ability to learn from the unexpected event and how it impacted the project.<ref name=oehmen>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI ''Oehmen et al discuss complexity, how it impacts projects, programmes and portfolios and what we can do about it. This white paper connect abstract concepts and management approaches to concrete practical examples. Introducing cutting edge tools and strategies such as network analysis, system dynamics, modularization, antifragtility and mindfulness.''</ref>.

| In the North American railroad merger case the meltdown of operations showed an inability to bounce back when the initial problems occurred. The railroad were short of men right after the merger and they had trimmed crews, locomotives and supervisors shortly before the gridlock from Nebraska to Chicago. Slack resources is a common way to create resilience.
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
|'''Deference to expertise (Collective mindfulness)'''
| Deference to expertise is about involving experts in the decision-making. The experts actively involved in the projects are more capable to give articulate solutions to problems. Rigid hierarchies have their own special vulnerability to error where errors at high levels tend to pick up and combine errors at low levels. HRO’s push decision making down where decision is made on the front line. The authority migrate to the people with the most expertise, regardless of their rank.

Collective mindfulness is associated with cultures and structures that promote open discussions of errors, mistakes and awareness.

|In the North American railroad merger case the decisions were made from top management even though their operational expertise were outdated. Furthermore the management were only fed with information that they wanted to hear. A horrible paradigm where management were fed with biased information and insisted to make decisions at top level. This classic command-and-control bureaucracy is adequate for a stable situation but too inflexible in times of change.
|}

= Topics in Mindfulness =
[[File:Circle of influence.png|300px|thumb|Right|Figure 2: Circle of influence]]
The five principles are general guidelines of mindfulness. However, they have to be converted into processes and mind-sets at organizations or within projects. To be able to implement mindfulness as a manager you must be aware of your cognitive behaviour as a human including how you experience the world. Weick and Sutcliffe describe the cognitive topics of expectations, categorization and the unexpected. These topics are briefly introduced. For further insight, please go to original literature<ref name="WS" /> <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499 Weick and Sutcliffe have updated their first edition “Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity”. The mindfulness theory and principles have been specified further with new case studies etc. </ref>. [[wikipedia:Mahatma_Gandhi|Mahatma Gandhi]] said: ''"Start changing yourself if you want to change the world around you"''. The same goes for a project manager. Figure 2 suggest a manager must understand and live out mindfulness before he can influence his employees and network.

=== Expectations ===
An expectation is to envision something, that is reasonably certain to come true. To expect something is to be mentally ready for it. “ Expectations form the basis for virtually all deliberate action because expectancies about how the world operates serve as implicit assumptions that guide behavioural choices” <ref>Olson, J. M. et al. ''Expectancies''. In Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles, edited by E.T. Higgins & A.W. Kruglanski, pp211-238. New York, NY: Guilford. Olson et al explains the form and function of expectancies in humans. Some of the key properties of expectancies is identified that influence both how expectancies operate and their likely consequences. Finally a simple model of expectancy processes is developed, based on the authors review of how expectancies operate.</ref>. With that in mind, it is important to be mindful about your expectations. Expectations direct your attention to certain features or events, which means that they affect what you notice and remember. Whenever our expectations does not match with reality our minds adjust our expectations to reality. It can be compared with a [[Wikipedia:Hypothesis_test|hypothesis-test]]. The human mind search for confirmation of its expectations but is biased to avoid looking for evidence that disconfirm them. HRO’s work hard to counteract this tendency. They routinely suspect their expectations for being incomplete. With this process, they check if the normal accepted expectation still pass the hypothesis test.

=== The capability for mindfulness (Categories) ===
Whenever people change the way they perceive the world they essentially rework the way they label and categorize what they see. This change in perception can be described with the following process:

# Re-examine discarded information
# Monitor how categories affect expectations and,
# Remove out-dated distinctions

Firstly, to rework one’s categories mindfully implies to evaluate how much information is discarded with a categorization of an instance with similar characteristics. Generally categorization help gaining control in a fast pace world. Categories can predict what will happen and plan one’s own actions. Without categories, any person or situation would be unique and therefore conserve scarce mental resources of attention and thinking. To exemplify categorization a university professor meet hundreds of students each day and have to categorize different types of students. The professor could categorize the students into categories such as active/passive, introvert/extrovert, Intelligent/less intelligent, man/women, young/old etc. The categories guide the professor how (s)he should behave or treat the different students. One category cannot describe all facets of a person and the professor must be aware of the discarded information within each category.

Secondly, mindful reworking of categories also mean that one pay close attention to their effect on the expectations. Categories and expectations are closely related. E.g., a person categorized as an expert is expected to know the answers within his/her field of expertise. These expectations constantly have to be revised and evaluated. It may be necessary to differentiate the expectations, replace them, supplement them, or discard the whole category.

Third, mindful reworking means a check whether the categories remain plausible. Outdated categorization with implausible distinctions of expectations ensure trouble. This is the basic misreading in HRO’s. The trouble starts when you fail to notice that you only look for whatever confirms your categories and expectations. “Believing is seeing. You see what you expect to see. You see what you have the labels to see. You see what you have the skills to manage.” <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>
People who persistently rework their categories and refine them, differentiate them, update them, and replace them notice more and catch unexpected events earlier in their development. That is the essence of mindfulness <ref name="WS" />.

=== The Unexpected ===
Unexpected events can be categorized in three forms <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref>:
The unexpected occur when an event that was
* expected to happen fail to occur.
* not expected to happen does happen.
* simply unthought-of happens (Unknown/unkowns)

Unexpected events are caused by faulty expectations and the fact that we sought to look for evidence that confirm our expectations. These confirmations are found to boost our experience of being in control. However, this confirming behavior has adverse effect on how quick we realize we are wrong and rework our expectations. A slow realization time allows problems to worsen and become harder to solve and they might even be entangled with other problems.
HRO’s strive to minimize the risk that unthought-of events happen by steering people towards mindful practices that encourage imagination. People inadvertently trivialize the importance of imagination. Instead people tend to “''Expect the unexpected''” to maintain their desire for control and predictability.

= Putting Mindfulness into Practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager =
Putting Mindfulness into practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager
<ref name="WS" /> have developed concrete processes based on the five principles and on practices identified in the best HRO’s. The processes is organised under two headings. “''Enhancing awareness and anticipation''” concerning the three first principles, involving failure, simplification and operations. “''Containment of those unexpected events that occur''” concerning the last two principles involving resilience and expertise.

{| cellpadding=5 style="border:1px solid #BBB"
|'''Enhancing awareness and anticipation''' || '''Enhancing containment'''
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
|
* Preserve a balance of values
* Restate your goals in the form of mistakes that must not occur
* Remember that mindfulness takes effort
* Create Awareness of vulnerability
* Cultivate humility
* Be glad when you are having a bad day
* Create an error friendly learning culture
* Encourage alternative frames of reference
* Strengthen fantasy as a tool
* Speak up! Just because you see something, do not assume that someone else sees it, too.
* Put a premium on interpersonal skills
* Surface unique knowledge
* Be careful when you label something a fact
* Develop skeptics
* Be suspicious of good news
* Seek out bad news
* Test your expectations
* Welcome uncertainty
* Treat all unexpected events as information, and share this information widely
* Transform close calls into near misses
* Specify the burden of proof
* Adopt complex models because they direct attention to more details and register more facets of context.
* Revise existing models as well as existing practices
* Carry your expectations lightly
* Reward contact with the frontline
* Clarify what constitutes good news
* Frame mindfulness in novel ways
||
* Remember that ambivalence builds resilience
* Use rich media and encourage people to listen
* Be mindful publicly
* Enlarge competencies and response repertoires
* Build excess capacity. Don’t overdo lean, mean ideals
* Create flexible decision structure
* Accelerate feedback
* Balance centralization with decentralization
* Reinforce perishable values
* Mitigate complacency

|}
Read [[Creating_a_positive_culture_around_failure_in_project_management|How to create a positive culture around failure in project management]] here.

= Limitations =
It is important to underline that mindfulness is not a tool – Mindfulness is a mind-set, a management theory. Thus, there is no recipe on how to implement mindfulness in projects, programs, portfolios or in organizations. The processes listed above can serve as inspiration, but have to be adjusted to fit into the context of organization and employees.

Mindfulness is a complex management theory. As the principle “''Reluctance to simplify''” justify, it takes a complex idea to capture a complex phenomenon. To fully implement mindfulness and deal with the unexpected it is required to organize in a complex manner. Likewise mindfulness preach a need for complex set of ideas to understand what people are doing and why it works thus requiring workers with a certain level of receptivity and resources.

Analyzing the mindfulness theory described by Weick and Sutcliffe there is one shortfall. Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name="WS" />. argue that human cognition in the mindfulness theory is the solution to reliability problems, but they tend to over-simplify the resilience concept by neglecting the importance of routine-based reliability. Studies of human systems reveal two strategies for achieving reliable performance shown in Figure 3
<ref name=BG>Butler, B. S., & Gray, P. H. 2006. Reliability, mindfulness, and information systems. Mis Quarterly, 30(2), pp.211–224 ''Butler and Gray examine the concept of mindfulness as a theoretical foundation for explaining efforts to achieve individual and organizational reliability in the face of complex technologies and surprising environments.''</ref>:
[[File:Realibility figure v2.png|600px|thumb|Right|Figure 3: Strategies for achieving reliable performance<ref name="BG" />]]

* Routine-based reliability
* Mindfulness-based reliability

Organizationally, routine-based reliability involves the creation and execution of standard operating and decision-making procedures, which may be unique to the organization or widely accepted across an industry <ref>Spender, J. C. 1989. ''Industry recipes: An Enquiry into the Nature and Sources of Managerial Judgement''. Oxorfd, UK: Basil Blackwell.</ref>. The routine-based reliability strategy rely on predefined procedures, routines and training designed to decrease cognitive human problem solving, to reduce errors, unwanted variation and waste. Defining procedures etc. is a frontloaded process where unknown/unknowns(See [[wikipedia:Johari_window|Johari Window]]) may oppose a major risk because unexpected events cannot be implemented into the procedures. While routine-based approaches focus on reducing or eliminating situated human cognition as the cause of errors, mindfulness-based approaches focus on promoting highly situated human cognition as the solution to individual and organisational reliability problems <ref name="WS" />. Mindfulness focus on one of the two strategies and ignore or assume that optimal routines, procedures and structures are in place. Mindfulness does not describe the interdependencies and synergistic impacts between the two strategies.

=References=

<references/>

== Further Reading ==
* [[Wikipedia:Cognition|Cognition]]
* [[Wikipedia:Mindfulness|Mindfulness]]
* [[Wikipedia:Union_Pacific_Railroad|Union Pacific Railroad]]
* [[Wikipedia:Reliability_engineering|Reliability Engineering]]

Organisational resilience with mindfulness

2015-09-28T21:14:58Z

S140046: /* Principles */

= Overview =
[[File:Flickr_-_Official_U.S._Navy_Imagery_-_An_airplane_launches_from_the_flight_deck..jpg|400px|thumb|Right|Figure 1: US Navy carrier example of an HRO]]
Mindfulness is a term introduced by the professors Karl E. Weick and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe after studying [[Wikipedia:High_reliability_organization|high reliability organizations]] (HRO). These organizations have no choice but to function reliable. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279 ''Weick and Sutcliffe have studied HRO’s that have developed a way of acting with unexpected events. The processes of the HRO’s have been mapped and provide a template for all organizations that want to be more reliable in managing the unexpected. The principles and mindset behind the HRO’s is introduced as mindfulness. The authors define mindfulness as a management theory with real life examples from US Navy carriers, nuclear power plants and railway companies.''</ref> found that reliability does not mean a complete lack of variation. It is just the opposite. It takes mindful variety to assure stable high performance. The learnings and techniques from the HRO’s can be implemented in projects and in organizations who want a higher reliability.

In brief, mindfulness involves the ability to detect important aspects of the context and take timely, appropriate action. A well-developed capability for mindfulness catches the unexpected earlier when it is smaller, comprehends its potential importance despite the small size of the disruption, and removes, contains or rebounds from the effects of the unexpected. Managing the unexpected, mindful project managers and organizations are able to reliably deliver the task they were asked to do.

The expectations of individuals tend not to correspond with the reality. We are all affected by cognitive biases and the mindful project manager is aware of that.

=== Mindfulness VS Mindlessness ===
To underline the importance of mindfulness its counterpart mindlessness is described. Mindlessness is characterized by at style of mental functioning in which people follow recipes, impose old categories to classify what they see, act with some rigidity, operate on automatic pilot, and mislabel unfamiliar new contexts as familiar old ones <ref name="WS" />

= Application =
An increasing demand for resilience within [[Wikipedia:Sociotechnical_system|sociotechnical systems]] has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations and their project, program and portfolio managers for unexpected events. The awareness of resilience and [[Wikipedia:Antifragility|antifragility]] is crucial for HRO’s, but all organisations can learn from the mind-set of the HRO’s. Even organisations without risks of casualties can improve their practices with mindfulness. It is a matter of context. Once the context, the precautions, the assumptions, the focus of attention is ignored, it becomes obvious that many organizations are just as exposed to the unexpected as HRO’s and just as much in need of mindfulness. E.g an unexpected shutdown at an [[Wikipedia:Assembly_line|assembly line]] is not a severe crisis. However the supervisor did not expect any fails or shutdowns. To him it is an unexpected crisis. Unexpected events occur at all organizational levels.

Project, Program and Portfolio managers are familiar with many project management tools and they are able to define project time, costs, risks, stakeholders etc. by [[Wikipedia:Project_Management_Institute|PMI]] standards. However, when projects become more complex e.g. in order of technical and organisational complexity, social intricacy of human behavior or uncertainty of long lifecycles, standard tools becomes inadequate. We tend to think of ourselves as rational beings, but in fact subconscious processes often drive human behavior. Not being aware of these subconscious thought processes can adversely affect projects. Mindful project managers know that they do not know everything. They know that their thoughts and impressions are affected by [[Wikipedia:Cognitive_bias|cognitive biases]]. Thus, they must be aware of their irrationalities to act in a mindful manner and become rational and fact-based. Mindfulness is instrumental in managing the intersection between human behavior and uncertainties thus generating processes within projects, programs and portfolios that are more reliable.

=== Principles ===

Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name="WS" /> have developed five principles that harness the key characteristics in mindfulness. These guidelines/principles apply upward to divisions and organizations as well as downward to teams, crews and team leaders. The principles can be adopted by anyone. Each principle is given an example from different HRO’s.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left;"
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
! Principle
! Description
! Example(s)
|-
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| '''Preoccupation with failure'''
|A preoccupation with failure focuses the organization to convert small errors and failures into organizational learnings and improvements.

“Pay close attention to weak signals of failure that may be symptoms of larger problems within the system” <ref name="WS" />

Be wary of the potential liabilities of successes such as complacency, the temptation to reduce margins of safety and drift into automatic processes.

Read also [[Early_warning_signals_in_project_management |''Early warning signals in project management'']]

|The airline industry encourage their personnel to report all failures and near misses generating failure catalogs. A big effort is expended in reviewing all reports to improve processes and workarounds.

|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| '''Reluctance to simplify'''
| Simplify mindfully and reluctantly. Have in mind that simplification can become too simple resulting in useless, unprecise simplifications e.g. explanations and categories. Problems faced in complex projects typically offer several options and a nuanced picture to fully understand the best solution.
|A merger of two North American railroad companies in 1996 resulted in a gridlock of the system from North Platte, Nebraska to Chicago. Many small errors and failures occurred after the merger, but the most obvious reason for the gridlock was an ignorant and arrogant attitude toward innovative and complex solutions. The top management insisted that trains are made up in central locations called classification yards, not in dispersed locations called shipper yards, satellite yards or mainline tracks. Freight shipped by railroaders are shipped by rail, not barge. In this case the problems caused by these simplifications were overlooked until the central location or excessive grain shipments became a bottleneck causing the gridlock.
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| '''Sensitivity to operations'''
| An organization must have an integrated overall and aligned picture of operation. Sensitivity to operations is closely related to sensitivity to relationships. Meaning a clear and unprejudiced communication between operation and management is crucial to understand the big picture.

Furthermore, it is important to be responsive to the changing reality of projects. This can be obtained first by controlling the progress, monitor deviations and implication on projects, and second being mindful to potential unexpected events.

| 1: Studies of nuclear weapons suggest that many problems arise not from a single failure, but when small deviations in different operational areas combine to create conditions that were never imagined in the plans and designs<ref name=Sagan>Sagan S.D. 1993. The limits of safety: Organizations Accidents and Nuclear Weapons. Princeton, NJ. Princeton University. Sagan started his research with the belief that an accidental nuclear explosion was very low and he came to a completely different conclusion.</ref>

2: The microcomputer industry can be characterized as a high velocity environment with a rapid and discontinuous change in demand, competitors, technology and inaccurate, unavailable or obsolete information. Decision-makers deal with this environment by paying close attention to real-time information e.g. concerning current operations or environments.

|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| '''Commitment to resilience'''
|Accommodate unexpected events and react to them quickly as they arise.
Resilience involves (a) the ability to absorb strain and preserve the functioning of the project; (b) ability to recover quickly; (c) ability to learn from the unexpected event and how it impacted the project.<ref name=oehmen>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI ''Oehmen et al discuss complexity, how it impacts projects, programmes and portfolios and what we can do about it. This white paper connect abstract concepts and management approaches to concrete practical examples. Introducing cutting edge tools and strategies such as network analysis, system dynamics, modularization, antifragtility and mindfulness.''</ref>.

| In the North American railroad merger case the meltdown of operations showed an inability to bounce back when the initial problems occurred. The railroad were short of men right after the merger and they had trimmed crews, locomotives and supervisors shortly before the gridlock from Nebraska to Chicago. Slack resources is a common way to create resilience.
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
|'''Deference to expertise (Collective mindfulness)'''
| Deference to expertise is about involving experts in the decision-making. The experts actively involved in the projects are more capable to give articulate solutions to problems. Rigid hierarchies have their own special vulnerability to error where errors at high levels tend to pick up and combine errors at low levels. HRO’s push decision making down where decision is made on the front line. The authority migrate to the people with the most expertise, regardless of their rank.

Collective mindfulness is associated with cultures and structures that promote open discussions of errors, mistakes and awareness.

|In the North American railroad merger case the decisions were made from top management even though their operational expertise were outdated. Furthermore the management were only fed with information that they wanted to hear. A horrible paradigm where management were fed with biased information and insisted to make decisions at top level. This classic command-and-control bureaucracy is adequate for a stable situation but too inflexible in times of change.
|}

= Topics in Mindfulness =
[[File:Circle of influence.png|300px|thumb|Right|Figure 2: Circle of influence]]
The five principles are general guidelines of mindfulness. However, they have to be converted into processes and mind-sets at organizations or within projects. To be able to implement mindfulness as a manager you must be aware of your cognitive behaviour as a human including how you experience the world. Weick and Sutcliffe describe the cognitive topics of expectations, categorization and the unexpected. These topics are briefly introduced. For further insight, please go to original literature<ref name="WS" /> <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499 Weick and Sutcliffe have updated their first edition “Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity”. The mindfulness theory and principles have been specified further with new case studies etc. </ref>. [[wikipedia:Mahatma_Gandhi|Mahatma Gandhi]] said: ''"Start changing yourself if you want to change the world around you"''. The same goes for a project manager. Figure 2 suggest a manager must understand and live out mindfulness before he can influence his employees and network.

=== Expectations ===
An expectation is to envision something, that is reasonably certain to come true. To expect something is to be mentally ready for it. “ Expectations form the basis for virtually all deliberate action because expectancies about how the world operates serve as implicit assumptions that guide behavioural choices” <ref>Olson, J. M. et al. ''Expectancies''. In Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles, edited by E.T. Higgins & A.W. Kruglanski, pp211-238. New York, NY: Guilford. Olson et al explains the form and function of expectancies in humans. Some of the key properties of expectancies is identified that influence both how expectancies operate and their likely consequences. Finally a simple model of expectancy processes is developed, based on the authors review of how expectancies operate.</ref>. With that in mind, it is important to be mindful about your expectations. Expectations direct your attention to certain features or events, which means that they affect what you notice and remember. Whenever our expectations does not match with reality our minds adjust our expectations to reality. It can be compared with a [[Wikipedia:Hypothesis_test|hypothesis-test]]. The human mind search for confirmation of its expectations but is biased to avoid looking for evidence that disconfirm them. HRO’s work hard to counteract this tendency. They routinely suspect their expectations for being incomplete. With this process, they check if the normal accepted expectation still pass the hypothesis test.

=== The capability for mindfulness (Categories) ===
Whenever people change the way they perceive the world they essentially rework the way they label and categorize what they see. This change in perception can be described with the following process:

# Re-examine discarded information
# Monitor how categories affect expectations and,
# Remove out-dated distinctions

Firstly, to rework one’s categories mindfully implies to evaluate how much information is discarded with a categorization of an instance with similar characteristics. Generally categorization help gaining control in a fast pace world. Categories can predict what will happen and plan one’s own actions. Without categories, any person or situation would be unique and therefore conserve scarce mental resources of attention and thinking. To exemplify categorization a university professor meet hundreds of students each day and have to categorize different types of students. The professor could categorize the students into categories such as active/passive, introvert/extrovert, Intelligent/less intelligent, man/women, young/old etc. The categories guide the professor how (s)he should behave or treat the different students. One category cannot describe all facets of a person and the professor must be aware of the discarded information within each category.

Secondly, mindful reworking of categories also mean that one pay close attention to their effect on the expectations. Categories and expectations are closely related. E.g., a person categorized as an expert is expected to know the answers within his/her field of expertise. These expectations constantly have to be revised and evaluated. It may be necessary to differentiate the expectations, replace them, supplement them, or discard the whole category.

Third, mindful reworking means a check whether the categories remain plausible. Outdated categorization with implausible distinctions of expectations ensure trouble. This is the basic misreading in HRO’s. The trouble starts when you fail to notice that you only look for whatever confirms your categories and expectations. “Believing is seeing. You see what you expect to see. You see what you have the labels to see. You see what you have the skills to manage.” <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>
People who persistently rework their categories and refine them, differentiate them, update them, and replace them notice more and catch unexpected events earlier in their development. That is the essence of mindfulness <ref name="WS" />.

=== The Unexpected ===
Unexpected events can be categorized in three forms <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref>:
The unexpected occur when an event that was
* expected to happen fail to occur.
* not expected to happen does happen.
* simply unthought-of happens (Unknown/unkowns)

Unexpected events are caused by faulty expectations and the fact that we sought to look for evidence that confirm our expectations. These confirmations are found to boost our experience of being in control. However, this confirming behavior has adverse effect on how quick we realize we are wrong and rework our expectations. A slow realization time allows problems to worsen and become harder to solve and they might even be entangled with other problems.
HRO’s strive to minimize the risk that unthought-of events happen by steering people towards mindful practices that encourage imagination. People inadvertently trivialize the importance of imagination. Instead people tend to “''Expect the unexpected''” to maintain their desire for control and predictability.

= Putting Mindfulness into Practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager =
Putting Mindfulness into practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager
<ref name="WS" /> have developed concrete processes based on the five principles and on practices identified in the best HRO’s. The processes is organised under two headings. “''Enhancing awareness and anticipation''” concerning the three first principles, involving failure, simplification and operations. “''Containment of those unexpected events that occur''” concerning the last two principles involving resilience and expertise.

{| cellpadding=5 style="border:1px solid #BBB"
|'''Enhancing awareness and anticipation''' || '''Enhancing containment'''
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
|
* Preserve a balance of values
* Restate your goals in the form of mistakes that must not occur
* Remember that mindfulness takes effort
* Create Awareness of vulnerability
* Cultivate humility
* Be glad when you are having a bad day
* Create an error friendly learning culture
* Encourage alternative frames of reference
* Strengthen fantasy as a tool
* Speak up! Just because you see something, do not assume that someone else sees it, too.
* Put a premium on interpersonal skills
* Surface unique knowledge
* Be careful when you label something a fact
* Develop skeptics
* Be suspicious of good news
* Seek out bad news
* Test your expectations
* Welcome uncertainty
* Treat all unexpected events as information, and share this information widely
* Transform close calls into near misses
* Specify the burden of proof
* Adopt complex models because they direct attention to more details and register more facets of context.
* Revise existing models as well as existing practices
* Carry your expectations lightly
* Reward contact with the frontline
* Clarify what constitutes good news
* Frame mindfulness in novel ways
||
* Remember that ambivalence builds resilience
* Use rich media and encourage people to listen
* Be mindful publicly
* Enlarge competencies and response repertoires
* Build excess capacity. Don’t overdo lean, mean ideals
* Create flexible decision structure
* Accelerate feedback
* Balance centralization with decentralization
* Reinforce perishable values
* Mitigate complacency

|}
Read [[Creating_a_positive_culture_around_failure_in_project_management|How to create a positive culture around failure in project management]] here.

= Limitations =
It is important to underline that mindfulness is not a tool – Mindfulness is a mind-set, a management theory. Thus, there is no recipe on how to implement mindfulness in projects, programs, portfolios or in organizations. The processes listed above can serve as inspiration, but have to be adjusted to fit into the context of organization and employees.

Mindfulness is a complex management theory. As the principle “''Reluctance to simplify''” justify, it takes a complex idea to capture a complex phenomenon. To fully implement mindfulness and deal with the unexpected it is required to organize in a complex manner. Likewise mindfulness preach a need for complex set of ideas to understand what people are doing and why it works thus requiring workers with a certain level of receptivity and resources.

Analyzing the mindfulness theory described by Weick and Sutcliffe there is one shortfall. Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name="WS" />. argue that human cognition in the mindfulness theory is the solution to reliability problems, but they tend to over-simplify the resilience concept by neglecting the importance of routine-based reliability. Studies of human systems reveal two strategies for achieving reliable performance shown in Figure 3
<ref name=BG>Butler, B. S., & Gray, P. H. 2006. Reliability, mindfulness, and information systems. Mis Quarterly, 30(2), pp.211–224 ''Butler and Gray examine the concept of mindfulness as a theoretical foundation for explaining efforts to achieve individual and organizational reliability in the face of complex technologies and surprising environments.''</ref>:
[[File:Realibility figure v2.png|600px|thumb|Right|Figure 3: Strategies for achieving reliable performance<ref name="BG" />]]

* Routine-based reliability
* Mindfulness-based reliability

Organizationally, routine-based reliability involves the creation and execution of standard operating and decision-making procedures, which may be unique to the organization or widely accepted across an industry <ref>Spender, J. C. 1989. ''Industry recipes: An Enquiry into the Nature and Sources of Managerial Judgement''. Oxorfd, UK: Basil Blackwell.</ref>. The routine-based reliability strategy rely on predefined procedures, routines and training designed to decrease cognitive human problem solving, to reduce errors, unwanted variation and waste. Defining procedures etc. is a frontloaded process where unknown/unknowns(See [[wikipedia:Johari_window|Johari Window]]) may oppose a major risk because unexpected events cannot be implemented into the procedures. While routine-based approaches focus on reducing or eliminating situated human cognition as the cause of errors, mindfulness-based approaches focus on promoting highly situated human cognition as the solution to individual and organisational reliability problems <ref name="WS" />. Mindfulness focus on one of the two strategies and ignore or assume that optimal routines, procedures and structures are in place. Mindfulness does not describe the interdependencies and synergistic impacts between the two strategies.

=References=

<references/>

== Further Reading ==
* [[Wikipedia:Cognition|Cognition]]
* [[Wikipedia:Mindfulness|Mindfulness]]
* [[Wikipedia:Union_Pacific_Railroad|Union Pacific Railroad]]
* [[Wikipedia:Reliability_engineering|Reliability Engineering]]

Organisational resilience with mindfulness

2015-09-28T21:02:42Z

S140046:

= Overview =
[[File:Flickr_-_Official_U.S._Navy_Imagery_-_An_airplane_launches_from_the_flight_deck..jpg|400px|thumb|Right|Figure 1: US Navy carrier example of an HRO]]
Mindfulness is a term introduced by the professors Karl E. Weick and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe after studying [[Wikipedia:High_reliability_organization|high reliability organizations]] (HRO). These organizations have no choice but to function reliable. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279 ''Weick and Sutcliffe have studied HRO’s that have developed a way of acting with unexpected events. The processes of the HRO’s have been mapped and provide a template for all organizations that want to be more reliable in managing the unexpected. The principles and mindset behind the HRO’s is introduced as mindfulness. The authors define mindfulness as a management theory with real life examples from US Navy carriers, nuclear power plants and railway companies.''</ref> found that reliability does not mean a complete lack of variation. It is just the opposite. It takes mindful variety to assure stable high performance. The learnings and techniques from the HRO’s can be implemented in projects and in organizations who want a higher reliability.

In brief, mindfulness involves the ability to detect important aspects of the context and take timely, appropriate action. A well-developed capability for mindfulness catches the unexpected earlier when it is smaller, comprehends its potential importance despite the small size of the disruption, and removes, contains or rebounds from the effects of the unexpected. Managing the unexpected, mindful project managers and organizations are able to reliably deliver the task they were asked to do.

The expectations of individuals tend not to correspond with the reality. We are all affected by cognitive biases and the mindful project manager is aware of that.

=== Mindfulness VS Mindlessness ===
To underline the importance of mindfulness its counterpart mindlessness is described. Mindlessness is characterized by at style of mental functioning in which people follow recipes, impose old categories to classify what they see, act with some rigidity, operate on automatic pilot, and mislabel unfamiliar new contexts as familiar old ones <ref name="WS" />

= Application =
An increasing demand for resilience within [[Wikipedia:Sociotechnical_system|sociotechnical systems]] has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations and their project, program and portfolio managers for unexpected events. The awareness of resilience and [[Wikipedia:Antifragility|antifragility]] is crucial for HRO’s, but all organisations can learn from the mind-set of the HRO’s. Even organisations without risks of casualties can improve their practices with mindfulness. It is a matter of context. Once the context, the precautions, the assumptions, the focus of attention is ignored, it becomes obvious that many organizations are just as exposed to the unexpected as HRO’s and just as much in need of mindfulness. E.g an unexpected shutdown at an [[Wikipedia:Assembly_line|assembly line]] is not a severe crisis. However the supervisor did not expect any fails or shutdowns. To him it is an unexpected crisis. Unexpected events occur at all organizational levels.

Project, Program and Portfolio managers are familiar with many project management tools and they are able to define project time, costs, risks, stakeholders etc. by [[Wikipedia:Project_Management_Institute|PMI]] standards. However, when projects become more complex e.g. in order of technical and organisational complexity, social intricacy of human behavior or uncertainty of long lifecycles, standard tools becomes inadequate. We tend to think of ourselves as rational beings, but in fact subconscious processes often drive human behavior. Not being aware of these subconscious thought processes can adversely affect projects. Mindful project managers know that they do not know everything. They know that their thoughts and impressions are affected by [[Wikipedia:Cognitive_bias|cognitive biases]]. Thus, they must be aware of their irrationalities to act in a mindful manner and become rational and fact-based. Mindfulness is instrumental in managing the intersection between human behavior and uncertainties thus generating processes within projects, programs and portfolios that are more reliable.

=== Principles ===

Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name="WS" /> have developed five principles that harness the key characteristics in mindfulness. These guidelines/principles apply upward to divisions and organizations as well as downward to teams, crews and team leaders. The principles can be adopted by anyone. Each principle is given an example from different HRO’s.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left;"
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
! Principle
! Description
! Example(s)
|-
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| '''Preoccupation with failure'''
|A preoccupation with failure focuses the organization to convert small errors and failures into organizational learnings and improvements.

“Pay close attention to weak signals of failure that may be symptoms of larger problems within the system” <ref name="WS" />

Be wary of the potential liabilities of successes such as complacency, the temptation to reduce margins of safety and drift into automatic processes.

Read also [[Early_warning_signals_in_project_management |''Early warning signals in project management'']]

|The airline industry encourage their personnel to report all failures and near misses generating failure catalogs. A big effort is expended in reviewing all reports to improve processes and workarounds.

|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| '''Reluctance to simplify'''
| Simplify mindfully and reluctantly. Have in mind that simplification can become too simple resulting in useless, unprecise simplifications e.g. explanations and categories. Problems faced in complex projects typically offer several options and a nuanced picture to fully understand the best solution.
|A merger of two North American railroad companies in 1996 resulted in a gridlock of the system from North Platte, Nebraska to Chicago. Many small errors and failures occurred after the merger, but the most obvious reason for the gridlock was an ignorant and arrogant attitude toward innovative and complex solutions. The top management insisted that trains are made up in central locations called classification yards, not in dispersed locations called shipper yards, satellite yards or mainline tracks. Freight shipped by railroaders are shipped by rail, not barge. In this case the problems caused by these simplifications were overlooked until the central location or excessive grain shipments became a bottleneck causing the gridlock.
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| '''Sensitivity to operations'''
| An organization must have an integrated overall and aligned picture of operation. Sensitivity to operations is closely related to sensitivity to relationships. Meaning a clear and unprejudiced communication between operation and management is crucial to understand the big picture.

Furthermore, it is important to be responsive to the changing reality of projects. This can be obtained first by controlling the progress, monitor deviations and implication on projects, and second being mindful to potential unexpected events.

| 1: Studies of nuclear weapons suggest that many problems arise not from a single failure, but when small deviations in different operational areas combine to create conditions that were never imagined in the plans and designs<ref name=Sagan>Sagan S.D. 1993. The limits of safety: Organizations Accidents and Nuclear Weapons. Princeton, NJ. Princeton University.</ref>

2: The microcomputer industry can be characterized as a high velocity environment with a rapid and discontinuous change in demand, competitors, technology and inaccurate, unavailable or obsolete information. Decision-makers deal with this environment by paying close attention to real-time information e.g. concerning current operations or environments.

|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| '''Commitment to resilience'''
|Accommodate unexpected events and react to them quickly as they arise.
Resilience involves (a) the ability to absorb strain and preserve the functioning of the project; (b) ability to recover quickly; (c) ability to learn from the unexpected event and how it impacted the project.<ref name=oehmen>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI ''Oehmen et al discuss complexity, how it impacts projects, programmes and portfolios and what we can do about it. This white paper connect abstract concepts and management approaches to concrete practical examples. Introducing cutting edge tools and strategies such as network analysis, system dynamics, modularization, antifragtility and mindfulness.''</ref>.

| In the North American railroad merger case the meltdown of operations showed an inability to bounce back when the initial problems occurred. The railroad were short of men right after the merger and they had trimmed crews, locomotives and supervisors shortly before the gridlock from Nebraska to Chicago. Slack resources is a common way to create resilience.
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
|'''Deference to expertise (Collective mindfulness)'''
| Deference to expertise is about involving experts in the decision-making. The experts actively involved in the projects are more capable to give articulate solutions to problems. Rigid hierarchies have their own special vulnerability to error where errors at high levels tend to pick up and combine errors at low levels. HRO’s push decision making down where decision is made on the front line. The authority migrate to the people with the most expertise, regardless of their rank.

Collective mindfulness is associated with cultures and structures that promote open discussions of errors, mistakes and awareness.

|In the North American railroad merger case the decisions were made from top management even though their operational expertise were outdated. Furthermore the management were only fed with information that they wanted to hear. A horrible paradigm where management were fed with biased information and insisted to make decisions at top level. This classic command-and-control bureaucracy is adequate for a stable situation but too inflexible in times of change.
|}

= Topics in Mindfulness =
[[File:Circle of influence.png|300px|thumb|Right|Figure 2: Circle of influence]]
The five principles are general guidelines of mindfulness. However, they have to be converted into processes and mind-sets at organizations or within projects. To be able to implement mindfulness as a manager you must be aware of your cognitive behaviour as a human including how you experience the world. Weick and Sutcliffe describe the cognitive topics of expectations, categorization and the unexpected. These topics are briefly introduced. For further insight, please go to original literature<ref name="WS" /> <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499 Weick and Sutcliffe have updated their first edition “Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity”. The mindfulness theory and principles have been specified further with new case studies etc. </ref>. [[wikipedia:Mahatma_Gandhi|Mahatma Gandhi]] said: ''"Start changing yourself if you want to change the world around you"''. The same goes for a project manager. Figure 2 suggest a manager must understand and live out mindfulness before he can influence his employees and network.

=== Expectations ===
An expectation is to envision something, that is reasonably certain to come true. To expect something is to be mentally ready for it. “ Expectations form the basis for virtually all deliberate action because expectancies about how the world operates serve as implicit assumptions that guide behavioural choices” <ref>Olson, J. M. et al. ''Expectancies''. In Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles, edited by E.T. Higgins & A.W. Kruglanski, pp211-238. New York, NY: Guilford. Olson et al explains the form and function of expectancies in humans. Some of the key properties of expectancies is identified that influence both how expectancies operate and their likely consequences. Finally a simple model of expectancy processes is developed, based on the authors review of how expectancies operate.</ref>. With that in mind, it is important to be mindful about your expectations. Expectations direct your attention to certain features or events, which means that they affect what you notice and remember. Whenever our expectations does not match with reality our minds adjust our expectations to reality. It can be compared with a [[Wikipedia:Hypothesis_test|hypothesis-test]]. The human mind search for confirmation of its expectations but is biased to avoid looking for evidence that disconfirm them. HRO’s work hard to counteract this tendency. They routinely suspect their expectations for being incomplete. With this process, they check if the normal accepted expectation still pass the hypothesis test.

=== The capability for mindfulness (Categories) ===
Whenever people change the way they perceive the world they essentially rework the way they label and categorize what they see. This change in perception can be described with the following process:

# Re-examine discarded information
# Monitor how categories affect expectations and,
# Remove out-dated distinctions

Firstly, to rework one’s categories mindfully implies to evaluate how much information is discarded with a categorization of an instance with similar characteristics. Generally categorization help gaining control in a fast pace world. Categories can predict what will happen and plan one’s own actions. Without categories, any person or situation would be unique and therefore conserve scarce mental resources of attention and thinking. To exemplify categorization a university professor meet hundreds of students each day and have to categorize different types of students. The professor could categorize the students into categories such as active/passive, introvert/extrovert, Intelligent/less intelligent, man/women, young/old etc. The categories guide the professor how (s)he should behave or treat the different students. One category cannot describe all facets of a person and the professor must be aware of the discarded information within each category.

Secondly, mindful reworking of categories also mean that one pay close attention to their effect on the expectations. Categories and expectations are closely related. E.g., a person categorized as an expert is expected to know the answers within his/her field of expertise. These expectations constantly have to be revised and evaluated. It may be necessary to differentiate the expectations, replace them, supplement them, or discard the whole category.

Third, mindful reworking means a check whether the categories remain plausible. Outdated categorization with implausible distinctions of expectations ensure trouble. This is the basic misreading in HRO’s. The trouble starts when you fail to notice that you only look for whatever confirms your categories and expectations. “Believing is seeing. You see what you expect to see. You see what you have the labels to see. You see what you have the skills to manage.” <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>
People who persistently rework their categories and refine them, differentiate them, update them, and replace them notice more and catch unexpected events earlier in their development. That is the essence of mindfulness <ref name="WS" />.

=== The Unexpected ===
Unexpected events can be categorized in three forms <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref>:
The unexpected occur when an event that was
* expected to happen fail to occur.
* not expected to happen does happen.
* simply unthought-of happens (Unknown/unkowns)

Unexpected events are caused by faulty expectations and the fact that we sought to look for evidence that confirm our expectations. These confirmations are found to boost our experience of being in control. However, this confirming behavior has adverse effect on how quick we realize we are wrong and rework our expectations. A slow realization time allows problems to worsen and become harder to solve and they might even be entangled with other problems.
HRO’s strive to minimize the risk that unthought-of events happen by steering people towards mindful practices that encourage imagination. People inadvertently trivialize the importance of imagination. Instead people tend to “''Expect the unexpected''” to maintain their desire for control and predictability.

= Putting Mindfulness into Practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager =
Putting Mindfulness into practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager
<ref name="WS" /> have developed concrete processes based on the five principles and on practices identified in the best HRO’s. The processes is organised under two headings. “''Enhancing awareness and anticipation''” concerning the three first principles, involving failure, simplification and operations. “''Containment of those unexpected events that occur''” concerning the last two principles involving resilience and expertise.

{| cellpadding=5 style="border:1px solid #BBB"
|'''Enhancing awareness and anticipation''' || '''Enhancing containment'''
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
|
* Preserve a balance of values
* Restate your goals in the form of mistakes that must not occur
* Remember that mindfulness takes effort
* Create Awareness of vulnerability
* Cultivate humility
* Be glad when you are having a bad day
* Create an error friendly learning culture
* Encourage alternative frames of reference
* Strengthen fantasy as a tool
* Speak up! Just because you see something, do not assume that someone else sees it, too.
* Put a premium on interpersonal skills
* Surface unique knowledge
* Be careful when you label something a fact
* Develop skeptics
* Be suspicious of good news
* Seek out bad news
* Test your expectations
* Welcome uncertainty
* Treat all unexpected events as information, and share this information widely
* Transform close calls into near misses
* Specify the burden of proof
* Adopt complex models because they direct attention to more details and register more facets of context.
* Revise existing models as well as existing practices
* Carry your expectations lightly
* Reward contact with the frontline
* Clarify what constitutes good news
* Frame mindfulness in novel ways
||
* Remember that ambivalence builds resilience
* Use rich media and encourage people to listen
* Be mindful publicly
* Enlarge competencies and response repertoires
* Build excess capacity. Don’t overdo lean, mean ideals
* Create flexible decision structure
* Accelerate feedback
* Balance centralization with decentralization
* Reinforce perishable values
* Mitigate complacency

|}
Read [[Creating_a_positive_culture_around_failure_in_project_management|How to create a positive culture around failure in project management]] here.

= Limitations =
It is important to underline that mindfulness is not a tool – Mindfulness is a mind-set, a management theory. Thus, there is no recipe on how to implement mindfulness in projects, programs, portfolios or in organizations. The processes listed above can serve as inspiration, but have to be adjusted to fit into the context of organization and employees.

Mindfulness is a complex management theory. As the principle “''Reluctance to simplify''” justify, it takes a complex idea to capture a complex phenomenon. To fully implement mindfulness and deal with the unexpected it is required to organize in a complex manner. Likewise mindfulness preach a need for complex set of ideas to understand what people are doing and why it works thus requiring workers with a certain level of receptivity and resources.

Analyzing the mindfulness theory described by Weick and Sutcliffe there is one shortfall. Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name="WS" />. argue that human cognition in the mindfulness theory is the solution to reliability problems, but they tend to over-simplify the resilience concept by neglecting the importance of routine-based reliability. Studies of human systems reveal two strategies for achieving reliable performance shown in Figure 3
<ref name=BG>Butler, B. S., & Gray, P. H. 2006. Reliability, mindfulness, and information systems. Mis Quarterly, 30(2), pp.211–224 ''Butler and Gray examine the concept of mindfulness as a theoretical foundation for explaining efforts to achieve individual and organizational reliability in the face of complex technologies and surprising environments.''</ref>:
[[File:Realibility figure v2.png|600px|thumb|Right|Figure 3: Strategies for achieving reliable performance<ref name="BG" />]]

* Routine-based reliability
* Mindfulness-based reliability

Organizationally, routine-based reliability involves the creation and execution of standard operating and decision-making procedures, which may be unique to the organization or widely accepted across an industry <ref>Spender, J. C. 1989. ''Industry recipes: An Enquiry into the Nature and Sources of Managerial Judgement''. Oxorfd, UK: Basil Blackwell.</ref>. The routine-based reliability strategy rely on predefined procedures, routines and training designed to decrease cognitive human problem solving, to reduce errors, unwanted variation and waste. Defining procedures etc. is a frontloaded process where unknown/unknowns(See [[wikipedia:Johari_window|Johari Window]]) may oppose a major risk because unexpected events cannot be implemented into the procedures. While routine-based approaches focus on reducing or eliminating situated human cognition as the cause of errors, mindfulness-based approaches focus on promoting highly situated human cognition as the solution to individual and organisational reliability problems <ref name="WS" />. Mindfulness focus on one of the two strategies and ignore or assume that optimal routines, procedures and structures are in place. Mindfulness does not describe the interdependencies and synergistic impacts between the two strategies.

=References=

<references/>

== Further Reading ==
* [[Wikipedia:Cognition|Cognition]]
* [[Wikipedia:Mindfulness|Mindfulness]]
* [[Wikipedia:Union_Pacific_Railroad|Union Pacific Railroad]]
* [[Wikipedia:Reliability_engineering|Reliability Engineering]]

Organisational resilience with mindfulness

2015-09-28T20:40:54Z

S140046:

= Overview =
[[File:Flickr_-_Official_U.S._Navy_Imagery_-_An_airplane_launches_from_the_flight_deck..jpg|400px|thumb|Right|Figure 1: US Navy carrier example of an HRO]]
Mindfulness is a term introduced by the professors Karl E. Weick and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe after studying [[Wikipedia:High_reliability_organization|high reliability organizations]] (HRO). These organizations have no choice but to function reliable. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279 ''Weick and Sutcliffe have studied HRO’s that have developed a way of acting with unexpected events. The processes of the HRO’s have been mapped and provide a template for all organizations that want to be more reliable in managing the unexpected. The principles and mindset behind the HRO’s is introduced as mindfulness. The authors define mindfulness as a management theory with real life examples from US Navy carriers, nuclear power plants and railway companies.''</ref> found that reliability does not mean a complete lack of variation. It is just the opposite. It takes mindful variety to assure stable high performance. The learnings and techniques from the HRO’s can be implemented in projects and in organizations who want a higher reliability.

In brief, mindfulness involves the ability to detect important aspects of the context and take timely, appropriate action. A well-developed capability for mindfulness catches the unexpected earlier when it is smaller, comprehends its potential importance despite the small size of the disruption, and removes, contains or rebounds from the effects of the unexpected. Managing the unexpected, mindful project managers and organizations are able to reliably deliver the task they were asked to do.

The expectations of individuals tend not to correspond with the reality. We are all affected by cognitive biases and the mindful project manager is aware of that.

=== Mindfulness VS Mindlessness ===
To underline the importance of mindfulness its counterpart mindlessness is described. Mindlessness is characterized by at style of mental functioning in which people follow recipes, impose old categories to classify what they see, act with some rigidity, operate on automatic pilot, and mislabel unfamiliar new contexts as familiar old ones <ref name="WS" />

= Application =
An increasing demand for resilience within [[Wikipedia:Sociotechnical_system|sociotechnical systems]] has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations and their project, program and portfolio managers for unexpected events. The awareness of resilience and [[Wikipedia:Antifragility|antifragility]] is crucial for HRO’s, but all organisations can learn from the mind-set of the HRO’s. Even organisations without risks of casualties can improve their practices with mindfulness. It is a matter of context. Once the context, the precautions, the assumptions, the focus of attention is ignored, it becomes obvious that many organizations are just as exposed to the unexpected as HRO’s and just as much in need of mindfulness. E.g an unexpected shutdown at an [[Wikipedia:Assembly_line|assembly line]] is not a severe crisis. However the supervisor did not expect any fails or shutdowns. To him it is an unexpected crisis. Unexpected events occur at all organizational levels.

Project, Program and Portfolio managers are familiar with many project management tools and they are able to define project time, costs, risks, stakeholders etc. by [[Wikipedia:Project_Management_Institute|PMI]] standards. However, when projects become more complex e.g. in order of technical and organisational complexity, social intricacy of human behavior or uncertainty of long lifecycles, standard tools becomes inadequate. We tend to think of ourselves as rational beings, but in fact subconscious processes often drive human behavior. Not being aware of these subconscious thought processes can adversely affect projects. Mindful project managers know that they do not know everything. They know that their thoughts and impressions are affected by [[Wikipedia:Cognitive_bias|cognitive biases]]. Thus, they must be aware of their irrationalities to act in a mindful manner and become rational and fact-based. Mindfulness is instrumental in managing the intersection between human behavior and uncertainties thus generating processes within projects, programs and portfolios that are more reliable.

=== Principles ===

Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name="WS" /> have developed five principles that harness the key characteristics in mindfulness. These guidelines/principles apply upward to divisions and organizations as well as downward to teams, crews and team leaders. The principles can be adopted by anyone. Each principle is given an example from different HRO’s.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Principle
! Description
! Example(s)
|-
| Preoccupation with failure
|A preoccupation with failure focuses the organization to convert small errors and failures into organizational learnings and improvements.

“Pay close attention to weak signals of failure that may be symptoms of larger problems within the system” <ref name="WS" />

Be wary of the potential liabilities of successes such as complacency, the temptation to reduce margins of safety and drift into automatic processes.

Read also [[Early_warning_signals_in_project_management |''Early warning signals in project management'']]

|The airline industry encourage their personnel to report all failures and near misses generating failure catalogs. A big effort is expended in reviewing all reports to improve processes and workarounds.

|-
| Reluctance to simplify
| Simplify mindfully and reluctantly. Have in mind that simplification can become too simple resulting in useless, unprecise simplifications e.g. explanations and categories. Problems faced in complex projects typically offer several options and a nuanced picture to fully understand the best solution.
|A merger of two North American railroad companies in 1996 resulted in a gridlock of the system from North Platte, Nebraska to Chicago. Many small errors and failures occurred after the merger, but the most obvious reason for the gridlock was an ignorant and arrogant attitude toward innovative and complex solutions. The top management insisted that trains are made up in central locations called classification yards, not in dispersed locations called shipper yards, satellite yards or mainline tracks. Freight shipped by railroaders are shipped by rail, not barge. In this case the problems caused by these simplifications were overlooked until the central location or excessive grain shipments became a bottleneck causing the gridlock.
|-
| Sensitivity to operations
| An organization must have an integrated overall and aligned picture of operation. Sensitivity to operations is closely related to sensitivity to relationships. Meaning a clear and unprejudiced communication between operation and management is crucial to understand the big picture.

