Organizational Oscillation Between Learning and Forgetting: The Dual Role of Serious Errors

Published Online:https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2015.1010

References

  • Abernathy WJ, Utterback JM (1978) Patterns of industrial innovation. Tech. Rev. 80(7):40–47.Google Scholar
  • Adler PS, Goldoftas B, Levine DI (1999) Flexibility versus efficiency? A case study of model changeovers in the Toyota production system. Organ. Sci. 10(1):43–68.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Amgen (2005) Fighting serious illness: Amgen 2005 annual report. Report, Amgen, Thousand Oaks, CA.Google Scholar
  • Amgen (2006) Our promise: Amgen 2006 annual report. Report, Amgen, Thousand Oaks, CA.Google Scholar
  • Anderson JM (2008) Understanding mass tort defendant incentives for confidential settlements: Lessons from Bayer’s cerivastatin litigation strategy. Working Paper WR-617-ICJ, RAND Institute for Civil Justice, Santa Monica, CA.Google Scholar
  • Argote L (2011) Organizational learning research: Past, present and future. Management Learn. 42(4):439–446.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Argote L (2013) Organizational Learning: Creating, Retaining and Transferring Knowledge, 2nd ed. (Springer, New York).CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Argote L, Miron-Spektor E (2011) Organizational learning: From experience to knowledge. Organ. Sci. 22(5):1123–1137.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Argote L, Beckman SL, Epple D (1990) The persistence and transfer of learning in industrial settings. Management Sci. 36(2):140–154.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Argote L, McEvily B, Reagans R (2003) Managing knowledge in organizations: An integrative framework and review of emerging themes. Management Sci. 49(4):571–582.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Barley SR, Kunda G (1992) Design and devotion: Surges of rational and normative ideologies of control in managerial discourse. Admin. Sci. Quart. 37(3):363–399.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Baum JAC, Dahlin KB (2007) Aspiration performance and railroads’ patterns of learning from train wrecks and crashes. Organ. Sci. 18(3):368–385.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Baumard P, Starbuck WH (2005) Learning from failures: Why it may not happen. Long Range Planning 38(3):281–298.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Beck TE, Plowman DA (2014) Temporary, emergent interorganizational collaboration in unexpected circumstances: A study of the Columbia space shuttle response effort. Organ. Sci. 25(4):1234–1252.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Beckman CM, Haunschild PR (2002) Network learning: The effects of partners’ heterogeneity of experience on corporate acquisitions. Admin. Sci. Quart. 47(1):92–124.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Berenson A (2007) Merck agrees to settle Vioxx suits for $4.85 billion. New York Times (November 9), http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/09/business/09merck.html?_r=0.Google Scholar
  • Berger AN, Udell GF (2004) The institutional memory hypothesis and the procyclicality of bank lending behavior. J. Financial Intermediation 13(4):458–495.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Birkinshaw J, Gupta K (2013) Clarifying the distinctive contribution of ambidexterity to the field of organization studies. Acad. Management Perspect. 27(4):287–298.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Bohmer RMJ, Edmondson A, Roberto M, Feldman L, Ferlins E (2004) Columbia’s final mission. HBS Case 9-304-090, Harvard Business School, Boston.Google Scholar
  • Bosch J-C, Lee I (1994) Wealth effects of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decisions. Managerial Decision Econom. 15(6):589–599.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Boston Business Journal (2003) Sepracor drops Soltara drug. (December 2), http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2003/12/01/daily17.html.Google Scholar
  • CAIB (Columbia Accident Investigation Board) (2003) Columbia Accident Investigation Board report, Vol. 1. Report, Columbia Accident Investigation Board, Arlington, VA.Google Scholar
  • Carroll JS (1995) Incident reviews in high-hazard industries: Sense making and learning under ambiguity and accountability. Organ. Environment. 9(2):175–197.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Caves RE, Whinston MD, Hurwitz MA, Pakes A, Temin P (1991) Patent expiration, entry, and competition in the U.S. pharmaceutical industry. Brookings Papers Econom. Activity Microeconomics, 1–66.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (2005) CDER 2005 report to the nation: Improving public health through human drugs. Report, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Rockville, MD.Google Scholar