Furthermore, it is important to be responsive to the changing reality of projects. This can be obtained first by controlling the progress, monitor deviations and implication on projects, and second being mindful to potential unexpected events.

| 1: Studies of nuclear weapons suggest that many problems arise not from a single failure, but when small deviations in different operational areas combine to create conditions that were never imagined in the plans and designs<ref name=Sagan>Sagan S.D. 1993. The limits of safety: Organizations Accidents and Nuclear Weapons. Princeton, NJ. Princeton University.</ref>

2: The microcomputer industry can be characterized as a high velocity environment with a rapid and discontinuous change in demand, competitors, technology and inaccurate, unavailable or obsolete information. Decision-makers deal with this environment by paying close attention to real-time information e.g. concerning current operations or environments.

|-
| Commitment to resilience
|Accommodate unexpected events and react to them quickly as they arise.
Resilience involves (a) the ability to absorb strain and preserve the functioning of the project; (b) ability to recover quickly; (c) ability to learn from the unexpected event and how it impacted the project.<ref name=oehmen>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI ''Oehmen et al discuss complexity, how it impacts projects, programmes and portfolios and what we can do about it. This white paper connect abstract concepts and management approaches to concrete practical examples. Introducing cutting edge tools and strategies such as network analysis, system dynamics, modularization, antifragtility and mindfulness.''</ref>.

| In the North American railroad merger case the meltdown of operations showed an inability to bounce back when the initial problems occurred. The railroad were short of men right after the merger and they had trimmed crews, locomotives and supervisors shortly before the gridlock from Nebraska to Chicago. Slack resources is a common way to create resilience.
|-
|Deference to expertise (Collective mindfulness)
| Deference to expertise is about involving experts in the decision-making. The experts actively involved in the projects are more capable to give articulate solutions to problems. Rigid hierarchies have their own special vulnerability to error where errors at high levels tend to pick up and combine errors at low levels. HRO’s push decision making down where decision is made on the front line. The authority migrate to the people with the most expertise, regardless of their rank.

Collective mindfulness is associated with cultures and structures that promote open discussions of errors, mistakes and awareness.

|In the North American railroad merger case the decisions were made from top management even though their operational expertise were outdated. Furthermore the management were only fed with information that they wanted to hear. A horrible paradigm where management were fed with biased information and insisted to make decisions at top level. This classic command-and-control bureaucracy is adequate for a stable situation but too inflexible in times of change.
|}

= Topics in Mindfulness =
[[File:Circle of influence.png|300px|thumb|Right|Figure 2: Circle of influence]]
The five principles are general guidelines of mindfulness. However, they have to be converted into processes and mind-sets at organizations or within projects. To be able to implement mindfulness as a manager you must be aware of your cognitive behaviour as a human including how you experience the world. Weick and Sutcliffe describe the cognitive topics of expectations, categorization and the unexpected. These topics are briefly introduced. For further insight, please go to original literature<ref name="WS" /> <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499 Weick and Sutcliffe have updated their first edition “Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity”. The mindfulness theory and principles have been specified further with new case studies etc. </ref>. [[wikipedia:Mahatma_Gandhi|Mahatma Gandhi]] said: ''"Start changing yourself if you want to change the world around you"''. The same goes for a project manager. Figure 2 suggest a manager must understand and live out mindfulness before he can influence his employees and network.

=== Expectations ===
An expectation is to envision something, that is reasonably certain to come true. To expect something is to be mentally ready for it. “ Expectations form the basis for virtually all deliberate action because expectancies about how the world operates serve as implicit assumptions that guide behavioural choices” <ref>Olson, J. M. et al. ''Expectancies''. In Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles, edited by E.T. Higgins & A.W. Kruglanski, pp211-238. New York, NY: Guilford. Olson et al explains the form and function of expectancies in humans. Some of the key properties of expectancies is identified that influence both how expectancies operate and their likely consequences. Finally a simple model of expectancy processes is developed, based on the authors review of how expectancies operate.</ref>. With that in mind, it is important to be mindful about your expectations. Expectations direct your attention to certain features or events, which means that they affect what you notice and remember. Whenever our expectations does not match with reality our minds adjust our expectations to reality. It can be compared with a [[Wikipedia:Hypothesis_test|hypothesis-test]]. The human mind search for confirmation of its expectations but is biased to avoid looking for evidence that disconfirm them. HRO’s work hard to counteract this tendency. They routinely suspect their expectations for being incomplete. With this process, they check if the normal accepted expectation still pass the hypothesis test.

=== The capability for mindfulness (Categories) ===
Whenever people change the way they perceive the world they essentially rework the way they label and categorize what they see. This change in perception can be described with the following process:

# Re-examine discarded information
# Monitor how categories affect expectations and,
# Remove out-dated distinctions

Firstly, to rework one’s categories mindfully implies to evaluate how much information is discarded with a categorization of an instance with similar characteristics. Generally categorization help gaining control in a fast pace world. Categories can predict what will happen and plan one’s own actions. Without categories, any person or situation would be unique and therefore conserve scarce mental resources of attention and thinking. To exemplify categorization a university professor meet hundreds of students each day and have to categorize different types of students. The professor could categorize the students into categories such as active/passive, introvert/extrovert, Intelligent/less intelligent, man/women, young/old etc. The categories guide the professor how (s)he should behave or treat the different students. One category cannot describe all facets of a person and the professor must be aware of the discarded information within each category.

Secondly, mindful reworking of categories also mean that one pay close attention to their effect on the expectations. Categories and expectations are closely related. E.g., a person categorized as an expert is expected to know the answers within his/her field of expertise. These expectations constantly have to be revised and evaluated. It may be necessary to differentiate the expectations, replace them, supplement them, or discard the whole category.

Third, mindful reworking means a check whether the categories remain plausible. Outdated categorization with implausible distinctions of expectations ensure trouble. This is the basic misreading in HRO’s. The trouble starts when you fail to notice that you only look for whatever confirms your categories and expectations. “Believing is seeing. You see what you expect to see. You see what you have the labels to see. You see what you have the skills to manage.” <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>
People who persistently rework their categories and refine them, differentiate them, update them, and replace them notice more and catch unexpected events earlier in their development. That is the essence of mindfulness <ref name="WS" />.

=== The Unexpected ===
Unexpected events can be categorized in three forms <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref>:
The unexpected occur when an event that was
* expected to happen fail to occur.
* not expected to happen does happen.
* simply unthought-of happens (Unknown/unkowns)

Unexpected events are caused by faulty expectations and the fact that we sought to look for evidence that confirm our expectations. These confirmations are found to boost our experience of being in control. However, this confirming behavior has adverse effect on how quick we realize we are wrong and rework our expectations. A slow realization time allows problems to worsen and become harder to solve and they might even be entangled with other problems.
HRO’s strive to minimize the risk that unthought-of events happen by steering people towards mindful practices that encourage imagination. People inadvertently trivialize the importance of imagination. Instead people tend to “''Expect the unexpected''” to maintain their desire for control and predictability.

= Putting Mindfulness into Practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager =
Putting Mindfulness into practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager
<ref name="WS" /> have developed concrete processes based on the five principles and on practices identified in the best HRO’s. The processes is organised under two headings. “''Enhancing awareness and anticipation''” concerning the three first principles, involving failure, simplification and operations. “''Containment of those unexpected events that occur''” concerning the last two principles involving resilience and expertise.

{| cellpadding=5 style="border:1px solid #BBB"
|'''Enhancing awareness and anticipation''' || '''Enhancing containment'''
|-
|
* Preserve a balance of values
* Restate your goals in the form of mistakes that must not occur
* Remember that mindfulness takes effort
* Create Awareness of vulnerability
* Cultivate humility
* Be glad when you are having a bad day
* Create an error friendly learning culture
* Encourage alternative frames of reference
* Strengthen fantasy as a tool
* Speak up! Just because you see something, do not assume that someone else sees it, too.
* Put a premium on interpersonal skills
* Surface unique knowledge
* Be careful when you label something a fact
* Develop skeptics
* Be suspicious of good news
* Seek out bad news
* Test your expectations
* Welcome uncertainty
* Treat all unexpected events as information, and share this information widely
* Transform close calls into near misses
* Specify the burden of proof
* Adopt complex models because they direct attention to more details and register more facets of context.
* Revise existing models as well as existing practices
* Carry your expectations lightly
* Reward contact with the frontline
* Clarify what constitutes good news
* Frame mindfulness in novel ways
||
* Remember that ambivalence builds resilience
* Use rich media and encourage people to listen
* Be mindful publicly
* Enlarge competencies and response repertoires
* Build excess capacity. Don’t overdo lean, mean ideals
* Create flexible decision structure
* Accelerate feedback
* Balance centralization with decentralization
* Reinforce perishable values
* Mitigate complacency

|}
Read [[Creating_a_positive_culture_around_failure_in_project_management|How to create a positive culture around failure in project management]] here.

= Limitations =
It is important to underline that mindfulness is not a tool – Mindfulness is a mind-set, a management theory. Thus, there is no recipe on how to implement mindfulness in projects, programs, portfolios or in organizations. The processes listed above can serve as inspiration, but have to be adjusted to fit into the context of organization and employees.

Mindfulness is a complex management theory. As the principle “''Reluctance to simplify''” justify, it takes a complex idea to capture a complex phenomenon. To fully implement mindfulness and deal with the unexpected it is required to organize in a complex manner. Likewise mindfulness preach a need for complex set of ideas to understand what people are doing and why it works thus requiring workers with a certain level of receptivity and resources.

Analyzing the mindfulness theory described by Weick and Sutcliffe there is one shortfall. Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name="WS" />. argue that human cognition in the mindfulness theory is the solution to reliability problems, but they tend to over-simplify the resilience concept by neglecting the importance of routine-based reliability. Studies of human systems reveal two strategies for achieving reliable performance shown in Figure 3
<ref name=BG>Butler, B. S., & Gray, P. H. 2006. Reliability, mindfulness, and information systems. Mis Quarterly, 30(2), pp.211–224 ''Butler and Gray examine the concept of mindfulness as a theoretical foundation for explaining efforts to achieve individual and organizational reliability in the face of complex technologies and surprising environments.''</ref>:
[[File:Realibility figure v2.png|600px|thumb|Right|Figure 3: Strategies for achieving reliable performance<ref name="BG" />]]

* Routine-based reliability
* Mindfulness-based reliability

Organizationally, routine-based reliability involves the creation and execution of standard operating and decision-making procedures, which may be unique to the organization or widely accepted across an industry <ref>Spender, J. C. 1989. ''Industry recipes: An Enquiry into the Nature and Sources of Managerial Judgement''. Oxorfd, UK: Basil Blackwell.</ref>. The routine-based reliability strategy rely on predefined procedures, routines and training designed to decrease cognitive human problem solving, to reduce errors, unwanted variation and waste. Defining procedures etc. is a frontloaded process where unknown/unknowns(See [[wikipedia:Johari_window|Johari Window]]) may oppose a major risk because unexpected events cannot be implemented into the procedures. While routine-based approaches focus on reducing or eliminating situated human cognition as the cause of errors, mindfulness-based approaches focus on promoting highly situated human cognition as the solution to individual and organisational reliability problems <ref name="WS" />. Mindfulness focus on one of the two strategies and ignore or assume that optimal routines, procedures and structures are in place. Mindfulness does not describe the interdependencies and synergistic impacts between the two strategies.

=References=

<references/>

== Further Reading ==
* [[Wikipedia:Cognition|Cognition]]
* [[Wikipedia:Mindfulness|Mindfulness]]
* [[Wikipedia:Union_Pacific_Railroad|Union Pacific Railroad]]
* [[Wikipedia:Reliability_engineering|Reliability Engineering]]

Organisational resilience with mindfulness

2015-09-28T20:37:02Z

S140046:

= Overview =
[[File:Flickr_-_Official_U.S._Navy_Imagery_-_An_airplane_launches_from_the_flight_deck..jpg|400px|thumb|Right|Figure 1: US Navy carrier example of an HRO]]
Mindfulness is a term introduced by the professors Karl E. Weick and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe after studying [[Wikipedia:High_reliability_organization|high reliability organizations]] (HRO). These organizations have no choice but to function reliable. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279 ''Weick and Sutcliffe have studied HRO’s that have developed a way of acting with unexpected events. The processes of the HRO’s have been mapped and provide a template for all organizations that want to be more reliable in managing the unexpected. The principles and mindset behind the HRO’s is introduced as mindfulness. The authors define mindfulness as a management theory with real life examples from US Navy carriers, nuclear power plants and railway companies.''</ref> found that reliability does not mean a complete lack of variation. It is just the opposite. It takes mindful variety to assure stable high performance. The learnings and techniques from the HRO’s can be implemented in projects and in organizations who want a higher reliability.

In brief, mindfulness involves the ability to detect important aspects of the context and take timely, appropriate action. A well-developed capability for mindfulness catches the unexpected earlier when it is smaller, comprehends its potential importance despite the small size of the disruption, and removes, contains or rebounds from the effects of the unexpected. Managing the unexpected, mindful project managers and organizations are able to reliably deliver the task they were asked to do.

The expectations of individuals tend not to correspond with the reality. We are all affected by cognitive biases and the mindful project manager is aware of that.

=== Mindfulness VS Mindlessness ===
To underline the importance of mindfulness its counterpart mindlessness is described. Mindlessness is characterized by at style of mental functioning in which people follow recipes, impose old categories to classify what they see, act with some rigidity, operate on automatic pilot, and mislabel unfamiliar new contexts as familiar old ones <ref name="WS" />

= Application =
An increasing demand for resilience within [[Wikipedia:Sociotechnical_system|sociotechnical systems]] has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations and their project, program and portfolio managers for unexpected events. The awareness of resilience and [[Wikipedia:Antifragility|antifragility]] is crucial for HRO’s, but all organisations can learn from the mind-set of the HRO’s. Even organisations without risks of casualties can improve their practices with mindfulness. It is a matter of context. Once the context, the precautions, the assumptions, the focus of attention is ignored, it becomes obvious that many organizations are just as exposed to the unexpected as HRO’s and just as much in need of mindfulness. E.g an unexpected shutdown at an [[Wikipedia:Assembly_line|assembly line]] is not a severe crisis. However the supervisor did not expect any fails or shutdowns. To him it is an unexpected crisis. Unexpected events occur at all organizational levels.

Project, Program and Portfolio managers are familiar with many project management tools and they are able to define project time, costs, risks, stakeholders etc. by [[Wikipedia:Project_Management_Institute|PMI]] standards. However, when projects become more complex e.g. in order of technical and organisational complexity, social intricacy of human behavior or uncertainty of long lifecycles, standard tools becomes inadequate. We tend to think of ourselves as rational beings, but in fact subconscious processes often drive human behavior. Not being aware of these subconscious thought processes can adversely affect projects. Mindful project managers know that they do not know everything. They know that their thoughts and impressions are affected by [[Wikipedia:Cognitive_bias|cognitive biases]]. Thus, they must be aware of their irrationalities to act in a mindful manner and become rational and fact-based. Mindfulness is instrumental in managing the intersection between human behavior and uncertainties thus generating processes within projects, programs and portfolios that are more reliable.

=== Principles ===

Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name="WS" /> have developed five principles that harness the key characteristics in mindfulness. These guidelines/principles apply upward to divisions and organizations as well as downward to teams, crews and team leaders. The principles can be adopted by anyone. Each principle is given an example from different HRO’s.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Principle
! Description
! Example(s)
|-
| Preoccupation with failure
|A preoccupation with failure focuses the organization to convert small errors and failures into organizational learnings and improvements.

“Pay close attention to weak signals of failure that may be symptoms of larger problems within the system” <ref name="WS" />

Be wary of the potential liabilities of successes such as complacency, the temptation to reduce margins of safety and drift into automatic processes.

Read also [[Early_warning_signals_in_project_management |''Early warning signals in project management'']]

|The airline industry encourage their personnel to report all failures and near misses generating failure catalogs. A big effort is expended in reviewing all reports to improve processes and workarounds.

|-
| Reluctance to simplify
| Simplify mindfully and reluctantly. Have in mind that simplification can become too simple resulting in useless, unprecise simplifications e.g. explanations and categories. Problems faced in complex projects typically offer several options and a nuanced picture to fully understand the best solution.
|A merger of two North American railroad companies in 1996 resulted in a gridlock of the system from North Platte, Nebraska to Chicago. Many small errors and failures occurred after the merger, but the most obvious reason for the gridlock was an ignorant and arrogant attitude toward innovative and complex solutions. The top management insisted that trains are made up in central locations called classification yards, not in dispersed locations called shipper yards, satellite yards or mainline tracks. Freight shipped by railroaders are shipped by rail, not barge. In this case the problems caused by these simplifications were overlooked until the central location or excessive grain shipments became a bottleneck causing the gridlock.
|-
| Sensitivity to operations
| An organization must have an integrated overall and aligned picture of operation. Sensitivity to operations is closely related to sensitivity to relationships. Meaning a clear and unprejudiced communication between operation and management is crucial to understand the big picture.

Furthermore, it is important to be responsive to the changing reality of projects. This can be obtained first by controlling the progress, monitor deviations and implication on projects, and second being mindful to potential unexpected events.

| 1: Studies of nuclear weapons suggest that many problems arise not from a single failure, but when small deviations in different operational areas combine to create conditions that were never imagined in the plans and designs<ref name=Sagan>Sagan S.D. 1993. The limits of safety: Organizations Accidents and Nuclear Weapons. Princeton, NJ. Princeton University.</ref>

2: The microcomputer industry can be characterized as a high velocity environment with a rapid and discontinuous change in demand, competitors, technology and inaccurate, unavailable or obsolete information. Decision-makers deal with this environment by paying close attention to real-time information e.g. concerning current operations or environments.

|-
| Commitment to resilience
|Accommodate unexpected events and react to them quickly as they arise.
Resilience involves (a) the ability to absorb strain and preserve the functioning of the project; (b) ability to recover quickly; (c) ability to learn from the unexpected event and how it impacted the project.<ref name=oehmen>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI ''Oehmen et al discuss complexity, how it impacts projects, programmes and portfolios and what we can do about it. This white paper connect abstract concepts and management approaches to concrete practical examples. Introducing cutting edge tools and strategies such as network analysis, system dynamics, modularization, antifragtility and mindfulness.''</ref>.

| In the North American railroad merger case the meltdown of operations showed an inability to bounce back when the initial problems occurred. The railroad were short of men right after the merger and they had trimmed crews, locomotives and supervisors shortly before the gridlock from Nebraska to Chicago. Slack resources is a common way to create resilience.
|-
|Deference to expertise (Collective mindfulness)
| Deference to expertise is about involving experts in the decision-making. The experts actively involved in the projects are more capable to give articulate solutions to problems. Rigid hierarchies have their own special vulnerability to error where errors at high levels tend to pick up and combine errors at low levels. HRO’s push decision making down where decision is made on the front line. The authority migrate to the people with the most expertise, regardless of their rank.

Collective mindfulness is associated with cultures and structures that promote open discussions of errors, mistakes and awareness.

|In the North American railroad merger case the decisions were made from top management even though their operational expertise were outdated. Furthermore the management were only fed with information that they wanted to hear. A horrible paradigm where management were fed with biased information and insisted to make decisions at top level. This classic command-and-control bureaucracy is adequate for a stable situation but too inflexible in times of change.
|}

= Topics in Mindfulness =
[[File:Circle of influence.png|300px|thumb|Right|Figure 2: Circle of influence]]
The five principles are general guidelines of mindfulness. However, they have to be converted into processes and mind-sets at organizations or within projects. To be able to implement mindfulness as a manager you must be aware of your cognitive behaviour as a human including how you experience the world. Weick and Sutcliffe describe the cognitive topics of expectations, categorization and the unexpected. These topics are briefly introduced. For further insight, please go to original literature<ref name="WS" /> <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499 Weick and Sutcliffe have updated their first edition “Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity”. The mindfulness theory and principles have been specified further with new case studies etc. </ref>. [[wikipedia:Mahatma_Gandhi|Mahatma Gandhi]] said: ''"Start changing yourself if you want to change the world around you"''. The same goes for a project manager. Figure 2 suggest a manager must understand and live out mindfulness before he can influence his employees and network.

=== Expectations ===
An expectation is to envision something, that is reasonably certain to come true. To expect something is to be mentally ready for it. “ Expectations form the basis for virtually all deliberate action because expectancies about how the world operates serve as implicit assumptions that guide behavioural choices” <ref>Olson, J. M. et al. ''Expectancies''. In Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles, edited by E.T. Higgins & A.W. Kruglanski, pp211-238. New York, NY: Guilford. Olson et al explains the form and function of expectancies in humans. Some of the key properties of expectancies is identified that influence both how expectancies operate and their likely consequences. Finally a simple model of expectancy processes is developed, based on the authors review of how expectancies operate.</ref>. With that in mind, it is important to be mindful about your expectations. Expectations direct your attention to certain features or events, which means that they affect what you notice and remember. Whenever our expectations does not match with reality our minds adjust our expectations to reality. It can be compared with a [[Wikipedia:Hypothesis_test|hypothesis-test]]. The human mind search for confirmation of its expectations but is biased to avoid looking for evidence that disconfirm them. HRO’s work hard to counteract this tendency. They routinely suspect their expectations for being incomplete. With this process, they check if the normal accepted expectation still pass the hypothesis test.

=== The capability for mindfulness (Categories) ===
Whenever people change the way they perceive the world they essentially rework the way they label and categorize what they see. This change in perception can be described with the following process:

# Re-examine discarded information
# Monitor how categories affect expectations and,
# Remove out-dated distinctions

Firstly, to rework one’s categories mindfully implies to evaluate how much information is discarded with a categorization of an instance with similar characteristics. Generally categorization help gaining control in a fast pace world. Categories can predict what will happen and plan one’s own actions. Without categories, any person or situation would be unique and therefore conserve scarce mental resources of attention and thinking. To exemplify categorization a university professor meet hundreds of students each day and have to categorize different types of students. The professor could categorize the students into categories such as active/passive, introvert/extrovert, Intelligent/less intelligent, man/women, young/old etc. The categories guide the professor how (s)he should behave or treat the different students. One category cannot describe all facets of a person and the professor must be aware of the discarded information within each category.

Secondly, mindful reworking of categories also mean that one pay close attention to their effect on the expectations. Categories and expectations are closely related. E.g., a person categorized as an expert is expected to know the answers within his/her field of expertise. These expectations constantly have to be revised and evaluated. It may be necessary to differentiate the expectations, replace them, supplement them, or discard the whole category.

Third, mindful reworking means a check whether the categories remain plausible. Outdated categorization with implausible distinctions of expectations ensure trouble. This is the basic misreading in HRO’s. The trouble starts when you fail to notice that you only look for whatever confirms your categories and expectations. “Believing is seeing. You see what you expect to see. You see what you have the labels to see. You see what you have the skills to manage.” <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>
People who persistently rework their categories and refine them, differentiate them, update them, and replace them notice more and catch unexpected events earlier in their development. That is the essence of mindfulness <ref name="WS" />.

=== The Unexpected ===
Unexpected events can be categorized in three forms <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref>:
The unexpected occur when an event that was
* expected to happen fail to occur.
* not expected to happen does happen.
* simply unthought-of happens (Unknown/unkowns)

Unexpected events are caused by faulty expectations and the fact that we sought to look for evidence that confirm our expectations. These confirmations are found to boost our experience of being in control. However, this confirming behavior has adverse effect on how quick we realize we are wrong and rework our expectations. A slow realization time allows problems to worsen and become harder to solve and they might even be entangled with other problems.
HRO’s strive to minimize the risk that unthought-of events happen by steering people towards mindful practices that encourage imagination. People inadvertently trivialize the importance of imagination. Instead people tend to “''Expect the unexpected''” to maintain their desire for control and predictability.

= Putting Mindfulness into Practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager =
Putting Mindfulness into practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager
<ref name="WS" /> have developed concrete processes based on the five principles and on practices identified in the best HRO’s. The processes is organised under two headings. “''Enhancing awareness and anticipation''” concerning the three first principles, involving failure, simplification and operations. “''Containment of those unexpected events that occur''” concerning the last two principles involving resilience and expertise.

{| cellpadding=5 style="border:1px solid #BBB"
|'''Enhancing awareness and anticipation''' || '''Enhancing containment'''
|-
|
* Preserve a balance of values
* Restate your goals in the form of mistakes that must not occur
* Remember that mindfulness takes effort
* Create Awareness of vulnerability
* Cultivate humility
* Be glad when you are having a bad day
* Create an error friendly learning culture
* Encourage alternative frames of reference
* Strengthen fantasy as a tool
* Speak up! Just because you see something, do not assume that someone else sees it, too.
* Put a premium on interpersonal skills
* Surface unique knowledge
* Be careful when you label something a fact
* Develop skeptics
* Be suspicious of good news
* Seek out bad news
* Test your expectations
* Welcome uncertainty
* Treat all unexpected events as information, and share this information widely
* Transform close calls into near misses
* Specify the burden of proof
* Adopt complex models because they direct attention to more details and register more facets of context.
* Revise existing models as well as existing practices
* Carry your expectations lightly
* Reward contact with the frontline
* Clarify what constitutes good news
* Frame mindfulness in novel ways
||
* Remember that ambivalence builds resilience
* Use rich media and encourage people to listen
* Be mindful publicly
* Enlarge competencies and response repertoires
* Build excess capacity. Don’t overdo lean, mean ideals
* Create flexible decision structure
* Accelerate feedback
* Balance centralization with decentralization
* Reinforce perishable values
* Mitigate complacency

|}
Read [[Creating_a_positive_culture_around_failure_in_project_management|How to create a positive culture around failure in project management]] here.

= Limitations =
It is important to underline that mindfulness is not a tool – Mindfulness is a mind-set, a management theory. Thus, there is no recipe on how to implement mindfulness on projects, programs, portfolios or in organizations. The processes listed above can serve as inspiration, but have to be adjusted to fit into the context of organization and employees.

Mindfulness is a complex management theory. As the principle “''Reluctance to simplify''” justify, it takes a complex idea to capture a complex phenomenon. To fully implement mindfulness and deal with the unexpected it is required to organize in a complex manner. Likewise mindfulness preach a need for complex set of ideas to understand what people are doing and why it works thus requiring workers with a certain level of receptivity and resources.

Analyzing the mindfulness theory described by Weick and Sutcliffe there is one shortfall. Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name="WS" />. argue that human cognition in the mindfulness theory is the solution to reliability problems, but they tend to over-simplify the resilience concept by neglecting the importance of routine-based reliability. Studies of human systems reveal two strategies for achieving reliable performance shown in Figure 3
<ref name=BG>Butler, B. S., & Gray, P. H. 2006. Reliability, mindfulness, and information systems. Mis Quarterly, 30(2), pp.211–224 ''Butler and Gray examine the concept of mindfulness as a theoretical foundation for explaining efforts to achieve individual and organizational reliability in the face of complex technologies and surprising environments.''</ref>:
[[File:Realibility figure v2.png|600px|thumb|Right|Figure 3: Strategies for achieving reliable performance<ref name="BG" />]]

* Routine-based reliability
* Mindfulness-based reliability

Organizationally, routine-based reliability involves the creation and execution of standard operating and decision-making procedures, which may be unique to the organization or widely accepted across an industry <ref>Spender, J. C. 1989. ''Industry recipes: An Enquiry into the Nature and Sources of Managerial Judgement''. Oxorfd, UK: Basil Blackwell.</ref>. The routine-based reliability strategy rely on predefined procedures, routines and training designed to decrease cognitive human problem solving, to reduce errors, unwanted variation and waste. Defining procedures etc. is a frontloaded process where unknown/unknowns(See [[wikipedia:Johari_window|Johari Window]]) may oppose a major risk because unexpected events cannot be implemented into the procedures. While routine-based approaches focus on reducing or eliminating situated human cognition as the cause of errors, mindfulness-based approaches focus on promoting highly situated human cognition as the solution to individual and organisational reliability problems <ref name="WS" />. Mindfulness focus on one of the two strategies and ignore or assume that optimal routines, procedures and structures are in place. Mindfulness does not describe the interdependencies and synergistic impacts between the two strategies.

=References=

<references/>

== Further Reading ==
* [[Wikipedia:Cognition|Cognition]]
* [[Wikipedia:Mindfulness|Mindfulness]]
* [[Wikipedia:Union_Pacific_Railroad|Union Pacific Railroad]]
* [[Wikipedia:Reliability_engineering|Reliability Engineering]]

Talk:Organisational resilience with mindfulness

2015-09-28T20:22:26Z

S140046:

Josef: Hello, thank you for an interesting proposal. I really like the idea. Please make sure to go back to the original literature (e.g. Weick, see our whitepaper), and also follow the "Method" structure we propose. Also please make sure that you do not end up writing about "organizational resilience" in general, but making projects more resilient.

Comments from the author is written in ''Italic''
Review 1, s150621

• Interesting topic
''Thank you. It turned out to be quite a tricky topic. I hope you like the result''

• Nice that you give a description of the content of the article in the abstract
''The abstract is deleted in the final article''

• The table with the 5 principles is clear and straight forward, good with examples for each principle
''More examples have been implemented in general for better understanding of the topic. Not only in this table but throughout the article''

• The abstract should be before the contents
''The abstract is deleted in the final article''

• Some of the sentences could be written easier, or described better, as for example this sentence: “Thorough management is crucial in resilient organisations (check ref, Geraldi et al, 2009) and mindfulness encompass the risk of the human mind.”

• In the article you refer to many books, which is very good. The reference should consistently be done in wiki style, with footnotes. One example is the sentence; “Weick and Sutcliffe(2001) describe mindfulness as “a rich awareness of discrimatory detail”.”, where you don´t use the footnote reference style
''Good point - All references have been made in wiki-style with footnotes.''

• It is nice that the article includes figures, but remember text for describing the figures, and to add the source of the figure
''Figure text have been added and sources added where possible''

• The application paragraph ends with a question, which I suggest rather to put into the discussion. Some alternatives for the answer of the question would also be nice to add to the discussion.
''I agree - That sentence had to be rephrased. Which have been done.''

• Can see that you are not finished yet, but so far it looks interesting, and I look forward to read the rest when you are finished
''Thank you - Now it is done''

==Review of Sorth90 (Rasmus Sorth-Olsen s117422), Reviewer 2==
* The feedback was given on Tuesday 22-09-2015 at 5 PM.
* The article is not finalized.
''True. I apolagize for the incomplete article You had for review.''

* Several sections are not written.
''True''

* It would have been an advantage if the article had described what “Organisational resilience with mindfulness” is and how the tools are applied and why. It would have made it easier for the reader to get an overview and at the same time find the information the reader is looking for.
''I hope the article give you these answers now. Unfortunately there is not any tools in mindfulness because it is a management theory or a mind-set. To keep it somehow practical I have given some processes which can be followed by project managers to implement mindfulness. It should be noted that all processes must be fitted to the project to work sucessfully.''

Abstract:
* From the abstract, the article seems interesting.
''Thank you''

* Who is seeking sociotechnical?
''I do not understand the question''

Big idea:
* Good language.
* Good use of sources.
* What section tell the reader?
''The big idea have been converted to the section "Overview" which I found as a more genuine wikipedia section title''

5 Principles:
* References.
''References is given as (Weick & Sutcliffe, 2001)''

* Lacking a description of the figure.
''Description is added for all figures''

* Good shape. The figure is not complete.
''The figure has been remodeled in PowerPoint to get a crisp graphic which fit to the other figures in the article.''

Application:
* Using an example. Thus the reader understand better the section.
''Examples are included throughout the article. A seperate wikipage have been created with a continous example of how the five principles fit into the processes of a US Navy carrier.''

* More in-depth description of Butler & Gray.
''Butler & Gray have been kept on a minimal level to maintain focus on Weick & Sutcliffe.''

* Do you have a reference for the figure?
''Yes, the reference have been added.''

* The rest of the article is missing, to be written.
''True''

==Reviewed by s152093, review 3==
* I know that the article isn’t done, but here are a few comments.
''Thank you for taking your time even though it's not even close to be finish.''

* Since you talk a lot about cognitive biases and resilience I think it would make sense to introduce the terms.
''The terms are now linked to wikipedia pages with the topics. I recon this is the way people do it on this platform.''

* The language is clear and there is a natural flow.
''Thanks''

* It would be nice to see examples of fields where mindfulness would be very useful, and fields where it wouldn’t make sense to apply the techniques.
''I argue that mindfulness is useful in all fields, also fields where failures doesn't result in severe casualties. I can follow your point that there must be some fields where it cannot make any difference, but in some version I think it is relevant everywhere. All sectors/fields experience unexpected events and have to react to these.''

* Don’t forget to make the annotated bibliography where you write about each reference.
''Thanks - Its done''

* The table gives a quick and clear overview.
''Great - That is exactly my intention. I hope I have kept the clear overview even though I have added extra examples.''

* The picture is nice, but don’t forget to include it in the text.
''All pictures are included in text by direct reference.''

* In general a really good idea. I’m looking forward to read the final version of the article :-)
''Thank you. I hope you like the result. :-)''

Talk:Organisational resilience with mindfulness

2015-09-28T20:19:50Z

S140046:

Josef: Hello, thank you for an interesting proposal. I really like the idea. Please make sure to go back to the original literature (e.g. Weick, see our whitepaper), and also follow the "Method" structure we propose. Also please make sure that you do not end up writing about "organizational resilience" in general, but making projects more resilient.

Comments from the author is written in ''Italic''
Review 1, s150621

• Interesting topic
''Thank you. It turned out to be quite a tricky topic. I hope you like the result''

• Nice that you give a description of the content of the article in the abstract
''The abstract is deleted in the final article''

• The table with the 5 principles is clear and straight forward, good with examples for each principle
''More examples have been implemented in general for better understanding of the topic. Not only in this table but throughout the article''

• The abstract should be before the contents
''The abstract is deleted in the final article''

• Some of the sentences could be written easier, or described better, as for example this sentence: “Thorough management is crucial in resilient organisations (check ref, Geraldi et al, 2009) and mindfulness encompass the risk of the human mind.”

• In the article you refer to many books, which is very good. The reference should consistently be done in wiki style, with footnotes. One example is the sentence; “Weick and Sutcliffe(2001) describe mindfulness as “a rich awareness of discrimatory detail”.”, where you don´t use the footnote reference style
''Good point - All references have been made in wiki-style with footnotes.''

• It is nice that the article includes figures, but remember text for describing the figures, and to add the source of the figure
''Figure text have been added and sources added where possible''

• The application paragraph ends with a question, which I suggest rather to put into the discussion. Some alternatives for the answer of the question would also be nice to add to the discussion.
''I agree - That sentence had to be rephrased. Which have been done.''

• Can see that you are not finished yet, but so far it looks interesting, and I look forward to read the rest when you are finished
''Thank you - Now it is done''

==Review of Sorth90 (Rasmus Sorth-Olsen s117422), Reviewer 2==
* The feedback was given on Tuesday 22-09-2015 at 5 PM.
* The article is not finalized.
''True. I apolagize for the incomplete article You had for review.''
* Several sections are not written.
''True''
* It would have been an advantage if the article had described what “Organisational resilience with mindfulness” is and how the tools are applied and why. It would have made it easier for the reader to get an overview and at the same time find the information the reader is looking for.
''I hope the article give you these answers now. Unfortunately there is not any tools in mindfulness because it is a management theory or a mind-set. To keep it somehow practical I have given some processes which can be followed by project managers to implement mindfulness. It should be noted that all processes must be fitted to the project to work sucessfully.''

Abstract:
* From the abstract, the article seems interesting.
''Thank you''
* Who is seeking sociotechnical?
''I do not understand the question''

Big idea:
* Good language.
* Good use of sources.
* What section tell the reader?
''The big idea have been converted to the section "Overview" which I found as a more genuine wikipedia section title''

5 Principles:
* References.
''References is given as (Weick & Sutcliffe, 2001)''
* Lacking a description of the figure.
''Description is added for all figures''
* Good shape. The figure is not complete.
''The figure has been remodeled in PowerPoint to get a crisp graphic which fit to the other figures in the article.''

Application:
* Using an example. Thus the reader understand better the section.
''Examples are included throughout the article. A seperate wikipage have been created with a continous example of how the five principles fit into the processes of a US Navy carrier.''
* More in-depth description of Butler & Gray.
''Butler & Gray have been kept on a minimal level to maintain focus on Weick & Sutcliffe.''
* Do you have a reference for the figure?
''Yes, the reference have been added.''

* The rest of the article is missing, to be written.
''True''

==Reviewed by s152093, review 3==
* I know that the article isn’t done, but here are a few comments.
''Thank you for taking your time even though it's not even close to be finish.''

* Since you talk a lot about cognitive biases and resilience I think it would make sense to introduce the terms.
''The terms are now linked to wikipedia pages with the topics. I recon this is the way people do it on this platform.''

* The language is clear and there is a natural flow.
''Thanks''

* It would be nice to see examples of fields where mindfulness would be very useful, and fields where it wouldn’t make sense to apply the techniques.
''I argue that mindfulness is useful in all fields, also fields where failures doesn't result in severe casualties. I can follow your point that there must be some fields where it cannot make any difference, but in some version I think it is relevant everywhere. All sectors/fields experience unexpected events and have to react to these.''

* Don’t forget to make the annotated bibliography where you write about each reference.
''Thanks - Its done''

* The table gives a quick and clear overview.
''Great - That is exactly my intention. I hope I have kept the clear overview even though I have added extra examples.''

* The picture is nice, but don’t forget to include it in the text.
''All pictures are included in text by direct reference.''

* In general a really good idea. I’m looking forward to read the final version of the article :-)
''Thank you. I hope you like the result. :-)''

Organisational resilience with mindfulness

2015-09-28T19:46:31Z

S140046:

= Overview =
[[File:Flickr_-_Official_U.S._Navy_Imagery_-_An_airplane_launches_from_the_flight_deck..jpg|400px|thumb|Right|Figure 1: US Navy carrier example of an HRO]]
Mindfulness is a term introduced by the professors Karl E. Weick and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe after studying [[Wikipedia:High_reliability_organization|high reliability organizations]] (HRO). These organizations have no choice but to function reliable. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279 ''Weick and Sutcliffe have studied HRO’s that have developed a way of acting with unexpected events. The processes of the HRO’s have been mapped and provide a template for all organizations that want to be more reliable in managing the unexpected. The principles and mindset behind the HRO’s is introduced as mindfulness. The authors define mindfulness as a management theory with real life examples from US Navy carriers, nuclear power plants and railway companies.''</ref> found that reliability does not mean a complete lack of variation. It is just the opposite. It takes mindful variety to assure stable high performance. The learnings and techniques from the HRO’s can be implemented in projects and in organizations who want a higher reliability.

In brief, mindfulness involves the ability to detect important aspects of the context and take timely, appropriate action. A well-developed capability for mindfulness catches the unexpected earlier when it is smaller, comprehends its potential importance despite the small size of the disruption, and removes, contains or rebounds from the effects of the unexpected. Managing the unexpected, mindful project managers and organizations are able to reliably deliver the task they were asked to do.

The expectations of individuals tend not to correspond with the reality. We are all affected by cognitive biases and the mindful project manager is aware of that.

=== Mindfulness VS Mindlessness ===
To underline the importance of mindfulness its counterpart mindlessness is described. Mindlessness is characterized by at style of mental functioning in which people follow recipes, impose old categories to classify what they see, act with some rigidity, operate on automatic pilot, and mislabel unfamiliar new contexts as familiar old ones <ref name="WS" />

= Application =
An increasing demand for resilience within [[Wikipedia:Sociotechnical_system|sociotechnical systems]] has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations and their project, program and portfolio managers for unexpected events. The awareness of resilience and [[Wikipedia:Antifragility|antifragility]] is crucial for HRO’s, but all organisations can learn from the mind-set of the HRO’s. Even organisations without risks of casualties can improve their practices with mindfulness. It is a matter of context. Once the context, the precautions, the assumptions, the focus of attention is ignored, it becomes obvious that many organizations are just as exposed to the unexpected as HRO’s and just as much in need of mindfulness. E.g an unexpected shutdown at an [[Wikipedia:Assembly_line|assembly line]] is not a severe crisis. However the supervisor did not expect any fails or shutdowns. To him it is an unexpected crisis. Unexpected events occur at all organizational levels.

Project, Program and Portfolio managers are familiar with many project management tools and they are able to define project time, costs, risks, stakeholders etc. by [[Wikipedia:Project_Management_Institute|PMI]] standards. However, when projects become more complex e.g. in order of technical and organisational complexity, social intricacy of human behavior or uncertainty of long lifecycles, standard tools becomes inadequate. We tend to think of ourselves as rational beings, but in fact subconscious processes often drive human behavior. Not being aware of these subconscious thought processes can adversely affect projects. Mindful project managers know that they do not know everything. They know that their thoughts and impressions are affected by [[Wikipedia:Cognitive_bias|cognitive biases]]. Thus, they must be aware of their irrationalities to act in a mindful manner and become rational and fact-based. Mindfulness is instrumental in managing the intersection between human behavior and uncertainties thus generating processes within projects, programs and portfolios that are more reliable.

=== Principles ===

Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name="WS" /> have developed five principles that harness the key characteristics in mindfulness. These guidelines/principles apply upward to divisions and organizations as well as downward to teams, crews and team leaders. The principles can be adopted by anyone. Each principle is given an example from different HRO’s.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Principle
! Description
! Example(s)
|-
| Preoccupation with failure
|A preoccupation with failure focuses the organization to convert small errors and failures into organizational learnings and improvements.

“Pay close attention to weak signals of failure that may be symptoms of larger problems within the system” <ref name="WS" />

Be wary of the potential liabilities of successes such as complacency, the temptation to reduce margins of safety and drift into automatic processes.

Read also [[Early_warning_signals_in_project_management |''Early warning signals in project management'']]

|The airline industry encourage their personnel to report all failures and near misses generating failure catalogs. A big effort is expended in reviewing all reports to improve processes and workarounds.

|-
| Reluctance to simplify
| Simplify mindfully and reluctantly. Have in mind that simplification can become too simple resulting in useless, unprecise simplifications e.g. explanations and categories. Problems faced in complex projects typically offer several options and a nuanced picture to fully understand the best solution.
|A merger of two North American railroad companies in 1996 resulted in a gridlock of the system from North Platte, Nebraska to Chicago. Many small errors and failures occurred after the merger, but the most obvious reason for the gridlock was an ignorant and arrogant attitude toward innovative and complex solutions. The top management insisted that trains are made up in central locations called classification yards, not in dispersed locations called shipper yards, satellite yards or mainline tracks. Freight shipped by railroaders are shipped by rail, not barge. In this case the problems caused by these simplifications were overlooked until the central location or excessive grain shipments became a bottleneck causing the gridlock.
|-
| Sensitivity to operations
| An organization must have an integrated overall and aligned picture of operation. Sensitivity to operations is closely related to sensitivity to relationships. Meaning a clear and unprejudiced communication between operation and management is crucial to understand the big picture.

Furthermore, it is important to be responsive to the changing reality of projects. This can be obtained first by controlling the progress, monitor deviations and implication on projects, and second being mindful to potential unexpected events.

| 1: Studies of nuclear weapons suggest that many problems arise not from a single failure, but when small deviations in different operational areas combine to create conditions that were never imagined in the plans and designs<ref name=Sagan>Sagan S.D. 1993. The limits of safety: Organizations Accidents and Nuclear Weapons. Princeton, NJ. Princeton University.</ref>

2: The microcomputer industry can be characterized as a high velocity environment with a rapid and discontinuous change in demand, competitors, technology and inaccurate, unavailable or obsolete information. Decision-makers deal with this environment by paying close attention to real-time information e.g. concerning current operations or environments.

|-
| Commitment to resilience
|Accommodate unexpected events and react to them quickly as they arise.
Resilience involves (a) the ability to absorb strain and preserve the functioning of the project; (b) ability to recover quickly; (c) ability to learn from the unexpected event and how it impacted the project.<ref name=oehmen>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI ''Oehmen et al discuss complexity, how it impacts projects, programmes and portfolios and what we can do about it. This white paper connect abstract concepts and management approaches to concrete practical examples. Introducing cutting edge tools and strategies such as network analysis, system dynamics, modularization, antifragtility and mindfulness.''</ref>.

| In the North American railroad merger case the meltdown of operations showed an inability to bounce back when the initial problems occurred. The railroad were short of men right after the merger and they had trimmed crews, locomotives and supervisors shortly before the gridlock from Nebraska to Chicago. Slack resources is a common way to create resilience.
|-
|Deference to expertise (Collective mindfulness)
| Deference to expertise is about involving experts in the decision-making. The experts actively involved in the projects are more capable to give articulate solutions to problems. Rigid hierarchies have their own special vulnerability to error where errors at high levels tend to pick up and combine errors at low levels. HRO’s push decision making down where decision is made on the front line. The authority migrate to the people with the most expertise, regardless of their rank.

Collective mindfulness is associated with cultures and structures that promote open discussions of errors, mistakes and awareness.

|In the North American railroad merger case the decisions were made from top management even though their operational expertise were outdated. Furthermore the management were only fed with information that they wanted to hear. A horrible paradigm where management were fed with biased information and insisted to make decisions at top level. This classic command-and-control bureaucracy is adequate for a stable situation but too inflexible in times of change.
|}

= Topics in Mindfulness =
[[File:Circle of influence.png|300px|thumb|Right|Figure 2: Circle of influence]]
The five principles are general guidelines of mindfulness. However, they have to be converted into processes and mind-sets at organizations or within projects. To be able to implement mindfulness as a manager you must be aware of your cognitive behaviour as a human including how you experience the world. Weick and Sutcliffe describe the cognitive topics of expectations, categorization and the unexpected. These topics are briefly introduced. For further insight, please go to original literature<ref name="WS" /> <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499 Weick and Sutcliffe have updated their first edition “Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity”. The mindfulness theory and principles have been specified further with new case studies etc. </ref>. [[wikipedia:Mahatma_Gandhi|Mahatma Gandhi]] said: ''"Start changing yourself if you want to change the world around you"''. The same goes for a project manager. Figure 2 suggest a manager must understand and live out mindfulness before he can influence his employees and network.

=== Expectations ===
An expectation is to envision something, that is reasonably certain to come true. To expect something is to be mentally ready for it. “ Expectations form the basis for virtually all deliberate action because expectancies about how the world operates serve as implicit assumptions that guide behavioural choices” <ref>Olson, J. M. et al. ''Expectancies''. In Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles, edited by E.T. Higgins & A.W. Kruglanski, pp211-238. New York, NY: Guilford. Olson et al explains the form and function of expectancies in humans. Some of the key properties of expectancies is identified that influence both how expectancies operate and their likely consequences. Finally a simple model of expectancy processes is developed, based on the authors review of how expectancies operate.</ref>. With that in mind, it is important to be mindful about your expectations. Expectations direct your attention to certain features or events, which means that they affect what you notice and remember. Whenever our expectations does not match with reality our minds adjust our expectations to reality. It can be compared with a [[Wikipedia:Hypothesis_test|hypothesis-test]]. The human mind search for confirmation of its expectations but is biased to avoid looking for evidence that disconfirm them. HRO’s work hard to counteract this tendency. They routinely suspect their expectations for being incomplete. With this process, they check if the normal accepted expectation still pass the hypothesis test.

=== The capability for mindfulness (Categories) ===
Whenever people change the way they perceive the world they essentially rework the way they label and categorize what they see. This change in perception can be described with the following process:

# Re-examine discarded information
# Monitor how categories affect expectations and,
# Remove out-dated distinctions

Firstly, to rework one’s categories mindfully implies to evaluate how much information is discarded with a categorization of an instance with similar characteristics. Generally categorization help gaining control in a fast pace world. Categories can predict what will happen and plan one’s own actions. Without categories, any person or situation would be unique and therefore conserve scarce mental resources of attention and thinking. To exemplify categorization a university professor meet hundreds of students each day and have to categorize different types of students. The professor could categorize the students into categories such as active/passive, introvert/extrovert, Intelligent/less intelligent, man/women, young/old etc. The categories guide the professor how (s)he should behave or treat the different students. One category cannot describe all facets of a person and the professor must be aware of the discarded information within each category.

Secondly, mindful reworking of categories also mean that one pay close attention to their effect on the expectations. Categories and expectations are closely related. E.g., a person categorized as an expert is expected to know the answers within his/her field of expertise. These expectations constantly have to be revised and evaluated. It may be necessary to differentiate the expectations, replace them, supplement them, or discard the whole category.

Third, mindful reworking means a check whether the categories remain plausible. Outdated categorization with implausible distinctions of expectations ensure trouble. This is the basic misreading in HRO’s. The trouble starts when you fail to notice that you only look for whatever confirms your categories and expectations. “Believing is seeing. You see what you expect to see. You see what you have the labels to see. You see what you have the skills to manage.” <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>
People who persistently rework their categories and refine them, differentiate them, update them, and replace them notice more and catch unexpected events earlier in their development. That is the essence of mindfulness <ref name="WS" />.

=== The Unexpected ===
Unexpected events can be categorized in three forms <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref>:
The unexpected occur when an event that was
* expected to happen fail to occur.
* not expected to happen does happen.
* simply unthought-of happens (Unknown/unkowns)

Unexpected events are caused by faulty expectations and the fact that we sought to look for evidence that confirm our expectations. These confirmations are found to boost our experience of being in control. However, this confirming behavior has adverse effect on how quick we realize we are wrong and rework our expectations. A slow realization time allows problems to worsen and become harder to solve and they might even be entangled with other problems.
HRO’s strive to minimize the risk that unthought-of events happen by steering people towards mindful practices that encourage imagination. People inadvertently trivialize the importance of imagination. Instead people tend to “''Expect the unexpected''” to maintain their desire for control and predictability.

= Putting Mindfulness into Practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager =
Putting Mindfulness into practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager
<ref name="WS" /> have developed concrete processes based on the five principles and on practices identified in the best HRO’s. The processes is organised under two headings. “''Enhancing awareness and anticipation''” concerning the three first principles, involving failure, simplification and operations. “''Containment of those unexpected events that occur''” concerning the last two principles involving resilience and expertise.

{| cellpadding=5 style="border:1px solid #BBB"
|'''Enhancing awareness and anticipation''' || '''Enhancing containment'''
|-
|
* Preserve a balance of values
* Restate your goals in the form of mistakes that must not occur
* Remember that mindfulness takes effort
* Create Awareness of vulnerability
* Cultivate humility
* Be glad when you are having a bad day
* Create an error friendly learning culture
* Encourage alternative frames of reference
* Strengthen fantasy as a tool
* Speak up! Just because you see something, do not assume that someone else sees it, too.
* Put a premium on interpersonal skills
* Surface unique knowledge
* Be careful when you label something a fact
* Develop skeptics
* Be suspicious of good news
* Seek out bad news
* Test your expectations
* Welcome uncertainty
* Treat all unexpected events as information, and share this information widely
* Transform close calls into near misses
* Specify the burden of proof
* Adopt complex models because they direct attention to more details and register more facets of context.
* Revise existing models as well as existing practices
* Carry your expectations lightly
* Reward contact with the frontline
* Clarify what constitutes good news
* Frame mindfulness in novel ways
||
* Remember that ambivalence builds resilience
* Use rich media and encourage people to listen
* Be mindful publicly
* Enlarge competencies and response repertoires
* Build excess capacity. Don’t overdo lean, mean ideals
* Create flexible decision structure
* Accelerate feedback
* Balance centralization with decentralization
* Reinforce perishable values
* Mitigate complacency

|}
Read [[Creating_a_positive_culture_around_failure_in_project_management|How to create a positive culture around failure in project management]] here.

= Limitations =
It is important to underline that mindfulness is not a tool – Mindfulness is a mind-set, a management theory. Thus, there is no recipe on how to implement mindfulness on projects, programs, portfolios or in organizations. The processes listed above can serve as inspiration, but have to be adjusted to fit into the context of organization and employees.

Mindfulness is a complex management theory. As the principle “''Reluctance to simplify''” justify, it takes a complex idea to capture a complex phenomenon. To fully implement mindfulness and deal with the unexpected it is required to organize in a complex manner. Likewise mindfulness preach a need for complex set of ideas to understand what people are doing and why it works thus requiring workers with a certain level of receptivity and resources.

Analyzing the mindfulness theory described by Weick and Sutcliffe there is one shortfall. Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name="WS" />. argue that human cognition in the mindfulness theory is the solution to reliability problems, but they tend to over-simplify the resilience concept by neglecting the importance of routine-based reliability. Studies of human systems reveal two strategies for achieving reliable performance shown in Figure 3
<ref name=BG>Butler, B. S., & Gray, P. H. 2006. Reliability, mindfulness, and information systems. Mis Quarterly, 30(2), pp.211–224 ''Butler and Gray examine the concept of mindfulness as a theoretical foundation for explaining efforts to achieve individual and organizational reliability in the face of complex technologies and surprising environments.''</ref>:
[[File:Realibility figure v2.png|600px|thumb|Right|Figure 3: Strategies for achieving reliable performance<ref name="BG" />]]

* Routine-based reliability
* Mindfulness-based reliability

Organizationally, routine-based reliability involves the creation and execution of standard operating and decision-making procedures, which may be unique to the organization or widely accepted across an industry <ref>Spender, J. C. 1989. ''Industry recipes: An Enquiry into the Nature and Sources of Managerial Judgement''. Oxorfd, UK: Basil Blackwell.</ref>. The routine-based reliability strategy rely on predefined procedures, routines and training designed to decrease cognitive human problem solving, to reduce errors, unwanted variation and waste. Defining procedures etc. is a frontloaded process where unknown/unknowns(See [[wikipedia:Johari_window|Johari Window]]) may oppose a major risk because unexpected events cannot be implemented into the procedures. While routine-based approaches focus on reducing or eliminating situated human cognition as the cause of errors, mindfulness-based approaches focus on promoting highly situated human cognition as the solution to individual and organisational reliability problems <ref name="WS" />. Mindfulness focus on one of the two strategies and ignore or assume that optimal routines, procedures and structures are in place. Mindfulness does not describe the interdependencies and synergistic impacts between the two strategies.

=References=

<references/>

== Further Reading ==
* [[Wikipedia:Cognition|Cognition]]
* [[Wikipedia:Mindfulness|Mindfulness]]
* [[Wikipedia:Union_Pacific_Railroad|Union Pacific Railroad]]
* [[Wikipedia:Reliability_engineering|Reliability Engineering]]

Organisational resilience with mindfulness

2015-09-28T17:41:47Z

S140046:

== Abstract ==

An increasing demand for resilience within sociotechnical organisations has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations for unexpected events. Thorough management is crucial in resilient organisations (check ref, Geraldi et al, 2009) and mindfulness encompass the risk of the human mind. Mindful project managers are aware of cognitive biases and irrationalities. They inspire workers to be rational and fact-based.

Mindfulness is about keeping a high level of alertness and awareness of context and using awareness in our decision and actions <ref name=oehmen>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI ''Oehmen et al discuss complexity, how it impacts projects, programmes and portfolios and what we can do about it. This white paper connect abstract concepts and management approaches to concrete practical examples. Introducing cutting edge tools and strategies such as network analysis, system dynamics, modularization, antifragtility and mindfulness.''</ref>. This article will address how mindfulness is used as an managerial instrument to obtain resilience in an organisation. The article will define the mindfulness theory with description of the 5 principles. Furthermore complex organisations and unexpected events related to unknown/unknowns is defined. There will be a focus on “commitment to resilience” and “deference to expertise” which focusing on reacting to unexpected events hence improving the resilience in the organisation.

----

== Overview ==
[[File:Flickr_-_Official_U.S._Navy_Imagery_-_An_airplane_launches_from_the_flight_deck..jpg|400px|thumb|Right|Figure 1: US Navy carrier example of an HRO]]
Mindfulness is a term introduced by the professors Karl E. Weick and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe after studying [[Wikipedia:High_reliability_organization|high reliability organizations]] (HRO). These organizations have no choice but to function reliable. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279 ''Weick and Sutcliffe have studied HRO’s that have developed a way of acting with unexpected events. The processes of the HRO’s have been mapped and provide a template for all organizations that want to be more reliable in managing the unexpected. The principles and mindset behind the HRO’s is introduced as mindfulness. The authors define mindfulness as a management theory with real life examples from US Navy carriers, nuclear power plants and railway companies.''</ref> found that reliability does not mean a complete lack of variation. It is just the opposite. It takes mindful variety to assure stable high performance. The learnings and techniques from the HRO’s can be implemented in projects and in organizations who want a higher reliability.

In brief, mindfulness involves the ability to detect important aspects of the context and take timely, appropriate action. A well-developed capability for mindfulness catches the unexpected earlier when it is smaller, comprehends its potential importance despite the small size of the disruption, and removes, contains or rebounds from the effects of the unexpected. Managing the unexpected, mindful project managers and organizations are able to reliably deliver the task they were asked to do.

The expectations of individuals tend not to correspond with the reality. We are all affected by cognitive biases and the mindful project manager is aware of that.

=== Mindfulness VS Mindlessness ===
To underline the importance of mindfulness its counterpart mindlessness is described. Mindlessness is characterized by at style of mental functioning in which people follow recipes, impose old categories to classify what they see, act with some rigidity, operate on automatic pilot, and mislabel unfamiliar new contexts as familiar old ones <ref name="WS" />

== Application ==
An increasing demand for resilience within [[Wikipedia:Sociotechnical_system|sociotechnical systems]] has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations and their project, program and portfolio managers for unexpected events. The awareness of resilience and [[Wikipedia:Antifragility|antifragility]] is crucial for HRO’s, but all organisations can learn from the mind-set of the HRO’s. Even organisations without risks of casualties can improve their practices with mindfulness. It is a matter of context. Once the context, the precautions, the assumptions, the focus of attention is ignored, it becomes obvious that many organizations are just as exposed to the unexpected as HRO’s and just as much in need of mindfulness. E.g an unexpected shutdown at an [[Wikipedia:Assembly_line|assembly line]] is not a severe crisis. However the supervisor did not expect any fails or shutdowns. To him it is an unexpected crisis. Unexpected events occur at all organizational levels.

Project, Program and Portfolio managers are familiar with many project management tools and they are able to define project time, costs, risks, stakeholders etc. by [[Wikipedia:Project_Management_Institute|PMI]] standards. However, when projects become more complex e.g. in order of technical and organisational complexity, social intricacy of human behavior or uncertainty of long lifecycles, standard tools becomes inadequate. We tend to think of ourselves as rational beings, but in fact subconscious processes often drive human behavior. Not being aware of these subconscious thought processes can adversely affect projects. Mindful project managers know that they do not know everything. They know that their thoughts and impressions are affected by [[Wikipedia:Cognitive_bias|cognitive biases]]. Thus, they must be aware of their irrationalities to act in a mindful manner and become rational and fact-based. Mindfulness is instrumental in managing the intersection between human behavior and uncertainties thus generating processes within projects, programs and portfolios that are more reliable.

=== Principles ===

Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name="WS" /> have developed five principles that harness the key characteristics in mindfulness. These guidelines/principles apply upward to divisions and organizations as well as downward to teams, crews and team leaders. The principles can be adopted by anyone. Each principle is given an example from different HRO’s.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Principle
! Description
! Example(s)
|-
| Preoccupation with failure
|A preoccupation with failure focuses the organization to convert small errors and failures into organizational learnings and improvements.

“Pay close attention to weak signals of failure that may be symptoms of larger problems within the system” <ref name="WS" />

Be wary of the potential liabilities of successes such as complacency, the temptation to reduce margins of safety and drift into automatic processes.

Read also [[Early_warning_signals_in_project_management |''Early warning signals in project management'']]

|The airline industry encourage their personnel to report all failures and near misses generating failure catalogs. A big effort is expended in reviewing all reports to improve processes and workarounds.

|-
| Reluctance to simplify
| Simplify mindfully and reluctantly. Have in mind that simplification can become too simple resulting in useless, unprecise simplifications e.g. explanations and categories. Problems faced in complex projects typically offer several options and a nuanced picture to fully understand the best solution.
|A merger of two North American railroad companies in 1996 resulted in a gridlock of the system from North Platte, Nebraska to Chicago. Many small errors and failures occurred after the merger, but the most obvious reason for the gridlock was an ignorant and arrogant attitude toward innovative and complex solutions. The top management insisted that trains are made up in central locations called classification yards, not in dispersed locations called shipper yards, satellite yards or mainline tracks. Freight shipped by railroaders are shipped by rail, not barge. In this case the problems caused by these simplifications were overlooked until the central location or excessive grain shipments became a bottleneck causing the gridlock.
|-
| Sensitivity to operations
| An organization must have an integrated overall and aligned picture of operation. Sensitivity to operations is closely related to sensitivity to relationships. Meaning a clear and unprejudiced communication between operation and management is crucial to understand the big picture.

Furthermore, it is important to be responsive to the changing reality of projects. This can be obtained first by controlling the progress, monitor deviations and implication on projects, and second being mindful to potential unexpected events.

| 1: Studies of nuclear weapons suggest that many problems arise not from a single failure, but when small deviations in different operational areas combine to create conditions that were never imagined in the plans and designs<ref name=Sagan>Sagan S.D. 1993. The limits of safety: Organizations Accidents and Nuclear Weapons. Princeton, NJ. Princeton University.</ref>

2: The microcomputer industry can be characterized as a high velocity environment with a rapid and discontinuous change in demand, competitors, technology and inaccurate, unavailable or obsolete information. Decision-makers deal with this environment by paying close attention to real-time information e.g. concerning current operations or environments.

|-
| Commitment to resilience
|Accommodate unexpected events and react to them quickly as they arise.
Resilience involves (a) the ability to absorb strain and preserve the functioning of the project; (b) ability to recover quickly; (c) ability to learn from the unexpected event and how it impacted the project.<ref name="oehmen" />

| In the North American railroad merger case the meltdown of operations showed an inability to bounce back when the initial problems occurred. The railroad were short of men right after the merger and they had trimmed crews, locomotives and supervisors shortly before the gridlock from Nebraska to Chicago. Slack resources is a common way to create resilience.
|-
|Deference to expertise (Collective mindfulness)
| Deference to expertise is about involving experts in the decision-making. The experts actively involved in the projects are more capable to give articulate solutions to problems. Rigid hierarchies have their own special vulnerability to error where errors at high levels tend to pick up and combine errors at low levels. HRO’s push decision making down where decision is made on the front line. The authority migrate to the people with the most expertise, regardless of their rank.

Collective mindfulness is associated with cultures and structures that promote open discussions of errors, mistakes and awareness.

|In the North American railroad merger case the decisions were made from top management even though their operational expertise were outdated. Furthermore the management were only fed with information that they wanted to hear. A horrible paradigm where management were fed with biased information and insisted to make decisions at top level. This classic command-and-control bureaucracy is adequate for a stable situation but too inflexible in times of change.
|}

== Topics in Mindfulness ==
[[File:Circle of influence.png|300px|thumb|Right|Figure 2: Circle of influence]]
The five principles are general guidelines of mindfulness. However, they have to be converted into processes and mind-sets at organizations or within projects. To be able to implement mindfulness as a manager you must be aware of your cognitive behaviour as a human including how you experience the world. Weick and Sutcliffe describe the cognitive topics of expectations, categorization and the unexpected. These topics are briefly introduced. For further insight, please go to original literature<ref name="WS" /> <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499 Weick and Sutcliffe have updated their first edition “Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity”. The mindfulness theory and principles have been specified further with new case studies etc. </ref>. [[wikipedia:Mahatma_Gandhi|Mahatma Gandhi]] said: ''"Start changing yourself if you want to change the world around you"''. The same goes for a project manager. Figure 2 suggest a manager must understand and live out mindfulness before he can influence his employees and network.

=== Expectations ===
An expectation is to envision something, that is reasonably certain to come true. To expect something is to be mentally ready for it. “ Expectations form the basis for virtually all deliberate action because expectancies about how the world operates serve as implicit assumptions that guide behavioural choices” <ref>Olson, J. M. et al. ''Expectancies''. In Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles, edited by E.T. Higgins & A.W. Kruglanski, pp211-238. New York, NY: Guilford. Olson et al explains the form and function of expectancies in humans. Some of the key properties of expectancies is identified that influence both how expectancies operate and their likely consequences. Finally a simple model of expectancy processes is developed, based on the authors review of how expectancies operate.</ref>. With that in mind, it is important to be mindful about your expectations. Expectations direct your attention to certain features or events, which means that they affect what you notice and remember. Whenever our expectations does not match with reality our minds adjust our expectations to reality. It can be compared with a [[Wikipedia:Hypothesis_test|hypothesis-test]]. The human mind search for confirmation of its expectations but is biased to avoid looking for evidence that disconfirm them. HRO’s work hard to counteract this tendency. They routinely suspect their expectations for being incomplete. With this process, they check if the normal accepted expectation still pass the hypothesis test.

=== The capability for mindfulness (Categories) ===
Whenever people change the way they perceive the world they essentially rework the way they label and categorize what they see. This change in perception can be described with the following process:

# Re-examine discarded information
# Monitor how categories affect expectations and,
# Remove out-dated distinctions

Firstly, to rework one’s categories mindfully implies to evaluate how much information is discarded with a categorization of an instance with similar characteristics. Generally categorization help gaining control in a fast pace world. Categories can predict what will happen and plan one’s own actions. Without categories, any person or situation would be unique and therefore conserve scarce mental resources of attention and thinking. To exemplify categorization a university professor meet hundreds of students each day and have to categorize different types of students. The professor could categorize the students into categories such as active/passive, introvert/extrovert, Intelligent/less intelligent, man/women, young/old etc. The categories guide the professor how (s)he should behave or treat the different students. One category cannot describe all facets of a person and the professor must be aware of the discarded information within each category.

Secondly, mindful reworking of categories also mean that one pay close attention to their effect on the expectations. Categories and expectations are closely related. E.g., a person categorized as an expert is expected to know the answers within his/her field of expertise. These expectations constantly have to be revised and evaluated. It may be necessary to differentiate the expectations, replace them, supplement them, or discard the whole category.

Third, mindful reworking means a check whether the categories remain plausible. Outdated categorization with implausible distinctions of expectations ensure trouble. This is the basic misreading in HRO’s. The trouble starts when you fail to notice that you only look for whatever confirms your categories and expectations. “Believing is seeing. You see what you expect to see. You see what you have the labels to see. You see what you have the skills to manage.” <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>
People who persistently rework their categories and refine them, differentiate them, update them, and replace them notice more and catch unexpected events earlier in their development. That is the essence of mindfulness <ref name="WS" />.

=== The Unexpected ===
Unexpected events can be categorized in three forms <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref>:
The unexpected occur when an event that was
* expected to happen fail to occur.
* not expected to happen does happen.
* simply unthought-of happens (Unknown/unkowns)

Unexpected events are caused by faulty expectations and the fact that we sought to look for evidence that confirm our expectations. These confirmations are found to boost our experience of being in control. However, this confirming behavior has adverse effect on how quick we realize we are wrong and rework our expectations. A slow realization time allows problems to worsen and become harder to solve and they might even be entangled with other problems.
HRO’s strive to minimize the risk that unthought-of events happen by steering people towards mindful practices that encourage imagination. People inadvertently trivialize the importance of imagination. Instead people tend to “''Expect the unexpected''” to maintain their desire for control and predictability.

== Putting Mindfulness into Practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager ==
Putting Mindfulness into practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager
<ref name="WS" /> have developed concrete processes based on the five principles and on practices identified in the best HRO’s. The processes is organised under two headings. “''Enhancing awareness and anticipation''” concerning the three first principles, involving failure, simplification and operations. “''Containment of those unexpected events that occur''” concerning the last two principles involving resilience and expertise.

{| cellpadding=5 style="border:1px solid #BBB"
|'''Enhancing awareness and anticipation''' || '''Enhancing containment'''
|-
|
* Preserve a balance of values
* Restate your goals in the form of mistakes that must not occur
* Remember that mindfulness takes effort
* Create Awareness of vulnerability
* Cultivate humility
* Be glad when you are having a bad day
* Create an error friendly learning culture
* Encourage alternative frames of reference
* Strengthen fantasy as a tool
* Speak up! Just because you see something, do not assume that someone else sees it, too.
* Put a premium on interpersonal skills
* Surface unique knowledge
* Be careful when you label something a fact
* Develop skeptics
* Be suspicious of good news
* Seek out bad news
* Test your expectations
* Welcome uncertainty
* Treat all unexpected events as information, and share this information widely
* Transform close calls into near misses
* Specify the burden of proof
* Adopt complex models because they direct attention to more details and register more facets of context.
* Revise existing models as well as existing practices
* Carry your expectations lightly
* Reward contact with the frontline
* Clarify what constitutes good news
* Frame mindfulness in novel ways
||
* Remember that ambivalence builds resilience
* Use rich media and encourage people to listen
* Be mindful publicly
* Enlarge competencies and response repertoires
* Build excess capacity. Don’t overdo lean, mean ideals
* Create flexible decision structure
* Accelerate feedback
* Balance centralization with decentralization
* Reinforce perishable values
* Mitigate complacency

|}
Read [[Creating_a_positive_culture_around_failure_in_project_management|How to create a positive culture around failure in project management]] here.

== Limitations ==
It is important to underline that mindfulness is not a tool – Mindfulness is a mind-set, a management theory. Thus, there is no recipe on how to implement mindfulness on projects, programs, portfolios or in organizations. The processes listed above can serve as inspiration, but have to be adjusted to fit into the context of organization and employees.

Mindfulness is a complex management theory. As the principle “''Reluctance to simplify''” justify, it takes a complex idea to capture a complex phenomenon. To fully implement mindfulness and deal with the unexpected it is required to organize in a complex manner. Likewise mindfulness preach a need for complex set of ideas to understand what people are doing and why it works thus requiring workers with a certain level of receptivity and resources.

Analyzing the mindfulness theory described by Weick and Sutcliffe there is one shortfall. Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name="WS" />. argue that human cognition in the mindfulness theory is the solution to reliability problems, but they tend to over-simplify the resilience concept by neglecting the importance of routine-based reliability. Studies of human systems reveal two strategies for achieving reliable performance shown in Figure 3
<ref name=BG>Butler, B. S., & Gray, P. H. 2006. Reliability, mindfulness, and information systems. Mis Quarterly, 30(2), pp.211–224 ''Butler and Gray examine the concept of mindfulness as a theoretical foundation for explaining efforts to achieve individual and organizational reliability in the face of complex technologies and surprising environments.''</ref>:

* Routine-based reliability
* Mindfulness-based reliability

[[File:Realibility figure v2.png|600px|thumb|Right|Figure 3: Strategies for achieving reliable performance<ref name="BG" />]]

Organizationally, routine-based reliability involves the creation and execution of standard operating and decision-making procedures, which may be unique to the organization or widely accepted across an industry <ref>Spender, J. C. 1989. ''Industry recipes: An Enquiry into the Nature and Sources of Managerial Judgement''. Oxorfd, UK: Basil Blackwell.</ref>. The routine-based reliability strategy rely on predefined procedures, routines and training designed to decrease cognitive human problem solving, to reduce errors, unwanted variation and waste. Defining procedures etc. is a frontloaded process where unknown/unknowns(See [[wikipedia:Johari_window|Johari Window]]) may oppose a major risk because unexpected events cannot be implemented into the procedures. While routine-based approaches focus on reducing or eliminating situated human cognition as the cause of errors, mindfulness-based approaches focus on promoting highly situated human cognition as the solution to individual and organisational reliability problems <ref name="WS" />. Mindfulness focus on one of the two strategies and ignore or assume that optimal routines, procedures and structures are in place. Mindfulness does not describe the interdependencies and synergistic impacts between the two strategies.

==References==

<references/>

== Further Reading ==
* [[Wikipedia:Cognition|Cognition]]
* [[Wikipedia:Mindfulness|Mindfulness]]
* [[Wikipedia:Union_Pacific_Railroad|Union Pacific Railroad]]
* [[Wikipedia:Reliability_engineering|Reliability Engineering]]

Organisational resilience with mindfulness

2015-09-28T12:55:23Z

S140046:

== Abstract ==

An increasing demand for resilience within sociotechnical organisations has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations for unexpected events. Thorough management is crucial in resilient organisations (check ref, Geraldi et al, 2009) and mindfulness encompass the risk of the human mind. Mindful project managers are aware of cognitive biases and irrationalities. They inspire workers to be rational and fact-based.

Mindfulness is about keeping a high level of alertness and awareness of context and using awareness in our decision and actions <ref name=oehmen>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI ''Oehmen et al discuss complexity, how it impacts projects, programmes and portfolios and what we can do about it. This white paper connect abstract concepts and management approaches to concrete practical examples. Introducing cutting edge tools and strategies such as network analysis, system dynamics, modularization, antifragtility and mindfulness.''</ref>. This article will address how mindfulness is used as an managerial instrument to obtain resilience in an organisation. The article will define the mindfulness theory with description of the 5 principles. Furthermore complex organisations and unexpected events related to unknown/unknowns is defined. There will be a focus on “commitment to resilience” and “deference to expertise” which focusing on reacting to unexpected events hence improving the resilience in the organisation.

----

== Overview ==
[[File:Flickr_-_Official_U.S._Navy_Imagery_-_An_airplane_launches_from_the_flight_deck..jpg|400px|thumb|Right|Figure 1: US Navy carrier example of an HRO]]
Mindfulness is a term introduced by the professors Karl E. Weick and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe after studying [[Wikipedia:High_reliability_organization|high reliability organizations]] (HRO). These organizations have no choice but to function reliable. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279 ''Weick and Sutcliffe have studied HRO’s that have developed a way of acting with unexpected events. The processes of the HRO’s have been mapped and provide a template for all organizations that want to be more reliable in managing the unexpected. The principles and mindset behind the HRO’s is introduced as mindfulness. The authors define mindfulness as a management theory with real life examples from US Navy carriers, nuclear power plants and railway companies.''</ref> found that reliability does not mean a complete lack of variation. It is just the opposite. It takes mindful variety to assure stable high performance. The learnings and techniques from the HRO’s can be implemented in projects and in organizations who want a higher reliability.

In brief, mindfulness involves the ability to detect important aspects of the context and take timely, appropriate action. A well-developed capability for mindfulness catches the unexpected earlier when it is smaller, comprehends its potential importance despite the small size of the disruption, and removes, contains or rebounds from the effects of the unexpected. Managing the unexpected, mindful project managers and organizations are able to reliably deliver the task they were asked to do.

The expectations of individuals tend not to correspond with the reality. We are all affected by cognitive biases and the mindful project manager is aware of that.

=== Mindfulness VS Mindlessness ===
To underline the importance of mindfulness its counterpart mindlessness is described. Mindlessness is characterized by at style of mental functioning in which people follow recipes, impose old categories to classify what they see, act with some rigidity, operate on automatic pilot, and mislabel unfamiliar new contexts as familiar old ones <ref name="WS" />

== Application ==
An increasing demand for resilience within [[Wikipedia:Sociotechnical_system|sociotechnical systems]] has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations and their project, program and portfolio managers for unexpected events. The awareness of resilience and [[Wikipedia:Antifragility|antifragility]] is crucial for HRO’s, but all organisations can learn from the mind-set of the HRO’s. Even organisations without risks of casualties can improve their practices with mindfulness. It is a matter of context. Once the context, the precautions, the assumptions, the focus of attention is ignored, it becomes obvious that many organizations are just as exposed to the unexpected as HRO’s and just as much in need of mindfulness. E.g an unexpected shutdown at an [[Wikipedia:Assembly_line|assembly line]] is not a severe crisis. However the supervisor did not expect any fails or shutdowns. To him it is an unexpected crisis. Unexpected events occur at all organizational levels.

Project, Program and Portfolio managers are familiar with many project management tools and they are able to define project time, costs, risks, stakeholders etc. by [[Wikipedia:Project_Management_Institute|PMI]] standards. However, when projects become more complex e.g. in order of technical and organisational complexity, social intricacy of human behavior or uncertainty of long lifecycles, standard tools becomes inadequate. We tend to think of ourselves as rational beings, but in fact subconscious processes often drive human behavior. Not being aware of these subconscious thought processes can adversely affect projects. Mindful project managers know that they do not know everything. They know that their thoughts and impressions are affected by [[Wikipedia:Cognitive_bias|cognitive biases]]. Thus, they must be aware of their irrationalities to act in a mindful manner and become rational and fact-based. Mindfulness is instrumental in managing the intersection between human behavior and uncertainties thus generating processes within projects, programs and portfolios that are more reliable.

=== Principles ===

Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name="WS" /> have developed five principles that harness the key characteristics in mindfulness. These guidelines/principles apply upward to divisions and organizations as well as downward to teams, crews and team leaders. The principles can be adopted by anyone. Each principle is given an example from different HRO’s.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Principle
! Description
! Example(s)
|-
| Preoccupation with failure
|A preoccupation with failure focuses the organization to convert small errors and failures into organizational learnings and improvements.

“Pay close attention to weak signals of failure that may be symptoms of larger problems within the system” <ref name="WS" />

Be wary of the potential liabilities of successes such as complacency, the temptation to reduce margins of safety and drift into automatic processes.

Read also [[Early_warning_signals_in_project_management |''Early warning signals in project management'']]

|The airline industry encourage their personnel to report all failures and near misses generating failure catalogs. A big effort is expended in reviewing all reports to improve processes and workarounds.

|-
| Reluctance to simplify
| Simplify mindfully and reluctantly. Have in mind that simplification can become too simple resulting in useless, unprecise simplifications e.g. explanations and categories. Problems faced in complex projects typically offer several options and a nuanced picture to fully understand the best solution.
|A merger of two North American railroad companies in 1996 resulted in a gridlock of the system from North Platte, Nebraska to Chicago. Many small errors and failures occurred after the merger, but the most obvious reason for the gridlock was an ignorant and arrogant attitude toward innovative and complex solutions. The top management insisted that trains are made up in central locations called classification yards, not in dispersed locations called shipper yards, satellite yards or mainline tracks. Freight shipped by railroaders are shipped by rail, not barge. In this case the problems caused by these simplifications were overlooked until the central location or excessive grain shipments became a bottleneck causing the gridlock.
|-
| Sensitivity to operations
| An organization must have an integrated overall and aligned picture of operation. Sensitivity to operations is closely related to sensitivity to relationships. Meaning a clear and unprejudiced communication between operation and management is crucial to understand the big picture.

Furthermore, it is important to be responsive to the changing reality of projects. This can be obtained first by controlling the progress, monitor deviations and implication on projects, and second being mindful to potential unexpected events.

| 1: Studies of nuclear weapons suggest that many problems arise not from a single failure, but when small deviations in different operational areas combine to create conditions that were never imagined in the plans and designs<ref name=Sagan>Sagan S.D. 1993. The limits of safety: Organizations Accidents and Nuclear Weapons. Princeton, NJ. Princeton University.</ref>

2: The microcomputer industry can be characterized as a high velocity environment with a rapid and discontinuous change in demand, competitors, technology and inaccurate, unavailable or obsolete information. Decision-makers deal with this environment by paying close attention to real-time information e.g. concerning current operations or environments.

|-
| Commitment to resilience
|Accommodate unexpected events and react to them quickly as they arise.
Resilience involves (a) the ability to absorb strain and preserve the functioning of the project; (b) ability to recover quickly; (c) ability to learn from the unexpected event and how it impacted the project.<ref name="oehmen" />

| In the North American railroad merger case the meltdown of operations showed an inability to bounce back when the initial problems occurred. The railroad were short of men right after the merger and they had trimmed crews, locomotives and supervisors shortly before the gridlock from Nebraska to Chicago. Slack resources is a common way to create resilience.
|-
|Deference to expertise (Collective mindfulness)
| Deference to expertise is about involving experts in the decision-making. The experts actively involved in the projects are more capable to give articulate solutions to problems. Rigid hierarchies have their own special vulnerability to error where errors at high levels tend to pick up and combine errors at low levels. HRO’s push decision making down where decision is made on the front line. The authority migrate to the people with the most expertise, regardless of their rank.

Collective mindfulness is associated with cultures and structures that promote open discussions of errors, mistakes and awareness.

|In the North American railroad merger case the decisions were made from top management even though their operational expertise were outdated. Furthermore the management were only fed with information that they wanted to hear. A horrible paradigm where management were fed with biased information and insisted to make decisions at top level. This classic command-and-control bureaucracy is adequate for a stable situation but too inflexible in times of change.
|}

== Topics in Mindfulness ==
[[File:Circle of influence.png|300px|thumb|Right|Figure 2: Circle of influence]]
[The five principles are general guidelines of mindfulness.
To be able to implement mindfulness as a manager you must be aware of your cognitive behaviour as a human including how you experience the world. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name="WS" /> <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499 Weick and Sutcliffe have updated their first edition “Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity”. The mindfulness theory and principles have been specified further with new case studies etc. </ref> It is recognized that you start Write about circle of influence from IDA event…...
Continuous learning] FINISH WRITING

=== Expectations ===
An expectation is to envision something, that is reasonably certain to come true. To expect something is to be mentally ready for it. “ Expectations form the basis for virtually all deliberate action because expectancies about how the world operates serve as implicit assumptions that guide behavioural choices” <ref>Olson, J. M., Roese, J. M. and Zanna, M. P. ''Expectancies''. In Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles, edited by E.T. Higgins & A.W. Kruglanski, pp211-238. New York, NY: Guilford. Explain the form and function of expectancies in humans. Some of the key properties of expectancies is identified that influence both how expectancies operate and their likely consequences. Finally a simple model of expectancy processes is developed, based on the authors review of how expectancies operate.</ref>. With that in mind, it is important to be mindful about your expectations. Expectations direct your attention to certain features or events, which means that they affect what you notice and remember. Whenever our expectations does not match with reality our minds adjust our expectations to reality. It can be compared with a [[Wikipedia:Hypothesis_test|hypothesis-test]]. The human mind search for confirmation of its expectations but is biased to avoid looking for evidence that disconfirm them. HRO’s work hard to counteract this tendency. They routinely suspect their expectations for being incomplete. With this process, they check if the normal accepted expectation still pass the hypothesis test.

=== The capability for mindfulness (Categories) ===
Whenever people change the way they perceive the world they essentially rework the way they label and categorize what they see. This change in perception can be described with the following process:

# Re-examine discarded information
# Monitor how categories affect expectations and,
# Remove out-dated distinctions

Firstly, to rework one’s categories mindfully implies to evaluate how much information is discarded with a categorization of an instance with similar characteristics. Generally categorization help gaining control in a fast pace world. Categories can predict what will happen and plan one’s own actions. Without categories, any person or situation would be unique and therefore conserve scarce mental resources of attention and thinking. To exemplify categorization a university professor meet hundreds of students each day and have to categorize different types of students. The professor could categorize the students into categories such as active/passive, introvert/extrovert, Intelligent/less intelligent, man/women, young/old etc. The categories guide the professor how (s)he should behave or treat the different students. One category cannot describe all facets of a person and the professor must be aware of the discarded information within each category.

Secondly, mindful reworking of categories also mean that one pay close attention to their effect on the expectations. Categories and expectations are closely related. E.g., a person categorized as an expert is expected to know the answers within his/her field of expertise. These expectations constantly have to be revised and evaluated. It may be necessary to differentiate the expectations, replace them, supplement them, or discard the whole category.

Third, mindful reworking means a check whether the categories remain plausible. Outdated categorization with implausible distinctions of expectations ensure trouble. This is the basic misreading in HRO’s. The trouble starts when you fail to notice that you only look for whatever confirms your categories and expectations. “Believing is seeing. You see what you expect to see. You see what you have the labels to see. You see what you have the skills to manage.” <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>
People who persistently rework their categories and refine them, differentiate them, update them, and replace them notice more and catch unexpected events earlier in their development. That is the essence of mindfulness <ref name="WS" />.

=== The Unexpected ===
Unexpected events can be categorized in three forms <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref>:
The unexpected occur when an event that was
* expected to happen fail to occur.
* not expected to happen does happen.
* simply unthought-of happens (Unknown/unkowns)

Unexpected events are caused by faulty expectations and the fact that we sought to look for evidence that confirm our expectations. These confirmations are found to boost our experience of being in control. However, this confirming behavior has adverse effect on how quick we realize we are wrong and rework our expectations. A slow realization time allows problems to worsen and become harder to solve and they might even be entangled with other problems.
HRO’s strive to minimize the risk that unthought-of events happen by steering people towards mindful practices that encourage imagination. People inadvertently trivialize the importance of imagination. Instead people tend to “''Expect the unexpected''” to maintain their desire for control and predictability.

== Putting Mindfulness into Practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager ==
Putting Mindfulness into practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager
<ref name="WS" /> have developed concrete processes based on the five principles and on practices identified in the best HRO’s. The processes is organised under two headings. “''Awareness and Anticipation of the Unexpected''” concerning the three first principles, involving failure, simplification and operations. “''Containment of those unexpected events that occur''” concerning the last two principles involving resilience and expertise.

{| cellpadding=5 style="border:1px solid #BBB"
|'''Enhancing awareness and anticipation''' || '''Enhancing containment'''
|-
|
* Preserve a balance of values
* Restate your goals in the form of mistakes that must not occur
* Remember that mindfulness takes effort
* Create Awareness of vulnerability
* Cultivate humility
* Be glad when you are having a bad day
* Create an error friendly learning culture
* Encourage alternative frames of reference
* Strengthen fantasy as a tool
* Speak up! Just because you see something, do not assume that someone else sees it, too.
* Put a premium on interpersonal skills
* Surface unique knowledge
* Be careful when you label something a fact
* Develop skeptics
* Be suspicious of good news
* Seek out bad news
* Test your expectations
* Welcome uncertainty
* Treat all unexpected events as information, and share this information widely
* Transform close calls into near misses
* Specify the burden of proof
* Adopt complex models because they direct attention to more details and register more facets of context.
* Revise existing models as well as existing practices
* Carry your expectations lightly
* Reward contact with the frontline
* Clarify what constitutes good news
* Frame mindfulness in novel ways
||
* Remember that ambivalence builds resilience
* Use rich media and encourage people to listen
* Be mindful publicly
* Enlarge competencies and response repertoires
* Build excess capacity. Don’t overdo lean, mean ideals
* Create flexible decision structure
* Accelerate feedback
* Balance centralization with decentralization
* Reinforce perishable values
* Mitigate complacency

|}
Read [[Creating_a_positive_culture_around_failure_in_project_management|How to create a positive culture around failure in project management]] here.

== Limitations ==
It is important to underline that mindfulness is not a tool – Mindfulness is a mind-set, a management theory. Thus, there is no recipe on how to implement mindfulness on projects, programs, portfolios or in organizations. The processes listed above can serve as inspiration, but have to be adjusted to fit into the context of organization and employees.

Mindfulness is a complex management theory. As the principle “''Reluctance to simplify''” justify, it takes a complex idea to capture a complex phenomenon. To fully implement mindfulness and deal with the unexpected it is required to organize in a complex manner. Likewise mindfulness preach a need for complex set of ideas to understand what people are doing and why it works thus requiring workers with a certain level of receptivity and resources.

Analyzing the mindfulness theory described by Weick and Sutcliffe there is one shortfall. Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name="WS" />. argue that human cognition in the mindfulness theory is the solution to reliability problems, but they tend to over-simplify the resilience concept by neglecting the importance of routine-based reliability. Studies of human systems reveal two strategies for achieving reliable performance shown in Figure 3
<ref name=BG>Butler, B. S., & Gray, P. H. 2006. Reliability, mindfulness, and information systems. Mis Quarterly, 30(2), pp.211–224 ''Butler and Gray examine the concept of mindfulness as a theoretical foundation for explaining efforts to achieve individual and organizational reliability in the face of complex technologies and surprising environments.''</ref>:

* Routine-based reliability
* Mindfulness-based reliability

[[File:Realibility figure v2.png|600px|thumb|Right|Figure 3: Strategies for achieving reliable performance<ref name="BG" />]]

Organizationally, routine-based reliability involves the creation and execution of standard operating and decision-making procedures, which may be unique to the organization or widely accepted across an industry <ref>Spender, J. C. 1989. ''Industry recipes: An Enquiry into the Nature and Sources of Managerial Judgement''. Oxorfd, UK: Basil Blackwell.</ref>. The routine-based reliability strategy rely on predefined procedures, routines and training designed to decrease cognitive human problem solving, to reduce errors, unwanted variation and waste. Defining procedures etc. is a frontloaded process where unknown/unknowns(See [[wikipedia:Johari_window|Johari Window]]) may oppose a major risk because unexpected events cannot be implemented into the procedures. While routine-based approaches focus on reducing or eliminating situated human cognition as the cause of errors, mindfulness-based approaches focus on promoting highly situated human cognition as the solution to individual and organisational reliability problems <ref name="WS" />. Mindfulness focus on one of the two strategies and ignore or assume that optimal routines, procedures and structures are in place. Mindfulness does not describe the interdependencies and synergistic impacts between the two strategies.

==References==

<references/>

== Further Reading ==
* [[Wikipedia:Cognition|Cognition]]
* [[Wikipedia:Mindfulness|Mindfulness]]
* [[Wikipedia:Union_Pacific_Railroad|Union Pacific Railroad]]
* [[Wikipedia:Reliability_engineering|Reliability Engineering]]

Organisational resilience with mindfulness

2015-09-28T12:49:16Z

S140046:

== Abstract ==

An increasing demand for resilience within sociotechnical organisations has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations for unexpected events. Thorough management is crucial in resilient organisations (check ref, Geraldi et al, 2009) and mindfulness encompass the risk of the human mind. Mindful project managers are aware of cognitive biases and irrationalities. They inspire workers to be rational and fact-based.

Mindfulness is about keeping a high level of alertness and awareness of context and using awareness in our decision and actions <ref name=oehmen>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI ''Oehmen et al discuss complexity, how it impacts projects, programmes and portfolios and what we can do about it. This white paper connect abstract concepts and management approaches to concrete practical examples. Introducing cutting edge tools and strategies such as network analysis, system dynamics, modularization, antifragtility and mindfulness.''</ref>. This article will address how mindfulness is used as an managerial instrument to obtain resilience in an organisation. The article will define the mindfulness theory with description of the 5 principles. Furthermore complex organisations and unexpected events related to unknown/unknowns is defined. There will be a focus on “commitment to resilience” and “deference to expertise” which focusing on reacting to unexpected events hence improving the resilience in the organisation.

----

== Overview ==
[[File:Flickr_-_Official_U.S._Navy_Imagery_-_An_airplane_launches_from_the_flight_deck..jpg|400px|thumb|Right|Figure 1: US Navy carrier example of an HRO]]
Mindfulness is a term introduced by the professors Karl E. Weick and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe after studying [[Wikipedia:High_reliability_organization|high reliability organizations]] (HRO). These organizations have no choice but to function reliable. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279 ''Weick and Sutcliffe have studied HRO’s that have developed a way of acting with unexpected events. The processes of the HRO’s have been mapped and provide a template for all organizations that want to be more reliable in managing the unexpected. The principles and mindset behind the HRO’s is introduced as mindfulness. The authors define mindfulness as a management theory with real life examples from US Navy carriers, nuclear power plants and railway companies.''</ref> found that reliability does not mean a complete lack of variation. It is just the opposite. It takes mindful variety to assure stable high performance. The learnings and techniques from the HRO’s can be implemented in projects and in organizations who want a higher reliability.

In brief, mindfulness involves the ability to detect important aspects of the context and take timely, appropriate action. A well-developed capability for mindfulness catches the unexpected earlier when it is smaller, comprehends its potential importance despite the small size of the disruption, and removes, contains or rebounds from the effects of the unexpected. Managing the unexpected, mindful project managers and organizations are able to reliably deliver the task they were asked to do.

The expectations of individuals tend not to correspond with the reality. We are all affected by cognitive biases and the mindful project manager is aware of that.

=== Mindfulness VS Mindlessness ===
To underline the importance of mindfulness its counterpart mindlessness is described. Mindlessness is characterized by at style of mental functioning in which people follow recipes, impose old categories to classify what they see, act with some rigidity, operate on automatic pilot, and mislabel unfamiliar new contexts as familiar old ones <ref name="WS" />

== Application ==
An increasing demand for resilience within [[Wikipedia:Sociotechnical_system|sociotechnical systems]] has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations and their project, program and portfolio managers for unexpected events. The awareness of resilience and [[Wikipedia:Antifragility|antifragility]] is crucial for HRO’s, but all organisations can learn from the mind-set of the HRO’s. Even organisations without risks of casualties can improve their practices with mindfulness. It is a matter of context. Once the context, the precautions, the assumptions, the focus of attention is ignored, it becomes obvious that many organizations are just as exposed to the unexpected as HRO’s and just as much in need of mindfulness. E.g an unexpected shutdown at an [[Wikipedia:Assembly_line|assembly line]] is not a severe crisis. However the supervisor did not expect any fails or shutdowns. To him it is an unexpected crisis. Unexpected events occur at all organizational levels.

Project, Program and Portfolio managers are familiar with many project management tools and they are able to define project time, costs, risks, stakeholders etc. by [[Wikipedia:Project_Management_Institute|PMI]] standards. However, when projects become more complex e.g. in order of technical and organisational complexity, social intricacy of human behavior or uncertainty of long lifecycles, standard tools becomes inadequate. We tend to think of ourselves as rational beings, but in fact subconscious processes often drive human behavior. Not being aware of these subconscious thought processes can adversely affect projects. Mindful project managers know that they do not know everything. They know that their thoughts and impressions are affected by [[Wikipedia:Cognitive_bias|cognitive biases]]. Thus, they must be aware of their irrationalities to act in a mindful manner and become rational and fact-based. Mindfulness is instrumental in managing the intersection between human behavior and uncertainties thus generating processes within projects, programs and portfolios that are more reliable.

=== Principles ===

Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name="WS" /> have developed five principles that harness the key characteristics in mindfulness. These guidelines/principles apply upward to divisions and organizations as well as downward to teams, crews and team leaders. The principles can be adopted by anyone. Each principle is given an example from different HRO’s.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Principle
! Description
! Example(s)
|-
| Preoccupation with failure
|A preoccupation with failure focuses the organization to convert small errors and failures into organizational learnings and improvements.

“Pay close attention to weak signals of failure that may be symptoms of larger problems within the system” <ref name="WS" />

Be wary of the potential liabilities of successes such as complacency, the temptation to reduce margins of safety and drift into automatic processes.

Read also [[Early_warning_signals_in_project_management |''Early warning signals in project management'']]

|The airline industry encourage their personnel to report all failures and near misses generating failure catalogs. A big effort is expended in reviewing all reports to improve processes and workarounds.

|-
| Reluctance to simplify
| Simplify mindfully and reluctantly. Have in mind that simplification can become too simple resulting in useless, unprecise simplifications e.g. explanations and categories. Problems faced in complex projects typically offer several options and a nuanced picture to fully understand the best solution.
|A merger of two North American railroad companies in 1996 resulted in a gridlock of the system from North Platte, Nebraska to Chicago. Many small errors and failures occurred after the merger, but the most obvious reason for the gridlock was an ignorant and arrogant attitude toward innovative and complex solutions. The top management insisted that trains are made up in central locations called classification yards, not in dispersed locations called shipper yards, satellite yards or mainline tracks. Freight shipped by railroaders are shipped by rail, not barge. In this case the problems caused by these simplifications were overlooked until the central location or excessive grain shipments became a bottleneck causing the gridlock.
|-
| Sensitivity to operations
| An organization must have an integrated overall and aligned picture of operation. Sensitivity to operations is closely related to sensitivity to relationships. Meaning a clear and unprejudiced communication between operation and management is crucial to understand the big picture.

Furthermore, it is important to be responsive to the changing reality of projects. This can be obtained first by controlling the progress, monitor deviations and implication on projects, and second being mindful to potential unexpected events.

| 1: Studies of nuclear weapons suggest that many problems arise not from a single failure, but when small deviations in different operational areas combine to create conditions that were never imagined in the plans and designs<ref name=Sagan>Sagan S.D. 1993. The limits of safety: Organizations Accidents and Nuclear Weapons. Princeton, NJ. Princeton University.</ref>

2: The microcomputer industry can be characterized as a high velocity environment with a rapid and discontinuous change in demand, competitors, technology and inaccurate, unavailable or obsolete information. Decision-makers deal with this environment by paying close attention to real-time information e.g. concerning current operations or environments.

|-
| Commitment to resilience
|Accommodate unexpected events and react to them quickly as they arise.
Resilience involves (a) the ability to absorb strain and preserve the functioning of the project; (b) ability to recover quickly; (c) ability to learn from the unexpected event and how it impacted the project.<ref name="oehmen" />

| In the North American railroad merger case the meltdown of operations showed an inability to bounce back when the initial problems occurred. The railroad were short of men right after the merger and they had trimmed crews, locomotives and supervisors shortly before the gridlock from Nebraska to Chicago. Slack resources is a common way to create resilience.
|-
|Deference to expertise (Collective mindfulness)
| Deference to expertise is about involving experts in the decision-making. The experts actively involved in the projects are more capable to give articulate solutions to problems. Rigid hierarchies have their own special vulnerability to error where errors at high levels tend to pick up and combine errors at low levels. HRO’s push decision making down where decision is made on the front line. The authority migrate to the people with the most expertise, regardless of their rank.

Collective mindfulness is associated with cultures and structures that promote open discussions of errors, mistakes and awareness.

|In the North American railroad merger case the decisions were made from top management even though their operational expertise were outdated. Furthermore the management were only fed with information that they wanted to hear. A horrible paradigm where management were fed with biased information and insisted to make decisions at top level. This classic command-and-control bureaucracy is adequate for a stable situation but too inflexible in times of change.
|}

== Topics in Mindfulness ==
[[File:Circle of influence.png|300px|thumb|Right|Figure 2: Circle of influence]]
[The five principles are general guidelines of mindfulness.
To be able to implement mindfulness as a manager you must be aware of your cognitive behaviour as a human including how you experience the world. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name="WS" /> <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499 Weick and Sutcliffe have updated their first edition “Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity”. The mindfulness theory and principles have been specified further with new case studies etc. </ref> It is recognized that you start Write about circle of influence from IDA event…...
Continuous learning] FINISH WRITING

=== Expectations ===
An expectation is to envision something, that is reasonably certain to come true. To expect something is to be mentally ready for it. “ Expectations form the basis for virtually all deliberate action because expectancies about how the world operates serve as implicit assumptions that guide behavioural choices” <ref>Olson, J. M., Roese, J. M. and Zanna, M. P. ''Expectancies''. In Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles, edited by E.T. Higgins & A.W. Kruglanski, pp211-238. New York, NY: Guilford. Explain the form and function of expectancies in humans. Some of the key properties of expectancies is identified that influence both how expectancies operate and their likely consequences. Finally a simple model of expectancy processes is developed, based on the authors review of how expectancies operate.</ref>. With that in mind, it is important to be mindful about your expectations. Expectations direct your attention to certain features or events, which means that they affect what you notice and remember. Whenever our expectations does not match with reality our minds adjust our expectations to reality. It can be compared with a [[Wikipedia:Hypothesis_test|hypothesis-test]]. The human mind search for confirmation of its expectations but is biased to avoid looking for evidence that disconfirm them. HRO’s work hard to counteract this tendency. They routinely suspect their expectations for being incomplete. With this process, they check if the normal accepted expectation still pass the hypothesis test.

=== The capability for mindfulness (Categories) ===
Whenever people change the way they perceive the world they essentially rework the way they label and categorize what they see. This change in perception can be described with the following process:

# Re-examine discarded information
# Monitor how categories affect expectations and,
# Remove out-dated distinctions

Firstly, to rework one’s categories mindfully implies to evaluate how much information is discarded with a categorization of an instance with similar characteristics. Generally categorization help gaining control in a fast pace world. Categories can predict what will happen and plan one’s own actions. Without categories, any person or situation would be unique and therefore conserve scarce mental resources of attention and thinking. To exemplify categorization a university professor meet hundreds of students each day and have to categorize different types of students. The professor could categorize the students into categories such as active/passive, introvert/extrovert, Intelligent/less intelligent, man/women, young/old etc. The categories guide the professor how (s)he should behave or treat the different students. One category cannot describe all facets of a person and the professor must be aware of the discarded information within each category.

Secondly, mindful reworking of categories also mean that one pay close attention to their effect on the expectations. Categories and expectations are closely related. E.g., a person categorized as an expert is expected to know the answers within his/her field of expertise. These expectations constantly have to be revised and evaluated. It may be necessary to differentiate the expectations, replace them, supplement them, or discard the whole category.

Third, mindful reworking means a check whether the categories remain plausible. Outdated categorization with implausible distinctions of expectations ensure trouble. This is the basic misreading in HRO’s. The trouble starts when you fail to notice that you only look for whatever confirms your categories and expectations. “Believing is seeing. You see what you expect to see. You see what you have the labels to see. You see what you have the skills to manage.” <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>
People who persistently rework their categories and refine them, differentiate them, update them, and replace them notice more and catch unexpected events earlier in their development. That is the essence of mindfulness <ref name="WS" />.

=== The Unexpected ===
Unexpected events can be categorized in three forms <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref>:
The unexpected occur when an event that was
* expected to happen fail to occur.
* not expected to happen does happen.
* simply unthought-of happens (Unknown/unkowns)

Unexpected events are caused by faulty expectations and the fact that we sought to look for evidence that confirm our expectations. These confirmations are found to boost our experience of being in control. However, this confirming behavior has adverse effect on how quick we realize we are wrong and rework our expectations. A slow realization time allows problems to worsen and become harder to solve and they might even be entangled with other problems.
HRO’s strive to minimize the risk that unthought-of events happen by steering people towards mindful practices that encourage imagination. People inadvertently trivialize the importance of imagination. Instead people tend to “''Expect the unexpected''” to maintain their desire for control and predictability.