  • Chandler D (2014) Organizational susceptibility to institutional complexity: Critical events driving the adoption and implementation of the ethics and compliance officer position. Organ. Sci. 25(6):1722–1743.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Chandler D (2015) Why institutions matter: Stakeholder attention to organizational ethics commitments. Kraatz MS, ed. Institutions and Ideals: Philip Selznick’s Legacy for Organizational Studies, Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 44 (Emerald Group Publishing, Bingley, UK), 199–233.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Chandler D, Hwang H (2015) Learning from learning theory: A model of organizational adoption strategies at the microfoundations of institutional theory. J. Management. 41(5):1446–1476.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Cockburn IM, Henderson R, Stern S (2000) Untangling the origins of competitive advantage. Strategic Management J. 21(10–11):1123–1145.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Cohen WM, Nelson RR, Walsh JP (2000) Protecting their intellectual assets: Appropriability conditions and why U.S. manufacturing firms patent (or not). NBER Working Paper 7552, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Cyert RM, March JG (1963) A Behavioral Theory of the Firm (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ).Google Scholar
  • Danzon PM (2000) The pharmaceutical industry. Bouckaert B, De Geest G, eds. The Encyclopedia of Law and Economics (Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK), 1055–1091.Google Scholar
  • Day GS (1994) The capabilities of market-driven organizations. J. Marketing 58(4):37–52.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Denrell J (2003) Vicarious learning, undersampling of failure, and the myths of management. Organ. Sci. 14(3):227–243.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • DeRuiter J, Holston PL (2012) Drug patent expirations and the “patent cliff”. U.S. Pharmacist 37(6):12–20.Google Scholar
  • Dillon RL, Tinsley CH (2008) How near-misses influence decision making under risk: A missed opportunity for learning. Management Sci. 54(8):1425–1440.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • DiMasi JA, Hansen RW, Grabowski HG (2003) The price of innovation: New estimates of drug development costs. J. Health Econom. 22(2):151–185.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Eisenhardt KM (1989) Building theories from case study research. Acad. Management Rev. 14(4):532–550.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Eisenhardt KM, Graebner ME (2007) Theory building from cases: Opportunities and challenges. Acad. Management J. 50(1):25–32.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Farjoun M (2005) Organizational learning and action in the midst of safety drift: Revisiting the space shuttle program’s recent history. Starbuck WH, Farjoun M, eds. Organization at the Limit: Lessons from the Columbia Disaster (Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, UK), 60–80.Google Scholar
  • Flapan D (2004) Vioxx pulled from global market. Medscape Medical News (September 30), http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/490355.Google Scholar
  • Furberg C, Pitt B (2001) Withdrawal of cerivastatin from the world market. Current Controlled Trials Cardiovascular Medicine 2(5):205–207.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Gilbert D, Scheck J (2014) BP is found grossly negligent in Deepwater Horizon disaster. Wall Street Journal (September 4), http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-judge-finds-bp-grossly-negligent-in-2010-deepwater-horizon-disaster-1409842182.Google Scholar
  • Goodman PS, Ramanujam R, Carroll JS, Edmondson AC, Hofmann DA, Sutcliffe KM (2011) Organizational errors: Directions for future research. Res. Organ. Behav. 31:151–176.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Greve HR (1998) Performance, aspirations and risky organizational change. Admin. Sci. Quart. 43(1):58–86.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Griliches Z (1990) Patent statistics as economic indicators: A survey. J. Econom. Literature 28(4):1661–1707.Google Scholar
  • Haunschild PR, Rhee M (2004) The role of volition in organizational learning: The case of automotive product recalls. Management Sci. 50(11):1545–1560.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Haunschild PR, Sullivan BN (2002) Learning from complexity: Effects of prior accidents and incidents on airlines’ learning. Admin. Sci. Quart. 47(4):609–643.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Hausman J, Hall BH, Griliches Z (1984) Econometric models for count data with an application to the patents-R&D relationship. Econometrica 52(4):909–938.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Heimann L (2005) Repeated failures in the management of high risk technologies. Eur. Management J. 23(1):105–117.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Henderson R, Cockburn I (1994) Measuring competence? Exploring firm effects in pharmaceutical research. Strategic Management J. 15(S1):63–84.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Hoetker G (2007) The use of logit and probit models in strategic management research: Critical issues. Strategic Management J. 28(4):331–343.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Holland PW (1986) Statistics and causal inference (in theory and methods). J. Amer. Statist. Assoc. 81(396):945–960.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Kamp J (2010) Boston Scientific wants to spend on growth, not big studies. Dow Jones Newswires (December 1), http://www.advfn.com/nyse/StockNews.asp?stocknews=BSX&article=41075147.Google Scholar