== Putting Mindfulness into Practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager ==
Putting Mindfulness into practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager
<ref name="WS" /> have developed concrete processes based on the five principles and on practices identified in the best HRO’s. The processes is organised under two headings. “''Awareness and Anticipation of the Unexpected''” concerning the three first principles, involving failure, simplification and operations. “''Containment of those unexpected events that occur''” concerning the last two principles involving resilience and expertise.

{| cellpadding=5 style="border:1px solid #BBB"
|'''Enhancing awareness and anticipation''' || '''Enhancing containment'''
|-
|
* Preserve a balance of values
* Restate your goals in the form of mistakes that must not occur
* Remember that mindfulness takes effort
* Create Awareness of vulnerability
* Cultivate humility
* Be glad when you are having a bad day
* Create an error friendly learning culture
* Encourage alternative frames of reference
* Strengthen fantasy as a tool
* Speak up! Just because you see something, do not assume that someone else sees it, too.
* Put a premium on interpersonal skills
* Surface unique knowledge
* Be careful when you label something a fact
* Develop skeptics
* Be suspicious of good news
* Seek out bad news
* Test your expectations
* Welcome uncertainty
* Treat all unexpected events as information, and share this information widely
* Transform close calls into near misses
* Specify the burden of proof
* Adopt complex models because they direct attention to more details and register more facets of context.
* Revise existing models as well as existing practices
* Carry your expectations lightly
* Reward contact with the frontline
* Clarify what constitutes good news
* Frame mindfulness in novel ways
||
* Remember that ambivalence builds resilience
* Use rich media and encourage people to listen
* Be mindful publicly
* Enlarge competencies and response repertoires
* Build excess capacity. Don’t overdo lean, mean ideals
* Create flexible decision structure
* Accelerate feedback
* Balance centralization with decentralization
* Reinforce perishable values
* Mitigate complacency

|}
Read [[Creating_a_positive_culture_around_failure_in_project_management|How to create a positive culture around failure in project management]] here.

== Limitations ==
It is important to underline that mindfulness is not a tool – Mindfulness is a mind-set, a management theory. Thus, there is no recipe on how to implement mindfulness on projects, programs, portfolios or in organizations. The processes listed above can serve as inspiration, but have to be adjusted to fit into the context of organization and employees.

Mindfulness is a complex management theory. As the principle “''Reluctance to simplify''” justify, it takes a complex idea to capture a complex phenomenon. To fully implement mindfulness and deal with the unexpected it is required to organize in a complex manner. Likewise mindfulness preach a need for complex set of ideas to understand what people are doing and why it works thus requiring workers with a certain level of receptivity and resources.

Analyzing the mindfulness theory described by Weick and Sutcliffe there is one shortfall. Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name="WS" />. argue that human cognition in the mindfulness theory is the solution to reliability problems, but they tend to over-simplify the resilience concept by neglecting the importance of routine-based reliability. Studies of human systems reveal two strategies for achieving reliable performance shown in Figure 3
<ref name=BG>Butler, B. S., & Gray, P. H. 2006. Reliability, mindfulness, and information systems. Mis Quarterly, 30(2), pp.211–224 ''Butler and Gray examine the concept of mindfulness as a theoretical foundation for explaining efforts to achieve individual and organizational reliability in the face of complex technologies and surprising environments.''</ref>:

* Routine-based reliability
* Mindfulness-based reliability

[[File:Realibility figure v2.png|600px|thumb|Right|Figure 3: Strategies for achieving reliable performance<ref name="BG" />

Organizationally, routine-based reliability involves the creation and execution of standard operating and decision-making procedures, which may be unique to the organization or widely accepted across an industry <ref>Spender, J. C. 1989. ''Industry recipes: An Enquiry into the Nature and Sources of Managerial Judgement''. Oxorfd, UK: Basil Blackwell.</ref>. The routine-based reliability strategy rely on predefined procedures, routines and training designed to decrease cognitive human problem solving, to reduce errors, unwanted variation and waste. Defining procedures etc. is a frontloaded process where unknown/unknowns(See [[wikipedia:Johari_window|Johari Window]]) may oppose a major risk because unexpected events cannot be implemented into the procedures. While routine-based approaches focus on reducing or eliminating situated human cognition as the cause of errors, mindfulness-based approaches focus on promoting highly situated human cognition as the solution to individual and organisational reliability problems <ref name="WS" />. Mindfulness focus on one of the two strategies and ignore or assume that optimal routines, procedures and structures are in place. Mindfulness does not describe the interdependencies and synergistic impacts between the two strategies.

==References==

<references/>

== Further Reading ==
* [[Wikipedia:Cognition|Cognition]]
* [[Wikipedia:Mindfulness|Mindfulness]]
* [[Wikipedia:Union_Pacific_Railroad|Union Pacific Railroad]]
* [[Wikipedia:Reliability_engineering|Reliability Engineering]]

Organisational resilience with mindfulness

2015-09-28T12:05:12Z

S140046:

== Abstract ==

An increasing demand for resilience within sociotechnical organisations has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations for unexpected events. Thorough management is crucial in resilient organisations (check ref, Geraldi et al, 2009) and mindfulness encompass the risk of the human mind. Mindful project managers are aware of cognitive biases and irrationalities. They inspire workers to be rational and fact-based.

Mindfulness is about keeping a high level of alertness and awareness of context and using awareness in our decision and actions <ref name=oehmen>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI</ref>. This article will address how mindfulness is used as an managerial instrument to obtain resilience in an organisation. The article will define the mindfulness theory with description of the 5 principles. Furthermore complex organisations and unexpected events related to unknown/unknowns is defined. There will be a focus on “commitment to resilience” and “deference to expertise” which focusing on reacting to unexpected events hence improving the resilience in the organisation.

----

== Overview ==
[[File:Flickr_-_Official_U.S._Navy_Imagery_-_An_airplane_launches_from_the_flight_deck..jpg|400px|thumb|Right|Figure 1: US Navy carrier example of an HRO]]
Mindfulness is a term introduced by the professors Karl E. Weick and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe after studying [[Wikipedia:High_reliability_organization|high reliability organizations]] (HRO). These organizations have no choice but to function reliable. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> found that reliability does not mean a complete lack of variation. It is just the opposite. It takes mindful variety to assure stable high performance. The learnings and techniques from the HRO’s can be implemented in projects and in organizations who want a higher reliability.

In brief, mindfulness involves the ability to detect important aspects of the context and take timely, appropriate action. A well-developed capability for mindfulness catches the unexpected earlier when it is smaller, comprehends its potential importance despite the small size of the disruption, and removes, contains or rebounds from the effects of the unexpected. Managing the unexpected, mindful project managers and organizations are able to reliably deliver the task they were asked to do.

The expectations of individuals tend not to correspond with the reality. We are all affected by cognitive biases and the mindful project manager is aware of that.

=== Mindfulness VS Mindlessness ===
To underline the importance of mindfulness its counterpart mindlessness is described. Mindlessness is characterized by at style of mental functioning in which people follow recipes, impose old categories to classify what they see, act with some rigidity, operate on automatic pilot, and mislabel unfamiliar new contexts as familiar old ones <ref name="WS" />

== Application ==
An increasing demand for resilience within [[Wikipedia:Sociotechnical_system|sociotechnical systems]] has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations and their project, program and portfolio managers for unexpected events. The awareness of resilience and [[Wikipedia:Antifragility|antifragility]] is crucial for HRO’s, but all organisations can learn from the mind-set of the HRO’s. Even organisations without risks of casualties can improve their practices with mindfulness. It is a matter of context. Once the context, the precautions, the assumptions, the focus of attention is ignored, it becomes obvious that many organizations are just as exposed to the unexpected as HRO’s and just as much in need of mindfulness. E.g an unexpected shutdown at an [[Wikipedia:Assembly_line|assembly line]] is not a severe crisis. However the supervisor did not expect any fails or shutdowns. To him it is an unexpected crisis. Unexpected events occur at all organizational levels.

Project, Program and Portfolio managers are familiar with many project management tools and they are able to define project time, costs, risks, stakeholders etc. by [[Wikipedia:Project_Management_Institute|PMI]] standards. However, when projects become more complex e.g. in order of technical and organisational complexity, social intricacy of human behavior or uncertainty of long lifecycles, standard tools becomes inadequate. We tend to think of ourselves as rational beings, but in fact subconscious processes often drive human behavior. Not being aware of these subconscious thought processes can adversely affect projects. Mindful project managers know that they do not know everything. They know that their thoughts and impressions are affected by [[Wikipedia:Cognitive_bias|cognitive biases]]. Thus, they must be aware of their irrationalities to act in a mindful manner and become rational and fact-based. Mindfulness is instrumental in managing the intersection between human behavior and uncertainties thus generating processes within projects, programs and portfolios that are more reliable.

=== Principles ===

Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name="WS" /> have developed five principles that harness the key characteristics in mindfulness. These guidelines/principles apply upward to divisions and organizations as well as downward to teams, crews and team leaders. The principles can be adopted by anyone. Each principle is given an example from different HRO’s.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Principle
! Description
! Example(s)
|-
| Preoccupation with failure
|A preoccupation with failure focuses the organization to convert small errors and failures into organizational learnings and improvements.

“Pay close attention to weak signals of failure that may be symptoms of larger problems within the system” <ref name="WS" />

Be wary of the potential liabilities of successes such as complacency, the temptation to reduce margins of safety and drift into automatic processes.

Read also [[Early_warning_signals_in_project_management |''Early warning signals in project management'']]

|The airline industry encourage their personnel to report all failures and near misses generating failure catalogs. A big effort is expended in reviewing all reports to improve processes and workarounds.

|-
| Reluctance to simplify
| Simplify mindfully and reluctantly. Have in mind that simplification can become too simple resulting in useless, unprecise simplifications e.g. explanations and categories. Problems faced in complex projects typically offer several options and a nuanced picture to fully understand the best solution.
|A merger of two North American railroad companies in 1996 resulted in a gridlock of the system from North Platte, Nebraska to Chicago. Many small errors and failures occurred after the merger, but the most obvious reason for the gridlock was an ignorant and arrogant attitude toward innovative and complex solutions. The top management insisted that trains are made up in central locations called classification yards, not in dispersed locations called shipper yards, satellite yards or mainline tracks. Freight shipped by railroaders are shipped by rail, not barge. In this case the problems caused by these simplifications were overlooked until the central location or excessive grain shipments became a bottleneck causing the gridlock.
|-
| Sensitivity to operations
| An organization must have an integrated overall and aligned picture of operation. Sensitivity to operations is closely related to sensitivity to relationships. Meaning a clear and unprejudiced communication between operation and management is crucial to understand the big picture.

Furthermore, it is important to be responsive to the changing reality of projects. This can be obtained first by controlling the progress, monitor deviations and implication on projects, and second being mindful to potential unexpected events.

| 1: Studies of nuclear weapons suggest that many problems arise not from a single failure, but when small deviations in different operational areas combine to create conditions that were never imagined in the plans and designs<ref name=Sagan>Sagan S.D. 1993. The limits of safety: Organizations Accidents and Nuclear Weapons. Princeton, NJ. Princeton University.</ref>

2: The microcomputer industry can be characterized as a high velocity environment with a rapid and discontinuous change in demand, competitors, technology and inaccurate, unavailable or obsolete information. Decision-makers deal with this environment by paying close attention to real-time information e.g. concerning current operations or environments.

|-
| Commitment to resilience
|Accommodate unexpected events and react to them quickly as they arise.
Resilience involves (a) the ability to absorb strain and preserve the functioning of the project; (b) ability to recover quickly; (c) ability to learn from the unexpected event and how it impacted the project.<ref name="oehmen" />

| In the North American railroad merger case the meltdown of operations showed an inability to bounce back when the initial problems occurred. The railroad were short of men right after the merger and they had trimmed crews, locomotives and supervisors shortly before the gridlock from Nebraska to Chicago. Slack resources is a common way to create resilience.
|-
|Deference to expertise (Collective mindfulness)
| Deference to expertise is about involving experts in the decision-making. The experts actively involved in the projects are more capable to give articulate solutions to problems. Rigid hierarchies have their own special vulnerability to error where errors at high levels tend to pick up and combine errors at low levels. HRO’s push decision making down where decision is made on the front line. The authority migrate to the people with the most expertise, regardless of their rank.

Collective mindfulness is associated with cultures and structures that promote open discussions of errors, mistakes and awareness.

|In the North American railroad merger case the decisions were made from top management even though their operational expertise were outdated. Furthermore the management were only fed with information that they wanted to hear. A horrible paradigm where management were fed with biased information and insisted to make decisions at top level. This classic command-and-control bureaucracy is adequate for a stable situation but too inflexible in times of change.
|}

== Topics in Mindfulness ==
[[File:Circle of influence.png|300px|thumb|Right|Figure 2: Circle of influence]]
[The five principles are general guidelines of mindfulness.
To be able to implement mindfulness as a manager you must be aware of your cognitive behaviour as a human including how you experience the world. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name="WS" /> <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref> (reference 2001 & 2007) It is recognised that you start Write about circle of influence from IDA event…...
Continuous learning] FINISH WRITING

=== Expectations ===
An expectation is to envision something, that is reasonably certain to come true. To expect something is to be mentally ready for it. “ Expectations form the basis for virtually all deliberate action because expectancies about how the world operates serve as implicit assumptions that guide behavioural choices” <ref>Olson, J. M., Roese, J. M. and Zanna, M. P. ''Expectancies''. In Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles, edited by E.T. Higgins & A.W. Kruglanski, pp211-238. New York, NY: Guilford.</ref>. With that in mind, it is important to be mindful about your expectations. Expectations direct your attention to certain features or events, which means that they affect what you notice and remember. Whenever our expectations does not match with reality our minds adjust our expectations to reality. It can be compared with a [[Wikipedia:Hypothesis_test|hypothesis-test]]. The human mind search for confirmation of its expectations but is biased to avoid looking for evidence that disconfirm them. HRO’s work hard to counteract this tendency. They routinely suspect their expectations for being incomplete. With this process, they check if the normal accepted expectation still pass the hypothesis test.

=== The capability for mindfulness (Categories) ===
Whenever people change the way they perceive the world they essentially rework the way they label and categorize what they see. This change in perception can be described with the following process:

# Re-examine discarded information
# Monitor how categories affect expectations and,
# Remove out-dated distinctions

Firstly, to rework one’s categories mindfully implies to evaluate how much information is discarded with a categorization of an instance with similar characteristics. Generally categorization help gaining control in a fast pace world. Categories can predict what will happen and plan one’s own actions. Without categories, any person or situation would be unique and therefore conserve scarce mental resources of attention and thinking. To exemplify categorization a university professor meet hundreds of students each day and have to categorize different types of students. The professor could categorize the students into categories such as active/passive, introvert/extrovert, Intelligent/less intelligent, man/women, young/old etc. The categories guide the professor how (s)he should behave or treat the different students. One category cannot describe all facets of a person and the professor must be aware of the discarded information within each category.

Secondly, mindful reworking of categories also mean that one pay close attention to their effect on the expectations. Categories and expectations are closely related. E.g., a person categorized as an expert is expected to know the answers within his/her field of expertise. These expectations constantly have to be revised and evaluated. It may be necessary to differentiate the expectations, replace them, supplement them, or discard the whole category.

Third, mindful reworking means a check whether the categories remain plausible. Outdated categorization with implausible distinctions of expectations ensure trouble. This is the basic misreading in HRO’s. The trouble starts when you fail to notice that you only look for whatever confirms your categories and expectations. “Believing is seeing. You see what you expect to see. You see what you have the labels to see. You see what you have the skills to manage.” <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>
People who persistently rework their categories and refine them, differentiate them, update them, and replace them notice more and catch unexpected events earlier in their development. That is the essence of mindfulness <ref name="WS" />.

=== The Unexpected ===
Unexpected events can be categorized in three forms <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref>:
The unexpected occur when an event that was
* expected to happen fail to occur.
* not expected to happen does happen.
* simply unthought-of happens (Unknown/unkowns)

Unexpected events are caused by faulty expectations and the fact that we sought to look for evidence that confirm our expectations. These confirmations are found to boost our experience of being in control. However, this confirming behavior has adverse effect on how quick we realize we are wrong and rework our expectations. A slow realization time allows problems to worsen and become harder to solve and they might even be entangled with other problems.
HRO’s strive to minimize the risk that unthought-of events happen by steering people towards mindful practices that encourage imagination. People inadvertently trivialize the importance of imagination. Instead people tend to “''Expect the unexpected''” to maintain their desire for control and predictability.

== Putting Mindfulness into Practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager ==
Putting Mindfulness into practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager
<ref name="WS" /> have developed concrete processes based on the five principles and on practices identified in the best HRO’s. The processes is organised under two headings. “''Awareness and Anticipation of the Unexpected''” concerning the three first principles, involving failure, simplification and operations. “''Containment of those unexpected events that occur''” concerning the last two principles involving resilience and expertise.

{| cellpadding=5 style="border:1px solid #BBB"
|'''Enhancing awareness and anticipation''' || '''Enhancing containment'''
|-
|
* Preserve a balance of values
* Restate your goals in the form of mistakes that must not occur
* Remember that mindfulness takes effort
* Create Awareness of vulnerability
* Cultivate humility
* Be glad when you are having a bad day
* Create an error friendly learning culture
* Encourage alternative frames of reference
* Strengthen fantasy as a tool
* Speak up! Just because you see something, do not assume that someone else sees it, too.
* Put a premium on interpersonal skills
* Surface unique knowledge
* Be careful when you label something a fact
* Develop skeptics
* Be suspicious of good news
* Seek out bad news
* Test your expectations
* Welcome uncertainty
* Treat all unexpected events as information, and share this information widely
* Transform close calls into near misses
* Specify the burden of proof
* Adopt complex models because they direct attention to more details and register more facets of context.
* Revise existing models as well as existing practices
* Carry your expectations lightly
* Reward contact with the frontline
* Clarify what constitutes good news
* Frame mindfulness in novel ways
||
* Remember that ambivalence builds resilience
* Use rich media and encourage people to listen
* Be mindful publicly
* Enlarge competencies and response repertoires
* Build excess capacity. Don’t overdo lean, mean ideals
* Create flexible decision structure
* Accelerate feedback
* Balance centralization with decentralization
* Reinforce perishable values
* Mitigate complacency

|}
Read [[Creating_a_positive_culture_around_failure_in_project_management|How to create a positive culture around failure in project management]] here.

== Limitations ==
It is important to underline that mindfulness is not a tool – Mindfulness is a mind-set, a management theory. Thus, there is no recipe on how to implement mindfulness on projects, programs, portfolios or in organizations. The processes listed above can serve as inspiration, but have to be adjusted to fit into the context of organization and employees.

Mindfulness is a complex management theory. As the principle “''Reluctance to simplify''” justify, it takes a complex idea to capture a complex phenomenon. To fully implement mindfulness and deal with the unexpected it is required to organize in a complex manner. Likewise mindfulness preach a need for complex set of ideas to understand what people are doing and why it works thus requiring workers with a certain level of receptivity and resources.

Analyzing the mindfulness theory described by Weick and Sutcliffe there is one shortfall. Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name="WS" />. argue that human cognition in the mindfulness theory is the solution to reliability problems, but they tend to over-simplify the resilience concept by neglecting the importance of routine-based reliability. Studies of human systems reveal two strategies for achieving reliable performance shown in Figure 3
<ref name=BG>Butler, B. S., & Gray, P. H. 2006. Reliability, mindfulness, and information systems. Mis Quarterly, 30(2), pp.211–224</ref>:

* Routine-based reliability
* Mindfulness-based reliability

[[File:Realibility figure v2.png|600px|thumb|Right|Figure 3: Strategies for achieving reliable performance<ref name="BG" />

Organizationally, routine-based reliability involves the creation and execution of standard operating and decision-making procedures, which may be unique to the organization or widely accepted across an industry <ref>Spender, J. C. 1989. ''Industry recipes: An Enquiry into the Nature and Sources of Managerial Judgement''. Oxorfd, UK: Basil Blackwell.</ref>. The routine-based reliability strategy rely on predefined procedures, routines and training designed to decrease cognitive human problem solving, to reduce errors, unwanted variation and waste. Defining procedures etc. is a frontloaded process where unknown/unknowns(See [[wikipedia:Johari_window|Johari Window]]) may oppose a major risk because unexpected events cannot be implemented into the procedures. While routine-based approaches focus on reducing or eliminating situated human cognition as the cause of errors, mindfulness-based approaches focus on promoting highly situated human cognition as the solution to individual and organisational reliability problems <ref name="WS" />. Mindfulness focus on one of the two strategies and ignore or assume that optimal routines, procedures and structures are in place. Mindfulness does not describe the interdependencies and synergistic impacts between the two strategies.

==References==

<references/>

== Further Reading ==
* [[Wikipedia:Cognition|Cognition]]
* [[Wikipedia:Mindfulness|Mindfulness]]
* [[Wikipedia:Union_Pacific_Railroad|Union Pacific Railroad]]
* [[Wikipedia:Reliability_engineering|Reliability Engineering]]

Organisational resilience with mindfulness

2015-09-28T08:13:56Z

S140046:

== Abstract ==

An increasing demand for resilience within sociotechnical organisations has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations for unexpected events. Thorough management is crucial in resilient organisations (check ref, Geraldi et al, 2009) and mindfulness encompass the risk of the human mind. Mindful project managers are aware of cognitive biases and irrationalities. They inspire workers to be rational and fact-based.

Mindfulness is about keeping a high level of alertness and awareness of context and using awareness in our decision and actions <ref name=oehmen>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI</ref>. This article will address how mindfulness is used as an managerial instrument to obtain resilience in an organisation. The article will define the mindfulness theory with description of the 5 principles. Furthermore complex organisations and unexpected events related to unknown/unknowns is defined. There will be a focus on “commitment to resilience” and “deference to expertise” which focusing on reacting to unexpected events hence improving the resilience in the organisation.

----

== Overview ==
[[File:Flickr_-_Official_U.S._Navy_Imagery_-_An_airplane_launches_from_the_flight_deck..jpg|400px|thumb|Right|Figure 1: US Navy carrier example of an HRO]]
Mindfulness is a term introduced by the professors Karl E. Weick and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe after studying [[Wikipedia:High_reliability_organization|high reliability organizations]] (HRO). These organizations have no choice but to function reliable. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> found that reliability does not mean a complete lack of variation. It is just the opposite. It takes mindful variety to assure stable high performance. The learnings and techniques from the HRO’s can be implemented in projects and in organizations who want a higher reliability.

In brief, mindfulness involves the ability to detect important aspects of the context and take timely, appropriate action. A well-developed capability for mindfulness catches the unexpected earlier when it is smaller, comprehends its potential importance despite the small size of the disruption, and removes, contains or rebounds from the effects of the unexpected. Managing the unexpected, mindful project managers and organizations are able to reliably deliver the task they were asked to do.

The expectations of individuals tend not to correspond with the reality. We are all affected by cognitive biases and the mindful project manager is aware of that.

=== Mindfulness VS Mindlessness ===
To underline the importance of mindfulness its counterpart mindlessness is described. Mindlessness is characterized by at style of mental functioning in which people follow recipes, impose old categories to classify what they see, act with some rigidity, operate on automatic pilot, and mislabel unfamiliar new contexts as familiar old ones <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>.

== Application ==
An increasing demand for resilience within [[Wikipedia:Sociotechnical_system|sociotechnical systems]] has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations and their project, program and portfolio managers for unexpected events. The awareness of resilience and [[Wikipedia:Antifragility|antifragility]] is crucial for HRO’s, but all organisations can learn from the mind-set of the HRO’s. Even organisations without risks of casualties can improve their practices with mindfulness. It is a matter of context. Once the context, the precautions, the assumptions, the focus of attention is ignored, it becomes obvious that many organizations are just as exposed to the unexpected as HRO’s and just as much in need of mindfulness. E.g an unexpected shutdown at an [[Wikipedia:Assembly_line|assembly line]] is not a severe crisis. However the supervisor did not expect any fails or shutdowns. To him it is an unexpected crisis. Unexpected events occur at all organizational levels.

Project, Program and Portfolio managers are familiar with many project management tools and they are able to define project time, costs, risks, stakeholders etc. by [[Wikipedia:Project_Management_Institute|PMI]] standards. However, when projects become more complex e.g. in order of technical and organisational complexity, social intricacy of human behavior or uncertainty of long lifecycles, standard tools becomes inadequate. We tend to think of ourselves as rational beings, but in fact subconscious processes often drive human behavior. Not being aware of these subconscious thought processes can adversely affect projects. Mindful project managers know that they do not know everything. They know that their thoughts and impressions are affected by [[Wikipedia:Cognitive_bias|cognitive biases]]. Thus, they must be aware of their irrationalities to act in a mindful manner and become rational and fact-based. Mindfulness is instrumental in managing the intersection between human behavior and uncertainties thus generating processes within projects, programs and portfolios that are more reliable.

=== Principles ===

Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> have developed five principles that harness the key characteristics in mindfulness. These guidelines/principles apply upward to divisions and organizations as well as downward to teams, crews and team leaders. The principles can be adopted by anyone. Each principle is given an example from different HRO’s.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Principle
! Description
! Example(s)
|-
| Preoccupation with failure
| A preoccupation with failure focuses the organization to convert small errors and failures into organizational learnings and improvements.

“Pay close attention to weak signals of failure that may be symptoms of larger problems within the system” <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>

Be wary of the potential liabilities of successes such as complacency, the temptation to reduce margins of safety and drift into automatic processes.

Read also [[Early_warning_signals_in_project_management |''Early warning signals in project management'']]

| The airline industry encourage their personnel to report all failures and near misses generating failure catalogs. A big effort is expended in reviewing all reports to improve processes and workarounds.

|-
| Reluctance to simplify
| Simplify mindfully and reluctantly. Have in mind that simplification can become too simple resulting in useless, unprecise simplifications e.g. explanations and categories. Problems faced in complex projects typically offer several options and a nuanced picture to fully understand the best solution.
|A merger of two North American railroad companies in 1996 resulted in a gridlock of the system from North Platte, Nebraska to Chicago. Many small errors and failures occurred after the merger, but the most obvious reason for the gridlock was an ignorant and arrogant attitude toward innovative and complex solutions. The top management insisted that trains are made up in central locations called classification yards, not in dispersed locations called shipper yards, satellite yards or mainline tracks. Freight shipped by railroaders are shipped by rail, not barge. In this case the problems caused by these simplifications were overlooked until the central location or excessive grain shipments became a bottleneck causing the gridlock.
|-
| Sensitivity to operations
| An organization must have an integrated overall and aligned picture of operation. Sensitivity to operations is closely related to sensitivity to relationships. Meaning a clear and unprejudiced communication between operation and management is crucial to understand the big picture.

Furthermore, it is important to be responsive to the changing reality of projects. This can be obtained first by controlling the progress, monitor deviations and implication on projects, and second being mindful to potential unexpected events.

| 1: Studies of nuclear weapons suggest that many problems arise not from a single failure, but when small deviations in different operational areas combine to create conditions that were never imagined in the plans and designs<ref name=Sagan>Sagan S.D. 1993. The limits of safety: Organizations Accidents and Nuclear Weapons. Princeton, NJ. Princeton University.</ref>

2: The microcomputer industry can be characterized as a high velocity environment with a rapid and discontinuous change in demand, competitors, technology and inaccurate, unavailable or obsolete information. Decision-makers deal with this environment by paying close attention to real-time information e.g. concerning current operations or environments.

|-
| Commitment to resilience
|Accommodate unexpected events and react to them quickly as they arise.
Resilience involves (a) the ability to absorb strain and preserve the functioning of the project; (b) ability to recover quickly; (c) ability to learn from the unexpected event and how it impacted the project.<ref name=oehmen>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI</ref>

| In the North American railroad merger case the meltdown of operations showed an inability to bounce back when the initial problems occurred. The railroad were short of men right after the merger and they had trimmed crews, locomotives and supervisors shortly before the gridlock from Nebraska to Chicago. Slack resources is a common way to create resilience.
|-
|Deference to expertise (Collective mindfulness)
| Deference to expertise is about involving experts in the decision-making. The experts actively involved in the projects are more capable to give articulate solutions to problems. Rigid hierarchies have their own special vulnerability to error where errors at high levels tend to pick up and combine errors at low levels. HRO’s push decision making down where decision is made on the front line. The authority migrate to the people with the most expertise, regardless of their rank.

Collective mindfulness is associated with cultures and structures that promote open discussions of errors, mistakes and awareness.

|In the North American railroad merger case the decisions were made from top management even though their operational expertise were outdated. Furthermore the management were only fed with information that they wanted to hear. A horrible paradigm where management were fed with biased information and insisted to make decisions at top level. This classic command-and-control bureaucracy is adequate for a stable situation but too inflexible in times of change.
|}

== Topics in Mindfulness ==
[[File:Circle of influence.png|300px|thumb|Right|Figure 2: Circle of influence]]
[The five principles are general guidelines of mindfulness.
To be able to implement mindfulness as a manager you must be aware of your cognitive behaviour as a human including how you experience the world. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref> (reference 2001 & 2007) It is recognised that you start Write about circle of influence from IDA event…...
Continuous learning] FINISH WRITING

=== Expectations ===
An expectation is to envision something, that is reasonably certain to come true. To expect something is to be mentally ready for it. “ Expectations form the basis for virtually all deliberate action because expectancies about how the world operates serve as implicit assumptions that guide behavioural choices” <ref>Olson, J. M., Roese, J. M. and Zanna, M. P. ''Expectancies''. In Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles, edited by E.T. Higgins & A.W. Kruglanski, pp211-238. New York, NY: Guilford.</ref>. With that in mind, it is important to be mindful about your expectations. Expectations direct your attention to certain features or events, which means that they affect what you notice and remember. Whenever our expectations does not match with reality our minds adjust our expectations to reality. It can be compared with a [[Wikipedia:Hypothesis_test|hypothesis-test]]. The human mind search for confirmation of its expectations but is biased to avoid looking for evidence that disconfirm them. HRO’s work hard to counteract this tendency. They routinely suspect their expectations for being incomplete. With this process, they check if the normal accepted expectation still pass the hypothesis test.

=== The capability for mindfulness (Categories) ===
Whenever people change the way they perceive the world they essentially rework the way they label and categorize what they see. This change in perception can be described with the following process:

# Re-examine discarded information
# Monitor how categories affect expectations and,
# Remove out-dated distinctions

Firstly, to rework one’s categories mindfully implies to evaluate how much information is discarded with a categorization of an instance with similar characteristics. Generally categorization help gaining control in a fast pace world. Categories can predict what will happen and plan one’s own actions. Without categories, any person or situation would be unique and therefore conserve scarce mental resources of attention and thinking. To exemplify categorization a university professor meet hundreds of students each day and have to categorize different types of students. The professor could categorize the students into categories such as active/passive, introvert/extrovert, Intelligent/less intelligent, man/women, young/old etc. The categories guide the professor how (s)he should behave or treat the different students. One category cannot describe all facets of a person and the professor must be aware of the discarded information within each category.

Secondly, mindful reworking of categories also mean that one pay close attention to their effect on the expectations. Categories and expectations are closely related. E.g., a person categorized as an expert is expected to know the answers within his/her field of expertise. These expectations constantly have to be revised and evaluated. It may be necessary to differentiate the expectations, replace them, supplement them, or discard the whole category.

Third, mindful reworking means a check whether the categories remain plausible. Outdated categorization with implausible distinctions of expectations ensure trouble. This is the basic misreading in HRO’s. The trouble starts when you fail to notice that you only look for whatever confirms your categories and expectations. “Believing is seeing. You see what you expect to see. You see what you have the labels to see. You see what you have the skills to manage.” <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>
People who persistently rework their categories and refine them, differentiate them, update them, and replace them notice more and catch unexpected events earlier in their development. That is the essence of mindfulness <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>.

=== The Unexpected ===
Unexpected events can be categorized in three forms <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref>:
The unexpected occur when an event that was
* expected to happen fail to occur.
* not expected to happen does happen.
* simply unthought-of happens (Unknown/unkowns)

Unexpected events are caused by faulty expectations and the fact that we sought to look for evidence that confirm our expectations. These confirmations are found to boost our experience of being in control. However, this confirming behavior has adverse effect on how quick we realize we are wrong and rework our expectations. A slow realization time allows problems to worsen and become harder to solve and they might even be entangled with other problems.
HRO’s strive to minimize the risk that unthought-of events happen by steering people towards mindful practices that encourage imagination. People inadvertently trivialize the importance of imagination. Instead people tend to “''Expect the unexpected''” to maintain their desire for control and predictability.

== Putting Mindfulness into Practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager ==
Putting Mindfulness into practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager
<ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref> have developed concrete processes based on the five principles and on practices identified in the best HRO’s. The processes is organised under two headings. “''Awareness and Anticipation of the Unexpected''” concerning the three first principles, involving failure, simplification and operations. “''Containment of those unexpected events that occur''” concerning the last two principles involving resilience and expertise.

{| cellpadding=5 style="border:1px solid #BBB"
|'''Enhancing awareness and anticipation''' || '''Enhancing containment'''
|-
|
* Preserve a balance of values
* Restate your goals in the form of mistakes that must not occur
* Remember that mindfulness takes effort
* Create Awareness of vulnerability
* Cultivate humility
* Be glad when you are having a bad day
* Create an error friendly learning culture
* Encourage alternative frames of reference
* Strengthen fantasy as a tool
* Speak up! Just because you see something, do not assume that someone else sees it, too.
* Put a premium on interpersonal skills
* Surface unique knowledge
* Be careful when you label something a fact
* Develop skeptics
* Be suspicious of good news
* Seek out bad news
* Test your expectations
* Welcome uncertainty
* Treat all unexpected events as information, and share this information widely
* Transform close calls into near misses
* Specify the burden of proof
* Adopt complex models because they direct attention to more details and register more facets of context.
* Revise existing models as well as existing practices
* Carry your expectations lightly
* Reward contact with the frontline
* Clarify what constitutes good news
* Frame mindfulness in novel ways
||
* Remember that ambivalence builds resilience
* Use rich media and encourage people to listen
* Be mindful publicly
* Enlarge competencies and response repertoires
* Build excess capacity. Don’t overdo lean, mean ideals
* Create flexible decision structure
* Accelerate feedback
* Balance centralization with decentralization
* Reinforce perishable values
* Mitigate complacency

|}
Read [[Creating_a_positive_culture_around_failure_in_project_management|How to create a positive culture around failure in project management]] here.

== Limitations ==
It is important to underline that mindfulness is not a tool – Mindfulness is a mind-set, a management theory. Thus, there is no recipe on how to implement mindfulness on projects, programs, portfolios or in organizations. The processes listed above can serve as inspiration, but have to be adjusted to fit into the context of organization and employees.

Mindfulness is a complex management theory. As the principle “''Reluctance to simplify''” justify, it takes a complex idea to capture a complex phenomenon. To fully implement mindfulness and deal with the unexpected it is required to organize in a complex manner. Likewise mindfulness preach a need for complex set of ideas to understand what people are doing and why it works thus requiring workers with a certain level of receptivity and resources.

Analyzing the mindfulness theory described by Weick and Sutcliffe there is one shortfall. Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>. argue that human cognition in the mindfulness theory is the solution to reliability problems, but they tend to over-simplify the resilience concept by neglecting the importance of routine-based reliability. Studies of human systems reveal two strategies for achieving reliable performance shown in Figure 3
<ref name=BG>Butler, B. S., & Gray, P. H. 2006. Reliability, mindfulness, and information systems. Mis Quarterly, 30(2), pp.211–224</ref>:

* Routine-based reliability
* Mindfulness-based reliability

[[File:Realibility figure v2.png|600px|thumb|Right|Figure 3: Strategies for achieving reliable performance<ref name=BG>Butler, B. S., & Gray, P. H. 2006. Reliability, mindfulness, and information systems. Mis Quarterly, 30(2), pp.211–224</ref>]]

Organizationally, routine-based reliability involves the creation and execution of standard operating and decision-making procedures, which may be unique to the organization or widely accepted across an industry <ref>Spender, J. C. 1989. ''Industry recipes: An Enquiry into the Nature and Sources of Managerial Judgement''. Oxorfd, UK: Basil Blackwell.</ref>. The routine-based reliability strategy rely on predefined procedures, routines and training designed to decrease cognitive human problem solving, to reduce errors, unwanted variation and waste. Defining procedures etc. is a frontloaded process where unknown/unknowns(See [[wikipedia:Johari_window|Johari Window]]) may oppose a major risk because unexpected events cannot be implemented into the procedures. While routine-based approaches focus on reducing or eliminating situated human cognition as the cause of errors, mindfulness-based approaches focus on promoting highly situated human cognition as the solution to individual and organisational reliability problems <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>.. Mindfulness focus on one of the two strategies and ignore or assume that optimal routines, procedures and structures are in place. Mindfulness does not describe the interdependencies and synergistic impacts between the two strategies.

==References==

<references/>

== Further Reading ==
* [[Wikipedia:Cognition|Cognition]]
* [[Wikipedia:Mindfulness|Mindfulness]]
* [[Wikipedia:Union_Pacific_Railroad|Union Pacific Railroad]]
* [[Wikipedia:Reliability_engineering|Reliability Engineering]]

Organisational resilience with mindfulness

2015-09-28T08:13:17Z

S140046:

== Abstract ==

An increasing demand for resilience within sociotechnical organisations has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations for unexpected events. Thorough management is crucial in resilient organisations (check ref, Geraldi et al, 2009) and mindfulness encompass the risk of the human mind. Mindful project managers are aware of cognitive biases and irrationalities. They inspire workers to be rational and fact-based.

Mindfulness is about keeping a high level of alertness and awareness of context and using awareness in our decision and actions <ref name=oehmen>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI</ref>. This article will address how mindfulness is used as an managerial instrument to obtain resilience in an organisation. The article will define the mindfulness theory with description of the 5 principles. Furthermore complex organisations and unexpected events related to unknown/unknowns is defined. There will be a focus on “commitment to resilience” and “deference to expertise” which focusing on reacting to unexpected events hence improving the resilience in the organisation.

----

== Overview ==
[[File:Flickr_-_Official_U.S._Navy_Imagery_-_An_airplane_launches_from_the_flight_deck..jpg|400px|thumb|Right|Figure 1: US Navy carrier example of an HRO]]
Mindfulness is a term introduced by the professors Karl E. Weick and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe after studying [[Wikipedia:High_reliability_organization|high reliability organizations]] (HRO). These organizations have no choice but to function reliable. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> found that reliability does not mean a complete lack of variation. It is just the opposite. It takes mindful variety to assure stable high performance. The learnings and techniques from the HRO’s can be implemented in projects and in organizations who want a higher reliability.

In brief, mindfulness involves the ability to detect important aspects of the context and take timely, appropriate action. A well-developed capability for mindfulness catches the unexpected earlier when it is smaller, comprehends its potential importance despite the small size of the disruption, and removes, contains or rebounds from the effects of the unexpected. Managing the unexpected, mindful project managers and organizations are able to reliably deliver the task they were asked to do.

The expectations of individuals tend not to correspond with the reality. We are all affected by cognitive biases and the mindful project manager is aware of that.

=== Mindfulness VS Mindlessness ===
To underline the importance of mindfulness its counterpart mindlessness is described. Mindlessness is characterized by at style of mental functioning in which people follow recipes, impose old categories to classify what they see, act with some rigidity, operate on automatic pilot, and mislabel unfamiliar new contexts as familiar old ones <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>.

== Application ==
An increasing demand for resilience within [[Wikipedia:Sociotechnical_system|sociotechnical systems]] has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations and their project, program and portfolio managers for unexpected events. The awareness of resilience and [[Wikipedia:Antifragility|antifragility]] is crucial for HRO’s, but all organisations can learn from the mind-set of the HRO’s. Even organisations without risks of casualties can improve their practices with mindfulness. It is a matter of context. Once the context, the precautions, the assumptions, the focus of attention is ignored, it becomes obvious that many organizations are just as exposed to the unexpected as HRO’s and just as much in need of mindfulness. E.g an unexpected shutdown at an [[Wikipedia:Assembly_line|assembly line]] is not a severe crisis. However the supervisor did not expect any fails or shutdowns. To him it is an unexpected crisis. Unexpected events occur at all organizational levels.

Project, Program and Portfolio managers are familiar with many project management tools and they are able to define project time, costs, risks, stakeholders etc. by [[Wikipedia:Project_Management_Institute|PMI]] standards. However, when projects become more complex e.g. in order of technical and organisational complexity, social intricacy of human behavior or uncertainty of long lifecycles, standard tools becomes inadequate. We tend to think of ourselves as rational beings, but in fact subconscious processes often drive human behavior. Not being aware of these subconscious thought processes can adversely affect projects. Mindful project managers know that they do not know everything. They know that their thoughts and impressions are affected by [[Wikipedia:Cognitive_bias|cognitive biases]]. Thus, they must be aware of their irrationalities to act in a mindful manner and become rational and fact-based. Mindfulness is instrumental in managing the intersection between human behavior and uncertainties thus generating processes within projects, programs and portfolios that are more reliable.

=== Principles ===

Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> have developed five principles that harness the key characteristics in mindfulness. These guidelines/principles apply upward to divisions and organizations as well as downward to teams, crews and team leaders. The principles can be adopted by anyone. Each principle is given an example from different HRO’s.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Principle
! Description
! Example(s)
|-
| Preoccupation with failure
| A preoccupation with failure focuses the organization to convert small errors and failures into organizational learnings and improvements.

“Pay close attention to weak signals of failure that may be symptoms of larger problems within the system” <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>

Be wary of the potential liabilities of successes such as complacency, the temptation to reduce margins of safety and drift into automatic processes.

Read also [[Early_warning_signals_in_project_management |''Early warning signals in project management'']]

| The airline industry encourage their personnel to report all failures and near misses generating failure catalogs. A big effort is expended in reviewing all reports to improve processes and workarounds.

|-
| Reluctance to simplify
| Simplify mindfully and reluctantly. Have in mind that simplification can become too simple resulting in useless, unprecise simplifications e.g. explanations and categories. Problems faced in complex projects typically offer several options and a nuanced picture to fully understand the best solution.
|A merger of two North American railroad companies in 1996 resulted in a gridlock of the system from North Platte, Nebraska to Chicago. Many small errors and failures occurred after the merger, but the most obvious reason for the gridlock was an ignorant and arrogant attitude toward innovative and complex solutions. The top management insisted that trains are made up in central locations called classification yards, not in dispersed locations called shipper yards, satellite yards or mainline tracks. Freight shipped by railroaders are shipped by rail, not barge. In this case the problems caused by these simplifications were overlooked until the central location or excessive grain shipments became a bottleneck causing the gridlock.
|-
| Sensitivity to operations
| An organization must have an integrated overall and aligned picture of operation. Sensitivity to operations is closely related to sensitivity to relationships. Meaning a clear and unprejudiced communication between operation and management is crucial to understand the big picture.

Furthermore, it is important to be responsive to the changing reality of projects. This can be obtained first by controlling the progress, monitor deviations and implication on projects, and second being mindful to potential unexpected events.

| 1: Studies of nuclear weapons suggest that many problems arise not from a single failure, but when small deviations in different operational areas combine to create conditions that were never imagined in the plans and designs<ref name=Sagan>Sagan S.D. 1993. The limits of safety: Organizations Accidents and Nuclear Weapons. Princeton, NJ. Princeton University.</ref>

2: The microcomputer industry can be characterized as a high velocity environment with a rapid and discontinuous change in demand, competitors, technology and inaccurate, unavailable or obsolete information. Decision-makers deal with this environment by paying close attention to real-time information e.g. concerning current operations or environments.

|-
| Commitment to resilience
|Accommodate unexpected events and react to them quickly as they arise.
Resilience involves (a) the ability to absorb strain and preserve the functioning of the project; (b) ability to recover quickly; (c) ability to learn from the unexpected event and how it impacted the project.<ref name=oehmen>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI</ref>

| In the North American railroad merger case the meltdown of operations showed an inability to bounce back when the initial problems occurred. The railroad were short of men right after the merger and they had trimmed crews, locomotives and supervisors shortly before the gridlock from Nebraska to Chicago. Slack resources is a common way to create resilience.
|-
|Deference to expertise (Collective mindfulness)
| Deference to expertise is about involving experts in the decision-making. The experts actively involved in the projects are more capable to give articulate solutions to problems. Rigid hierarchies have their own special vulnerability to error where errors at high levels tend to pick up and combine errors at low levels. HRO’s push decision making down where decision is made on the front line. The authority migrate to the people with the most expertise, regardless of their rank.

Collective mindfulness is associated with cultures and structures that promote open discussions of errors, mistakes and awareness.

|In the North American railroad merger case the decisions were made from top management even though their operational expertise were outdated. Furthermore the management were only fed with information that they wanted to hear. A horrible paradigm where management were fed with biased information and insisted to make decisions at top level. This classic command-and-control bureaucracy is adequate for a stable situation but too inflexible in times of change.
|}

== Topics in Mindfulness ==
[[File:Circle of influence.png|300px|thumb|Right|Figure 2: Circle of influence]]
[The five principles are general guidelines of mindfulness.
To be able to implement mindfulness as a manager you must be aware of your cognitive behaviour as a human including how you experience the world. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref> (reference 2001 & 2007) It is recognised that you start Write about circle of influence from IDA event…...
Continuous learning] FINISH WRITING

=== Expectations ===
An expectation is to envision something, that is reasonably certain to come true. To expect something is to be mentally ready for it. “ Expectations form the basis for virtually all deliberate action because expectancies about how the world operates serve as implicit assumptions that guide behavioural choices” <ref>Olson, J. M., Roese, J. M. and Zanna, M. P. ''Expectancies''. In Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles, edited by E.T. Higgins & A.W. Kruglanski, pp211-238. New York, NY: Guilford.</ref>. With that in mind, it is important to be mindful about your expectations. Expectations direct your attention to certain features or events, which means that they affect what you notice and remember. Whenever our expectations does not match with reality our minds adjust our expectations to reality. It can be compared with a [[Wikipedia:Hypothesis_test|hypothesis-test]]. The human mind search for confirmation of its expectations but is biased to avoid looking for evidence that disconfirm them. HRO’s work hard to counteract this tendency. They routinely suspect their expectations for being incomplete. With this process, they check if the normal accepted expectation still pass the hypothesis test.

=== The capability for mindfulness (Categories) ===
Whenever people change the way they perceive the world they essentially rework the way they label and categorize what they see. This change in perception can be described with the following process:

# Re-examine discarded information
# Monitor how categories affect expectations and,
# Remove out-dated distinctions

Firstly, to rework one’s categories mindfully implies to evaluate how much information is discarded with a categorization of an instance with similar characteristics. Generally categorization help gaining control in a fast pace world. Categories can predict what will happen and plan one’s own actions. Without categories, any person or situation would be unique and therefore conserve scarce mental resources of attention and thinking. To exemplify categorization a university professor meet hundreds of students each day and have to categorize different types of students. The professor could categorize the students into categories such as active/passive, introvert/extrovert, Intelligent/less intelligent, man/women, young/old etc. The categories guide the professor how (s)he should behave or treat the different students. One category cannot describe all facets of a person and the professor must be aware of the discarded information within each category.

Secondly, mindful reworking of categories also mean that one pay close attention to their effect on the expectations. Categories and expectations are closely related. E.g., a person categorized as an expert is expected to know the answers within his/her field of expertise. These expectations constantly have to be revised and evaluated. It may be necessary to differentiate the expectations, replace them, supplement them, or discard the whole category.

Third, mindful reworking means a check whether the categories remain plausible. Outdated categorization with implausible distinctions of expectations ensure trouble. This is the basic misreading in HRO’s. The trouble starts when you fail to notice that you only look for whatever confirms your categories and expectations. “Believing is seeing. You see what you expect to see. You see what you have the labels to see. You see what you have the skills to manage.” <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>
People who persistently rework their categories and refine them, differentiate them, update them, and replace them notice more and catch unexpected events earlier in their development. That is the essence of mindfulness <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>.

=== The Unexpected ===
Unexpected events can be categorized in three forms <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref>:
The unexpected occur when an event that was
* expected to happen fail to occur.
* not expected to happen does happen.
* simply unthought-of happens (Unknown/unkowns)

Unexpected events are caused by faulty expectations and the fact that we sought to look for evidence that confirm our expectations. These confirmations are found to boost our experience of being in control. However, this confirming behavior has adverse effect on how quick we realize we are wrong and rework our expectations. A slow realization time allows problems to worsen and become harder to solve and they might even be entangled with other problems.
HRO’s strive to minimize the risk that unthought-of events happen by steering people towards mindful practices that encourage imagination. People inadvertently trivialize the importance of imagination. Instead people tend to “''Expect the unexpected''” to maintain their desire for control and predictability.

== Putting Mindfulness into Practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager ==
Putting Mindfulness into practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager
<ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref> have developed concrete processes based on the five principles and on practices identified in the best HRO’s. The processes is organised under two headings. “''Awareness and Anticipation of the Unexpected''” concerning the three first principles, involving failure, simplification and operations. “''Containment of those unexpected events that occur''” concerning the last two principles involving resilience and expertise.

{| cellpadding=5 style="border:1px solid #BBB"
|'''Enhancing awareness and anticipation''' || '''Enhancing containment'''
|-
|
* Preserve a balance of values
* Restate your goals in the form of mistakes that must not occur
* Remember that mindfulness takes effort
* Create Awareness of vulnerability
* Cultivate humility
* Be glad when you are having a bad day
* Create an error friendly learning culture
* Encourage alternative frames of reference
* Strengthen fantasy as a tool
* Speak up! Just because you see something, do not assume that someone else sees it, too.
* Put a premium on interpersonal skills
* Surface unique knowledge
* Be careful when you label something a fact
* Develop skeptics
* Be suspicious of good news
* Seek out bad news
* Test your expectations
* Welcome uncertainty
* Treat all unexpected events as information, and share this information widely
* Transform close calls into near misses
* Specify the burden of proof
* Adopt complex models because they direct attention to more details and register more facets of context.
* Revise existing models as well as existing practices
* Carry your expectations lightly
* Reward contact with the frontline
* Clarify what constitutes good news
* Frame mindfulness in novel ways
||
* Remember that ambivalence builds resilience
* Use rich media and encourage people to listen
* Be mindful publicly
* Enlarge competencies and response repertoires
* Build excess capacity. Don’t overdo lean, mean ideals
* Create flexible decision structure
* Accelerate feedback
* Balance centralization with decentralization
* Reinforce perishable values
* Mitigate complacency

|}
Read [[Creating_a_positive_culture_around_failure_in_project_management|How to create a positive culture around failure in project management]] here.