  • Lampel J, Shamsie J, Shapira Z (2009) Experiencing the improbable: Rare events and organizational learning. Organ. Sci. 20(5):835–845.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Lapré MA, Nembhard IM (2011) Inside the organizational learning curve: Understanding the organizational learning process. Foundations Trends Tech., Inform. Oper. Management 4(1):1–110.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Levinthal DA, March JG (1993) The myopia of learning. Strategic Management J. 14(8):95–112.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Levitt B, March JG (1988) Organizational learning. Annual Rev. Sociol. 14:319–340.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Lewis MW, Welsh MA, Dehler GE, Green SG (2002) Product development tensions: Exploring contrasting styles of project management. Acad. Management J. 45(3):546–564.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Macher JT, Boerner CS (2006) Experience and scale and scope economies: Trade-offs and performance in development. Strategic Management J. 27(9):845–865.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Madsen PM (2009) These lives will not be lost in vain: Organizational learning from disaster in U.S. coal mining. Organ. Sci. 20(5):861–875.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Madsen PM, Desai V (2010) Failing to learn? The effects of failure and success on organizational learning in the global orbital launch vehicle industry. Acad. Management J. 53(3):451–476.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Mahler JG, Hogan Casamayou M (2009) Organizational Learning at NASA: The Challenger and Columbia Accidents (Georgetown University Press, Washington, DC).Google Scholar
  • Maor M (2011) Organizational reputations and the observability of public warnings in 10 pharmaceutical markets. Governance 24(3):557–582.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • March JG (1991) Exploration and exploitation in organizational learning. Organ. Sci. 2(1):71–87.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • March JG, Sproull LS, Tamuz M (1991) Learning from samples of one or fewer. Organ. Sci. 2(1):1–13.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Martin de Holan P, Nelson P (2004) Remembrance of things past? The dynamics of organizational forgetting. Management Sci. 50(11):1603–1613.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Maybury-Lewis D, Almagor U (1989) The Attraction of Opposites: Thought and Society in the Dualistic Mode (University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor).CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • McGrath RG (1997) A real options logic for initiating technology positioning investments. Acad. Management Rev. 22(4):974–996.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Miller D (1994) What happens after success: The perils of excellence. J. Management Stud. 31(3):325–358.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Miron E, Erez M, Naveh E (2004) Do personal characteristics and cultural values that promote innovation, quality, and efficiency compete or complement each other? J. Organ. Behav. 25(2):175–199.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Morris MW, Moore PC (2000) The lessons we (don’t) learn: Counterfactual thinking and organizational accountability after a close call. Admin. Sci. Quart. 45(4):737–765.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Naveh E, Erez M (2004) Innovation and attention to detail in the quality improvement paradigm. Management Sci. 50(11):1576–1586.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Nelson RR (1991) Why do firms differ, and how does it matter? Strategic Management J. 12(S2):61–74.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Nickerson JA, Zenger TR (2002) Being efficiently fickle: A dynamic theory of organizational choice. Organ. Sci. 13(5):547–566.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Ocasio W (1997) Towards an attention-based view of the firm. Strategic Management J. 18(6):187–206.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • O’Reilly CA III, Tushman ML (2013) Organizational ambidexterity: Past, present, and future. Acad. Management Perspect. 27(4):324–338.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Patel P, Pavitt K (1995) Patterns of technological activity: Their measurement and interpretation. Stoneman P, ed. Handbook of the Economics of Innovation and Technological Change (Blackwell, Oxford, UK), 14–51.Google Scholar