== Limitations ==
It is important to underline that mindfulness is not a tool – Mindfulness is a mind-set, a management theory. Thus, there is no recipe on how to implement mindfulness on projects, programs, portfolios or in organizations. The processes listed above can serve as inspiration, but have to be adjusted to fit into the context of organization and employees.

Mindfulness is a complex management theory. As the principle “''Reluctance to simplify''” justify, it takes a complex idea to capture a complex phenomenon. To fully implement mindfulness and deal with the unexpected it is required to organize in a complex manner. Likewise mindfulness preach a need for complex set of ideas to understand what people are doing and why it works thus requiring workers with a certain level of receptivity and resources.

Analyzing the mindfulness theory described by Weick and Sutcliffe there is one shortfall. Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>. argue that human cognition in the mindfulness theory is the solution to reliability problems, but they tend to over-simplify the resilience concept by neglecting the importance of routine-based reliability. Studies of human systems reveal two strategies for achieving reliable performance shown in Figure 2
<ref name=BG>Butler, B. S., & Gray, P. H. 2006. Reliability, mindfulness, and information systems. Mis Quarterly, 30(2), pp.211–224</ref>:

* Routine-based reliability
* Mindfulness-based reliability

[[File:Realibility figure v2.png|600px|thumb|Right|Figure 3: Strategies for achieving reliable performance<ref name=BG>Butler, B. S., & Gray, P. H. 2006. Reliability, mindfulness, and information systems. Mis Quarterly, 30(2), pp.211–224</ref>]]

Organizationally, routine-based reliability involves the creation and execution of standard operating and decision-making procedures, which may be unique to the organization or widely accepted across an industry <ref>Spender, J. C. 1989. ''Industry recipes: An Enquiry into the Nature and Sources of Managerial Judgement''. Oxorfd, UK: Basil Blackwell.</ref>. The routine-based reliability strategy rely on predefined procedures, routines and training designed to decrease cognitive human problem solving, to reduce errors, unwanted variation and waste. Defining procedures etc. is a frontloaded process where unknown/unknowns(See [[wikipedia:Johari_window|Johari Window]]) may oppose a major risk because unexpected events cannot be implemented into the procedures. While routine-based approaches focus on reducing or eliminating situated human cognition as the cause of errors, mindfulness-based approaches focus on promoting highly situated human cognition as the solution to individual and organisational reliability problems <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>.. Mindfulness focus on one of the two strategies and ignore or assume that optimal routines, procedures and structures are in place. Mindfulness does not describe the interdependencies and synergistic impacts between the two strategies.

==References==

<references/>

== Further Reading ==
* [[Wikipedia:Cognition|Cognition]]
* [[Wikipedia:Mindfulness|Mindfulness]]
* [[Wikipedia:Union_Pacific_Railroad|Union Pacific Railroad]]
* [[Wikipedia:Reliability_engineering|Reliability Engineering]]

Organisational resilience with mindfulness

2015-09-28T08:03:30Z

S140046:

== Abstract ==

An increasing demand for resilience within sociotechnical organisations has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations for unexpected events. Thorough management is crucial in resilient organisations (check ref, Geraldi et al, 2009) and mindfulness encompass the risk of the human mind. Mindful project managers are aware of cognitive biases and irrationalities. They inspire workers to be rational and fact-based.

Mindfulness is about keeping a high level of alertness and awareness of context and using awareness in our decision and actions <ref name=oehmen>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI</ref>. This article will address how mindfulness is used as an managerial instrument to obtain resilience in an organisation. The article will define the mindfulness theory with description of the 5 principles. Furthermore complex organisations and unexpected events related to unknown/unknowns is defined. There will be a focus on “commitment to resilience” and “deference to expertise” which focusing on reacting to unexpected events hence improving the resilience in the organisation.

----

== Overview ==
[[File:Flickr_-_Official_U.S._Navy_Imagery_-_An_airplane_launches_from_the_flight_deck..jpg|400px|thumb|Right|Figure 1: US Navy carrier example of an HRO]]
Mindfulness is a term introduced by the professors Karl E. Weick and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe after studying [[Wikipedia:High_reliability_organization|high reliability organizations]] (HRO). These organizations have no choice but to function reliable. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> found that reliability does not mean a complete lack of variation. It is just the opposite. It takes mindful variety to assure stable high performance. The learnings and techniques from the HRO’s can be implemented in projects and in organizations who want a higher reliability.

In brief, mindfulness involves the ability to detect important aspects of the context and take timely, appropriate action. A well-developed capability for mindfulness catches the unexpected earlier when it is smaller, comprehends its potential importance despite the small size of the disruption, and removes, contains or rebounds from the effects of the unexpected. Managing the unexpected, mindful project managers and organizations are able to reliably deliver the task they were asked to do.

The expectations of individuals tend not to correspond with the reality. We are all affected by cognitive biases and the mindful project manager is aware of that.

=== Mindfulness VS Mindlessness ===
To underline the importance of mindfulness its counterpart mindlessness is described. Mindlessness is characterized by at style of mental functioning in which people follow recipes, impose old categories to classify what they see, act with some rigidity, operate on automatic pilot, and mislabel unfamiliar new contexts as familiar old ones <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>.

== Application ==
An increasing demand for resilience within [[Wikipedia:Sociotechnical_system|sociotechnical systems]] has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations and their project, program and portfolio managers for unexpected events. The awareness of resilience and [[Wikipedia:Antifragility|antifragility]] is crucial for HRO’s, but all organisations can learn from the mind-set of the HRO’s. Even organisations without risks of casualties can improve their practices with mindfulness. It is a matter of context. Once the context, the precautions, the assumptions, the focus of attention is ignored, it becomes obvious that many organizations are just as exposed to the unexpected as HRO’s and just as much in need of mindfulness. E.g an unexpected shutdown at an [[Wikipedia:Assembly_line|assembly line]] is not a severe crisis. However the supervisor did not expect any fails or shutdowns. To him it is an unexpected crisis. Unexpected events occur at all organizational levels.

Project, Program and Portfolio managers are familiar with many project management tools and they are able to define project time, costs, risks, stakeholders etc. by [[Wikipedia:Project_Management_Institute|PMI]] standards. However, when projects become more complex e.g. in order of technical and organisational complexity, social intricacy of human behavior or uncertainty of long lifecycles, standard tools becomes inadequate. We tend to think of ourselves as rational beings, but in fact subconscious processes often drive human behavior. Not being aware of these subconscious thought processes can adversely affect projects. Mindful project managers know that they do not know everything. They know that their thoughts and impressions are affected by [[Wikipedia:Cognitive_bias|cognitive biases]]. Thus, they must be aware of their irrationalities to act in a mindful manner and become rational and fact-based. Mindfulness is instrumental in managing the intersection between human behavior and uncertainties thus generating processes within projects, programs and portfolios that are more reliable.

=== Principles ===

Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> have developed five principles that harness the key characteristics in mindfulness. These guidelines/principles apply upward to divisions and organizations as well as downward to teams, crews and team leaders. The principles can be adopted by anyone. Each principle is given an example from different HRO’s.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Principle
! Description
! Example(s)
|-
| Preoccupation with failure
| A preoccupation with failure focuses the organization to convert small errors and failures into organizational learnings and improvements.

“Pay close attention to weak signals of failure that may be symptoms of larger problems within the system” <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>

Be wary of the potential liabilities of successes such as complacency, the temptation to reduce margins of safety and drift into automatic processes.

Read also [[Early_warning_signals_in_project_management |''Early warning signals in project management'']]

| The airline industry encourage their personnel to report all failures and near misses generating failure catalogs. A big effort is expended in reviewing all reports to improve processes and workarounds.

|-
| Reluctance to simplify
| Simplify mindfully and reluctantly. Have in mind that simplification can become too simple resulting in useless, unprecise simplifications e.g. explanations and categories. Problems faced in complex projects typically offer several options and a nuanced picture to fully understand the best solution.
|A merger of two North American railroad companies in 1996 resulted in a gridlock of the system from North Platte, Nebraska to Chicago. Many small errors and failures occurred after the merger, but the most obvious reason for the gridlock was an ignorant and arrogant attitude toward innovative and complex solutions. The top management insisted that trains are made up in central locations called classification yards, not in dispersed locations called shipper yards, satellite yards or mainline tracks. Freight shipped by railroaders are shipped by rail, not barge. In this case the problems caused by these simplifications were overlooked until the central location or excessive grain shipments became a bottleneck causing the gridlock.
|-
| Sensitivity to operations
| An organization must have an integrated overall and aligned picture of operation. Sensitivity to operations is closely related to sensitivity to relationships. Meaning a clear and unprejudiced communication between operation and management is crucial to understand the big picture.

Furthermore, it is important to be responsive to the changing reality of projects. This can be obtained first by controlling the progress, monitor deviations and implication on projects, and second being mindful to potential unexpected events.

| 1: Studies of nuclear weapons suggest that many problems arise not from a single failure, but when small deviations in different operational areas combine to create conditions that were never imagined in the plans and designs<ref name=Sagan>Sagan S.D. 1993. The limits of safety: Organizations Accidents and Nuclear Weapons. Princeton, NJ. Princeton University.</ref>

2: The microcomputer industry can be characterized as a high velocity environment with a rapid and discontinuous change in demand, competitors, technology and inaccurate, unavailable or obsolete information. Decision-makers deal with this environment by paying close attention to real-time information e.g. concerning current operations or environments.

|-
| Commitment to resilience
|Accommodate unexpected events and react to them quickly as they arise.
Resilience involves (a) the ability to absorb strain and preserve the functioning of the project; (b) ability to recover quickly; (c) ability to learn from the unexpected event and how it impacted the project.<ref name=oehmen>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI</ref>

| In the North American railroad merger case the meltdown of operations showed an inability to bounce back when the initial problems occurred. The railroad were short of men right after the merger and they had trimmed crews, locomotives and supervisors shortly before the gridlock from Nebraska to Chicago. Slack resources is a common way to create resilience.
|-
|Deference to expertise (Collective mindfulness)
| Deference to expertise is about involving experts in the decision-making. The experts actively involved in the projects are more capable to give articulate solutions to problems. Rigid hierarchies have their own special vulnerability to error where errors at high levels tend to pick up and combine errors at low levels. HRO’s push decision making down where decision is made on the front line. The authority migrate to the people with the most expertise, regardless of their rank.

Collective mindfulness is associated with cultures and structures that promote open discussions of errors, mistakes and awareness.

|In the North American railroad merger case the decisions were made from top management even though their operational expertise were outdated. Furthermore the management were only fed with information that they wanted to hear. A horrible paradigm where management were fed with biased information and insisted to make decisions at top level. This classic command-and-control bureaucracy is adequate for a stable situation but too inflexible in times of change.
|}

== Topics in Mindfulness ==
[[File:Circle of influence.png|300px|thumb|Right|Figure 2: Circle of influence]]
[The five principles are general guidelines of mindfulness.
To be able to implement mindfulness as a manager you must be aware of your cognitive behaviour as a human including how you experience the world. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref> (reference 2001 & 2007) It is recognised that you start Write about circle of influence from IDA event…...
Continuous learning] FINISH WRITING

=== Expectations ===
An expectation is to envision something, that is reasonably certain to come true. To expect something is to be mentally ready for it. “ Expectations form the basis for virtually all deliberate action because expectancies about how the world operates serve as implicit assumptions that guide behavioural choices” <ref>Olson, J. M., Roese, J. M. and Zanna, M. P. ''Expectancies''. In Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles, edited by E.T. Higgins & A.W. Kruglanski, pp211-238. New York, NY: Guilford.</ref>. With that in mind, it is important to be mindful about your expectations. Expectations direct your attention to certain features or events, which means that they affect what you notice and remember. Whenever our expectations does not match with reality our minds adjust our expectations to reality. It can be compared with a [[Wikipedia:Hypothesis_test|hypothesis-test]]. The human mind search for confirmation of its expectations but is biased to avoid looking for evidence that disconfirm them. HRO’s work hard to counteract this tendency. They routinely suspect their expectations for being incomplete. With this process, they check if the normal accepted expectation still pass the hypothesis test.

=== The capability for mindfulness (Categories) ===
Whenever people change the way they perceive the world they essentially rework the way they label and categorize what they see. This change in perception can be described with the following process:

# Re-examine discarded information
# Monitor how categories affect expectations and,
# Remove out-dated distinctions

Firstly, to rework one’s categories mindfully implies to evaluate how much information is discarded with a categorization of an instance with similar characteristics. Generally categorization help gaining control in a fast pace world. Categories can predict what will happen and plan one’s own actions. Without categories, any person or situation would be unique and therefore conserve scarce mental resources of attention and thinking. To exemplify categorization a university professor meet hundreds of students each day and have to categorize different types of students. The professor could categorize the students into categories such as active/passive, introvert/extrovert, Intelligent/less intelligent, man/women, young/old etc. The categories guide the professor how (s)he should behave or treat the different students. One category cannot describe all facets of a person and the professor must be aware of the discarded information within each category.

Secondly, mindful reworking of categories also mean that one pay close attention to their effect on the expectations. Categories and expectations are closely related. E.g., a person categorized as an expert is expected to know the answers within his/her field of expertise. These expectations constantly have to be revised and evaluated. It may be necessary to differentiate the expectations, replace them, supplement them, or discard the whole category.

Third, mindful reworking means a check whether the categories remain plausible. Outdated categorization with implausible distinctions of expectations ensure trouble. This is the basic misreading in HRO’s. The trouble starts when you fail to notice that you only look for whatever confirms your categories and expectations. “Believing is seeing. You see what you expect to see. You see what you have the labels to see. You see what you have the skills to manage.” <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>
People who persistently rework their categories and refine them, differentiate them, update them, and replace them notice more and catch unexpected events earlier in their development. That is the essence of mindfulness <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>.

=== The Unexpected ===
Unexpected events can be categorized in three forms <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref>:
The unexpected occur when an event that was
* expected to happen fail to occur.
* not expected to happen does happen.
* simply unthought-of happens (Unknown/unkowns)

Unexpected events are caused by faulty expectations and the fact that we sought to look for evidence that confirm our expectations. These confirmations are found to boost our experience of being in control. However, this confirming behavior has adverse effect on how quick we realize we are wrong and rework our expectations. A slow realization time allows problems to worsen and become harder to solve and they might even be entangled with other problems.
HRO’s strive to minimize the risk that unthought-of events happen by steering people towards mindful practices that encourage imagination. People inadvertently trivialize the importance of imagination. Instead people tend to “''Expect the unexpected''” to maintain their desire for control and predictability.

== Putting Mindfulness into Practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager ==
Putting Mindfulness into practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager
<ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref> have developed concrete processes based on the five principles and on practices identified in the best HRO’s. The processes is organised under two headings. “''Awareness and Anticipation of the Unexpected''” concerning the three first principles, involving failure, simplification and operations. “''Containment of those unexpected events that occur''” concerning the last two principles involving resilience and expertise.

{| cellpadding=5 style="border:1px solid #BBB"
|'''Enhancing awareness and anticipation''' || '''Enhancing containment'''
|-
|
* Preserve a balance of values
* Restate your goals in the form of mistakes that must not occur
* Remember that mindfulness takes effort
* Create Awareness of vulnerability
* Cultivate humility
* Be glad when you are having a bad day
* Create an error friendly learning culture
* Encourage alternative frames of reference
* Strengthen fantasy as a tool
* Speak up! Just because you see something, do not assume that someone else sees it, too.
* Put a premium on interpersonal skills
* Surface unique knowledge
* Be careful when you label something a fact
* Develop skeptics
* Be suspicious of good news
* Seek out bad news
* Test your expectations
* Welcome uncertainty
* Treat all unexpected events as information, and share this information widely
* Transform close calls into near misses
* Specify the burden of proof
* Adopt complex models because they direct attention to more details and register more facets of context.
* Revise existing models as well as existing practices
* Carry your expectations lightly
* Reward contact with the frontline
* Clarify what constitutes good news
* Frame mindfulness in novel ways
||
* Remember that ambivalence builds resilience
* Use rich media and encourage people to listen
* Be mindful publicly
* Enlarge competencies and response repertoires
* Build excess capacity. Don’t overdo lean, mean ideals
* Create flexible decision structure
* Accelerate feedback
* Balance centralization with decentralization
* Reinforce perishable values
* Mitigate complacency

|}
Read [[Creating_a_positive_culture_around_failure_in_project_management|How to create a positive culture around failure in project management]] here.

== Limitations ==
It is important to underline that mindfulness is not a tool – Mindfulness is a mind-set, a management theory. Thus, there is no recipe on how to implement mindfulness on projects, programs, portfolios or in organizations. The processes listed above can serve as inspiration, but have to be adjusted to fit into the context of organization and employees.

Mindfulness is a complex management theory. As the principle “''Reluctance to simplify''” justify, it takes a complex idea to capture a complex phenomenon. To fully implement mindfulness and deal with the unexpected it is required to organize in a complex manner. Likewise mindfulness preach a need for complex set of ideas to understand what people are doing and why it works thus requiring workers with a certain level of receptivity and resources.

Analyzing the mindfulness theory described by Weick and Sutcliffe there is one shortfall. Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>. argue that human cognition in the mindfulness theory is the solution to reliability problems, but they tend to over-simplify the resilience concept by neglecting the importance of routine-based reliability. Studies of human systems reveal two strategies for achieving reliable performance
<ref name=BG>Butler, B. S., & Gray, P. H. 2006. Reliability, mindfulness, and information systems. Mis Quarterly, 30(2), pp.211–224</ref>:

* Routine-based reliability
* Mindfulness-based reliability

[[File:Realibility figure v2.png|600px|thumb|Right|Figure 3: Strategies for achieving reliable performance<ref name=BG>Butler, B. S., & Gray, P. H. 2006. Reliability, mindfulness, and information systems. Mis Quarterly, 30(2), pp.211–224</ref>]]

Organizationally, routine-based reliability involves the creation and execution of standard operating and decision-making procedures, which may be unique to the organization or widely accepted across an industry <ref>Spender, J. C. 1989. ''Industry recipes: An Enquiry into the Nature and Sources of Managerial Judgement''. Oxorfd, UK: Basil Blackwell.</ref>. The routine-based reliability strategy rely on predefined procedures, routines and training designed to decrease cognitive human problem solving, to reduce errors, unwanted variation and waste. Defining procedures etc. is a frontloaded process where unknown/unknowns(See [[wikipedia:Johari_window|Johari Window]]) may oppose a major risk because unexpected events cannot be implemented into the procedures. While routine-based approaches focus on reducing or eliminating situated human cognition as the cause of errors, mindfulness-based approaches focus on promoting highly situated human cognition as the solution to individual and organisational reliability problems <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>.. Mindfulness focus on one of the two strategies and ignore or assume that optimal routines, procedures and structures are in place. Mindfulness does not describe the interdependencies and synergistic impacts between the two strategies.

==References==

<references/>

== Further Reading ==
* [[Wikipedia:Cognition|Cognition]]
* [[Wikipedia:Mindfulness|Mindfulness]]
* [[Wikipedia:Union_Pacific_Railroad|Union Pacific Railroad]]
* [[Wikipedia:Reliability_engineering|Reliability Engineering]]

Organisational resilience with mindfulness

2015-09-28T07:41:20Z

S140046:

== Abstract ==

An increasing demand for resilience within sociotechnical organisations has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations for unexpected events. Thorough management is crucial in resilient organisations (check ref, Geraldi et al, 2009) and mindfulness encompass the risk of the human mind. Mindful project managers are aware of cognitive biases and irrationalities. They inspire workers to be rational and fact-based.

Mindfulness is about keeping a high level of alertness and awareness of context and using awareness in our decision and actions <ref name=oehmen>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI</ref>. This article will address how mindfulness is used as an managerial instrument to obtain resilience in an organisation. The article will define the mindfulness theory with description of the 5 principles. Furthermore complex organisations and unexpected events related to unknown/unknowns is defined. There will be a focus on “commitment to resilience” and “deference to expertise” which focusing on reacting to unexpected events hence improving the resilience in the organisation.

----

== Overview ==
[[File:Flickr_-_Official_U.S._Navy_Imagery_-_An_airplane_launches_from_the_flight_deck..jpg|400px|thumb|Right|Figure 1: US Navy carrier example of an HRO]]
Mindfulness is a term introduced by the professors Karl E. Weick and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe after studying [[Wikipedia:High_reliability_organization|high reliability organizations]] (HRO). These organizations have no choice but to function reliable. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> found that reliability does not mean a complete lack of variation. It is just the opposite. It takes mindful variety to assure stable high performance. The learnings and techniques from the HRO’s can be implemented in projects and in organizations who want a higher reliability.

In brief, mindfulness involves the ability to detect important aspects of the context and take timely, appropriate action. A well-developed capability for mindfulness catches the unexpected earlier when it is smaller, comprehends its potential importance despite the small size of the disruption, and removes, contains or rebounds from the effects of the unexpected. Managing the unexpected, mindfully project managers and organizations are able to deliver reliably the task they were asked to do.

The expectations of individuals tend not to correspond with the reality. We are all affected by cognitive biases and the mindful project manager is aware of that.

=== Mindfulness VS Mindlessness ===
To underline the importance of mindfulness its counterpart mindlessness is described. Mindlessness is characterized by at style of mental functioning in which people follow recipes, impose old categories to classify what they see, act with some rigidity, operate on automatic pilot, and mislabel unfamiliar new contexts as familiar old ones <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>.

== Application ==
An increasing demand for resilience within [[Wikipedia:Sociotechnical_system|sociotechnical systems]] has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations and their project, program and portfolio managers for unexpected events. The awareness of resilience and [[Wikipedia:Antifragility|antifragility]] is crucial for HRO’s, but all organisations can learn from the mind-set of the HRO’s. Even organisations without risks of casualties can improve their practises with mindfulness. It is a matter of context. Once the context, the precautions, the assumptions, the focus of attention, and what was ignored, it becomes obvious that many organizations are just as exposed to the unexpected as HRO’s and just as much in need of mindfulness. E.g an unexpected shutdown at an [[Wikipedia:Assembly_line|assembly line]] is not a severe crisis. However the supervisor did not expect any fails or shutdowns. To him it is an unexpected crisis. Unexpected events occur at all organizational levels.

Project, Program and Portfolio managers are familiar with many project management tools and they are able to define project time, costs, risks, stakeholders etc. by [[Wikipedia:Project_Management_Institute|PMI]] standards. However, when projects become more complex e.g. in order of technical and organisational complexity, social intricacy of human behaviour or uncertainty of long lifecycles, standard tools becomes inadequate. We tend to think of ourselves as rational beings, but in fact subconscious processes often drive human behaviour '''[EXAMPLE]'''. Not being aware of these subconscious thought processes can adversely affect projects. Mindful project managers know that they do not know everything. They know that their thoughts and impressions are affected by [[Wikipedia:Cognitive_bias|cognitive biases]]. Thus, they must be aware of their irrationalities to act in a mindful manner and become rational and fact-based. Mindfulness is instrumental in managing the intersection between human behaviour and uncertainties thus generating processes within projects, programs and portfolios that are more reliable.

=== Principles ===

Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> have developed five principles that harness the key characteristics in mindfulness. These guidelines/principles apply upward to divisions and organizations as well as downward to teams, crews and team leaders. The principles can be adopted by anyone. Each principle is given an example from different HRO’s.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Principle
! Description
! Example(s)
|-
| Preoccupation with failure
| A preoccupation with failure focuses the organization to convert small errors and failures into organizational learnings and improvements.

“Pay close attention to weak signals of failure that may be symptoms of larger problems within the system” <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>

Be wary of the potential liabilities of successes such as complacency, the temptation to reduce margins of safety and drift into automatic processes.

Read also [[Early_warning_signals_in_project_management |“Early warning signals in project management”]]

| The airline industry encourage their personnel to report all failures and near misses generating failure catalogs. A big effort is expended in reviewing all reports to improve processes and workarounds.

|-
| Reluctance to simplify
| Simplify mindfully and reluctantly. Have in mind that simplification can become too simple resulting in useless, unprecise simplifications e.g. explanations and categories. Problems faced in complex projects typically offer several options and a nuanced picture to fully understand the best solution.
|A merger of two North American railroad companies in 1996 resulted in a gridlock of the system from North Platte, Nebraska to Chicago. Many small errors and failures occurred after the merger, but the most obvious reason for the gridlock was an ignorant and arrogant attitude toward innovative and complex solutions. The top management insisted that trains are made up in central locations called classification yards, not in dispersed locations called shipper yards, satellite yards or mainline tracks. Freight shipped by railroaders are shipped by rail, not barge. In this case the problems caused by these simplifications were overlooked until the central location or excessive grain shipments became a bottleneck causing the gridlock.
|-
| Sensitivity to operations
| An organization must have an integrated overall and aligned picture of operation. Sensitivity to operations is closely related to sensitivity to relationships. Meaning a clear and unprejudiced communication between operation and management is crucial to understand the big picture.

Furthermore, it is important to be responsive to the changing reality of projects. This can be obtained first by controlling the progress, monitor deviations and implication on projects, and second being mindful to potential unexpected events.

| 1: Studies of nuclear weapons suggest that many problems arise not from a single failure, but when small deviations in different operational areas combine to create conditions that were never imagined in the plans and designs<ref name=Sagan>Sagan S.D. 1993. The limits of safety: Organizations Accidents and Nuclear Weapons. Princeton, NJ. Princeton University.</ref>

2: The microcomputer industry can be characterized as a high velocity environment with a rapid and discontinuous change in demand, competitors, technology and inaccurate, unavailable or obsolete information. Decision-makers deal with this environment by paying close attention to real-time information e.g. concerning current operations or environments.

|-
| Commitment to resilience
|Accommodate unexpected events and react to them quickly as they arise.
Resilience involves (a) the ability to absorb strain and preserve the functioning of the project; (b) ability to recover quickly; (c) ability to learn from the unexpected event and how it impacted the project.<ref name=oehmen>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI</ref>

| In the North American railroad merger case the meltdown of operations showed an inability to bounce back when the initial problems occurred. The railroad were short of men right after the merger and they trimmed crews, locomotives and supervisors shortly before the gridlock from Nebraska to Chicago. Slack resources is a common way to create resilience.
|-
|Deference to expertise (Collective mindfulness)
| Deference to expertise is about involving experts in the decision-making. The experts actively involved in the projects are more capable to give articulate solutions to problems. Rigid hierarchies have their own special vulnerability to error where errors at high levels tend to pick up and combine errors at low levels. HRO’s push decision making down and around where decision is made on the front line. The authority migrate to the people with the most expertise, regardless of their rank.

Collective mindfulness is associated with cultures and structures that promote open discussions of errors, mistakes and awareness.

|In the North American railroad merger case the decisions were made from top management even though their operational expertise were outdated. Furthermore the management were only fed with information that they wanted to hear. A horrible paradigm where management were fed with biased information and insisted to make decisions at top level. This classic command-and-control bureaucracy is adequate for a stable situation but too inflexible in times of change.
''(eventually Carlsberg case)''
|}

== Topics in Mindfulness ==
[[File:Circle of influence.png|300px|thumb|Right|Figure 2: Circle of influence]]
[The five principles are general guidelines of mindfulness.
To be able to implement mindfulness as a manager you must be aware of your cognitive behaviour as a human including how you experience the world. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref> (reference 2001 & 2007) It is recognised that you start Write about circle of influence from IDA event…...
Continuous learning] FINISH WRITING

=== Expectations ===
An expectation is to envision something, that is reasonably certain to come true. To expect something is to be mentally ready for it. “ Expectations form the basis for virtually all deliberate action because expectancies about how the world operates serve as implicit assumptions that guide behavioural choices” <ref>Olson, J. M., Roese, J. M. and Zanna, M. P. ''Expectancies''. In Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles, edited by E.T. Higgins & A.W. Kruglanski, pp211-238. New York, NY: Guilford.</ref>. With that in mind, it is important to be mindful about your expectations. Expectations direct your attention to certain features or events, which means that they affect what you notice and remember. Whenever our expectations does not match with reality our mind adjust you expectations to reality. It can be compared with a [[Wikipedia:Hypothesis_test|hypothesis-test]]. The human mind search for confirmation of its expectations but is biased to avoid looking for evidence that disconfirm them. HRO’s work hard to counteract this tendency. They routinely suspect their expectations for being incomplete. With this process, they check if the normal accepted expectation still pass the hypothesis test.

=== The capability for mindfulness (Categories) ===
Whenever people change the way they perceive the world they essentially rework the way they label and categorize what they see. This change in perception can be described with the following process:

# Re-examine discarded information
# Monitor how categories affect expectations and,
# Remove dated distinctions

Firstly, to rework one’s categories mindfully implies to evaluate how much information is discarded with a categorization of an instance with similar characteristics. Generally categorization help gaining control in a fast pace world. They can predict what will happen and plan one’s own actions. Without categories, any person or situation would be unique and therefore conserve scarce mental resources of attention and thinking. To exemplify categorization a university professor meet hundreds of students each day and have to categorize different types of students. The professor could categorize the students into categories such as active/passive, introvert/extrovert, Intelligent/less intelligent, man/women, young/old etc. The categories guide the professor how (s)he should behave or treat the different students. One category cannot describe all facets of a person and the professor must be aware of the discarded information within each category.

Secondly, mindful reworking of categories also mean that one pay close attention to their effect on the expectations. Categories and expectations are closely related. E.g., a person categorised as an expert is expected to know the answers within his/her field of expertise. These expectations constantly have to be revised and evaluated. It may be necessary to differentiate the expectations, replace them, supplement them, or discard the whole category.

Third, mindful reworking means a check whether the categories remain plausible. Outdated categorisation with implausible distinctions of expectations ensure trouble. This is the basic misreading in HRO’s. The trouble starts when you fail to notice that you only look for whatever confirms your categories and expectations. “Believing is seeing. You see what you expect to see. You see what you have the labels to see. You see what you have the skills to manage.” <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>
People who persistently rework their categories and refine them, differentiate them, update them, and replace them notice more and catch unexpected events earlier in their development. That is the essence of mindfulness <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>.

=== The Unexpected ===
Unexpected events can be categorised in three forms <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref>:
The unexpected occur when an event that was
* expected to happen fail to occur.
* not expected to happen does happen.
* simply unthought-of happens (Unknown/unkowns)

Unexpected events are caused by faulty expectations and the fact that we sought to look for evidence that confirm our expectations. These confirmations are found to boost our experience of being in control. However, this confirming behaviour has adverse effect on how quick we realise we are wrong and rework our expectations. A slow realisation time allows problems to worsen and become harder to solve and they might even be entangled with other problems.
HRO’s strive to minimize the risk of events unthought-of happens by steering people towards mindful practices that encourage imagination. People inadvertently trivialize the importance of imagination. Instead people tend to “''Expect the unexpected''” to maintain their desire for control and predictability.

== Putting Mindfulness into Practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager ==
Putting Mindfulness into practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager
<ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref> have developed concrete processes based on the five principles and on practices identified in the best HRO’s. The processes is organised under the headings of “''Awareness and Anticipation of the Unexpected''” concerning the three first principles, involving failure, simplification and operations and the heading “''Containment of those unexpected events that occur''” concerning the last two principles involving resilience and expertise.

{| cellpadding=5 style="border:1px solid #BBB"
|'''Enhancing awareness and anticipation''' || '''Enhancing containment'''
|-
|
* Preserve a balance of values
* Restate your goals in the form of mistakes that must not occur
* Remember that mindfulness takes effort
* Create Awareness of vulnerability
* Cultivate humility
* Be glad when you are having a bad day
* Create an error friendly learning culture
* Encourage alternative frames of reference
* Strengthen fantasy as a tool
* Speak up! Just because you see something, do not assume that someone else sees it, too.
* Put a premium on interpersonal skills
* Surface unique knowledge
* Be careful when you label something a fact
* Develop skeptics
* Be suspicious of good news
* Seek out bad news
* Test your expectations
* Welcome uncertainty
* Treat all unexpected events as information, and share this information widely
* Transform close calls into near misses
* Specify the burden of proof
* Adopt complex models because they direct attention to more details and register more facets of context.
* Revise existing models as well as existing practices
* Carry your expectations lightly
* Reward contact with the frontline
* Clarify what constitutes good news
* Frame mindfulness in novel ways
||
* Remember that ambivalence builds resilience
* Use rich media and encourage people to listen
* Be mindful publicly
* Enlarge competencies and response repertoires
* Build excess capacity. Don’t overdo lean, mean ideals
* Create flexible decision structure
* Accelerate feedback
* Balance centralization with decentralization
* Reinforce perishable values
* Mitigate complacency

|}
Read [[Creating_a_positive_culture_around_failure_in_project_management|How to create a positive culture around failure in project management]] here.

== Limitations ==
It is important to underline that mindfulness is not a tool – Mindfulness is a mind-set, a management theory. Thus, there is no recipe on how to implement mindfulness on projects, programs, portfolios or in organizations. The processes listed above can serve as inspiration, but have to be adjusted to fit into the context of organization and employees.

Mindfulness is a complex management theory. As the principle “''Reluctance to simplify''” justify, it takes a complex idea to capture a complex phenomenon. To fully implement mindfulness and deal with the unexpected it is required to organize in a complex manner. Likewise mindfulness preach a need for complex set of ideas to understand what people are doing and why it works thus requiring workers with a certain level of receptivity and resources.

Analyzing the mindfulness theory described by Weick and Sutcliffe there is one shortfall. Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>. argue that human cognition in the mindfulness theory is the solution to reliability problems, but they tend to over-simplify the resilience concept by neglecting the importance of routine-based reliability. Studies of human systems reveal two strategies for achieving reliable performance
<ref name=BG>Butler, B. S., & Gray, P. H. 2006. Reliability, mindfulness, and information systems. Mis Quarterly, 30(2), pp.211–224</ref>:

* Routine-based reliability
* Mindfulness-based reliability

[[File:Realibility figure v2.png|600px|thumb|Right|Figure 3: Strategies for achieving reliable performance<ref name=BG>Butler, B. S., & Gray, P. H. 2006. Reliability, mindfulness, and information systems. Mis Quarterly, 30(2), pp.211–224</ref>]]

Organizationally, routine-based reliability involves the creation and execution of standard operating and decision-making procedures, which may be unique to the organization or widely accepted across an industry <ref>Spender, J. C. 1989. ''Industry recipes: An Enquiry into the Nature and Sources of Managerial Judgement''. Oxorfd, UK: Basil Blackwell.</ref>. The routine-based reliability strategy rely on predefined procedures, routines and training designed to decrease cognitive human problem solving, to reduce errors, unwanted variation and waste. Defining procedures etc. is a frontloaded process where unknown/unknowns(See [[wikipedia:Johari_window|Johari Window]]) may oppose a major risk because unexpected events cannot be implemented into the procedures. While routine-based approaches focus on reducing or eliminating situated human cognition as the cause of errors, mindfulness-based approaches focus on promoting highly situated human cognition as the solution to individual and organisational reliability problems <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>.. Mindfulness focus on one of the two strategies and ignore or assume that optimal routines, procedures and structures are in place. Mindfulness does not describe the interdependencies and synergistic impacts between the two strategies.

==References==

<references/>

== Further Reading ==
* [[Wikipedia:Cognition|Cognition]]
* [[Wikipedia:Mindfulness|Mindfulness]]
* [[Wikipedia:Union_Pacific_Railroad|Union Pacific Railroad]]
* [[Wikipedia:Reliability_engineering|Reliability Engineering]]

Organisational resilience with mindfulness

2015-09-27T16:26:39Z

S140046:

== Abstract ==

An increasing demand for resilience within sociotechnical organisations has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations for unexpected events. Thorough management is crucial in resilient organisations (check ref, Geraldi et al, 2009) and mindfulness encompass the risk of the human mind. Mindful project managers are aware of cognitive biases and irrationalities. They inspire workers to be rational and fact-based.

Mindfulness is about keeping a high level of alertness and awareness of context and using awareness in our decision and actions <ref name=oehmen>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI</ref>. This article will address how mindfulness is used as an managerial instrument to obtain resilience in an organisation. The article will define the mindfulness theory with description of the 5 principles. Furthermore complex organisations and unexpected events related to unknown/unknowns is defined. There will be a focus on “commitment to resilience” and “deference to expertise” which focusing on reacting to unexpected events hence improving the resilience in the organisation.

----

== Overview ==
[[File:Flickr_-_Official_U.S._Navy_Imagery_-_An_airplane_launches_from_the_flight_deck..jpg|400px|thumb|Right|Figure 1: US Navy carrier example of an HRO]]
Mindfulness is a term introduced by the professors Karl E. Weick and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe after studying [[Wikipedia:High_reliability_organization|high reliability organizations]] (HRO). These organizations have no choice but to function reliable. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> found that reliability does not mean a complete lack of variation. It is just the opposite. It takes mindful variety to assure stable high performance. The learnings and techniques from the HRO’s can be implemented in projects and in organizations who want a higher reliability.

In brief, mindfulness involves the ability to detect important aspects of the context and take timely, appropriate action. A well-developed capability for mindfulness catches the unexpected earlier when it is smaller, comprehends its potential importance despite the small size of the disruption, and removes, contains or rebounds from the effects of the unexpected. Managing the unexpected, mindfully project managers and organizations are able to deliver reliably the task they were asked to do.

The expectations of individuals tend not to correspond with the reality. We are all affected by cognitive biases and the mindful project manager is aware of that.

=== Mindfulness VS Mindlessness ===
To underline the importance of mindfulness its counterpart mindlessness is described. Mindlessness is characterized by at style of mental functioning in which people follow recipes, impose old categories to classify what they see, act with some rigidity, operate on automatic pilot, and mislabel unfamiliar new contexts as familiar old ones <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>.

== Application ==
An increasing demand for resilience within [[Wikipedia:Sociotechnical_system|sociotechnical systems]] has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations and their project, program and portfolio managers for unexpected events. The awareness of resilience and [[Wikipedia:Antifragility|antifragility]] is crucial for HRO’s, but all organisations can learn from the mind-set of the HRO’s. Even organisations without risks of casualties can improve their practises with mindfulness. It is a matter of context. Once the context, the precautions, the assumptions, the focus of attention, and what was ignored, it becomes obvious that many organizations are just as exposed to the unexpected as HRO’s and just as much in need of mindfulness. E.g an unexpected shutdown at an [[Wikipedia:Assembly_line|assembly line]] is not a severe crisis. However the supervisor did not expect any fails or shutdowns. To him it is an unexpected crisis. Unexpected events occur at all organizational levels.

Project, Program and Portfolio managers are familiar with many project management tools and they are able to define project time, costs, risks, stakeholders etc. by [[Wikipedia:Project_Management_Institute|PMI]] standards. However, when projects become more complex e.g. in order of technical and organisational complexity, social intricacy of human behaviour or uncertainty of long lifecycles, standard tools becomes inadequate. We tend to think of ourselves as rational beings, but in fact subconscious processes often drive human behaviour '''[EXAMPLE]'''. Not being aware of these subconscious thought processes can adversely affect projects. Mindful project managers know that they do not know everything. They know that their thoughts and impressions are affected by [[Wikipedia:Cognitive_bias|cognitive biases]]. Thus, they must be aware of their irrationalities to act in a mindful manner and become rational and fact-based. Mindfulness is instrumental in managing the intersection between human behaviour and uncertainties thus generating processes within projects, programs and portfolios that are more reliable.

=== Principles ===

Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> have developed five principles that harness the key characteristics in mindfulness. These guidelines/principles apply upward to divisions and organizations as well as downward to teams, crews and team leaders. The principles can be adopted by anyone. Each principle is given an example from different HRO’s.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Principle
! Description
! Example(s)
|-
| Preoccupation with failure
| A preoccupation with failure focuses the organization to convert small errors and failures into organizational learnings and improvements.

“Pay close attention to weak signals of failure that may be symptoms of larger problems within the system” <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>

Be wary of the potential liabilities of successes such as complacency, the temptation to reduce margins of safety and drift into automatic processes.

Read also [[Early_warning_signals_in_project_management |“Early warning signals in project management”]]

| The airline industry encourage their personnel to report all failures and near misses generating failure catalogs. A big effort is expended in reviewing all reports to improve processes and workarounds.

|-
| Reluctance to simplify
| Simplify mindfully and reluctantly. Have in mind that simplification can become too simple resulting in useless, unprecise simplifications e.g. explanations and categories. Problems faced in complex projects typically offer several options and a nuanced picture to fully understand the best solution.
|A merger of two North American railroad companies in 1996 resulted in a gridlock of the system from North Platte, Nebraska to Chicago. Many small errors and failures occurred after the merger, but the most obvious reason for the gridlock was an ignorant and arrogant attitude toward innovative and complex solutions. The top management insisted that trains are made up in central locations called classification yards, not in dispersed locations called shipper yards, satellite yards or mainline tracks. Freight shipped by railroaders are shipped by rail, not barge. In this case the problems caused by these simplifications were overlooked until the central location or excessive grain shipments became a bottleneck causing the gridlock.
|-
| Sensitivity to operations
| An organization must have an integrated overall and aligned picture of operation. Sensitivity to operations is closely related to sensitivity to relationships. Meaning a clear and unprejudiced communication between operation and management is crucial to understand the big picture.

Furthermore, it is important to be responsive to the changing reality of projects. This can be obtained first by controlling the progress, monitor deviations and implication on projects, and second being mindful to potential unexpected events.

| 1: Studies of nuclear weapons suggest that many problems arise not from a single failure, but when small deviations in different operational areas combine to create conditions that were never imagined in the plans and designs<ref name=Sagan>Sagan S.D. 1993. The limits of safety: Organizations Accidents and Nuclear Weapons. Princeton, NJ. Princeton University.</ref>

2: The microcomputer industry can be characterized as a high velocity environment with a rapid and discontinuous change in demand, competitors, technology and inaccurate, unavailable or obsolete information. Decision-makers deal with this environment by paying close attention to real-time information e.g. concerning current operations or environments.

|-
| Commitment to resilience
|Accommodate unexpected events and react to them quickly as they arise.
Resilience involves (a) the ability to absorb strain and preserve the functioning of the project; (b) ability to recover quickly; (c) ability to learn from the unexpected event and how it impacted the project.<ref name=oehmen>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI</ref>

| In the North American railroad merger case the meltdown of operations showed an inability to bounce back when the initial problems occurred. The railroad were short of men right after the merger and they trimmed crews, locomotives and supervisors shortly before the gridlock from Nebraska to Chicago. Slack resources is a common way to create resilience.
|-
|Deference to expertise (Collective mindfulness)
| Deference to expertise is about involving experts in the decision-making. The experts actively involved in the projects are more capable to give articulate solutions to problems. Rigid hierarchies have their own special vulnerability to error where errors at high levels tend to pick up and combine errors at low levels. HRO’s push decision making down and around where decision is made on the front line. The authority migrate to the people with the most expertise, regardless of their rank.

Collective mindfulness is associated with cultures and structures that promote open discussions of errors, mistakes and awareness.

|In the North American railroad merger case the decisions were made from top management even though their operational expertise were outdated. Furthermore the management were only fed with information that they wanted to hear. A horrible paradigm where management were fed with biased information and insisted to make decisions at top level. This classic command-and-control bureaucracy is adequate for a stable situation but too inflexible in times of change.
''(eventually Carlsberg case)''
|}

== Topics in Mindfulness ==
[[File:Circle of influence.png|300px|thumb|Right|Figure 2: Circle of influence]]
[The five principles are general guidelines of mindfulness.
To be able to implement mindfulness as a manager you must be aware of your cognitive behaviour as a human including how you experience the world. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref> (reference 2001 & 2007) It is recognised that you start Write about circle of influence from IDA event…...
Continuous learning] FINISH WRITING

=== Expectations ===
An expectation is to envision something, that is reasonably certain to come true. To expect something is to be mentally ready for it. “ Expectations form the basis for virtually all deliberate action because expectancies about how the world operates serve as implicit assumptions that guide behavioural choices” <ref>Olson, J. M., Roese, J. M. and Zanna, M. P. ''Expectancies''. In Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles, edited by E.T. Higgins & A.W. Kruglanski, pp211-238. New York, NY: Guilford.</ref>. With that in mind, it is important to be mindful about your expectations. Expectations direct your attention to certain features or events, which means that they affect what you notice and remember. Whenever our expectations does not match with reality our mind adjust you expectations to reality. It can be compared with a [[Wikipedia:Hypothesis_test|hypothesis-test]]. The human mind search for confirmation of its expectations but is biased to avoid looking for evidence that disconfirm them. HRO’s work hard to counteract this tendency. They routinely suspect their expectations for being incomplete. With this process, they check if the normal accepted expectation still pass the hypothesis test.

=== The capability for mindfulness (Categories) ===
Whenever people change the way they perceive the world they essentially rework the way they label and categorize what they see. This change in perception can be described with the following process:

# Re-examine discarded information
# Monitor how categories affect expectations and,
# Remove dated distinctions

Firstly, to rework one’s categories mindfully implies to evaluate how much information is discarded with a categorization of an instance with similar characteristics. Generally categorization help gaining control in a fast pace world. They can predict what will happen and plan one’s own actions. Without categories, any person or situation would be unique and therefore conserve scarce mental resources of attention and thinking. To exemplify categorization a university professor meet hundreds of students each day and have to categorize different types of students. The professor could categorize the students into categories such as active/passive, introvert/extrovert, Intelligent/less intelligent, man/women, young/old etc. The categories guide the professor how (s)he should behave or treat the different students. One category cannot describe all facets of a person and the professor must be aware of the discarded information within each category.

Secondly, mindful reworking of categories also mean that one pay close attention to their effect on the expectations. Categories and expectations are closely related. E.g., a person categorised as an expert is expected to know the answers within his/her field of expertise. These expectations constantly have to be revised and evaluated. It may be necessary to differentiate the expectations, replace them, supplement them, or discard the whole category.

Third, mindful reworking means a check whether the categories remain plausible. Outdated categorisation with implausible distinctions of expectations ensure trouble. This is the basic misreading in HRO’s. The trouble starts when you fail to notice that you only look for whatever confirms your categories and expectations. “Believing is seeing. You see what you expect to see. You see what you have the labels to see. You see what you have the skills to manage.” <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>
People who persistently rework their categories and refine them, differentiate them, update them, and replace them notice more and catch unexpected events earlier in their development. That is the essence of mindfulness <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>.

=== The Unexpected ===
Unexpected events can be categorised in three forms <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref>:
The unexpected occur when an event that was
* expected to happen fail to occur.
* not expected to happen does happen.
* simply unthought-of happens (Unknown/unkowns)

Unexpected events are caused by faulty expectations and the fact that we sought to look for evidence that confirm our expectations. These confirmations are found to boost our experience of being in control. However, this confirming behaviour has adverse effect on how quick we realise we are wrong and rework our expectations. A slow realisation time allows problems to worsen and become harder to solve and they might even be entangled with other problems.
HRO’s strive to minimize the risk of events unthought-of happens by steering people towards mindful practices that encourage imagination. People inadvertently trivialize the importance of imagination. Instead people tend to “Expect the unexpected” to maintain their desire for control and predictability.

== Putting Mindfulness into Practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager ==
Putting Mindfulness into practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager
<ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref> have developed concrete processes based on the five principles and on practices identified in the best HRO’s. The processes is organised under the headings of “Awareness and Anticipation of the Unexpected” concerning the three first principles, involving failure, simplification and operations and the heading “Containment of those unexpected events that occur” concerning the last two principles involving resilience and expertise.

{| cellpadding=5 style="border:1px solid #BBB"
|'''Enhancing awareness and anticipation''' || '''Enhancing containment'''
|-
|
* Preserve a balance of values
* Restate your goals in the form of mistakes that must not occur
* Remember that mindfulness takes effort
* Create Awareness of vulnerability
* Cultivate humility
* Be glad when you are having a bad day
* Create an error friendly learning culture
* Encourage alternative frames of reference
* Strengthen fantasy as a tool
* Speak up! Just because you see something, do not assume that someone else sees it, too.
* Put a premium on interpersonal skills
* Surface unique knowledge
* Be careful when you label something a fact
* Develop skeptics
* Be suspicious of good news
* Seek out bad news
* Test your expectations
* Welcome uncertainty
* Treat all unexpected events as information, and share this information widely
* Transform close calls into near misses
* Specify the burden of proof
* Adopt complex models because they direct attention to more details and register more facets of context.
* Revise existing models as well as existing practices
* Carry your expectations lightly
* Reward contact with the frontline
* Clarify what constitutes good news
* Frame mindfulness in novel ways
||
* Remember that ambivalence builds resilience
* Use rich media and encourage people to listen
* Be mindful publicly
* Enlarge competencies and response repertoires
* Build excess capacity. Don’t overdo lean, mean ideals
* Create flexible decision structure
* Accelerate feedback
* Balance centralization with decentralization
* Reinforce perishable values
* Mitigate complacency

|}

== Limitations ==
Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>. argue that human cognition in the mindfulness theory is the solution to reliability problems, but they tend to over-simplify the resilience concept by neglecting the importance of routine-based reliability. Studies of human systems reveal two strategies for achieving reliable performance
<ref name=BG>Butler, B. S., & Gray, P. H. 2006. Reliability, mindfulness, and information systems. Mis Quarterly, 30(2), pp.211–224</ref>:

* Routine-based reliability
* Mindfulness-based reliability

[[File:Realibility figure v2.png|600px|thumb|Right|Figure 3: Strategies for achieving reliable performance<ref name=BG>Butler, B. S., & Gray, P. H. 2006. Reliability, mindfulness, and information systems. Mis Quarterly, 30(2), pp.211–224</ref>]]

Organizationally, routine-based reliability involves the creation and execution of standard operating and decision-making procedures, which may be unique to the organization or widely accepted across an industry (Spender, 1989). The routine-based reliability strategy rely on predefined procedures, routines and training designed to decrease cognitive human problem solving, to reduce errors, unwanted variation and waste. Defining procedures etc. is a frontloaded(Front end thinking) process where unknown/unknowns[link] may oppose a major risk because unexpected events cannot be implemented into the procedures. While routine-based approaches focus on reducing or eliminating situated human cognition as the cause of errors, mindfulness-based approaches focus on promoting highly situated human cognition as the solution to individual and organisational reliability problems <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>.. Mindfulness focus on one of the two strategies and ignore or assume that optimal routines, procedures and structures are in place. Mindfulness does not describe the interdependencies and synergistic impacts between the two strategies.

Mindfulness is a complex management theory. As the principle “Relucatance to simplify” justify, it takes a complex idea to capture a complex phenomenon. To fully implement mindfulness and deal with the unexpected it is required to organise in a complex manner. Likewise mindfulness preach a need for complex set of ideas to understand what people are doing and why it works thus requiring workers with a certain level of receptivity and resources.

==References==

<references/>

== Further Reading ==
* [[Wikipedia:Cognition|Cognition]]
* [[Wikipedia:Mindfulness|Mindfulness]]
* [[Wikipedia:Union_Pacific_Railroad|Union Pacific Railroad]]
* [[Wikipedia:Reliability_engineering|Reliability Engineering]]

Organisational resilience with mindfulness

2015-09-27T16:24:18Z

S140046:

== Abstract ==

An increasing demand for resilience within sociotechnical organisations has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations for unexpected events. Thorough management is crucial in resilient organisations (check ref, Geraldi et al, 2009) and mindfulness encompass the risk of the human mind. Mindful project managers are aware of cognitive biases and irrationalities. They inspire workers to be rational and fact-based.

Mindfulness is about keeping a high level of alertness and awareness of context and using awareness in our decision and actions <ref name=oehmen>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI</ref>. This article will address how mindfulness is used as an managerial instrument to obtain resilience in an organisation. The article will define the mindfulness theory with description of the 5 principles. Furthermore complex organisations and unexpected events related to unknown/unknowns is defined. There will be a focus on “commitment to resilience” and “deference to expertise” which focusing on reacting to unexpected events hence improving the resilience in the organisation.

----

== Overview ==
[[File:Flickr_-_Official_U.S._Navy_Imagery_-_An_airplane_launches_from_the_flight_deck..jpg|400px|thumb|Right|Figure 1: US Navy carrier example of an HRO]]
Mindfulness is a term introduced by the professors Karl E. Weick and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe after studying [[Wikipedia:High_reliability_organization|high reliability organizations]] (HRO). These organizations have no choice but to function reliable. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> found that reliability does not mean a complete lack of variation. It is just the opposite. It takes mindful variety to assure stable high performance. The learnings and techniques from the HRO’s can be implemented in projects and in organizations who want a higher reliability.

In brief, mindfulness involves the ability to detect important aspects of the context and take timely, appropriate action. A well-developed capability for mindfulness catches the unexpected earlier when it is smaller, comprehends its potential importance despite the small size of the disruption, and removes, contains or rebounds from the effects of the unexpected. Managing the unexpected, mindfully project managers and organizations are able to deliver reliably the task they were asked to do.

The expectations of individuals tend not to correspond with the reality. We are all affected by cognitive biases and the mindful project manager is aware of that.

=== Mindfulness VS Mindlessness ===
To underline the importance of mindfulness its counterpart mindlessness is described. Mindlessness is characterized by at style of mental functioning in which people follow recipes, impose old categories to classify what they see, act with some rigidity, operate on automatic pilot, and mislabel unfamiliar new contexts as familiar old ones <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>.

== Application ==
An increasing demand for resilience within [[Wikipedia:Sociotechnical_system|sociotechnical systems]] has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations and their project, program and portfolio managers for unexpected events. The awareness of resilience and [[Wikipedia:Antifragility|antifragility]] is crucial for HRO’s, but all organisations can learn from the mind-set of the HRO’s. Even organisations without risks of casualties can improve their practises with mindfulness. It is a matter of context. Once the context, the precautions, the assumptions, the focus of attention, and what was ignored, it becomes obvious that many organizations are just as exposed to the unexpected as HRO’s and just as much in need of mindfulness. E.g an unexpected shutdown at an [[Wikipedia:Assembly_line|assembly line]] is not a severe crisis. However the supervisor did not expect any fails or shutdowns. To him it is an unexpected crisis. Unexpected events occur at all organizational levels.

Project, Program and Portfolio managers are familiar with many project management tools and they are able to define project time, costs, risks, stakeholders etc. by [[Wikipedia:Project_Management_Institute|PMI]] standards. However, when projects become more complex e.g. in order of technical and organisational complexity, social intricacy of human behaviour or uncertainty of long lifecycles, standard tools becomes inadequate. We tend to think of ourselves as rational beings, but in fact subconscious processes often drive human behaviour '''[EXAMPLE]'''. Not being aware of these subconscious thought processes can adversely affect projects. Mindful project managers know that they do not know everything. They know that their thoughts and impressions are affected by [[Wikipedia:Cognitive_bias|cognitive biases]]. Thus, they must be aware of their irrationalities to act in a mindful manner and become rational and fact-based. Mindfulness is instrumental in managing the intersection between human behaviour and uncertainties thus generating processes within projects, programs and portfolios that are more reliable.

=== Principles ===

Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> have developed five principles that harness the key characteristics in mindfulness. These guidelines/principles apply upward to divisions and organizations as well as downward to teams, crews and team leaders. The principles can be adopted by anyone. Each principle is given an example from different HRO’s.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Principle
! Description
! Example(s)
|-
| Preoccupation with failure
| A preoccupation with failure focuses the organization to convert small errors and failures into organizational learnings and improvements.

“Pay close attention to weak signals of failure that may be symptoms of larger problems within the system” <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>

Be wary of the potential liabilities of successes such as complacency, the temptation to reduce margins of safety and drift into automatic processes.

Read also [[Early_warning_signals_in_project_management |“Early warning signals in project management”]]

| The airline industry encourage their personnel to report all failures and near misses generating failure catalogs. A big effort is expended in reviewing all reports to improve processes and workarounds.

|-
| Reluctance to simplify
| Simplify mindfully and reluctantly. Have in mind that simplification can become too simple resulting in useless, unprecise simplifications e.g. explanations and categories. Problems faced in complex projects typically offer several options and a nuanced picture to fully understand the best solution.
|A merger of two North American railroad companies in 1996 resulted in a gridlock of the system from North Platte, Nebraska to Chicago. Many small errors and failures occurred after the merger, but the most obvious reason for the gridlock was an ignorant and arrogant attitude toward innovative and complex solutions. The top management insisted that trains are made up in central locations called classification yards, not in dispersed locations called shipper yards, satellite yards or mainline tracks. Freight shipped by railroaders are shipped by rail, not barge. In this case the problems caused by these simplifications were overlooked until the central location or excessive grain shipments became a bottleneck causing the gridlock.
|-
| Sensitivity to operations
| An organization must have an integrated overall and aligned picture of operation. Sensitivity to operations is closely related to sensitivity to relationships. Meaning a clear and unprejudiced communication between operation and management is crucial to understand the big picture.

Furthermore, it is important to be responsive to the changing reality of projects. This can be obtained first by controlling the progress, monitor deviations and implication on projects, and second being mindful to potential unexpected events.

| 1: Studies of nuclear weapons suggest that many problems arise not from a single failure, but when small deviations in different operational areas combine to create conditions that were never imagined in the plans and designs<ref name=Sagan>Sagan S.D. 1993. The limits of safety: Organizations Accidents and Nuclear Weapons. Princeton, NJ. Princeton University.</ref>

2: The microcomputer industry can be characterized as a high velocity environment with a rapid and discontinuous change in demand, competitors, technology and inaccurate, unavailable or obsolete information. Decision-makers deal with this environment by paying close attention to real-time information e.g. concerning current operations or environments.

|-
| Commitment to resilience
|Accommodate unexpected events and react to them quickly as they arise.
Resilience involves (a) the ability to absorb strain and preserve the functioning of the project; (b) ability to recover quickly; (c) ability to learn from the unexpected event and how it impacted the project.<ref name=oehmen>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI</ref>

| In the North American railroad merger case the meltdown of operations showed an inability to bounce back when the initial problems occurred. The railroad were short of men right after the merger and they trimmed crews, locomotives and supervisors shortly before the gridlock from Nebraska to Chicago. Slack resources is a common way to create resilience.
|-
|Deference to expertise (Collective mindfulness)
| Deference to expertise is about involving experts in the decision-making. The experts actively involved in the projects are more capable to give articulate solutions to problems. Rigid hierarchies have their own special vulnerability to error where errors at high levels tend to pick up and combine errors at low levels. HRO’s push decision making down and around where decision is made on the front line. The authority migrate to the people with the most expertise, regardless of their rank.

Collective mindfulness is associated with cultures and structures that promote open discussions of errors, mistakes and awareness.

|In the North American railroad merger case the decisions were made from top management even though their operational expertise were outdated. Furthermore the management were only fed with information that they wanted to hear. A horrible paradigm where management were fed with biased information and insisted to make decisions at top level. This classic command-and-control bureaucracy is adequate for a stable situation but too inflexible in times of change.
''(eventually Carlsberg case)''
|}

== Topics in Mindfulness ==
[[File:Circle of influence.png|300px|thumb|Right|Figure 2: Circle of influence]]
[The five principles are general guidelines of mindfulness.
To be able to implement mindfulness as a manager you must be aware of your cognitive behaviour as a human including how you experience the world. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref> (reference 2001 & 2007) It is recognised that you start Write about circle of influence from IDA event…...
Continuous learning] FINISH WRITING

=== Expectations ===
An expectation is to envision something, that is reasonably certain to come true. To expect something is to be mentally ready for it. “ Expectations form the basis for virtually all deliberate action because expectancies about how the world operates serve as implicit assumptions that guide behavioural choices” <ref>Olson, J. M., Roese, J. M. and Zanna, M. P. ''Expectancies''. In Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles, edited by E.T. Higgins & A.W. Kruglanski, pp211-238. New York, NY: Guilford.</ref>. With that in mind, it is important to be mindful about your expectations. Expectations direct your attention to certain features or events, which means that they affect what you notice and remember. Whenever our expectations does not match with reality our mind adjust you expectations to reality. It can be compared with a [[Wikipedia:Hypothesis_test|hypothesis-test]]. The human mind search for confirmation of its expectations but is biased to avoid looking for evidence that disconfirm them. HRO’s work hard to counteract this tendency. They routinely suspect their expectations for being incomplete. With this process, they check if the normal accepted expectation still pass the hypothesis test.

=== The capability for mindfulness (Categories) ===
Whenever people change the way they perceive the world they essentially rework the way they label and categorize what they see. This change in perception can be described with the following process:

# Re-examine discarded information
# Monitor how categories affect expectations and,
# Remove dated distinctions

Firstly, to rework one’s categories mindfully implies to evaluate how much information is discarded with a categorization of an instance with similar characteristics. Generally categorization help gaining control in a fast pace world. They can predict what will happen and plan one’s own actions. Without categories, any person or situation would be unique and therefore conserve scarce mental resources of attention and thinking. To exemplify categorization a university professor meet hundreds of students each day and have to categorize different types of students. The professor could categorize the students into categories such as active/passive, introvert/extrovert, Intelligent/less intelligent, man/women, young/old etc. The categories guide the professor how (s)he should behave or treat the different students. One category cannot describe all facets of a person and the professor must be aware of the discarded information within each category.

Secondly, mindful reworking of categories also mean that one pay close attention to their effect on the expectations. Categories and expectations are closely related. E.g., a person categorised as an expert is expected to know the answers within his/her field of expertise. These expectations constantly have to be revised and evaluated. It may be necessary to differentiate the expectations, replace them, supplement them, or discard the whole category.

Third, mindful reworking means a check whether the categories remain plausible. Outdated categorisation with implausible distinctions of expectations ensure trouble. This is the basic misreading in HRO’s. The trouble starts when you fail to notice that you only look for whatever confirms your categories and expectations. “Believing is seeing. You see what you expect to see. You see what you have the labels to see. You see what you have the skills to manage.” <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>
People who persistently rework their categories and refine them, differentiate them, update them, and replace them notice more and catch unexpected events earlier in their development. That is the essence of mindfulness <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>.

=== The Unexpected ===
Unexpected events can be categorised in three forms <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref>:
The unexpected occur when an event that was
* expected to happen fail to occur.
* not expected to happen does happen.
* simply unthought-of happens (Unknown/unkowns)

Unexpected events are caused by faulty expectations and the fact that we sought to look for evidence that confirm our expectations. These confirmations are found to boost our experience of being in control. However, this confirming behaviour has adverse effect on how quick we realise we are wrong and rework our expectations. A slow realisation time allows problems to worsen and become harder to solve and they might even be entangled with other problems.
HRO’s strive to minimize the risk of events unthought-of happens by steering people towards mindful practices that encourage imagination. People inadvertently trivialize the importance of imagination. Instead people tend to “Expect the unexpected” to maintain their desire for control and predictability.

== Putting Mindfulness into Practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager ==
Putting Mindfulness into practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager
<ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref> have developed concrete processes based on the five principles and on practices identified in the best HRO’s. The processes is organised under the headings of “Awareness and Anticipation of the Unexpected” concerning the three first principles, involving failure, simplification and operations. and “Containment of those unexpected events that occur”

{| cellpadding=5 style="border:1px solid #BBB"
|'''Enhancing awareness and anticipation''' || '''Enhancing containment'''
|-
|
* Preserve a balance of values
* Restate your goals in the form of mistakes that must not occur
* Remember that mindfulness takes effort
* Create Awareness of vulnerability
* Cultivate humility
* Be glad when you are having a bad day
* Create an error friendly learning culture
* Encourage alternative frames of reference
* Strengthen fantasy as a tool
* Speak up! Just because you see something, do not assume that someone else sees it, too.
* Put a premium on interpersonal skills
* Surface unique knowledge
* Be careful when you label something a fact
* Develop skeptics
* Be suspicious of good news
* Seek out bad news
* Test your expectations
* Welcome uncertainty
* Treat all unexpected events as information, and share this information widely
* Transform close calls into near misses
* Specify the burden of proof
* Adopt complex models because they direct attention to more details and register more facets of context.
* Revise existing models as well as existing practices
* Carry your expectations lightly
* Reward contact with the frontline
* Clarify what constitutes good news
* Frame mindfulness in novel ways
||
* Remember that ambivalence builds resilience
* Use rich media and encourage people to listen
* Be mindful publicly
* Enlarge competencies and response repertoires
* Build excess capacity. Don’t overdo lean, mean ideals
* Create flexible decision structure
* Accelerate feedback
* Balance centralization with decentralization
* Reinforce perishable values
* Mitigate complacency

|}

== Limitations ==
Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>. argue that human cognition in the mindfulness theory is the solution to reliability problems, but they tend to over-simplify the resilience concept by neglecting the importance of routine-based reliability. Studies of human systems reveal two strategies for achieving reliable performance
<ref name=BG>Butler, B. S., & Gray, P. H. 2006. Reliability, mindfulness, and information systems. Mis Quarterly, 30(2), pp.211–224</ref>:

* Routine-based reliability
* Mindfulness-based reliability

[[File:Realibility figure v2.png|600px|thumb|Right|Figure 3: Strategies for achieving reliable performance<ref name=BG>Butler, B. S., & Gray, P. H. 2006. Reliability, mindfulness, and information systems. Mis Quarterly, 30(2), pp.211–224</ref>]]

Organizationally, routine-based reliability involves the creation and execution of standard operating and decision-making procedures, which may be unique to the organization or widely accepted across an industry (Spender, 1989). The routine-based reliability strategy rely on predefined procedures, routines and training designed to decrease cognitive human problem solving, to reduce errors, unwanted variation and waste. Defining procedures etc. is a frontloaded(Front end thinking) process where unknown/unknowns[link] may oppose a major risk because unexpected events cannot be implemented into the procedures. While routine-based approaches focus on reducing or eliminating situated human cognition as the cause of errors, mindfulness-based approaches focus on promoting highly situated human cognition as the solution to individual and organisational reliability problems <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>.. Mindfulness focus on one of the two strategies and ignore or assume that optimal routines, procedures and structures are in place. Mindfulness does not describe the interdependencies and synergistic impacts between the two strategies.

Mindfulness is a complex management theory. As the principle “Relucatance to simplify” justify, it takes a complex idea to capture a complex phenomenon. To fully implement mindfulness and deal with the unexpected it is required to organise in a complex manner. Likewise mindfulness preach a need for complex set of ideas to understand what people are doing and why it works thus requiring workers with a certain level of receptivity and resources.

==References==

<references/>

== Further Reading ==
* [[Wikipedia:Cognition|Cognition]]
* [[Wikipedia:Mindfulness|Mindfulness]]
* [[Wikipedia:Union_Pacific_Railroad|Union Pacific Railroad]]
* [[Wikipedia:Reliability_engineering|Reliability Engineering]]

File:Circle of influence.png

2015-09-27T15:24:06Z

S140046:

Organisational resilience with mindfulness

2015-09-27T15:23:45Z

S140046:

== Abstract ==

An increasing demand for resilience within sociotechnical organisations has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations for unexpected events. Thorough management is crucial in resilient organisations (check ref, Geraldi et al, 2009) and mindfulness encompass the risk of the human mind. Mindful project managers are aware of cognitive biases and irrationalities. They inspire workers to be rational and fact-based.

Mindfulness is about keeping a high level of alertness and awareness of context and using awareness in our decision and actions <ref name=oehmen>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI</ref>. This article will address how mindfulness is used as an managerial instrument to obtain resilience in an organisation. The article will define the mindfulness theory with description of the 5 principles. Furthermore complex organisations and unexpected events related to unknown/unknowns is defined. There will be a focus on “commitment to resilience” and “deference to expertise” which focusing on reacting to unexpected events hence improving the resilience in the organisation.

----

== Big idea /Overview ==
[[File:Flickr_-_Official_U.S._Navy_Imagery_-_An_airplane_launches_from_the_flight_deck..jpg|400px|thumb|Right|Figure 1: US Navy carrier example of an HRO]]
Mindfulness is a term introduced by the professors Karl E. Weick and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe after studying [[Wikipedia:High_reliability_organization|high reliability organizations]] (HRO). These organizations have no choice but to function reliable. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> found that reliability does not mean a complete lack of variation. It is just the opposite. It takes mindful variety to assure stable high performance. The learnings and techniques from the HRO’s can be implemented in projects and in organizations who want a higher reliability.

In brief, mindfulness involves the ability to detect important aspects of the context and take timely, appropriate action. A well-developed capability for mindfulness catches the unexpected earlier when it is smaller, comprehends its potential importance despite the small size of the disruption, and removes, contains or rebounds from the effects of the unexpected. Managing the unexpected, mindfully project managers and organizations are able to deliver reliably the task they were asked to do.

The expectations of individuals tend not to correspond with the reality. We are all affected by cognitive biases and the mindful project manager is aware of that.

=== Mindfulness VS Mindlessness ===
To underline the importance of mindfulness its counterpart mindlessness is described. Mindlessness is characterized by at style of mental functioning in which people follow recipes, impose old categories to classify what they see, act with some rigidity, operate on automatic pilot, and mislabel unfamiliar new contexts as familiar old ones <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>.

== Application ==
An increasing demand for resilience within [[Wikipedia:Sociotechnical_system|sociotechnical systems]] has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations and their project, program and portfolio managers for unexpected events. The awareness of resilience and [[Wikipedia:Antifragility|antifragility]] is crucial for HRO’s, but all organisations can learn from the mind-set of the HRO’s. Even organisations without risks of casualties can improve their practises with mindfulness. It is a matter of context. Once the context, the precautions, the assumptions, the focus of attention, and what was ignored, it becomes obvious that many organizations are just as exposed to the unexpected as HRO’s and just as much in need of mindfulness. E.g an unexpected shutdown at an [[Wikipedia:Assembly_line|assembly line]] is not a severe crisis. However the supervisor did not expect any fails or shutdowns. To him it is an unexpected crisis. Unexpected events occur at all organizational levels.

Project, Program and Portfolio managers are familiar with many project management tools and they are able to define project time, costs, risks, stakeholders etc. by [[Wikipedia:Project_Management_Institute|PMI]] standards. However, when projects become more complex e.g. in order of technical and organisational complexity, social intricacy of human behaviour or uncertainty of long lifecycles, standard tools becomes inadequate. We tend to think of ourselves as rational beings, but in fact subconscious processes often drive human behaviour '''[EXAMPLE]'''. Not being aware of these subconscious thought processes can adversely affect projects. Mindful project managers know that they do not know everything. They know that their thoughts and impressions are affected by [[Wikipedia:Cognitive_bias|cognitive biases]]. Thus, they must be aware of their irrationalities to act in a mindful manner and become rational and fact-based. Mindfulness is instrumental in managing the intersection between human behaviour and uncertainties thus generating processes within projects, programs and portfolios that are more reliable.

=== Principles ===

Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> have developed five principles that harness the key characteristics in mindfulness. These guidelines/principles apply upward to divisions and organizations as well as downward to teams, crews and team leaders. The principles can be adopted by anyone. Each principle is given an example from different HRO’s.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Principle
! Description
! Example(s)
|-
| Preoccupation with failure
| A preoccupation with failure focuses the organization to convert small errors and failures into organizational learnings and improvements.

“Pay close attention to weak signals of failure that may be symptoms of larger problems within the system” <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>

Be wary of the potential liabilities of successes such as complacency, the temptation to reduce margins of safety and drift into automatic processes.

Read also [[Early_warning_signals_in_project_management |“Early warning signals in project management”]]

| The airline industry encourage their personnel to report all failures and near misses generating failure catalogs. A big effort is expended in reviewing all reports to improve processes and workarounds.

|-
| Reluctance to simplify
| Simplify mindfully and reluctantly. Have in mind that simplification can become too simple resulting in useless, unprecise simplifications e.g. explanations and categories. Problems faced in complex projects typically offer several options and a nuanced picture to fully understand the best solution.
|A merger of two North American railroad companies in 1996 resulted in a gridlock of the system from North Platte, Nebraska to Chicago. Many small errors and failures occurred after the merger, but the most obvious reason for the gridlock was an ignorant and arrogant attitude toward innovative and complex solutions. The top management insisted that trains are made up in central locations called classification yards, not in dispersed locations called shipper yards, satellite yards or mainline tracks. Freight shipped by railroaders are shipped by rail, not barge. In this case the problems caused by these simplifications were overlooked until the central location or excessive grain shipments became a bottleneck causing the gridlock.
|-
| Sensitivity to operations
| An organization must have an integrated overall and aligned picture of operation. Sensitivity to operations is closely related to sensitivity to relationships. Meaning a clear and unprejudiced communication between operation and management is crucial to understand the big picture.

Furthermore, it is important to be responsive to the changing reality of projects. This can be obtained first by controlling the progress, monitor deviations and implication on projects, and second being mindful to potential unexpected events.

| 1: Studies of nuclear weapons suggest that many problems arise not from a single failure, but when small deviations in different operational areas combine to create conditions that were never imagined in the plans and designs<ref name=Sagan>Sagan S.D. 1993. The limits of safety: Organizations Accidents and Nuclear Weapons. Princeton, NJ. Princeton University.</ref>

2: The microcomputer industry can be characterized as a high velocity environment with a rapid and discontinuous change in demand, competitors, technology and inaccurate, unavailable or obsolete information. Decision-makers deal with this environment by paying close attention to real-time information e.g. concerning current operations or environments.

|-
| Commitment to resilience
|Accommodate unexpected events and react to them quickly as they arise.
Resilience involves (a) the ability to absorb strain and preserve the functioning of the project; (b) ability to recover quickly; (c) ability to learn from the unexpected event and how it impacted the project.<ref name=oehmen>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI</ref>

| In the North American railroad merger case the meltdown of operations showed an inability to bounce back when the initial problems occurred. The railroad were short of men right after the merger and they trimmed crews, locomotives and supervisors shortly before the gridlock from Nebraska to Chicago. Slack resources is a common way to create resilience.
|-
|Deference to expertise (Collective mindfulness)
| Deference to expertise is about involving experts in the decision-making. The experts actively involved in the projects are more capable to give articulate solutions to problems. Rigid hierarchies have their own special vulnerability to error where errors at high levels tend to pick up and combine errors at low levels. HRO’s push decision making down and around where decision is made on the front line. The authority migrate to the people with the most expertise, regardless of their rank.

Collective mindfulness is associated with cultures and structures that promote open discussions of errors, mistakes and awareness.

|In the North American railroad merger case the decisions were made from top management even though their operational expertise were outdated. Furthermore the management were only fed with information that they wanted to hear. A horrible paradigm where management were fed with biased information and insisted to make decisions at top level. This classic command-and-control bureaucracy is adequate for a stable situation but too inflexible in times of change.
''(eventually Carlsberg case)''
|}

== Topics in Mindfulness ==
[The five principles are general guidelines of mindfulness.
To be able to implement mindfulness as a manager you must be aware of your cognitive behaviour as a human including how you experience the world. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref> (reference 2001 & 2007) It is recognised that you start Write about circle of influence from IDA event…...
Continuous learning] FINISH WRITING

=== Expectations ===
An expectation is to envision something, that is reasonably certain to come true. To expect something is to be mentally ready for it. “ Expectations form the basis for virtually all deliberate action because expectancies about how the world operates serve as implicit assumptions that guide behavioural choices” <ref>Olson, J. M., Roese, J. M. and Zanna, M. P. ''Expectancies''. In Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles, edited by E.T. Higgins & A.W. Kruglanski, pp211-238. New York, NY: Guilford.</ref>. With that in mind, it is important to be mindful about your expectations. Expectations direct your attention to certain features or events, which means that they affect what you notice and remember. Whenever our expectations does not match with reality our mind adjust you expectations to reality. It can be compared with a [[Wikipedia:Hypothesis_test|hypothesis-test]]. The human mind search for confirmation of its expectations but is biased to avoid looking for evidence that disconfirm them. HRO’s work hard to counteract this tendency. They routinely suspect their expectations for being incomplete. With this process, they check if the normal accepted expectation still pass the hypothesis test.

=== The capability for mindfulness (Categories) ===
Whenever people change the way they perceive the world they essentially rework the way they label and categorize what they see. This change in perception can be described with the following process:

# Re-examine discarded information
# Monitor how categories affect expectations and,
# Remove dated distinctions

Firstly, to rework one’s categories mindfully implies to evaluate how much information is discarded with a categorization of an instance with similar characteristics. Generally categorization help gaining control in a fast pace world. They can predict what will happen and plan one’s own actions. Without categories, any person or situation would be unique and therefore conserve scarce mental resources of attention and thinking. To exemplify categorization a university professor meet hundreds of students each day and have to categorize different types of students. The professor could categorize the students into categories such as active/passive, introvert/extrovert, Intelligent/less intelligent, man/women, young/old etc. The categories guide the professor how (s)he should behave or treat the different students. One category cannot describe all facets of a person and the professor must be aware of the discarded information within each category.

Secondly, mindful reworking of categories also mean that one pay close attention to their effect on the expectations. Categories and expectations are closely related. E.g., a person categorised as an expert is expected to know the answers within his/her field of expertise. These expectations constantly have to be revised and evaluated. It may be necessary to differentiate the expectations, replace them, supplement them, or discard the whole category.

Third, mindful reworking means a check whether the categories remain plausible. Outdated categorisation with implausible distinctions of expectations ensure trouble. This is the basic misreading in HRO’s. The trouble starts when you fail to notice that you only look for whatever confirms your categories and expectations. “Believing is seeing. You see what you expect to see. You see what you have the labels to see. You see what you have the skills to manage.” <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>
People who persistently rework their categories and refine them, differentiate them, update them, and replace them notice more and catch unexpected events earlier in their development. That is the essence of mindfulness <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>.

=== The Unexpected ===
Unexpected events can be categorised in three forms <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref>:
The unexpected occur when an event that was
* expected to happen fail to occur.
* not expected to happen does happen.
* simply unthought-of happens (Unknown/unkowns)

Unexpected events are caused by faulty expectations and the fact that we sought to look for evidence that confirm our expectations. These confirmations are found to boost our experience of being in control. However, this confirming behaviour has adverse effect on how quick we realise we are wrong and rework our expectations. A slow realisation time allows problems to worsen and become harder to solve and they might even be entangled with other problems.
HRO’s strive to minimize the risk of events unthought-of happens by steering people towards mindful practices that encourage imagination. People inadvertently trivialize the importance of imagination. Instead people tend to “Expect the unexpected” to maintain their desire for control and predictability.

== Putting Mindfulness into Practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager ==
Putting Mindfulness into practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager
<ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref> have developed concrete processes based on the five principles and on practices identified in the best HRO’s. The processes is organised under the headings of “Awareness and Anticipation of the Unexpected” and “Containment of those unexpected events that occur”
Enhancing awareness and anticipation

INSERT PROCESSES

== Limitations ==
Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>. argue that human cognition in the mindfulness theory is the solution to reliability problems, but they tend to over-simplify the resilience concept by neglecting the importance of routine-based reliability. Studies of human systems reveal two strategies for achieving reliable performance
<ref name=BG>Butler, B. S., & Gray, P. H. 2006. Reliability, mindfulness, and information systems. Mis Quarterly, 30(2), pp.211–224</ref>:

* Routine-based reliability
* Mindfulness-based reliability

[[File:Realibility figure v2.png|600px|thumb|Right|Figure 2: Strategies for achieving reliable performance<ref name=BG>Butler, B. S., & Gray, P. H. 2006. Reliability, mindfulness, and information systems. Mis Quarterly, 30(2), pp.211–224</ref>]]

Organizationally, routine-based reliability involves the creation and execution of standard operating and decision-making procedures, which may be unique to the organization or widely accepted across an industry (Spender, 1989). The routine-based reliability strategy rely on predefined procedures, routines and training designed to decrease cognitive human problem solving, to reduce errors, unwanted variation and waste. Defining procedures etc. is a frontloaded(Front end thinking) process where unknown/unknowns[link] may oppose a major risk because unexpected events cannot be implemented into the procedures. While routine-based approaches focus on reducing or eliminating situated human cognition as the cause of errors, mindfulness-based approaches focus on promoting highly situated human cognition as the solution to individual and organisational reliability problems <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>.. Mindfulness focus on one of the two strategies and ignore or assume that optimal routines, procedures and structures are in place. Mindfulness does not describe the interdependencies and synergistic impacts between the two strategies.

Mindfulness is a complex management theory. As the principle “Relucatance to simplify” justify, it takes a complex idea to capture a complex phenomenon. To fully implement mindfulness and deal with the unexpected it is required to organise in a complex manner. Likewise mindfulness preach a need for complex set of ideas to understand what people are doing and why it works thus requiring workers with a certain level of receptivity and resources.

==References==

<references/>

== Further Reading ==
* [[Wikipedia:Cognition|Cognition]]
* [[Wikipedia:Mindfulness|Mindfulness]]
* [[Wikipedia:Union_Pacific_Railroad|Union Pacific Railroad]]
* [[Wikipedia:Reliability_engineering|Reliability Engineering]]

File:Flickr - Official U.S. Navy Imagery - An airplane launches from the flight deck..jpg

2015-09-27T15:04:28Z

S140046:

Organisational resilience with mindfulness

2015-09-27T14:56:55Z

S140046:

== Abstract ==

An increasing demand for resilience within sociotechnical organisations has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations for unexpected events. Thorough management is crucial in resilient organisations (check ref, Geraldi et al, 2009) and mindfulness encompass the risk of the human mind. Mindful project managers are aware of cognitive biases and irrationalities. They inspire workers to be rational and fact-based.

Mindfulness is about keeping a high level of alertness and awareness of context and using awareness in our decision and actions <ref name=oehmen>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI</ref>. This article will address how mindfulness is used as an managerial instrument to obtain resilience in an organisation. The article will define the mindfulness theory with description of the 5 principles. Furthermore complex organisations and unexpected events related to unknown/unknowns is defined. There will be a focus on “commitment to resilience” and “deference to expertise” which focusing on reacting to unexpected events hence improving the resilience in the organisation.

----

== Big idea /Overview ==
Mindfulness is a term introduced by the professors Karl E. Weick and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe after studying [[Wikipedia:High_reliability_organization|high reliability organizations]] (HRO). These organizations have no choice but to function reliable. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> found that reliability does not mean a complete lack of variation. It is just the opposite. It takes mindful variety to assure stable high performance. The learnings and techniques from the HRO’s can be implemented in projects and in organizations who want a higher reliability.

In brief, mindfulness involves the ability to detect important aspects of the context and take timely, appropriate action. A well-developed capability for mindfulness catches the unexpected earlier when it is smaller, comprehends its potential importance despite the small size of the disruption, and removes, contains or rebounds from the effects of the unexpected. Managing the unexpected, mindfully project managers and organizations are able to deliver reliably the task they were asked to do.

The expectations of individuals tend not to correspond with the reality. We are all affected by cognitive biases and the mindful project manager is aware of that.

=== Mindfulness VS Mindlessness ===
To underline the importance of mindfulness its counterpart mindlessness is described. Mindlessness is characterized by at style of mental functioning in which people follow recipes, impose old categories to classify what they see, act with some rigidity, operate on automatic pilot, and mislabel unfamiliar new contexts as familiar old ones <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>.

== Application ==
An increasing demand for resilience within [[Wikipedia:Sociotechnical_system|sociotechnical systems]] has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations and their project, program and portfolio managers for unexpected events. The awareness of resilience and [[Wikipedia:Antifragility|antifragility]] is crucial for HRO’s, but all organisations can learn from the mind-set of the HRO’s. Even organisations without risks of casualties can improve their practises with mindfulness. It is a matter of context. Once the context, the precautions, the assumptions, the focus of attention, and what was ignored, it becomes obvious that many organizations are just as exposed to the unexpected as HRO’s and just as much in need of mindfulness. E.g an unexpected shutdown at an [[Wikipedia:Assembly_line|assembly line]] is not a severe crisis. However the supervisor did not expect any fails or shutdowns. To him it is an unexpected crisis. Unexpected events occur at all organizational levels.

Project, Program and Portfolio managers are familiar with many project management tools and they are able to define project time, costs, risks, stakeholders etc. by [[Wikipedia:Project_Management_Institute|PMI]] standards. However, when projects become more complex e.g. in order of technical and organisational complexity, social intricacy of human behaviour or uncertainty of long lifecycles, standard tools becomes inadequate. We tend to think of ourselves as rational beings, but in fact subconscious processes often drive human behaviour '''[EXAMPLE]'''. Not being aware of these subconscious thought processes can adversely affect projects. Mindful project managers know that they do not know everything. They know that their thoughts and impressions are affected by [[Wikipedia:Cognitive_bias|cognitive biases]]. Thus, they must be aware of their irrationalities to act in a mindful manner and become rational and fact-based. Mindfulness is instrumental in managing the intersection between human behaviour and uncertainties thus generating processes within projects, programs and portfolios that are more reliable.

=== Principles ===

Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> have developed five principles that harness the key characteristics in mindfulness. These guidelines/principles apply upward to divisions and organizations as well as downward to teams, crews and team leaders. The principles can be adopted by anyone. Each principle is given an example from different HRO’s.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Principle
! Description
! Example(s)
|-
| Preoccupation with failure
| A preoccupation with failure focuses the organization to convert small errors and failures into organizational learnings and improvements.

“Pay close attention to weak signals of failure that may be symptoms of larger problems within the system” <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>

Be wary of the potential liabilities of successes such as complacency, the temptation to reduce margins of safety and drift into automatic processes.

Read also [[Early_warning_signals_in_project_management |“Early warning signals in project management”]]

| The airline industry encourage their personnel to report all failures and near misses generating failure catalogs. A big effort is expended in reviewing all reports to improve processes and workarounds.

|-
| Reluctance to simplify
| Simplify mindfully and reluctantly. Have in mind that simplification can become too simple resulting in useless, unprecise simplifications e.g. explanations and categories. Problems faced in complex projects typically offer several options and a nuanced picture to fully understand the best solution.
|A merger of two North American railroad companies in 1996 resulted in a gridlock of the system from North Platte, Nebraska to Chicago. Many small errors and failures occurred after the merger, but the most obvious reason for the gridlock was an ignorant and arrogant attitude toward innovative and complex solutions. The top management insisted that trains are made up in central locations called classification yards, not in dispersed locations called shipper yards, satellite yards or mainline tracks. Freight shipped by railroaders are shipped by rail, not barge. In this case the problems caused by these simplifications were overlooked until the central location or excessive grain shipments became a bottleneck causing the gridlock.
|-
| Sensitivity to operations
| An organization must have an integrated overall and aligned picture of operation. Sensitivity to operations is closely related to sensitivity to relationships. Meaning a clear and unprejudiced communication between operation and management is crucial to understand the big picture.

Furthermore, it is important to be responsive to the changing reality of projects. This can be obtained first by controlling the progress, monitor deviations and implication on projects, and second being mindful to potential unexpected events.

| 1: Studies of nuclear weapons suggest that many problems arise not from a single failure, but when small deviations in different operational areas combine to create conditions that were never imagined in the plans and designs<ref name=Sagan>Sagan S.D. 1993. The limits of safety: Organizations Accidents and Nuclear Weapons. Princeton, NJ. Princeton University.</ref>

2: The microcomputer industry can be characterized as a high velocity environment with a rapid and discontinuous change in demand, competitors, technology and inaccurate, unavailable or obsolete information. Decision-makers deal with this environment by paying close attention to real-time information e.g. concerning current operations or environments.

|-
| Commitment to resilience
|Accommodate unexpected events and react to them quickly as they arise.
Resilience involves (a) the ability to absorb strain and preserve the functioning of the project; (b) ability to recover quickly; (c) ability to learn from the unexpected event and how it impacted the project.<ref name=oehmen>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI</ref>

| In the North American railroad merger case the meltdown of operations showed an inability to bounce back when the initial problems occurred. The railroad were short of men right after the merger and they trimmed crews, locomotives and supervisors shortly before the gridlock from Nebraska to Chicago. Slack resources is a common way to create resilience.
|-
|Deference to expertise (Collective mindfulness)
| Deference to expertise is about involving experts in the decision-making. The experts actively involved in the projects are more capable to give articulate solutions to problems. Rigid hierarchies have their own special vulnerability to error where errors at high levels tend to pick up and combine errors at low levels. HRO’s push decision making down and around where decision is made on the front line. The authority migrate to the people with the most expertise, regardless of their rank.

Collective mindfulness is associated with cultures and structures that promote open discussions of errors, mistakes and awareness.

|In the North American railroad merger case the decisions were made from top management even though their operational expertise were outdated. Furthermore the management were only fed with information that they wanted to hear. A horrible paradigm where management were fed with biased information and insisted to make decisions at top level. This classic command-and-control bureaucracy is adequate for a stable situation but too inflexible in times of change.
''(eventually Carlsberg case)''
|}

== Topics in Mindfulness ==
[The five principles are general guidelines of mindfulness.
To be able to implement mindfulness as a manager you must be aware of your cognitive behaviour as a human including how you experience the world. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref> (reference 2001 & 2007) It is recognised that you start Write about circle of influence from IDA event…...
Continuous learning] FINISH WRITING

=== Expectations ===
An expectation is to envision something, that is reasonably certain to come true. To expect something is to be mentally ready for it. “ Expectations form the basis for virtually all deliberate action because expectancies about how the world operates serve as implicit assumptions that guide behavioural choices” <ref>Olson, J. M., Roese, J. M. and Zanna, M. P. ''Expectancies''. In Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles, edited by E.T. Higgins & A.W. Kruglanski, pp211-238. New York, NY: Guilford.</ref>. With that in mind, it is important to be mindful about your expectations. Expectations direct your attention to certain features or events, which means that they affect what you notice and remember. Whenever our expectations does not match with reality our mind adjust you expectations to reality. It can be compared with a [[Wikipedia:Hypothesis_test|hypothesis-test]]. The human mind search for confirmation of its expectations but is biased to avoid looking for evidence that disconfirm them. HRO’s work hard to counteract this tendency. They routinely suspect their expectations for being incomplete. With this process, they check if the normal accepted expectation still pass the hypothesis test.

=== The capability for mindfulness (Categories) ===
Whenever people change the way they perceive the world they essentially rework the way they label and categorize what they see. This change in perception can be described with the following process:

# Re-examine discarded information
# Monitor how categories affect expectations and,
# Remove dated distinctions

Firstly, to rework one’s categories mindfully implies to evaluate how much information is discarded with a categorization of an instance with similar characteristics. Generally categorization help gaining control in a fast pace world. They can predict what will happen and plan one’s own actions. Without categories, any person or situation would be unique and therefore conserve scarce mental resources of attention and thinking. To exemplify categorization a university professor meet hundreds of students each day and have to categorize different types of students. The professor could categorize the students into categories such as active/passive, introvert/extrovert, Intelligent/less intelligent, man/women, young/old etc. The categories guide the professor how (s)he should behave or treat the different students. One category cannot describe all facets of a person and the professor must be aware of the discarded information within each category.
Secondly, mindful reworking of categories also mean that one pay close attention to their effect on the expectations. Categories and expectations are closely related. E.g., a person categorised as an expert is expected to know the answers within his/her field of expertise. These expectations constantly have to be revised and evaluated. It may be necessary to differentiate the expectations, replace them, supplement them, or discard the whole category.

Third, mindful reworking means a check whether the categories remain plausible. Outdated categorisation with implausible distinctions of expectations ensure trouble. This is the basic misreading in HRO’s. The trouble starts when you fail to notice that you only look for whatever confirms your categories and expectations. “Believing is seeing. You see what you expect to see. You see what you have the labels to see. You see what you have the skills to manage.” <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>
People who persistently rework their categories and refine them, differentiate them, update them, and replace them notice more and catch unexpected events earlier in their development. That is the essence of mindfulness <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>.

=== The Unexpected ===
Unexpected events can be categorised in three forms <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref>:
The unexpected occur when an event that was
* expected to happen fail to occur.
* not expected to happen does happen.
* simply unthought-of happens (Unknown/unkowns)

Unexpected events are caused by faulty expectations and the fact that we sought to look for evidence that confirm our expectations. These confirmations are found to boost our experience of being in control. However, this confirming behaviour has adverse effect on how quick we realise we are wrong and rework our expectations. A slow realisation time allows problems to worsen and become harder to solve and they might even be entangled with other problems.
HRO’s strive to minimize the risk of events unthought-of happens by steering people towards mindful practices that encourage imagination. People inadvertently trivialize the importance of imagination. Instead people tend to “Expect the unexpected” to maintain their desire for control and predictability.

== Putting Mindfulness into Practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager ==
Putting Mindfulness into practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager
<ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref> have developed concrete processes based on the five principles and on practices identified in the best HRO’s. The processes is organised under the headings of “Awareness and Anticipation of the Unexpected” and “Containment of those unexpected events that occur”
Enhancing awareness and anticipation

INSERT PROCESSES

== Limitations ==
Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>. argue that human cognition in the mindfulness theory is the solution to reliability problems, but they tend to over-simplify the resilience concept by neglecting the importance of routine-based reliability. Studies of human systems reveal two strategies for achieving reliable performance
<ref name=BG>Butler, B. S., & Gray, P. H. 2006. Reliability, mindfulness, and information systems. Mis Quarterly, 30(2), pp.211–224</ref>:

* Routine-based reliability
* Mindfulness-based reliability

[[File:Realibility figure v2.png|600px|thumb|Right|Strategies for achieving reliable performance<ref name=BG>Butler, B. S., & Gray, P. H. 2006. Reliability, mindfulness, and information systems. Mis Quarterly, 30(2), pp.211–224</ref>]]

Organizationally, routine-based reliability involves the creation and execution of standard operating and decision-making procedures, which may be unique to the organization or widely accepted across an industry (Spender, 1989). The routine-based reliability strategy rely on predefined procedures, routines and training designed to decrease cognitive human problem solving, to reduce errors, unwanted variation and waste. Defining procedures etc. is a frontloaded(Front end thinking) process where unknown/unknowns[link] may oppose a major risk because unexpected events cannot be implemented into the procedures. While routine-based approaches focus on reducing or eliminating situated human cognition as the cause of errors, mindfulness-based approaches focus on promoting highly situated human cognition as the solution to individual and organisational reliability problems <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>.. Mindfulness focus on one of the two strategies and ignore or assume that optimal routines, procedures and structures are in place. Mindfulness does not describe the interdependencies and synergistic impacts between the two strategies.

Mindfulness is a complex management theory. As the principle “Relucatance to simplify” justify, it takes a complex idea to capture a complex phenomenon. To fully implement mindfulness and deal with the unexpected it is required to organise in a complex manner. Likewise mindfulness preach a need for complex set of ideas to understand what people are doing and why it works thus requiring workers with a certain level of receptivity and resources.

==References==

<references/>

== Further Reading ==
* [[Wikipedia:Cognition|Cognition]]
* [[Wikipedia:Mindfulness|Mindfulness]]
* [[Wikipedia:Union_Pacific_Railroad|Union Pacific Railroad]]
* [[Wikipedia:Reliability_engineering|Reliability Engineering]]

Organisational resilience with mindfulness

2015-09-27T14:31:05Z

S140046:

== Abstract ==

An increasing demand for resilience within sociotechnical organisations has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations for unexpected events. Thorough management is crucial in resilient organisations (check ref, Geraldi et al, 2009) and mindfulness encompass the risk of the human mind. Mindful project managers are aware of cognitive biases and irrationalities. They inspire workers to be rational and fact-based.

Mindfulness is about keeping a high level of alertness and awareness of context and using awareness in our decision and actions <ref name=oehmen>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI</ref>. This article will address how mindfulness is used as an managerial instrument to obtain resilience in an organisation. The article will define the mindfulness theory with description of the 5 principles. Furthermore complex organisations and unexpected events related to unknown/unknowns is defined. There will be a focus on “commitment to resilience” and “deference to expertise” which focusing on reacting to unexpected events hence improving the resilience in the organisation.

----

== Big idea /Overview ==
Mindfulness is a term introduced by the professors Karl E. Weick and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe after studying [[Wikipedia:High_reliability_organization|high reliability organizations]] (HRO). These organizations have no choice but to function reliable. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> found that reliability does not mean a complete lack of variation. It is just the opposite. It takes mindful variety to assure stable high performance. The learnings and techniques from the HRO’s can be implemented in projects and in organizations who want a higher reliability.

In brief, mindfulness involves the ability to detect important aspects of the context and take timely, appropriate action. A well-developed capability for mindfulness catches the unexpected earlier when it is smaller, comprehends its potential importance despite the small size of the disruption, and removes, contains or rebounds from the effects of the unexpected. Managing the unexpected, mindfully project managers and organizations are able to deliver reliably the task they were asked to do.

The expectations of individuals tend not to correspond with the reality. We are all affected by cognitive biases and the mindful project manager is aware of that.

=== Mindfulness VS Mindlessness ===
To underline the importance of mindfulness its counterpart mindlessness is described. Mindlessness is characterized by at style of mental functioning in which people follow recipes, impose old categories to classify what they see, act with some rigidity, operate on automatic pilot, and mislabel unfamiliar new contexts as familiar old ones (Weick and Sutcliffe).

== Application ==
An increasing demand for resilience within [[Wikipedia:Sociotechnical_system|sociotechnical systems]] has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations and their project, program and portfolio managers for unexpected events. The awareness of resilience and [[Wikipedia:Antifragility|antifragility]] is crucial for HRO’s, but all organisations can learn from the mind-set of the HRO’s. Even organisations without risks of casualties can improve their practises with mindfulness. It is a matter of context. Once the context, the precautions, the assumptions, the focus of attention, and what was ignored, it becomes obvious that many organizations are just as exposed to the unexpected as HRO’s and just as much in need of mindfulness. E.g an unexpected shutdown at an [[Wikipedia:Assembly_line|assembly line]] is not a severe crisis. However the supervisor did not expect any fails or shutdowns. To him it is an unexpected crisis. Unexpected events occur at all organizational levels.

Project, Program and Portfolio managers are familiar with many project management tools and they are able to define project time, costs, risks, stakeholders etc. by [[Wikipedia:Project_Management_Institute|PMI]] standards. However, when projects become more complex e.g. in order of technical and organisational complexity, social intricacy of human behaviour or uncertainty of long lifecycles, standard tools becomes inadequate. We tend to think of ourselves as rational beings, but in fact subconscious processes often drive human behaviour '''[EXAMPLE]'''. Not being aware of these subconscious thought processes can adversely affect projects. Mindful project managers know that they do not know everything. They know that their thoughts and impressions are affected by [[Wikipedia:Cognitive_bias|cognitive biases]]. Thus, they must be aware of their irrationalities to act in a mindful manner and become rational and fact-based. Mindfulness is instrumental in managing the intersection between human behaviour and uncertainties thus generating processes within projects, programs and portfolios that are more reliable.

=== Principles ===

Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> have developed five principles that harness the key characteristics in mindfulness. These guidelines/principles apply upward to divisions and organizations as well as downward to teams, crews and team leaders. The principles can be adopted by anyone. Each principle is given an example from different HRO’s.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Principle
! Description
! Example(s)
|-
| Preoccupation with failure
| A preoccupation with failure focuses the organization to convert small errors and failures into organizational learnings and improvements.

“Pay close attention to weak signals of failure that may be symptoms of larger problems within the system” <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>

Be wary of the potential liabilities of successes such as complacency, the temptation to reduce margins of safety and drift into automatic processes.

Read also [[Early_warning_signals_in_project_management |“Early warning signals in project management”]]

| The airline industry encourage their personnel to report all failures and near misses generating failure catalogs. A big effort is expended in reviewing all reports to improve processes and workarounds.

|-
| Reluctance to simplify
| Simplify mindfully and reluctantly. Have in mind that simplification can become too simple resulting in useless, unprecise simplifications e.g. explanations and categories. Problems faced in complex projects typically offer several options and a nuanced picture to fully understand the best solution.
|A merger of two North American railroad companies in 1996 resulted in a gridlock of the system from North Platte, Nebraska to Chicago. Many small errors and failures occurred after the merger, but the most obvious reason for the gridlock was an ignorant and arrogant attitude toward innovative and complex solutions. The top management insisted that trains are made up in central locations called classification yards, not in dispersed locations called shipper yards, satellite yards or mainline tracks. Freight shipped by railroaders are shipped by rail, not barge. In this case the problems caused by these simplifications were overlooked until the central location or excessive grain shipments became a bottleneck causing the gridlock.
|-
| Sensitivity to operations
| An organization must have an integrated overall and aligned picture of operation. Sensitivity to operations is closely related to sensitivity to relationships. Meaning a clear and unprejudiced communication between operation and management is crucial to understand the big picture.

Furthermore, it is important to be responsive to the changing reality of projects. This can be obtained first by controlling the progress, monitor deviations and implication on projects, and second being mindful to potential unexpected events.

| 1: Studies of nuclear weapons suggest that many problems arise not from a single failure, but when small deviations in different operational areas combine to create conditions that were never imagined in the plans and designs<ref name=Sagan>Sagan S.D. 1993. The limits of safety: Organizations Accidents and Nuclear Weapons. Princeton, NJ. Princeton University.</ref>

2: The microcomputer industry can be characterized as a high velocity environment with a rapid and discontinuous change in demand, competitors, technology and inaccurate, unavailable or obsolete information. Decision-makers deal with this environment by paying close attention to real-time information e.g. concerning current operations or environments.

|-
| Commitment to resilience
|Accommodate unexpected events and react to them quickly as they arise.
Resilience involves (a) the ability to absorb strain and preserve the functioning of the project; (b) ability to recover quickly; (c) ability to learn from the unexpected event and how it impacted the project.<ref name=oehmen>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI</ref>

| In the North American railroad merger case the meltdown of operations showed an inability to bounce back when the initial problems occurred. The railroad were short of men right after the merger and they trimmed crews, locomotives and supervisors shortly before the gridlock from Nebraska to Chicago. Slack resources is a common way to create resilience.
|-
|Deference to expertise (Collective mindfulness)
| Deference to expertise is about involving experts in the decision-making. The experts actively involved in the projects are more capable to give articulate solutions to problems. Rigid hierarchies have their own special vulnerability to error where errors at high levels tend to pick up and combine errors at low levels. HRO’s push decision making down and around where decision is made on the front line. The authority migrate to the people with the most expertise, regardless of their rank.

Collective mindfulness is associated with cultures and structures that promote open discussions of errors, mistakes and awareness.

|In the North American railroad merger case the decisions were made from top management even though their operational expertise were outdated. Furthermore the management were only fed with information that they wanted to hear. A horrible paradigm where management were fed with biased information and insisted to make decisions at top level. This classic command-and-control bureaucracy is adequate for a stable situation but too inflexible in times of change.
''(eventually Carlsberg case)''
|}

== Topics in Mindfulness ==
[The five principles are general guidelines of mindfulness.
To be able to implement mindfulness as a manager you must be aware of your cognitive behaviour as a human including how you experience the world. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref> (reference 2001 & 2007) It is recognised that you start Write about circle of influence from IDA event…...
Continuous learning] FINISH WRITING

=== Expectations ===
An expectation is to envision something, that is reasonably certain to come true. To expect something is to be mentally ready for it. “ Expectations form the basis for virtually all deliberate action because expectancies about how the world operates serve as implicit assumptions that guide behavioural choices” <ref>Olson, J. M., Roese, J. M. and Zanna, M. P. ''Expectancies''. In Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles, edited by E.T. Higgins & A.W. Kruglanski, pp211-238. New York, NY: Guilford.</ref>. With that in mind, it is important to be mindful about your expectations. Expectations direct your attention to certain features or events, which means that they affect what you notice and remember. Whenever our expectations does not match with reality our mind adjust you expectations to reality. It can be compared with a [[Wikipedia:Hypothesis_test|hypothesis-test]]. The human mind search for confirmation of its expectations but is biased to avoid looking for evidence that disconfirm them. HRO’s work hard to counteract this tendency. They routinely suspect their expectations for being incomplete. With this process, they check if the normal accepted expectation still pass the hypothesis test.

=== The capability for mindfulness (Categories) ===
Whenever people change the way they perceive the world they essentially rework the way they label and categorize what they see. This change in perception can be described with the following process:

# Re-examine discarded information
# Monitor how categories affect expectations and,
# Remove dated distinctions

Firstly, to rework one’s categories mindfully implies to evaluate how much information is discarded with a categorization of an instance with similar characteristics. Generally categorization help gaining control in a fast pace world. They can predict what will happen and plan one’s own actions. Without categories, any person or situation would be unique and therefore conserve scarce mental resources of attention and thinking. To exemplify categorization a university professor meet hundreds of students each day and have to categorize different types of students. The professor could categorize the students into categories such as active/passive, introvert/extrovert, Intelligent/less intelligent, man/women, young/old etc. The categories guide the professor how (s)he should behave or treat the different students. One category cannot describe all facets of a person and the professor must be aware of the discarded information within each category.
Secondly, mindful reworking of categories also mean that one pay close attention to their effect on the expectations. Categories and expectations are closely related. E.g., a person categorised as an expert is expected to know the answers within his/her field of expertise. These expectations constantly have to be revised and evaluated. It may be necessary to differentiate the expectations, replace them, supplement them, or discard the whole category.

Third, mindful reworking means a check whether the categories remain plausible. Outdated categorisation with implausible distinctions of expectations ensure trouble. This is the basic misreading in HRO’s. The trouble starts when you fail to notice that you only look for whatever confirms your categories and expectations. “Believing is seeing. You see what you expect to see. You see what you have the labels to see. You see what you have the skills to manage.” <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>
People who persistently rework their categories and refine them, differentiate them, update them, and replace them notice more and catch unexpected events earlier in their development. That is the essence of mindfulness <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>.

=== The Unexpected ===
Unexpected events can be categorised in three forms <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref>:
The unexpected occur when an event that was
* expected to happen fail to occur.
* not expected to happen does happen.
* simply unthought-of happens (Unknown/unkowns)

Unexpected events are caused by faulty expectations and the fact that we sought to look for evidence that confirm our expectations. These confirmations are found to boost our experience of being in control. However, this confirming behaviour has adverse effect on how quick we realise we are wrong and rework our expectations. A slow realisation time allows problems to worsen and become harder to solve and they might even be entangled with other problems.
HRO’s strive to minimize the risk of events unthought-of happens by steering people towards mindful practices that encourage imagination. People inadvertently trivialize the importance of imagination. Instead people tend to “Expect the unexpected” to maintain their desire for control and predictability.

== Putting Mindfulness into Practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager ==
Putting Mindfulness into practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager
<ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref> have developed concrete processes based on the five principles and on practices identified in the best HRO’s. The processes is organised under the headings of “Awareness and Anticipation of the Unexpected” and “Containment of those unexpected events that occur”
Enhancing awareness and anticipation

INSERT PROCESSES

== Limitations ==
Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>. argue that human cognition in the mindfulness theory is the solution to reliability problems, but they tend to over-simplify the resilience concept by neglecting the importance of routine-based reliability. Studies of human systems reveal two strategies for achieving reliable performance (Butler & Gray, 2006):

* Routine-based reliability
* Mindfulness-based reliability

[[File:Realibility figure v2.png|600px|thumb|Right|]]

Organizationally, routine-based reliability involves the creation and execution of standard operating and decision-making procedures, which may be unique to the organization or widely accepted across an industry (Spender, 1989). The routine-based reliability strategy rely on predefined procedures, routines and training designed to decrease cognitive human problem solving, to reduce errors, unwanted variation and waste. Defining procedures etc. is a frontloaded(Front end thinking) process where unknown/unknowns[link] may oppose a major risk because unexpected events cannot be implemented into the procedures. While routine-based approaches focus on reducing or eliminating situated human cognition as the cause of errors, mindfulness-based approaches focus on promoting highly situated human cognition as the solution to individual and organisational reliability problems <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>.. Mindfulness focus on one of the two strategies and ignore or assume that optimal routines, procedures and structures are in place. Mindfulness does not describe the interdependencies and synergistic impacts between the two strategies.

Mindfulness is a complex management theory. As the principle “Relucatance to simplify” justify, it takes a complex idea to capture a complex phenomenon. To fully implement mindfulness and deal with the unexpected it is required to organise in a complex manner. Likewise mindfulness preach a need for complex set of ideas to understand what people are doing and why it works thus requiring workers with a certain level of receptivity and resources.

==References==

<references/>

== Further Reading ==
[[Wikipedia:Cognition|Cognition]]
[[Wikipedia:Mindfulness|Mindfulness]]
[[Wikipedia:Union_Pacific_Railroad|Union Pacific Railroad]]
[[Wikipedia:Reliability_engineering|Reliability Engineering]]

Organisational resilience with mindfulness

2015-09-27T14:19:43Z

S140046:

== Abstract ==

An increasing demand for resilience within sociotechnical organisations has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations for unexpected events. Thorough management is crucial in resilient organisations (check ref, Geraldi et al, 2009) and mindfulness encompass the risk of the human mind. Mindful project managers are aware of cognitive biases and irrationalities. They inspire workers to be rational and fact-based.

Mindfulness is about keeping a high level of alertness and awareness of context and using awareness in our decision and actions <ref name=oehmen>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI</ref>. This article will address how mindfulness is used as an managerial instrument to obtain resilience in an organisation. The article will define the mindfulness theory with description of the 5 principles. Furthermore complex organisations and unexpected events related to unknown/unknowns is defined. There will be a focus on “commitment to resilience” and “deference to expertise” which focusing on reacting to unexpected events hence improving the resilience in the organisation.

----

== Big idea /Overview ==
Mindfulness is a term introduced by the professors Karl E. Weick and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe after studying [[Wikipedia:High_reliability_organization|high reliability organizations]] (HRO). These organizations have no choice but to function reliable. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> found that reliability does not mean a complete lack of variation. It is just the opposite. It takes mindful variety to assure stable high performance. The learnings and techniques from the HRO’s can be implemented in projects and in organizations who want a higher reliability.

In brief, mindfulness involves the ability to detect important aspects of the context and take timely, appropriate action. A well-developed capability for mindfulness catches the unexpected earlier when it is smaller, comprehends its potential importance despite the small size of the disruption, and removes, contains or rebounds from the effects of the unexpected. Managing the unexpected, mindfully project managers and organizations are able to deliver reliably the task they were asked to do.

The expectations of individuals tend not to correspond with the reality. We are all affected by cognitive biases and the mindful project manager is aware of that.

=== Mindfulness VS Mindlessness ===
To underline the importance of mindfulness its counterpart mindlessness is described. Mindlessness is characterized by at style of mental functioning in which people follow recipes, impose old categories to classify what they see, act with some rigidity, operate on automatic pilot, and mislabel unfamiliar new contexts as familiar old ones (Weick and Sutcliffe).

== Application ==
An increasing demand for resilience within [[Wikipedia:Sociotechnical_system|sociotechnical systems]] has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations and their project, program and portfolio managers for unexpected events. The awareness of resilience and [[Wikipedia:Antifragility|antifragility]] is crucial for HRO’s, but all organisations can learn from the mind-set of the HRO’s. Even organisations without risks of casualties can improve their practises with mindfulness. It is a matter of context. Once the context, the precautions, the assumptions, the focus of attention, and what was ignored, it becomes obvious that many organizations are just as exposed to the unexpected as HRO’s and just as much in need of mindfulness. E.g an unexpected shutdown at an [[Wikipedia:Assembly_line|assembly line]] is not a severe crisis. However the supervisor did not expect any fails or shutdowns. To him it is an unexpected crisis. Unexpected events occur at all organizational levels.

Project, Program and Portfolio managers are familiar with many project management tools and they are able to define project time, costs, risks, stakeholders etc. by [[Wikipedia:Project_Management_Institute|PMI]] standards. However, when projects become more complex e.g. in order of technical and organisational complexity, social intricacy of human behaviour or uncertainty of long lifecycles, standard tools becomes inadequate. We tend to think of ourselves as rational beings, but in fact subconscious processes often drive human behaviour '''[EXAMPLE]'''. Not being aware of these subconscious thought processes can adversely affect projects. Mindful project managers know that they do not know everything. They know that their thoughts and impressions are affected by [[Wikipedia:Cognitive_bias|cognitive biases]]. Thus, they must be aware of their irrationalities to act in a mindful manner and become rational and fact-based. Mindfulness is instrumental in managing the intersection between human behaviour and uncertainties thus generating processes within projects, programs and portfolios that are more reliable.

=== Principles ===

Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> have developed five principles that harness the key characteristics in mindfulness. These guidelines/principles apply upward to divisions and organizations as well as downward to teams, crews and team leaders. The principles can be adopted by anyone. Each principle is given an example from different HRO’s.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Principle
! Description
! Example(s)
|-
| Preoccupation with failure
| A preoccupation with failure focuses the organization to convert small errors and failures into organizational learnings and improvements.

“Pay close attention to weak signals of failure that may be symptoms of larger problems within the system” <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>

Be wary of the potential liabilities of successes such as complacency, the temptation to reduce margins of safety and drift into automatic processes.

Read also [[Early_warning_signals_in_project_management |“Early warning signals in project management”]]

| The airline industry encourage their personnel to report all failures and near misses generating failure catalogs. A big effort is expended in reviewing all reports to improve processes and workarounds.

|-
| Reluctance to simplify
| Simplify mindfully and reluctantly. Have in mind that simplification can become too simple resulting in useless, unprecise simplifications e.g. explanations and categories. Problems faced in complex projects typically offer several options and a nuanced picture to fully understand the best solution.
|A merger of two North American railroad companies in 1996 resulted in a gridlock of the system from North Platte, Nebraska to Chicago. Many small errors and failures occurred after the merger, but the most obvious reason for the gridlock was an ignorant and arrogant attitude toward innovative and complex solutions. The top management insisted that trains are made up in central locations called classification yards, not in dispersed locations called shipper yards, satellite yards or mainline tracks. Freight shipped by railroaders are shipped by rail, not barge. In this case the problems caused by these simplifications were overlooked until the central location or excessive grain shipments became a bottleneck causing the gridlock.
|-
| Sensitivity to operations
| An organization must have an integrated overall and aligned picture of operation. Sensitivity to operations is closely related to sensitivity to relationships. Meaning a clear and unprejudiced communication between operation and management is crucial to understand the big picture.

Furthermore, it is important to be responsive to the changing reality of projects. This can be obtained first by controlling the progress, monitor deviations and implication on projects, and second being mindful to potential unexpected events.

| 1: Studies of nuclear weapons suggest that many problems arise not from a single failure, but when small deviations in different operational areas combine to create conditions that were never imagined in the plans and designs<ref name=Sagan>Sagan S.D. 1993. The limits of safety: Organizations Accidents and Nuclear Weapons. Princeton, NJ. Princeton University.</ref>

2: The microcomputer industry can be characterized as a high velocity environment with a rapid and discontinuous change in demand, competitors, technology and inaccurate, unavailable or obsolete information. Decision-makers deal with this environment by paying close attention to real-time information e.g. concerning current operations or environments.

|-
| Commitment to resilience
|Accommodate unexpected events and react to them quickly as they arise.
Resilience involves (a) the ability to absorb strain and preserve the functioning of the project; (b) ability to recover quickly; (c) ability to learn from the unexpected event and how it impacted the project.<ref name=oehmen>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI</ref>

| In the North American railroad merger case the meltdown of operations showed an inability to bounce back when the initial problems occurred. The railroad were short of men right after the merger and they trimmed crews, locomotives and supervisors shortly before the gridlock from Nebraska to Chicago. Slack resources is a common way to create resilience.
|-
|Deference to expertise (Collective mindfulness)
| Deference to expertise is about involving experts in the decision-making. The experts actively involved in the projects are more capable to give articulate solutions to problems. Rigid hierarchies have their own special vulnerability to error where errors at high levels tend to pick up and combine errors at low levels. HRO’s push decision making down and around where decision is made on the front line. The authority migrate to the people with the most expertise, regardless of their rank.

Collective mindfulness is associated with cultures and structures that promote open discussions of errors, mistakes and awareness.

|In the North American railroad merger case the decisions were made from top management even though their operational expertise were outdated. Furthermore the management were only fed with information that they wanted to hear. A horrible paradigm where management were fed with biased information and insisted to make decisions at top level. This classic command-and-control bureaucracy is adequate for a stable situation but too inflexible in times of change.
''(eventually Carlsberg case)''
|}

== Topics in Mindfulness ==
[The five principles are general guidelines of mindfulness.
To be able to implement mindfulness as a manager you must be aware of your cognitive behaviour as a human including how you experience the world. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> <ref name=WS2007>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2007. ''Managing the unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 9780787996499</ref> (reference 2001 & 2007) It is recognised that you start Write about circle of influence from IDA event…...
Continuous learning] FINISH WRITING

=== Expectations ===
An expectation is to envision something, that is reasonably certain to come true. To expect something is to be mentally ready for it. “ Expectations form the basis for virtually all deliberate action because expectancies about how the world operates serve as implicit assumptions that guide behavioural choices” <ref>Olson, J. M., Roese, J. M. and Zanna, M. P. ''Expectancies''. In Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles, edited by E.T. Higgins & A.W. Kruglanski, pp211-238. New York, NY: Guilford.</ref>. With that in mind, it is important to be mindful about your expectations. Expectations direct your attention to certain features or events, which means that they affect what you notice and remember. Whenever our expectations does not match with reality our mind adjust you expectations to reality. It can be compared with a hypothesis-test [Wikilink]. The human mind search for confirmation of its expectations but is biased to avoid looking for evidence that disconfirm them. HRO’s work hard to counteract this tendency. They routinely suspect their expectations for being incomplete. With this process, they check if the normal accepted expectation still pass the hypothesis test.

=== The capability for mindfulness (Categories) ===
Whenever people change the way they perceive the world they essentially rework the way they label and categorize what they see. This change in perception can be described with the following process:

# Re-examine discarded information
# Monitor how categories affect expectations and,
# Remove dated distinctions

Firstly, to rework one’s categories mindfully implies to evaluate how much information is discarded with a categorisation of an instance with similar characteristics. Generally categorization help gaining control in a fast pace world. They can predict what will happen and plan one’s own actions. Without categories, any person or situation would be unique and therefore conserve scarce mental resources of attention and thinking. To exemplify categorization a university professor meet hundreds of students each day and have to categorize different types of students. The professor could categorize the students into categories such as active/passive, introvert/extrovert, Intelligent/less intelligent, man/women, young/old etc. The categories guide the professor how (s)he should behave or treat the different students. One category cannot describe all facets of a person and the professor must be aware of the discarded information within each category.
Secondly, mindful reworking of categories also mean that one pay close attention to their effect on the expectations. Categories and expectations are closely related. E.g., a person categorised as an expert is expected to know the answers within his/her field of expertise. These expectations constantly have to be revised and evaluated. It may be necessary to differentiate the expectations, replace them, supplement them, or discard the whole category.
Third, mindful reworking means a check whether the categories remain plausible. Outdated categorisation with implausible distinctions of expectations ensure trouble. This is the basic misreading in HRO’s. The trouble starts when you fail to notice that you only look for whatever confirms your categories and expectations. “Believing is seeing. You see what you expect to see. You see what you have the labels to see. You see what you have the skills to manage.” (Weick & Sutcliffe, 2001)
People who persistently rework their categories and refine them, differentiate them, update them, and replace them notice more and catch unexpected events earlier in their development. That is the essence of mindfulness (Weick & Sutcliffe, 2001).

=== The Unexpected ===
Unexpected events can be categorised in three forms (Weick & Sutcliffe, 2007):
The unexpected occur when an event that was
* expected to happen fail to occur.
* not expected to happen does happen.
* simply unthought-of happens (Unknown/unkowns)

Unexpected events are caused by faulty expectations and the fact that we sought to look for evidence that confirm our expectations. These confirmations are found to boost our experience of being in control. However, this confirming behaviour has adverse effect on how quick we realise we are wrong and rework our expectations. A slow realisation time allows problems to worsen and become harder to solve and they might even be entangled with other problems.
HRO’s strive to minimize the risk of events unthought-of happens by steering people towards mindful practices that encourage imagination. People inadvertently trivialize the importance of imagination. Instead people tend to “Expect the unexpected” to maintain their desire for control and predictability.

== Putting Mindfulness into Practive as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager ==
Putting Mindfulness into practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager
Weick and Sutcliffe(reference) have developed concrete processes based on the five principles and on practices identified in the best HRO’s. The processes is organised under the headings of “Awareness and Anticipation of the Unexpected” and “Containment of those unexpected events that occur”
Enhancing awareness and anticipation

INSERT PROCESSES

== Limitations ==
Weick and Sutcliffe argue that human cognition in the mindfulness theory is the solution to reliability problems, but they tend to over-simplify the resilience concept by neglecting the importance of routine-based reliability. Studies of human systems reveal two strategies for achieving reliable performance (Butler & Gray, 2006):

* Routine-based reliability
* Mindfulness-based reliability

[[File:Realibility figure v2.png|600px|thumb|Right|]]

Organizationally, routine-based reliability involves the creation and execution of standard operating and decision-making procedures, which may be unique to the organization or widely accepted across an industry (Spender, 1989). The routine-based reliability strategy rely on predefined procedures, routines and training designed to decrease cognitive human problem solving, to reduce errors, unwanted variation and waste. Defining procedures etc. is a frontloaded(Front end thinking) process where unknown/unknowns[link] may oppose a major risk because unexpected events cannot be implemented into the procedures. While routine-based approaches focus on reducing or eliminating situated human cognition as the cause of errors, mindfulness-based approaches focus on promoting highly situated human cognition as the solution to individual and organisational reliability problems (Weick and Sutcliffe, 2001). Mindfulness focus on one of the two strategies and ignore or assume that optimal routines, procedures and structures are in place. Mindfulness does not describe the interdependencies and synergistic impacts between the two strategies.

Mindfulness is a complex management theory. As the principle “Relucatance to simplify” justify, it takes a complex idea to capture a complex phenomenon. To fully implement mindfulness and deal with the unexpected it is required to organise in a complex manner. Likewise mindfulness preach a need for complex set of ideas to understand what people are doing and why it works thus requiring workers with a certain level of receptivity and resources.

==References==

<references/>

== Further Reading ==
Human cognition (further reading)
Mindfulness
UN: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Pacific_Railroad
Systems reliability
Reliability

Organisational resilience with mindfulness

2015-09-27T14:03:18Z

S140046:

== Abstract ==

An increasing demand for resilience within sociotechnical organisations has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations for unexpected events. Thorough management is crucial in resilient organisations (check ref, Geraldi et al, 2009) and mindfulness encompass the risk of the human mind. Mindful project managers are aware of cognitive biases and irrationalities. They inspire workers to be rational and fact-based.

Mindfulness is about keeping a high level of alertness and awareness of context and using awareness in our decision and actions <ref>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI</ref>. This article will address how mindfulness is used as an managerial instrument to obtain resilience in an organisation. The article will define the mindfulness theory with description of the 5 principles. Furthermore complex organisations and unexpected events related to unknown/unknowns is defined. There will be a focus on “commitment to resilience” and “deference to expertise” which focusing on reacting to unexpected events hence improving the resilience in the organisation.

----

== Big idea /Overview ==
Mindfulness is a term introduced by the professors Karl E. Weick and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe after studying [[Wikipedia:High_reliability_organization|high reliability organizations]] (HRO). These organizations have no choice but to function reliable. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> found that reliability does not mean a complete lack of variation. It is just the opposite. It takes mindful variety to assure stable high performance. The learnings and techniques from the HRO’s can be implemented in projects and in organizations who want a higher reliability.

In brief, mindfulness involves the ability to detect important aspects of the context and take timely, appropriate action. A well-developed capability for mindfulness catches the unexpected earlier when it is smaller, comprehends its potential importance despite the small size of the disruption, and removes, contains or rebounds from the effects of the unexpected. Managing the unexpected, mindfully project managers and organizations are able to deliver reliably the task they were asked to do.

The expectations of individuals tend not to correspond with the reality. We are all affected by cognitive biases and the mindful project manager is aware of that.

=== Mindfulness VS Mindlessness ===
To underline the importance of mindfulness its counterpart mindlessness is described. Mindlessness is characterized by at style of mental functioning in which people follow recipes, impose old categories to classify what they see, act with some rigidity, operate on automatic pilot, and mislabel unfamiliar new contexts as familiar old ones (Weick and Sutcliffe).

== Application ==
An increasing demand for resilience within [[Wikipedia:Sociotechnical_system|sociotechnical systems]] has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations and their project, program and portfolio managers for unexpected events. The awareness of resilience and [[Wikipedia:Antifragility|antifragility]] is crucial for HRO’s, but all organisations can learn from the mind-set of the HRO’s. Even organisations without risks of casualties can improve their practises with mindfulness. It is a matter of context. Once the context, the precautions, the assumptions, the focus of attention, and what was ignored, it becomes obvious that many organizations are just as exposed to the unexpected as HRO’s and just as much in need of mindfulness. E.g an unexpected shutdown at an [[Wikipedia:Assembly_line|assembly line]] is not a severe crisis. However the supervisor did not expect any fails or shutdowns. To him it is an unexpected crisis. Unexpected events occur at all organizational levels.

Project, Program and Portfolio managers are familiar with many project management tools and they are able to define project time, costs, risks, stakeholders etc. by [[Wikipedia:Project_Management_Institute|PMI]] standards. However, when projects become more complex e.g. in order of technical and organisational complexity, social intricacy of human behaviour or uncertainty of long lifecycles, standard tools becomes inadequate. We tend to think of ourselves as rational beings, but in fact subconscious processes often drive human behaviour '''[EXAMPLE]'''. Not being aware of these subconscious thought processes can adversely affect projects. Mindful project managers know that they do not know everything. They know that their thoughts and impressions are affected by [[Wikipedia:Cognitive_bias|cognitive biases]]. Thus, they must be aware of their irrationalities to act in a mindful manner and become rational and fact-based. Mindfulness is instrumental in managing the intersection between human behaviour and uncertainties thus generating processes within projects, programs and portfolios that are more reliable.

=== Principles ===

Weick and Sutcliffe<ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> have developed five principles that harness the key characteristics in mindfulness. These guidelines/principles apply upward to divisions and organizations as well as downward to teams, crews and team leaders. The principles can be adopted by anyone. Each principle is given an example from different HRO’s.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Principle
! Description
! Example
|-
| Preoccupation with failure
| A preoccupation with failure focuses the organization to convert small errors and failures into organizational learnings and improvements.

“Pay close attention to weak signals of failure that may be symptoms of larger problems within the system” <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref>

Be wary of the potential liabilities of successes such as complacency, the temptation to reduce margins of safety and drift into automatic processes.

Read also [[Early_warning_signals_in_project_management |“Early warning signals in project management”]]

| The airline industry encourage their personnel to report all failures and near misses generating failure catalogs. A big effort is expended in reviewing all reports to improve processes and workarounds.

|-
| Reluctance to simplify
| Simplify mindfully and reluctantly. Have in mind that simplification can become too simple resulting in useless, unprecise simplifications e.g. explanations and categories. Problems faced in complex projects typically offer several options and a nuanced picture to fully understand the best solution.
|A merger of two North American railroad companies in 1996 resulted in a gridlock of the system from North Platte, Nebraska to Chicago. Many small errors and failures occurred after the merger, but the most obvious reason for the gridlock was an ignorant and arrogant attitude toward innovative and complex solutions. The top management insisted that trains are made up in central locations called classification yards, not in dispersed locations called shipper yards, satellite yards or mainline tracks. Freight shipped by railroaders are shipped by rail, not barge. In this case the problems caused by these simplifications were overlooked until the central location or excessive grain shipments became a bottleneck causing the gridlock.
|-
| Sensitivity to operations
| An organization must have an integrated overall and aligned picture of operation. Sensitivity to operations is closely related to sensitivity to relationships. Meaning a clear and unprejudiced communication between operation and management is crucial to understand the big picture.

Furthermore, it is important to be responsive to the changing reality of projects. This can be obtained first by controlling the progress, monitor deviations and implication on projects, and second being mindful to potential unexpected events.

| 1: Studies of nuclear weapons suggest that many problems arise not from a single failure, but when small deviations in different operational areas combine to create conditions that were never imagined in the plans and designs (Sagan, 1993)

2: The microcomputer industry can be characterized as a high velocity environment with a rapid and discontinuous change in demand, competitors, technology and inaccurate, unavailable or obsolete information. Decicionmakers deal with this environment by paying close attention to real-time information e.g. concerning current operations or environments.

|-
| Commitment to resilience
|Accommodate unexpected events and react to them quickly as they arise.
Resilience involves (a) the ability to absorb strain and preserve the functioning of the project; (b) ability to recover quickly; (c) ability to learn from the unexpected event and how it impacted the project. (Oehmen et al, 2015)

| In the North American railroad merger case the meltdown of operations showed an inability to bounce back when the initial problems occurred. The railroad were short of men right after the merger and they trimmed crews, locomotives and supervisors shortly before the gridlock from Nebraska to Chicago. Slack resources is a common way to create resilience.
|-
|Deference to expertise (Collective mindfulness)
| Deference to expertise is about involving experts in the decision-making. The experts actively involved in the projects are more capable to give articulate solutions to problems. Rigid hierarchies have their own special vulnerability to error where errors at high levels tend to pick up and combine errors at low levels. HRO’s push decision making down and around where decision is made on the front line. The authority migrate to the people with the most expertise, regardless of their rank.

Collective mindfulness is associated with cultures and structures that promote open discussions of errors, mistakes and awareness.

|In the North American railroad merger case the decisions were made from top management even though their operational expertise were outdated. Furthermore the management were only fed with information that they wanted to hear. A horrible paradigm where management were fed with biased information and insisted to make decisions at top level. This classic command-and-control bureaucracy is adequate for a stable situation but too inflexible in times of change.
(eventually Carlsberg case)
|}

== Topics in Mindfulness ==
[The five principles are general guidelines of mindfulness.
To be able to implement mindfulness as a manager you must be aware of your cognitive behaviour as a human including how you experience the world. Weick and Sutcliffe (reference 2001 & 2007) It is recognised that you start Write about circle of influence from IDA event…...
Continuous learning] FINISH WRITING

=== Expectations ===
An expectation is to envision something, that is reasonably certain to come true. To expect something is to be mentally ready for it. “ Expectations form the basis for virtually all deliberate action because expectancies about how the world operates serve as implicit assumptions that guide behavioural choices” (Olson et al, XXXX). With that in mind, it is important to be mindful about your expectations. Expectations direct your attention to certain features or events, which means that they affect what you notice and remember. Whenever our expectations does not match with reality our mind adjust you expectations to reality. It can be compared with a hypothesis-test [Wikilink]. The human mind search for confirmation of its expectations but is biased to avoid looking for evidence that disconfirm them. HRO’s work hard to counteract this tendency. They routinely suspect their expectations for being incomplete. With this process, they check if the normal accepted expectation still pass the hypothesis test.

=== The capability for mindfulness (Categories) ===
Whenever people change the way they perceive the world they essentially rework the way they label and categorize what they see. This change in perception can be described with the following process:

# Re-examine discarded information
# Monitor how categories affect expectations and,
# Remove dated distinctions

Firstly, to rework one’s categories mindfully implies to evaluate how much information is discarded with a categorisation of an instance with similar characteristics. Generally categorization help gaining control in a fast pace world. They can predict what will happen and plan one’s own actions. Without categories, any person or situation would be unique and therefore conserve scarce mental resources of attention and thinking. To exemplify categorization a university professor meet hundreds of students each day and have to categorize different types of students. The professor could categorize the students into categories such as active/passive, introvert/extrovert, Intelligent/less intelligent, man/women, young/old etc. The categories guide the professor how (s)he should behave or treat the different students. One category cannot describe all facets of a person and the professor must be aware of the discarded information within each category.
Secondly, mindful reworking of categories also mean that one pay close attention to their effect on the expectations. Categories and expectations are closely related. E.g., a person categorised as an expert is expected to know the answers within his/her field of expertise. These expectations constantly have to be revised and evaluated. It may be necessary to differentiate the expectations, replace them, supplement them, or discard the whole category.
Third, mindful reworking means a check whether the categories remain plausible. Outdated categorisation with implausible distinctions of expectations ensure trouble. This is the basic misreading in HRO’s. The trouble starts when you fail to notice that you only look for whatever confirms your categories and expectations. “Believing is seeing. You see what you expect to see. You see what you have the labels to see. You see what you have the skills to manage.” (Weick & Sutcliffe, 2001)
People who persistently rework their categories and refine them, differentiate them, update them, and replace them notice more and catch unexpected events earlier in their development. That is the essence of mindfulness (Weick & Sutcliffe, 2001).

=== The Unexpected ===
Unexpected events can be categorised in three forms (Weick & Sutcliffe, 2007):
The unexpected occur when an event that was
* expected to happen fail to occur.
* not expected to happen does happen.
* simply unthought-of happens (Unknown/unkowns)

Unexpected events are caused by faulty expectations and the fact that we sought to look for evidence that confirm our expectations. These confirmations are found to boost our experience of being in control. However, this confirming behaviour has adverse effect on how quick we realise we are wrong and rework our expectations. A slow realisation time allows problems to worsen and become harder to solve and they might even be entangled with other problems.
HRO’s strive to minimize the risk of events unthought-of happens by steering people towards mindful practices that encourage imagination. People inadvertently trivialize the importance of imagination. Instead people tend to “Expect the unexpected” to maintain their desire for control and predictability.

== Putting Mindfulness into Practive as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager ==
Putting Mindfulness into practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager
Weick and Sutcliffe(reference) have developed concrete processes based on the five principles and on practices identified in the best HRO’s. The processes is organised under the headings of “Awareness and Anticipation of the Unexpected” and “Containment of those unexpected events that occur”
Enhancing awareness and anticipation

INSERT PROCESSES

== Limitations ==
Weick and Sutcliffe argue that human cognition in the mindfulness theory is the solution to reliability problems, but they tend to over-simplify the resilience concept by neglecting the importance of routine-based reliability. Studies of human systems reveal two strategies for achieving reliable performance (Butler & Gray, 2006):

* Routine-based reliability
* Mindfulness-based reliability

[[File:Realibility figure v2.png|600px|thumb|Right|]]

Organizationally, routine-based reliability involves the creation and execution of standard operating and decision-making procedures, which may be unique to the organization or widely accepted across an industry (Spender, 1989). The routine-based reliability strategy rely on predefined procedures, routines and training designed to decrease cognitive human problem solving, to reduce errors, unwanted variation and waste. Defining procedures etc. is a frontloaded(Front end thinking) process where unknown/unknowns[link] may oppose a major risk because unexpected events cannot be implemented into the procedures. While routine-based approaches focus on reducing or eliminating situated human cognition as the cause of errors, mindfulness-based approaches focus on promoting highly situated human cognition as the solution to individual and organisational reliability problems (Weick and Sutcliffe, 2001). Mindfulness focus on one of the two strategies and ignore or assume that optimal routines, procedures and structures are in place. Mindfulness does not describe the interdependencies and synergistic impacts between the two strategies.

Mindfulness is a complex management theory. As the principle “Relucatance to simplify” justify, it takes a complex idea to capture a complex phenomenon. To fully implement mindfulness and deal with the unexpected it is required to organise in a complex manner. Likewise mindfulness preach a need for complex set of ideas to understand what people are doing and why it works thus requiring workers with a certain level of receptivity and resources.

==References==

<references/>

== Further Reading ==
Human cognition (further reading)
Mindfulness
UN: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Pacific_Railroad
Systems reliability
Reliability

Organisational resilience with mindfulness

2015-09-27T13:44:51Z

S140046:

== Abstract ==

An increasing demand for resilience within sociotechnical organisations has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations for unexpected events. Thorough management is crucial in resilient organisations (check ref, Geraldi et al, 2009) and mindfulness encompass the risk of the human mind. Mindful project managers are aware of cognitive biases and irrationalities. They inspire workers to be rational and fact-based.

Mindfulness is about keeping a high level of alertness and awareness of context and using awareness in our decision and actions <ref>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI</ref>. This article will address how mindfulness is used as an managerial instrument to obtain resilience in an organisation. The article will define the mindfulness theory with description of the 5 principles. Furthermore complex organisations and unexpected events related to unknown/unknowns is defined. There will be a focus on “commitment to resilience” and “deference to expertise” which focusing on reacting to unexpected events hence improving the resilience in the organisation.

----

== Big idea /Overview ==
Mindfulness is a term introduced by the professors Karl E. Weick and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe after studying [[Wikipedia:High_reliability_organization|high reliability organizations]] (HRO). These organizations have no choice but to function reliable. Weick and Sutcliffe <ref name=WS>Weick, K. E. and Sutcliffe, K. M. 2001. ''Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787956279</ref> found that reliability does not mean a complete lack of variation. It is just the opposite. It takes mindful variety to assure stable high performance. The learnings and techniques from the HRO’s can be implemented in projects and in organizations who want a higher reliability.

In brief, mindfulness involves the ability to detect important aspects of the context and take timely, appropriate action. A well-developed capability for mindfulness catches the unexpected earlier when it is smaller, comprehends its potential importance despite the small size of the disruption, and removes, contains or rebounds from the effects of the unexpected. Managing the unexpected, mindfully project managers and organizations are able to deliver reliably the task they were asked to do.

The expectations of individuals tend not to correspond with the reality. We are all affected by cognitive biases and the mindful project manager is aware of that.

=== Mindfulness VS Mindlessness ===
To underline the importance of mindfulness its counterpart mindlessness is described. Mindlessness is characterized by at style of mental functioning in which people follow recipes, impose old categories to classify what they see, act with some rigidity, operate on automatic pilot, and mislabel unfamiliar new contexts as familiar old ones (Weick and Sutcliffe).

== Application ==
An increasing demand for resilience within [[Wikipedia:Sociotechnical_system|sociotechnical systems]] has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations and their project, program and portfolio managers for unexpected events. The awareness of resilience and antifragility [insert link to Lasse] is crucial for HRO’s, but all organisations can learn from the mind-set of the HRO’s. Even organisations without risks of casualties can improve their practises with mindfulness. It is a matter of context. Once the context, the precautions, the assumptions, the focus of attention, and what was ignored, it becomes obvious that many organizations are just as exposed to the unexpected as HRO’s and just as much in need of mindfulness. E.g an unexpected shutdown at an assembly line is not a severe crisis. However the supervisor did not expect any fails or shutdowns. To him it is an unexpected crisis. Unexpected events occur at all organizational levels.

Project, Program and Portfolio managers are familiar with many project management tools and they are able to define project time, costs, risks, stakeholders etc. by PMI standards. However, when projects become more complex e.g. in order of technical and organisational complexity, social intricacy of human behaviour or uncertainty of long lifecycles, standard tools becomes inadequate. We tend to think of ourselves as rational beings, but in fact subconscious processes often drive human behaviour [EXAMPLE]. Not being aware of these subconscious thought processes can adversely affect projects. Mindful project managers know that they do not know everything. They know that their thoughts and impressions are affected by cognitive biases(Wikilink). Thus, they must be aware of their irrationalities to act in a mindful manner and become rational and fact-based. Mindfulness is instrumental in managing the intersection between human behaviour and uncertainties thus generating processes within projects, programs and portfolios that are more reliable.

=== Principles ===

Weick and Sutcliffe have developed five principles that harness the key characteristics in mindfulness. These guidelines/principles apply upward to divisions and organizations as well as downward to teams, crews and team leaders. The principles can be adopted by anyone. Each principle is given an example from different HRO’s.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Principle
! Description
! Example
|-
| Preoccupation with failure
| A preoccupation with failure focuses the organization to convert small errors and failures into organizational learnings and improvements.

“Pay close attention to weak signals of failure that may be symptoms of larger problems within the system” (Weick & Sutcliffe, 2001)

Be wary of the potential liabilities of successes such as complacency, the temptation to reduce margins of safety and drift into automatic processes.

Read also “Early warning signals in project management”

| The airline industry encourage their personnel to report all failures and near misses generating failure catalogs. A big effort is expended in reviewing all reports to improve processes and workarounds.

|-
| Reluctance to simplify
| Simplify mindfully and reluctantly. Have in mind that simplification can become too simple resulting in useless, unprecise simplifications e.g. explanations and categories. Problems faced in complex projects typically offer several options and a nuanced picture to fully understand the best solution.
|A merger of two North American railroad companies in 1996 resulted in a gridlock of the system from North Platte, Nebraska to Chicago. Many small errors and failures occurred after the merger, but the most obvious reason for the gridlock was an ignorant and arrogant attitude toward innovative and complex solutions. The top management insisted that trains are made up in central locations called classification yards, not in dispersed locations called shipper yards, satellite yards or mainline tracks. Freight shipped by railroaders are shipped by rail, not barge. In this case the problems caused by these simplifications were overlooked until the central location or excessive grain shipments became a bottleneck causing the gridlock.
|-
| Sensitivity to operations
| An organization must have an integrated overall and aligned picture of operation. Sensitivity to operations is closely related to sensitivity to relationships. Meaning a clear and unprejudiced communication between operation and management is crucial to understand the big picture.

Furthermore, it is important to be responsive to the changing reality of projects. This can be obtained first by controlling the progress, monitor deviations and implication on projects, and second being mindful to potential unexpected events.

| 1: Studies of nuclear weapons suggest that many problems arise not from a single failure, but when small deviations in different operational areas combine to create conditions that were never imagined in the plans and designs (Sagan, 1993)

2: The microcomputer industry can be characterized as a high velocity environment with a rapid and discontinuous change in demand, competitors, technology and inaccurate, unavailable or obsolete information. Decicionmakers deal with this environment by paying close attention to real-time information e.g. concerning current operations or environments.

|-
| Commitment to resilience
|Accommodate unexpected events and react to them quickly as they arise.
Resilience involves (a) the ability to absorb strain and preserve the functioning of the project; (b) ability to recover quickly; (c) ability to learn from the unexpected event and how it impacted the project. (Oehmen et al, 2015)

| In the North American railroad merger case the meltdown of operations showed an inability to bounce back when the initial problems occurred. The railroad were short of men right after the merger and they trimmed crews, locomotives and supervisors shortly before the gridlock from Nebraska to Chicago. Slack resources is a common way to create resilience.
|-
|Deference to expertise (Collective mindfulness)
| Deference to expertise is about involving experts in the decision-making. The experts actively involved in the projects are more capable to give articulate solutions to problems. Rigid hierarchies have their own special vulnerability to error where errors at high levels tend to pick up and combine errors at low levels. HRO’s push decision making down and around where decision is made on the front line. The authority migrate to the people with the most expertise, regardless of their rank.

Collective mindfulness is associated with cultures and structures that promote open discussions of errors, mistakes and awareness.

|In the North American railroad merger case the decisions were made from top management even though their operational expertise were outdated. Furthermore the management were only fed with information that they wanted to hear. A horrible paradigm where management were fed with biased information and insisted to make decisions at top level. This classic command-and-control bureaucracy is adequate for a stable situation but too inflexible in times of change.
(eventually Carlsberg case)
|}

== Topics in Mindfulness ==
[The five principles are general guidelines of mindfulness.
To be able to implement mindfulness as a manager you must be aware of your cognitive behaviour as a human including how you experience the world. Weick and Sutcliffe (reference 2001 & 2007) It is recognised that you start Write about circle of influence from IDA event…...
Continuous learning] FINISH WRITING

=== Expectations ===
An expectation is to envision something, that is reasonably certain to come true. To expect something is to be mentally ready for it. “ Expectations form the basis for virtually all deliberate action because expectancies about how the world operates serve as implicit assumptions that guide behavioural choices” (Olson et al, XXXX). With that in mind, it is important to be mindful about your expectations. Expectations direct your attention to certain features or events, which means that they affect what you notice and remember. Whenever our expectations does not match with reality our mind adjust you expectations to reality. It can be compared with a hypothesis-test [Wikilink]. The human mind search for confirmation of its expectations but is biased to avoid looking for evidence that disconfirm them. HRO’s work hard to counteract this tendency. They routinely suspect their expectations for being incomplete. With this process, they check if the normal accepted expectation still pass the hypothesis test.

=== The capability for mindfulness (Categories) ===
Whenever people change the way they perceive the world they essentially rework the way they label and categorize what they see. This change in perception can be described with the following process:

# Re-examine discarded information
# Monitor how categories affect expectations and,
# Remove dated distinctions

Firstly, to rework one’s categories mindfully implies to evaluate how much information is discarded with a categorisation of an instance with similar characteristics. Generally categorization help gaining control in a fast pace world. They can predict what will happen and plan one’s own actions. Without categories, any person or situation would be unique and therefore conserve scarce mental resources of attention and thinking. To exemplify categorization a university professor meet hundreds of students each day and have to categorize different types of students. The professor could categorize the students into categories such as active/passive, introvert/extrovert, Intelligent/less intelligent, man/women, young/old etc. The categories guide the professor how (s)he should behave or treat the different students. One category cannot describe all facets of a person and the professor must be aware of the discarded information within each category.
Secondly, mindful reworking of categories also mean that one pay close attention to their effect on the expectations. Categories and expectations are closely related. E.g., a person categorised as an expert is expected to know the answers within his/her field of expertise. These expectations constantly have to be revised and evaluated. It may be necessary to differentiate the expectations, replace them, supplement them, or discard the whole category.
Third, mindful reworking means a check whether the categories remain plausible. Outdated categorisation with implausible distinctions of expectations ensure trouble. This is the basic misreading in HRO’s. The trouble starts when you fail to notice that you only look for whatever confirms your categories and expectations. “Believing is seeing. You see what you expect to see. You see what you have the labels to see. You see what you have the skills to manage.” (Weick & Sutcliffe, 2001)
People who persistently rework their categories and refine them, differentiate them, update them, and replace them notice more and catch unexpected events earlier in their development. That is the essence of mindfulness (Weick & Sutcliffe, 2001).

=== The Unexpected ===
Unexpected events can be categorised in three forms (Weick & Sutcliffe, 2007):
The unexpected occur when an event that was
* expected to happen fail to occur.
* not expected to happen does happen.
* simply unthought-of happens (Unknown/unkowns)

Unexpected events are caused by faulty expectations and the fact that we sought to look for evidence that confirm our expectations. These confirmations are found to boost our experience of being in control. However, this confirming behaviour has adverse effect on how quick we realise we are wrong and rework our expectations. A slow realisation time allows problems to worsen and become harder to solve and they might even be entangled with other problems.
HRO’s strive to minimize the risk of events unthought-of happens by steering people towards mindful practices that encourage imagination. People inadvertently trivialize the importance of imagination. Instead people tend to “Expect the unexpected” to maintain their desire for control and predictability.

== Putting Mindfulness into Practive as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager ==
Putting Mindfulness into practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager
Weick and Sutcliffe(reference) have developed concrete processes based on the five principles and on practices identified in the best HRO’s. The processes is organised under the headings of “Awareness and Anticipation of the Unexpected” and “Containment of those unexpected events that occur”
Enhancing awareness and anticipation

INSERT PROCESSES

== Limitations ==
Weick and Sutcliffe argue that human cognition in the mindfulness theory is the solution to reliability problems, but they tend to over-simplify the resilience concept by neglecting the importance of routine-based reliability. Studies of human systems reveal two strategies for achieving reliable performance (Butler & Gray, 2006):

* Routine-based reliability
* Mindfulness-based reliability

[[File:Realibility figure v2.png|600px|thumb|Right|]]

Organizationally, routine-based reliability involves the creation and execution of standard operating and decision-making procedures, which may be unique to the organization or widely accepted across an industry (Spender, 1989). The routine-based reliability strategy rely on predefined procedures, routines and training designed to decrease cognitive human problem solving, to reduce errors, unwanted variation and waste. Defining procedures etc. is a frontloaded(Front end thinking) process where unknown/unknowns[link] may oppose a major risk because unexpected events cannot be implemented into the procedures. While routine-based approaches focus on reducing or eliminating situated human cognition as the cause of errors, mindfulness-based approaches focus on promoting highly situated human cognition as the solution to individual and organisational reliability problems (Weick and Sutcliffe, 2001). Mindfulness focus on one of the two strategies and ignore or assume that optimal routines, procedures and structures are in place. Mindfulness does not describe the interdependencies and synergistic impacts between the two strategies.

Mindfulness is a complex management theory. As the principle “Relucatance to simplify” justify, it takes a complex idea to capture a complex phenomenon. To fully implement mindfulness and deal with the unexpected it is required to organise in a complex manner. Likewise mindfulness preach a need for complex set of ideas to understand what people are doing and why it works thus requiring workers with a certain level of receptivity and resources.

==References==

<references/>

== Further Reading ==
Human cognition (further reading)
Mindfulness
UN: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Pacific_Railroad
Systems reliability
Reliability

Organisational resilience with mindfulness

2015-09-27T13:31:05Z

S140046:

== Abstract ==

An increasing demand for resilience within sociotechnical organisations has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations for unexpected events. Thorough management is crucial in resilient organisations (check ref, Geraldi et al, 2009) and mindfulness encompass the risk of the human mind. Mindful project managers are aware of cognitive biases and irrationalities. They inspire workers to be rational and fact-based.

Mindfulness is about keeping a high level of alertness and awareness of context and using awareness in our decision and actions <ref>Oehmen, J. et al. 2015. ''Complexity Management for Projects, Programmes, and Portfolios: An Engineering Systems Perspective''. Copenhagen: PMI</ref>. This article will address how mindfulness is used as an managerial instrument to obtain resilience in an organisation. The article will define the mindfulness theory with description of the 5 principles. Furthermore complex organisations and unexpected events related to unknown/unknowns is defined. There will be a focus on “commitment to resilience” and “deference to expertise” which focusing on reacting to unexpected events hence improving the resilience in the organisation.

----

== Big idea /Overview ==
Mindfulness is a term introduced by the professors Karl E. Weick and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe after studying [[Wikipedia:High_reliability_organization|high reliability organizations]] (HRO). These organizations have no choice but to function reliable. Weick and Sutcliffe (2001) found that reliability does not mean a complete lack of variation. It is just the opposite. It takes mindful variety to assure stable high performance. The learnings and techniques from the HRO’s can be implemented in projects and in organizations who want a higher reliability.

In brief, mindfulness involves the ability to detect important aspects of the context and take timely, appropriate action. A well-developed capability for mindfulness catches the unexpected earlier when it is smaller, comprehends its potential importance despite the small size of the disruption, and removes, contains or rebounds from the effects of the unexpected. Managing the unexpected, mindfully project managers and organizations are able to deliver reliably the task they were asked to do.

The expectations of individuals tend not to correspond with the reality. We are all affected by cognitive biases and the mindful project manager is aware of that.

=== Mindfulness VS Mindlessness ===
To underline the importance of mindfulness its counterpart mindlessness is described. Mindlessness is characterized by at style of mental functioning in which people follow recipes, impose old categories to classify what they see, act with some rigidity, operate on automatic pilot, and mislabel unfamiliar new contexts as familiar old ones (Weick and Sutcliffe).

== Application ==
An increasing demand for resilience within sociotechnical systems[wikilink] has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations and their project, program and portfolio managers for unexpected events. The awareness of resilience and antifragility [insert link to Lasse] is crucial for HRO’s, but all organisations can learn from the mind-set of the HRO’s. Even organisations without risks of casualties can improve their practises with mindfulness. It is a matter of context. Once the context, the precautions, the assumptions, the focus of attention, and what was ignored, it becomes obvious that many organizations are just as exposed to the unexpected as HRO’s and just as much in need of mindfulness. E.g an unexpected shutdown at an assembly line is not a severe crisis. However the supervisor did not expect any fails or shutdowns. To him it is an unexpected crisis. Unexpected events occur at all organizational levels.

Project, Program and Portfolio managers are familiar with many project management tools and they are able to define project time, costs, risks, stakeholders etc. by PMI standards. However, when projects become more complex e.g. in order of technical and organisational complexity, social intricacy of human behaviour or uncertainty of long lifecycles, standard tools becomes inadequate. We tend to think of ourselves as rational beings, but in fact subconscious processes often drive human behaviour [EXAMPLE]. Not being aware of these subconscious thought processes can adversely affect projects. Mindful project managers know that they do not know everything. They know that their thoughts and impressions are affected by cognitive biases(Wikilink). Thus, they must be aware of their irrationalities to act in a mindful manner and become rational and fact-based. Mindfulness is instrumental in managing the intersection between human behaviour and uncertainties thus generating processes within projects, programs and portfolios that are more reliable.

=== Principles ===

Weick and Sutcliffe have developed five principles that harness the key characteristics in mindfulness. These guidelines/principles apply upward to divisions and organizations as well as downward to teams, crews and team leaders. The principles can be adopted by anyone. Each principle is given an example from different HRO’s.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Principle
! Description
! Example
|-
| Preoccupation with failure
| A preoccupation with failure focuses the organization to convert small errors and failures into organizational learnings and improvements.

“Pay close attention to weak signals of failure that may be symptoms of larger problems within the system” (Weick & Sutcliffe, 2001)

Be wary of the potential liabilities of successes such as complacency, the temptation to reduce margins of safety and drift into automatic processes.

Read also “Early warning signals in project management”

| The airline industry encourage their personnel to report all failures and near misses generating failure catalogs. A big effort is expended in reviewing all reports to improve processes and workarounds.

|-
| Reluctance to simplify
| Simplify mindfully and reluctantly. Have in mind that simplification can become too simple resulting in useless, unprecise simplifications e.g. explanations and categories. Problems faced in complex projects typically offer several options and a nuanced picture to fully understand the best solution.
|A merger of two North American railroad companies in 1996 resulted in a gridlock of the system from North Platte, Nebraska to Chicago. Many small errors and failures occurred after the merger, but the most obvious reason for the gridlock was an ignorant and arrogant attitude toward innovative and complex solutions. The top management insisted that trains are made up in central locations called classification yards, not in dispersed locations called shipper yards, satellite yards or mainline tracks. Freight shipped by railroaders are shipped by rail, not barge. In this case the problems caused by these simplifications were overlooked until the central location or excessive grain shipments became a bottleneck causing the gridlock.
|-
| Sensitivity to operations
| An organization must have an integrated overall and aligned picture of operation. Sensitivity to operations is closely related to sensitivity to relationships. Meaning a clear and unprejudiced communication between operation and management is crucial to understand the big picture.

Furthermore, it is important to be responsive to the changing reality of projects. This can be obtained first by controlling the progress, monitor deviations and implication on projects, and second being mindful to potential unexpected events.

| 1: Studies of nuclear weapons suggest that many problems arise not from a single failure, but when small deviations in different operational areas combine to create conditions that were never imagined in the plans and designs (Sagan, 1993)

2: The microcomputer industry can be characterized as a high velocity environment with a rapid and discontinuous change in demand, competitors, technology and inaccurate, unavailable or obsolete information. Decicionmakers deal with this environment by paying close attention to real-time information e.g. concerning current operations or environments.

|-
| Commitment to resilience
|Accommodate unexpected events and react to them quickly as they arise.
Resilience involves (a) the ability to absorb strain and preserve the functioning of the project; (b) ability to recover quickly; (c) ability to learn from the unexpected event and how it impacted the project. (Oehmen et al, 2015)

| In the North American railroad merger case the meltdown of operations showed an inability to bounce back when the initial problems occurred. The railroad were short of men right after the merger and they trimmed crews, locomotives and supervisors shortly before the gridlock from Nebraska to Chicago. Slack resources is a common way to create resilience.
|-
|Deference to expertise (Collective mindfulness)
| Deference to expertise is about involving experts in the decision-making. The experts actively involved in the projects are more capable to give articulate solutions to problems. Rigid hierarchies have their own special vulnerability to error where errors at high levels tend to pick up and combine errors at low levels. HRO’s push decision making down and around where decision is made on the front line. The authority migrate to the people with the most expertise, regardless of their rank.

Collective mindfulness is associated with cultures and structures that promote open discussions of errors, mistakes and awareness.

|In the North American railroad merger case the decisions were made from top management even though their operational expertise were outdated. Furthermore the management were only fed with information that they wanted to hear. A horrible paradigm where management were fed with biased information and insisted to make decisions at top level. This classic command-and-control bureaucracy is adequate for a stable situation but too inflexible in times of change.
(eventually Carlsberg case)
|}

== Topics in Mindfulness ==
[The five principles are general guidelines of mindfulness.
To be able to implement mindfulness as a manager you must be aware of your cognitive behaviour as a human including how you experience the world. Weick and Sutcliffe (reference 2001 & 2007) It is recognised that you start Write about circle of influence from IDA event…...
Continuous learning] FINISH WRITING

=== Expectations ===
An expectation is to envision something, that is reasonably certain to come true. To expect something is to be mentally ready for it. “ Expectations form the basis for virtually all deliberate action because expectancies about how the world operates serve as implicit assumptions that guide behavioural choices” (Olson et al, XXXX). With that in mind, it is important to be mindful about your expectations. Expectations direct your attention to certain features or events, which means that they affect what you notice and remember. Whenever our expectations does not match with reality our mind adjust you expectations to reality. It can be compared with a hypothesis-test [Wikilink]. The human mind search for confirmation of its expectations but is biased to avoid looking for evidence that disconfirm them. HRO’s work hard to counteract this tendency. They routinely suspect their expectations for being incomplete. With this process, they check if the normal accepted expectation still pass the hypothesis test.

=== The capability for mindfulness (Categories) ===
Whenever people change the way they perceive the world they essentially rework the way they label and categorize what they see. This change in perception can be described with the following process:

# Re-examine discarded information
# Monitor how categories affect expectations and,
# Remove dated distinctions

Firstly, to rework one’s categories mindfully implies to evaluate how much information is discarded with a categorisation of an instance with similar characteristics. Generally categorization help gaining control in a fast pace world. They can predict what will happen and plan one’s own actions. Without categories, any person or situation would be unique and therefore conserve scarce mental resources of attention and thinking. To exemplify categorization a university professor meet hundreds of students each day and have to categorize different types of students. The professor could categorize the students into categories such as active/passive, introvert/extrovert, Intelligent/less intelligent, man/women, young/old etc. The categories guide the professor how (s)he should behave or treat the different students. One category cannot describe all facets of a person and the professor must be aware of the discarded information within each category.
Secondly, mindful reworking of categories also mean that one pay close attention to their effect on the expectations. Categories and expectations are closely related. E.g., a person categorised as an expert is expected to know the answers within his/her field of expertise. These expectations constantly have to be revised and evaluated. It may be necessary to differentiate the expectations, replace them, supplement them, or discard the whole category.
Third, mindful reworking means a check whether the categories remain plausible. Outdated categorisation with implausible distinctions of expectations ensure trouble. This is the basic misreading in HRO’s. The trouble starts when you fail to notice that you only look for whatever confirms your categories and expectations. “Believing is seeing. You see what you expect to see. You see what you have the labels to see. You see what you have the skills to manage.” (Weick & Sutcliffe, 2001)
People who persistently rework their categories and refine them, differentiate them, update them, and replace them notice more and catch unexpected events earlier in their development. That is the essence of mindfulness (Weick & Sutcliffe, 2001).

=== The Unexpected ===
Unexpected events can be categorised in three forms (Weick & Sutcliffe, 2007):
The unexpected occur when an event that was
* expected to happen fail to occur.
* not expected to happen does happen.
* simply unthought-of happens (Unknown/unkowns)

Unexpected events are caused by faulty expectations and the fact that we sought to look for evidence that confirm our expectations. These confirmations are found to boost our experience of being in control. However, this confirming behaviour has adverse effect on how quick we realise we are wrong and rework our expectations. A slow realisation time allows problems to worsen and become harder to solve and they might even be entangled with other problems.
HRO’s strive to minimize the risk of events unthought-of happens by steering people towards mindful practices that encourage imagination. People inadvertently trivialize the importance of imagination. Instead people tend to “Expect the unexpected” to maintain their desire for control and predictability.

== Putting Mindfulness into Practive as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager ==
Putting Mindfulness into practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager
Weick and Sutcliffe(reference) have developed concrete processes based on the five principles and on practices identified in the best HRO’s. The processes is organised under the headings of “Awareness and Anticipation of the Unexpected” and “Containment of those unexpected events that occur”
Enhancing awareness and anticipation

INSERT PROCESSES

== Limitations ==
Weick and Sutcliffe argue that human cognition in the mindfulness theory is the solution to reliability problems, but they tend to over-simplify the resilience concept by neglecting the importance of routine-based reliability. Studies of human systems reveal two strategies for achieving reliable performance (Butler & Gray, 2006):

* Routine-based reliability
* Mindfulness-based reliability

[[File:Realibility figure v2.png|600px|thumb|Right|]]

Organizationally, routine-based reliability involves the creation and execution of standard operating and decision-making procedures, which may be unique to the organization or widely accepted across an industry (Spender, 1989). The routine-based reliability strategy rely on predefined procedures, routines and training designed to decrease cognitive human problem solving, to reduce errors, unwanted variation and waste. Defining procedures etc. is a frontloaded(Front end thinking) process where unknown/unknowns[link] may oppose a major risk because unexpected events cannot be implemented into the procedures. While routine-based approaches focus on reducing or eliminating situated human cognition as the cause of errors, mindfulness-based approaches focus on promoting highly situated human cognition as the solution to individual and organisational reliability problems (Weick and Sutcliffe, 2001). Mindfulness focus on one of the two strategies and ignore or assume that optimal routines, procedures and structures are in place. Mindfulness does not describe the interdependencies and synergistic impacts between the two strategies.

Mindfulness is a complex management theory. As the principle “Relucatance to simplify” justify, it takes a complex idea to capture a complex phenomenon. To fully implement mindfulness and deal with the unexpected it is required to organise in a complex manner. Likewise mindfulness preach a need for complex set of ideas to understand what people are doing and why it works thus requiring workers with a certain level of receptivity and resources.

==References==

<references/>

== Further Reading ==
Human cognition (further reading)
Mindfulness
UN: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Pacific_Railroad
Systems reliability
Reliability

File:Realibility figure v2.png

2015-09-27T12:44:03Z

S140046:

Organisational resilience with mindfulness

2015-09-27T12:41:27Z

S140046:

== Abstract ==

An increasing demand for resilience within sociotechnical organisations has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations for unexpected events. Thorough management is crucial in resilient organisations (check ref, Geraldi et al, 2009) and mindfulness encompass the risk of the human mind. Mindful project managers are aware of cognitive biases and irrationalities. They inspire workers to be rational and fact-based.

Mindfulness is about keeping a high level of alertness and awareness of context and using awareness in our decision and actions (Oehmen et al, 2015). This article will address how mindfulness is used as an managerial instrument to obtain resilience in an organisation. The article will define the mindfulness theory with description of the 5 principles. Furthermore complex organisations and unexpected events related to unknown/unknowns is defined. There will be a focus on “commitment to resilience” and “deference to expertise” which focusing on reacting to unexpected events hence improving the resilience in the organisation.

----

== Big idea /Overview ==
Mindfulness is a term introduced by the professors Karl E. Weick and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe after studying high reliability organizations (HRO) (Wiki-link). These organizations have no choice but to function reliable. Weick and Sutcliffe (2001) found that reliability does not mean a complete lack of variation. It is just the opposite. It takes mindful variety to assure stable high performance. The learnings and techniques from the HRO’s can be implemented in projects and in organizations who want a higher reliability.

In brief, mindfulness involves the ability to detect important aspects of the context and take timely, appropriate action. A well-developed capability for mindfulness catches the unexpected earlier when it is smaller, comprehends its potential importance despite the small size of the disruption, and removes, contains or rebounds from the effects of the unexpected. Managing the unexpected, mindfully project managers and organizations are able to deliver reliably the task they were asked to do.

The expectations of individuals tend not to correspond with the reality. We are all affected by cognitive biases and the mindful project manager is aware of that.

=== Mindfulness VS Mindlessness ===
To underline the importance of mindfulness its counterpart mindlessness is described. Mindlessness is characterized by at style of mental functioning in which people follow recipes, impose old categories to classify what they see, act with some rigidity, operate on automatic pilot, and mislabel unfamiliar new contexts as familiar old ones (Weick and Sutcliffe).

== Application ==
An increasing demand for resilience within sociotechnical systems[wikilink] has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations and their project, program and portfolio managers for unexpected events. The awareness of resilience and antifragility [insert link to Lasse] is crucial for HRO’s, but all organisations can learn from the mind-set of the HRO’s. Even organisations without risks of casualties can improve their practises with mindfulness. It is a matter of context. Once the context, the precautions, the assumptions, the focus of attention, and what was ignored, it becomes obvious that many organizations are just as exposed to the unexpected as HRO’s and just as much in need of mindfulness. E.g an unexpected shutdown at an assembly line is not a severe crisis. However the supervisor did not expect any fails or shutdowns. To him it is an unexpected crisis. Unexpected events occur at all organizational levels.

Project, Program and Portfolio managers are familiar with many project management tools and they are able to define project time, costs, risks, stakeholders etc. by PMI standards. However, when projects become more complex e.g. in order of technical and organisational complexity, social intricacy of human behaviour or uncertainty of long lifecycles, standard tools becomes inadequate. We tend to think of ourselves as rational beings, but in fact subconscious processes often drive human behaviour [EXAMPLE]. Not being aware of these subconscious thought processes can adversely affect projects. Mindful project managers know that they do not know everything. They know that their thoughts and impressions are affected by cognitive biases(Wikilink). Thus, they must be aware of their irrationalities to act in a mindful manner and become rational and fact-based. Mindfulness is instrumental in managing the intersection between human behaviour and uncertainties thus generating processes within projects, programs and portfolios that are more reliable.

=== Principles ===

Weick and Sutcliffe have developed five principles that harness the key characteristics in mindfulness. These guidelines/principles apply upward to divisions and organizations as well as downward to teams, crews and team leaders. The principles can be adopted by anyone. Each principle is given an example from different HRO’s.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Principle
! Description
! Example
|-
| Preoccupation with failure
| A preoccupation with failure focuses the organization to convert small errors and failures into organizational learnings and improvements.

“Pay close attention to weak signals of failure that may be symptoms of larger problems within the system” (Weick & Sutcliffe, 2001)

Be wary of the potential liabilities of successes such as complacency, the temptation to reduce margins of safety and drift into automatic processes.

Read also “Early warning signals in project management”

| The airline industry encourage their personnel to report all failures and near misses generating failure catalogs. A big effort is expended in reviewing all reports to improve processes and workarounds.

|-
| Reluctance to simplify
| Simplify mindfully and reluctantly. Have in mind that simplification can become too simple resulting in useless, unprecise simplifications e.g. explanations and categories. Problems faced in complex projects typically offer several options and a nuanced picture to fully understand the best solution.
|A merger of two North American railroad companies in 1996 resulted in a gridlock of the system from North Platte, Nebraska to Chicago. Many small errors and failures occurred after the merger, but the most obvious reason for the gridlock was an ignorant and arrogant attitude toward innovative and complex solutions. The top management insisted that trains are made up in central locations called classification yards, not in dispersed locations called shipper yards, satellite yards or mainline tracks. Freight shipped by railroaders are shipped by rail, not barge. In this case the problems caused by these simplifications were overlooked until the central location or excessive grain shipments became a bottleneck causing the gridlock.
|-
| Sensitivity to operations
| An organization must have an integrated overall and aligned picture of operation. Sensitivity to operations is closely related to sensitivity to relationships. Meaning a clear and unprejudiced communication between operation and management is crucial to understand the big picture.

Furthermore, it is important to be responsive to the changing reality of projects. This can be obtained first by controlling the progress, monitor deviations and implication on projects, and second being mindful to potential unexpected events.

| 1: Studies of nuclear weapons suggest that many problems arise not from a single failure, but when small deviations in different operational areas combine to create conditions that were never imagined in the plans and designs (Sagan, 1993)

2: The microcomputer industry can be characterized as a high velocity environment with a rapid and discontinuous change in demand, competitors, technology and inaccurate, unavailable or obsolete information. Decicionmakers deal with this environment by paying close attention to real-time information e.g. concerning current operations or environments.

|-
| Commitment to resilience
|Accommodate unexpected events and react to them quickly as they arise.
Resilience involves (a) the ability to absorb strain and preserve the functioning of the project; (b) ability to recover quickly; (c) ability to learn from the unexpected event and how it impacted the project. (Oehmen et al, 2015)

| In the North American railroad merger case the meltdown of operations showed an inability to bounce back when the initial problems occurred. The railroad were short of men right after the merger and they trimmed crews, locomotives and supervisors shortly before the gridlock from Nebraska to Chicago. Slack resources is a common way to create resilience.
|-
|Deference to expertise (Collective mindfulness)
| Deference to expertise is about involving experts in the decision-making. The experts actively involved in the projects are more capable to give articulate solutions to problems. Rigid hierarchies have their own special vulnerability to error where errors at high levels tend to pick up and combine errors at low levels. HRO’s push decision making down and around where decision is made on the front line. The authority migrate to the people with the most expertise, regardless of their rank.

Collective mindfulness is associated with cultures and structures that promote open discussions of errors, mistakes and awareness.

|In the North American railroad merger case the decisions were made from top management even though their operational expertise were outdated. Furthermore the management were only fed with information that they wanted to hear. A horrible paradigm where management were fed with biased information and insisted to make decisions at top level. This classic command-and-control bureaucracy is adequate for a stable situation but too inflexible in times of change.
(eventually Carlsberg case)
|}

== Topics in Mindfulness ==
[The five principles are general guidelines of mindfulness.
To be able to implement mindfulness as a manager you must be aware of your cognitive behaviour as a human including how you experience the world. Weick and Sutcliffe (reference 2001 & 2007) It is recognised that you start Write about circle of influence from IDA event…...
Continuous learning] FINISH WRITING

=== Expectations ===
An expectation is to envision something, that is reasonably certain to come true. To expect something is to be mentally ready for it. “ Expectations form the basis for virtually all deliberate action because expectancies about how the world operates serve as implicit assumptions that guide behavioural choices” (Olson et al, XXXX). With that in mind, it is important to be mindful about your expectations. Expectations direct your attention to certain features or events, which means that they affect what you notice and remember. Whenever our expectations does not match with reality our mind adjust you expectations to reality. It can be compared with a hypothesis-test [Wikilink]. The human mind search for confirmation of its expectations but is biased to avoid looking for evidence that disconfirm them. HRO’s work hard to counteract this tendency. They routinely suspect their expectations for being incomplete. With this process, they check if the normal accepted expectation still pass the hypothesis test.

=== The capability for mindfulness (Categories) ===
Whenever people change the way they perceive the world they essentially rework the way they label and categorize what they see. This change in perception can be described with the following process:

# Re-examine discarded information
# Monitor how categories affect expectations and,
# Remove dated distinctions

Firstly, to rework one’s categories mindfully implies to evaluate how much information is discarded with a categorisation of an instance with similar characteristics. Generally categorization help gaining control in a fast pace world. They can predict what will happen and plan one’s own actions. Without categories, any person or situation would be unique and therefore conserve scarce mental resources of attention and thinking. To exemplify categorization a university professor meet hundreds of students each day and have to categorize different types of students. The professor could categorize the students into categories such as active/passive, introvert/extrovert, Intelligent/less intelligent, man/women, young/old etc. The categories guide the professor how (s)he should behave or treat the different students. One category cannot describe all facets of a person and the professor must be aware of the discarded information within each category.
Secondly, mindful reworking of categories also mean that one pay close attention to their effect on the expectations. Categories and expectations are closely related. E.g., a person categorised as an expert is expected to know the answers within his/her field of expertise. These expectations constantly have to be revised and evaluated. It may be necessary to differentiate the expectations, replace them, supplement them, or discard the whole category.
Third, mindful reworking means a check whether the categories remain plausible. Outdated categorisation with implausible distinctions of expectations ensure trouble. This is the basic misreading in HRO’s. The trouble starts when you fail to notice that you only look for whatever confirms your categories and expectations. “Believing is seeing. You see what you expect to see. You see what you have the labels to see. You see what you have the skills to manage.” (Weick & Sutcliffe, 2001)
People who persistently rework their categories and refine them, differentiate them, update them, and replace them notice more and catch unexpected events earlier in their development. That is the essence of mindfulness (Weick & Sutcliffe, 2001).

=== The Unexpected ===
Unexpected events can be categorised in three forms (Weick & Sutcliffe, 2007):
The unexpected occur when an event that was
* expected to happen fail to occur.
* not expected to happen does happen.
* simply unthought-of happens (Unknown/unkowns)

Unexpected events are caused by faulty expectations and the fact that we sought to look for evidence that confirm our expectations. These confirmations are found to boost our experience of being in control. However, this confirming behaviour has adverse effect on how quick we realise we are wrong and rework our expectations. A slow realisation time allows problems to worsen and become harder to solve and they might even be entangled with other problems.
HRO’s strive to minimize the risk of events unthought-of happens by steering people towards mindful practices that encourage imagination. People inadvertently trivialize the importance of imagination. Instead people tend to “Expect the unexpected” to maintain their desire for control and predictability.

== Putting Mindfulness into Practive as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager ==
Putting Mindfulness into practice as a Project, Program and Portfolio Manager
Weick and Sutcliffe(reference) have developed concrete processes based on the five principles and on practices identified in the best HRO’s. The processes is organised under the headings of “Awareness and Anticipation of the Unexpected” and “Containment of those unexpected events that occur”
Enhancing awareness and anticipation

INSERT PROCESSES

== Limitations ==
Weick and Sutcliffe argue that human cognition in the mindfulness theory is the solution to reliability problems, but they tend to over-simplify the resilience concept by neglecting the importance of routine-based reliability. Studies of human systems reveal two strategies for achieving reliable performance (Butler & Gray, 2006):

* Routine-based reliability
* Mindfulness-based reliability

[[File:Reliability_figure.png|200px|thumb|Right|alt text]]

Organizationally, routine-based reliability involves the creation and execution of standard operating and decision-making procedures, which may be unique to the organization or widely accepted across an industry (Spender, 1989). The routine-based reliability strategy rely on predefined procedures, routines and training designed to decrease cognitive human problem solving, to reduce errors, unwanted variation and waste. Defining procedures etc. is a frontloaded(Front end thinking) process where unknown/unknowns[link] may oppose a major risk because unexpected events cannot be implemented into the procedures. While routine-based approaches focus on reducing or eliminating situated human cognition as the cause of errors, mindfulness-based approaches focus on promoting highly situated human cognition as the solution to individual and organisational reliability problems (Weick and Sutcliffe, 2001). Mindfulness focus on one of the two strategies and ignore or assume that optimal routines, procedures and structures are in place. Mindfulness does not describe the interdependencies and synergistic impacts between the two strategies.

Mindfulness is a complex management theory. As the principle “Relucatance to simplify” justify, it takes a complex idea to capture a complex phenomenon. To fully implement mindfulness and deal with the unexpected it is required to organise in a complex manner. Likewise mindfulness preach a need for complex set of ideas to understand what people are doing and why it works thus requiring workers with a certain level of receptivity and resources.

== Further Reading ==
Human cognition (further reading)
Mindfulness
UN: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Pacific_Railroad

Talk:Earned Value Management

2015-09-27T08:30:24Z

S140046:

Mette: Very nice topic choice that fits the requirements for this type of article. Look forward to reading more about this tool.

Review 3, s150621

• This article is written with good language

• The use of links to other articles, as for example WBS, is nice

• Your references look good

• The article enumerates many terms, and when reading through it can be a little bit too much of this. A suggestion is to have some more explanatory text in between?

• The figures are effective, but could give even better understanding with more explanation. For example, the figures can be used in the text for better explanation? The source of the figures should also be added 
- '''I have now tried to use the figures more actively in the text and added both some more text for the figures and added the sources of the figures.'''

• The example is nice, but could advantageously be more comprehensive. For me, I think it would be better if the whole example was described together in the end. This way, the reader gets to see the whole picture. An alternative is to have an extra example before you start the discussion? 
- '''I see your point, but I think it would be more confusing.'''

• The comparison with Tradition Cost Management in the end is good, and also the paragraph with Limitations. As your article is a bit short, I think you advantageously can extend the discussion. 
- '''I have tried to add some extra to the "limitations" part.'''

'''S113815, Review 1. [1967 words]'''

Dear Nannats.
After reviewing your article, I have following comments:
First of all, I think the article is consistently well-written and explains a tool which is very useful in the field of project management. There structure of the article seems to follow the guidelines from the assignment. There is a red thread throughout the article and the examples is easy to understand.
I have made some comments and tried to make some suggestions to make the article even better, they are as followed:

'''Summery Part:'''
* I think the summery is very well. It explains the tool in short and precise way.
* “Earned Value is based on an integrated management approach that provides the best indicator of true cost performance, available with no other project management technique.” It is a serious statement – are you sure of that? Are there no other techniques that can provide the same indicators?
- '''I think you are right. I have now re-formulated this statement.'''

'''Introduction Part:'''
* “… today EVM has become an essential part of every project tracking.” Is it an essential part of every project tracking? Or should it be? I think you need to back this statement up with a reference.
- '''Well-spotted. I have re-formulated this statement.'''
* You could maybe inset a figure of the project management triangle?
- ''' That is an excellent idea :-) I have now inserted a figure with the project management triangle.'''

'''The EVM Method part'''
* Nice link to the WBS article.
- ''' Thanks!'''
* Planned value (PV): I think that value should be with a capital V.
- '''Yes. Corrected now'''
* Maybe a explanation of why the PV (almost) looks like the letter S? Or what makes the curve form in this way.
- '''I have tried to explain it now.'''
* Nice example – easy to follow.
- '''Thanks'''
* The figure below the EV calculations does not have a Figure number and a figure text.
- '''I have added figure number and more figure text to all the figures'''
* I think a figure in the “Performance Indices” would be good. Maybe with colours – red for underperforming projects and green for over-performing projects?
- '''I have now added a figure in the "Performance Indicies", which illustrates the example.'''
* I would like an example and a figure in the “Forecasting” part. I feel like it is not as well described as the other parts.
* The three sub-headlines under forecast (Variances are typical, Variances are typical, Variances will be present in the future) are all starting with 1. Is that the intention or a format question?
- '''Oh, that was a format mistake. Well spotted :) '''

'''EVM vs. Traditional Cost Management Part''':
* Again, a well structured paragraph.
* No specific comments to that part.

'''Limitations Part:'''
* In think that this part might be a little short..
* Would it be possible to add the quality part into the EVM?

'''References Part:'''
* I think this part looks nice. You might consider adding a bit more information (publisher etc.).

'''General to the article'''
* Either use Capital letters for the first letter in the key words (e.g. Earned Value Management in stead of earned value management. It differs throughout the article)
- '''Yes. That is now corrected through the article.'''
* It guess your figures are cut from some other literature? If so, remember to make a reference in the figure text.
- '''Yes. You are right. Now added.'''
* The format of the article is simple and clean – I like that!
- '''Great, thanks :-)'''
* As you still have 1000 words to use, you might consider a longer “Limitations”-part. Or maybe an extra example to strengthen your theory.

'''''All in all a very nice article – and good work. :)'''''

s140046 Review 2

# Fine introduction and background section
# Great with internal link and suitable description of WBS
# The total budget in table without number or title is $100.000. It should be $60.000. It seems to be double both with the actual calculations and with the table. You can consider to skip the table?
# Very good and specific sections on Performance measurements and indices with clear examples.
# The figures perfectly underline the calculations. You can consider to add more descriptive figure texts to the figures.
# You can eventually elaborate a bit on Estimate to completion (ETC)
# Typo: for example The Critical Path Method (CPM), it could provide invaluable into the true schedule status of the project. Should (probably) be… info to the true…?
# Clear points in the limitations section.
# In general a well structured and precise article. The content has been cut to the bone but contains all relevant description and examples. Very nice reading.
# References according to Wiki-standards.

Talk:Earned Value Management

2015-09-27T08:29:09Z

S140046:

Mette: Very nice topic choice that fits the requirements for this type of article. Look forward to reading more about this tool.

Review 3, s150621

• This article is written with good language

• The use of links to other articles, as for example WBS, is nice

• Your references look good

• The article enumerates many terms, and when reading through it can be a little bit too much of this. A suggestion is to have some more explanatory text in between?

• The figures are effective, but could give even better understanding with more explanation. For example, the figures can be used in the text for better explanation? The source of the figures should also be added 
- '''I have now tried to use the figures more actively in the text and added both some more text for the figures and added the sources of the figures.'''

• The example is nice, but could advantageously be more comprehensive. For me, I think it would be better if the whole example was described together in the end. This way, the reader gets to see the whole picture. An alternative is to have an extra example before you start the discussion? 
- '''I see your point, but I think it would be more confusing.'''

• The comparison with Tradition Cost Management in the end is good, and also the paragraph with Limitations. As your article is a bit short, I think you advantageously can extend the discussion. 
- '''I have tried to add some extra to the "limitations" part.'''

'''S113815, Review 1. [1967 words]'''

Dear Nannats.
After reviewing your article, I have following comments:
First of all, I think the article is consistently well-written and explains a tool which is very useful in the field of project management. There structure of the article seems to follow the guidelines from the assignment. There is a red thread throughout the article and the examples is easy to understand.
I have made some comments and tried to make some suggestions to make the article even better, they are as followed:

'''Summery Part:'''
* I think the summery is very well. It explains the tool in short and precise way.
* “Earned Value is based on an integrated management approach that provides the best indicator of true cost performance, available with no other project management technique.” It is a serious statement – are you sure of that? Are there no other techniques that can provide the same indicators?
- '''I think you are right. I have now re-formulated this statement.'''

'''Introduction Part:'''
* “… today EVM has become an essential part of every project tracking.” Is it an essential part of every project tracking? Or should it be? I think you need to back this statement up with a reference.
- '''Well-spotted. I have re-formulated this statement.'''
* You could maybe inset a figure of the project management triangle?
- ''' That is an excellent idea :-) I have now inserted a figure with the project management triangle.'''

'''The EVM Method part'''
* Nice link to the WBS article.
- ''' Thanks!'''
* Planned value (PV): I think that value should be with a capital V.
- '''Yes. Corrected now'''
* Maybe a explanation of why the PV (almost) looks like the letter S? Or what makes the curve form in this way.
- '''I have tried to explain it now.'''
* Nice example – easy to follow.
- '''Thanks'''
* The figure below the EV calculations does not have a Figure number and a figure text.
- '''I have added figure number and more figure text to all the figures'''
* I think a figure in the “Performance Indices” would be good. Maybe with colours – red for underperforming projects and green for over-performing projects?
- '''I have now added a figure in the "Performance Indicies", which illustrates the example.'''
* I would like an example and a figure in the “Forecasting” part. I feel like it is not as well described as the other parts.
* The three sub-headlines under forecast (Variances are typical, Variances are typical, Variances will be present in the future) are all starting with 1. Is that the intention or a format question?
- '''Oh, that was a format mistake. Well spotted :) '''

'''EVM vs. Traditional Cost Management Part''':
* Again, a well structured paragraph.
* No specific comments to that part.

'''Limitations Part:'''
* In think that this part might be a little short..
* Would it be possible to add the quality part into the EVM?

'''References Part:'''
* I think this part looks nice. You might consider adding a bit more information (publisher etc.).

'''General to the article'''
* Either use Capital letters for the first letter in the key words (e.g. Earned Value Management in stead of earned value management. It differs throughout the article)
- '''Yes. That is now corrected through the article.'''
* It guess your figures are cut from some other literature? If so, remember to make a reference in the figure text.
- '''Yes. You are right. Now added.'''
* The format of the article is simple and clean – I like that!
- '''Great, thanks :-)'''
* As you still have 1000 words to use, you might consider a longer “Limitations”-part. Or maybe an extra example to strengthen your theory.

'''''All in all a very nice article – and good work. :)'''''

s140046 Review 2

• Fine introduction and background section
• Great with internal link and suitable description of WBS
• The total budget in table without number or title is $100.000. It should be $60.000. It seems to be double both with the actual calculations and with the table. You can consider to skip the table?
• Very good and specific sections on Performance measurements and indices with clear examples.
• The figures perfectly underline the calculations. You can consider to add more descriptive figure texts to the figures.
• You can eventually elaborate a bit on Estimate to completion (ETC)
• Typo: for example The Critical Path Method (CPM), it could provide invaluable into the true schedule status of the project. Should (probably) be… info to the true…?
• Clear points in the limitations section.
• In general a well structured and precise article. The content has been cut to the bone but contains all relevant description and examples. Very nice reading.
• References according to Wiki-standards.

Talk:The Gantt Chart

2015-09-22T21:40:14Z

S140046:

Anna: I like your topic idea and that it focuses on a single project management tool. It also seem that you have read and understood the structure requirements.

'''Review 1, Nannats''' 
Hi s103183 :-)

* Generally, the whole article is easy to understand, which is nice. But be aware of the language do not become too much ’spoken’ language, and too long sentences.
* I like the example with the light – also easy to understand :-)
* I think it is good that you suggest real tools for creating Gantt Charts.
* You mention The Critical Path Method, which is nice! You could consider to link to the Wiki article about the Critical path method. The same as for the WBS.
* There are some spelling errors - watch out for these :-)
* You should consider the layout of the sentence under figure 1 (''"to the Gantt Chart by using arrows as shown in Figure 3.”''), to make it easier for the reader to read.
* The figure 2 is taking up a lot of space. Maybe you could remove some of the white frame in the figure.
* I was a little confused about figure 3, so it might be an idea to explain what a predecessor activity and a successor activity is.
* I think the video is god, but as your article is a bit short, you could consider writing the guide on how to create a Gantt Chart yourself.

Keep up the good work :-)

'''S113815, Review 2. [2206 words]'''

Dear S 103183.

After reviewing your article, I have following comments:
First of all, I think the article is consistently well-written and explains a tool which is very useful in the field of project management. There structure of the article seems to follow the guidelines from the assignment.

I have made some comments and tried to make some suggestions to make the article even better, they are as followed:

'''History of the Gantt Chart'''
* … “during World War One and is today known as "the Gant Chart"[2]. “ You miss a t in Gantt. :)
* “"I believe that computer-based project management has set the subject back 20 years". [6] “ You use a quote from a 14 years old article. Is that quote still relevant?

'''Basic understanding'''

* ..” The different activities can be dependent on one another which means that one activity may not begin before another activity has finished. This does not mean that multiple activities can not be worked on at the same time it merely means that some activities might be connected.” I guess that there are other dependencies than the “finish-start”. (https://www.google.dk/search?q=cpm+dependencies&rlz=1C1CHWL_da__638DK638&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=637&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMIjcCmuKeLyAIVYzJyCh3RFwbl#imgrc=Huejzitp6md9JM%3A) Maybe you should consider explain the different types of dependencies?
* “… can begin after a certain oercentage of its predecessor activity has been completed.” Typing error: percentage, not oercentage. :)

'''The Gantt Chart in practice'''
* I really like the figures. Nice and descriptive.
* “It is grucial that the duration of each…” .” Typing error: crucial, not grucial. :)
* Comment to figure 1: Where is the dependencies between the different task showed?
* The last line in the explanation of figure 2 has dropped down below Figure 1. I think it would look better if it is placed below the rest of the text.
* Figure 3 is very small compared to the others. Maybe another figure would be better here?
* I think that it would be nice to add a section on how to use the Gantt Chart as control tool to monitor the projects, in terms of progress, stage reporting etc.

'''Limitations'''
* “It can get very complicated for big projects. Especially if it is on a computer where you have multiple pages of tasks etc. The more information the more bars, connecting lines, color codings etc. has to be put into the Gantt Chart. If you use a computer and the Gantt Chart takes up more space than a single screen it is quite easy to lose the overview thus making the Gantt Chart very hard to decipher”. How do you back this statement up? As far as I know, a lot of professional planners are using Gantt Charts to schedule large projects – also with success?
* Another limitation could be the missing link to the location. The Gantt Chart don’t give an overview of processes and the location they are carried out. This might lead to conflicts. [See location-based scheduling].

'''Tools for creating a Gantt Chart'''
* I guess it is hard to make a detailed Gantt Chart schedule in Vison or Excel?
* I think that the most used Gantt Chart program is Microsoft Project (you miss that on your list). All the construction companies I know uses this program.

'''Conclusion, Annotated Bibliography, References'''
* All these sections looks nice – no comments on them. :)

'''General to the article'''
* I found a couple of typing errors – I hopefully catch them all.
* I think that your main points are well illustrated with figures. Thus, Figure 3 is a bit small.
* I feel it is possible to add some internal links to other Wiki-articles. For example WBS. This is one of the points the teachers will look into (I guess).
* As you still have 800 words to use, you might consider a longer “Limitations”-part. Or maybe an extra example to strengthen your theory.
* Be careful not to use “spoken language” when you write

All in all a very nice article – and good work. :)

s140046 review 3

# Great introduction to article
# You could easily add links to internal wiki-articles e.g. on Karol Adamiecki.
# The history section tend to repeat a lot of the introduction.
# Interesting quote by the project director [6] – It would be interesting to dig into that topic in a discussion section?
# The article contains few spelling errors/typos which can easily be corrected
# It would be interesting to know the process for creating a Gantt-chart. You could include Work-breakdown structures, network diagrams, critical path method etc. from the Project manager book.
# There exist several types of interdependencies for tasks. It would be great to describe the different types of dependencies introduced.
#I miss a description of slack/buffer and how it is visualized in the gantt chart.
#I am not sure I follow the red line in the limitations overview. You argue that gantt chart is a blunt tool and describe how it ignore costs. From my perspective it is a visualization tool and has nothing to do with economics?
#Fine with the annotated bibliography with descriptions.
#Note that the reference list does not comply with the wikipedia standard - which is showing small reference numbers.

Talk:Location Based Scheduling

2015-09-22T20:48:35Z

S140046:

Mette: I like your idea. Remember to keep the structure for a "method article". You write about the benefits of using LBS instead of CPM, so maybe you could discuss why and where LBC is a better tool.

Review 1, s140046

# The introduction works very well.
# Good use of internal references(wikilinks), even within our own wikipage.
# Intensive commercials when clicking on the Empire state picture are confusing
# Picture text in figure 3: Consider to use short/long instead of slow and fast
# Great description of LB activitity-linkages with fine exmples. Please add a reference to underline that the used terms of the linkages are the formal ones.
# It would be great if you describe how the duration of the tasks are defined. At least include it before you suggest to optimize by adding resources in section “Control of resources and Linkages”.
# You are on the 3000 words limit however I feel that you can articulate how the slope of the flowlines are determined better. The pace/tact are (often) determined quantitatively where with CPM it is often qualitatively. With LBS the schedule is based on actual numbers and not personal experience.
# In general a well written article with a good structure. The tables works out very well.
# If you should improve on the taxonomic level I would argue to focus more on the critical reflections and perhaps shorten the LB activitity-linkages section.
# Note that references must include a brief summary of each source.

Review 2, s150621

• The overall impression is that the article is clear and straight forward, with many good figures and tables

• All together very good language

• The table with types of activity linkage is very good, with both description and a figure

• Very good with links to other articles, like for example WBS

• The figures are very nice, but a suggestion is to add the sources

• The abstract is very good, with both a short example and a comparison. A suggestion is to move the first two sentences in the second paragraph over to the abstract, so that you describe some of the content of the article in the abstract rather than in the introduction to the method.

==Review of Sorth90 (Rasmus Sorth-Olsen s117422), Reviewer 3==
* The article has the necessary references and sources that support its content
* Most studens at DTU would benefit from reading the article in connection with upcoming projects
* It was must educational to read the article "Location Based Schedulin"
* The article in written in a clear way.
* The article shows that you know and have familiarized yourself with the subject before writing the article.
* The article covers some good models.

Abstract:
* From the abstract, the article seems interesting.
* Good description of Location Based Schedulin.
* Quick and precise.

About Location Based Scheduling:
* Well, that section is divided into bullet points. This makes it easier to read.
* It would be good with an example. "time / place-diagram" and "Flow-line diagram".
* Really good. The section is supported by the figure.
* Figure 2 is too small. You can not read what it says.

Flow-Line Method:
* Well, that section is divided into bullet points. This makes it easier to read.
* Give the sections numbers. In this way, we know that the following sections are subsections.

Flow-Line Diagram:
* Really good. The section is supported by Figure 3.
* Figure 3 is too small. You can not read what it says.

Identifying the locations:
* Really good. The section is supported by Figure 4.
* Figure 4 is too small. You can not read what it says.

Optimization using flow-line diagram:
* Very short description. The section to be deepened.

Location-Based activity-linkages:
* Well, that section is divided into bullet points. This makes it easier to read.
* Types of activity-linkages. The table is really good. The figures are a little small, but you understand the principles.

Control of resources and linkages:

LBS/Flow Line Diagram compared with CPM/Gantt Chart:
* Figure 16 is unmanageable.

Current State of Art:
* Well section.
* What's the competitors enter the LBS?

Kritisk Reflects:
* Well, that section is supported by sources.

Organisational resilience with mindfulness

2015-09-22T09:41:57Z

S140046:

Organisational resilience with mindfulness

2015-09-22T09:35:53Z

S140046:

File:Organizational reliability.png

2015-09-22T09:31:41Z

S140046:

Organisational resilience with mindfulness

2015-09-19T13:07:26Z

S140046:

Organisational resilience with mindfulness

2015-09-16T19:53:11Z

S140046:

Articles Fall Term 2015

2015-09-14T21:25:32Z

S140046: /* Overview of 2015 Wiki Articles */

Please complete this table with your name, user name and the title of your article.

To create more lines in the table click '''Edit''' and use the following code to create more lines in the table and replace the example text with your own information:

<pre style="white-space: pre-wrap;
white-space: -moz-pre-wrap;
white-space: -pre-wrap;
white-space: -o-pre-wrap;
word-wrap: break-word;">
|Gkatzalas
|Nikolaos
|s141569
|http://apppm.man.dtu.dk/index.php/The_Gantt_chart_and_the_usage_nowadays#Abstract
|-

Create a direct link by making square brackets around the title [[The Gantt chart and the usage nowadays]] (Case sensitive)

The straight lines ( | ) create columns and the straight line with a dash ( |- ) creates a new row in the table.
( |} ) is only used at the very end to finish the coding for the table.
</pre>

=Overview of 2015 Wiki Articles=
|Maria
|Herreros
|s142597
|[[Early warning signals in project management]]

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+Fall 2015 Wiki Articles
|-
!Gkatzalas
!Nikolaos
!s141569
![[The Gantt chart and the usage nowadays]]
|-
|Lymperis
|Konstantinos
|s142330
|[[Risk Management in Oil and Gas Industry]]
|-
|Filis
|Charalampos
|Ch.filis
|[[Project Risk Management and Project Risk Management Processes]]
|-
|Larsen
|Leonora
|s112910
|[[Gantt Charts as a Tool for Project Management]]
|-
|Sala Vilar
|Lluís Ròmul
|s141586
|[[Portfolio Management in a Startup]]
|-
|Pitsavas
|Konstantinos
|Konspits
|[[Modularisation: A modern process for project management]]
|-
|Kampianakis
|Andreas
|s150912
|[[Financial Portfolio Optimization Methods]]'''
|-
|Penzes
|Balint
|s141943
|[[Product development and portfolio management processes at LEGO]]
|-
|Hozmache
|Mihaela
|s146898
|[[Risk Management]]'''
|-
|Le Corre
|Damien
|Damien
|[[Game theory in project management]]'''
|-
|Bertrand
|Fabien
|150477
|[[Multi project management]]'''
|-
|Cassel
|Sara
|Sarac
|[[The benefits of systems engineering]]'''
|-
|Sergi
|Gibaja Musachs
|S141926
|[[Rapid Application Development in Extreme Project Management]]'''
|-
|Poza
|María
|s150793
|[[Integrated Cost and Schedule Control]]'''
|-
|Kulikova
|Nataliia
|s140767
|[[SCRUM Method]]
|-
|Pekala
|Adam
|Adam.pekala
|[[Critical Path Method in Construction Industry]]
|-
|Garnotel
|Gaëtan
|gaetangarnotel
|[[V-Model]]
|-
|Ghanizada
|Naweed
|S103745
|[[PRINCE2, A Project Management Methodology]]
|-
|Jacobsen
|Martin
|MistaJacob
|[[Mindfulness and Cognitive Biases in Project Management]]
|-
|Ferraresi
|Fabrizio
|S150905
|Projects in Controlled Environments, a process-based approach for project management
|-
|Tanghus
|Bjarke
|S113815
|Location Based Scheduling
|-
|Højgaard Hindhede
|Daniel
|S143352
|[[ Critical path optimization in construction management]]
|-
|Gayot
|Charles-Henri
|s141074
|[[Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RACI Matrix)]]
|-
|Thorp Sørensen
|Anders
|s103183
|[[The Gantt Chart]]
|-
|Makris
|Dimitrios
|Dimak
|[[Benchmarking in Project Management]]
|-
|Greiling
|Lea
|Lea
|[[Lean in Project Management]]
|-
|Latorre Duque
|Ana
|Ana
| [[Modularity and Black-Boxing]]
|-
|Almanzi
|Stefano
|S141530
|[[ Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)]]
|-
|Montagner
|Giacomo
|S150821
|[[Scrum Metodology in the Agile Project Management]]
|-
|Ruiz Muñoz
|Gustavo Adolfo
|S121408
| [[Lean 6 Sigma in project management]]
|-
|Kalmus
|Thomas
|S141938
| [[Program evaluation and review technique (PERT) ]]
|-
|Gudmundsson
|Arnar Gauti
|S141543
|Program management in change management
|-
|Jacobsen
|Ian Thobias
|S113735
|[[Story Points Estimation]]
|-
|Boesgaard
|Katrine
|KB1991
|[[Gantt Chart]]
|-
|Sorth-Olsen
|Rasmus
|Sorth90
|[[Lean as a project management tool]]
|-
|Salling
|Stephanie
|StephSalling
|[[Management in E. Pihl & Søn A/S]]
|-
|Ruina
|Jessica Linda
|Jejenji
|[[Scheduling techniques in Project Management]]
|-
|Gjerstrup
|Jacob
|s113440
|[[Fault tree analysis]]
|-
|Lynge
|Jane
|s997303
|Theory of Constraint in project management
|-
|Palmerini
|Alessandro
|alex161
|[[Project Management Communication]]
|-
|Tvedt
|Ida Marie
|IMT
|[[BREEAM - project management and sustainable development]]
|-
|Søndenaa
|Mathilde Hanssen
|s150621
|[[Critical chain project management (CCPM)]]
|-
|Helassalo
|Antti
|s141506
|[[Development phase of idea to project]]
|-
|Thorning-Schmidt
|Nanna
|Nannats
|[[Earned Value Management]]
|-
|Bureika
|Edvinas
|s141931
|[[Communication in Project Management]]
|-
|Rasmussen
|Marie-Louise
|DI2009
|[[Cross cultural teamwork]]
|-
|-
|Lara Hoces
|Fernando
|s131882
|[[The Oticon Case: the Spaghetti organisation]]
|-
|Christos
|Stamatis
|S145170
|[[Olympic Games London 2012: When the client strives for innovation (The London model)]]'''
|-
|Moe
|Elizabeth Lindhard
|113129
|[[Contracting as a PM]]
|-
|Lessis
|Vasileios
|lessisv
|[[Rational Unified Process (RUP)]]
|-
|Klibo Buur
|Christian
|Buurbuur
|[[Project Execution Model (PEM)]]
|-
|Bachmann
|Thomas
|s117318
|[[Lean Tools in Project Management]]
|-
|Vilar Bustos
|Alberto
|s142581
|[[Minimizing Risk and Uncertainties in Construction Projects]]
|-
|Trap Wiegandt
|Sissel
|s112195
|[[The Critical Path Method (CPM)]]
|-
|Christensen
|Britt Marie Lekven
|brittmch
|[[Lean in building and construction industry]]
|-
|Vestergaard Andersen
|Andreas
|AndreasAndersen
|[[Management of Project Change ]]
|-
|Ann-Elise
|Gustavsen
|Alise
|[[Stakeholder Analysis and Matrices ]]
|-
|Krogh
|Daniel
|DanielKrogh
|[[Managing Uncertainty and Risk on the Project]]
|-
|Fabio
|Labrini
|s142911
|[[Critical Chain Project Management to cope with uncertainty]]
|-
|Viig
|Oliver Johannes
|s102935
|[[BIM as a project management tool on construction projects]]
|-
|Federico
|Sbernini
|s141573
|[[The critical path method as input for quantitative schedule risk assessment]]
|-
|Augustin
|Bouet
|s142823
|[[Metra Potential Method]]
|-
|Eva Schultz
|Hansen
|s112960
|[[The Role of Boundary Objects in Project Management]]
|-
|Otiv
|Peter
|s145166
|[[Project Financing Initiative]]
|-
|Juhasz
|Bianka Zsuzsanna
|Biankajuh
|[[Changing conversations based on the Stacey matrix]]
|-
|Rodrigues
|Rafael
|s150931
|[[Project Integration Management]]
|-
|Camilla
|Flataukan
|s150801
|[[Mindfulness in Project Management]]
|-
|Søren
|Thomsen
|s140046
|[[Organisational resilience with mindfulness]]

Organisational resilience with mindfulness

2015-09-14T21:23:09Z

S140046: Created page with " == Abstract == An increasing demand for resilience within sociotechnical organisations has led to several managerial concepts preparing organisations for unexpected events. ..."