  • Perrow C (1984) Normal Accidents: Living with High-Risk Technologies (Basic Books, New York).Google Scholar
  • Perrow C (1994) Accidents in high-risk systems. Tech. Stud. 1(1):1–20.Google Scholar
  • Pettigrew AM (1990) Longitudinal field research on change: Theory and practice. Organ. Sci. 1(3):267–292.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Pharma Letter (2000) FDA says SB’s Factive is non-approvable. (December 18), http://www.thepharmaletter.com/article/fda-says-sb-s-factive-is-non-approvable.Google Scholar
  • Pharma Letter (2002) Sepracor slumps as U.S. FDA turns down antihistamine product Soltara. (March 18), http://www.thepharmaletter.com/article/sepracor-slumps-as-us-fda-turns-down-antihistamine-product-soltara.Google Scholar
  • Polidoro F Jr (2013) The competitive implications of certifications: The effects of scientific and regulatory certifications on entries into new technical fields. Acad. Management J. 56(2):597–627.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Polidoro F Jr, Theeke M (2011) Getting competition down to a science: The effects of technological competition on firms’ scientific publications. Organ. Sci. 23(4):1135–1153.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Polidoro F Jr, Toh PK (2011) Letting rivals come close or warding them off? The effects of substitution threat on imitation deterrence. Acad. Management J. 54(2):369–392.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Rerup C (2009) Attentional triangulation: Learning from unexpected rare crises. Organ. Sci. 20(5):876–893.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Rhee M, Valdez ME (2009) Contextual factors surrounding reputation damage with potential implications for reputation repair. Acad. Management Rev. 34(1):146–168.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Sharma A, Lacey N (2004) Linking product development outcomes to market valuation of the firm: The case of the U.S. pharmaceutical industry. J. Product Innovation Management 21(5):297–308.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Thomke S, Kuemmerle W (2002) Asset accumulation, interdependence and technological change: Evidence from pharmaceutical drug discovery. Strategic Management J. 23(7):619–635.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Tushman ML, Anderson P (1986) Technological discontinuities and organizational environments. Admin. Sci. Quart. 31(3):439–465.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Tushman ML, Romanelli E (1985) Organizational evolution: A metamorphosis model of convergence and reorientation. Res. Organ. Behav. 7:171–222.Google Scholar
  • Twedt S (1993) Deadly hospital mistakes are doomed to be repeated. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (October 24) A1.Google Scholar
  • U.S. Congress, House Committee on Science (1986) Report of the presidential commission on the space shuttle Challenger accident. Report 99-106, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
  • U.S. Congress, House Committee on Science (2003) NASA’s organizational and management challenges in the wake of the Columbia disaster: Hearing before the Committee on Science. 108th Cong., 1st sess., October 23, 2003.Google Scholar
  • Vaughan D (1997) The Challenger Launch Decision: Risky Technology, Culture, and Deviance at NASA (University of Chicago Press, Chicago).CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Vaughan D (2005) System effects: On slippery slopes, repeating negative patterns, and learning from mistake? Starbuck WH, Farjoun M, eds. Organization at the Limit: Lessons from the Columbia Disaster (Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, UK), 41–59.Google Scholar
  • Walsh JP, Ungson GR (1991) Organizational memory. Acad. Management Rev. 16(1):57–91.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Weick KE (1987) Organizational culture as a source of high reliability. Calif. Management Rev. 29(2):112–127.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Weick KE, Sutcliffe KM, Obstfeld D (1999) Organizing for high reliability: Processes of collective mindfulness. Staw BM, Sutton FR, eds. Research in Organizational Behavior, Vol. 21 (JAI Press, Greenwich, CT), 81–123.Google Scholar
  • Woods DD (2005) Creating foresight: Lessons for enhancing resilience from Columbia. Starbuck WH, Farjoun M, eds. Organization at the Limit: Lessons from the Columbia Disaster (Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, UK), 289–308.Google Scholar
  • Wooldridge JM (2002) Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA).Google Scholar
INFORMS site uses cookies to store information on your computer. Some are essential to make our site work; Others help us improve the user experience. By using this site, you consent to the placement of these cookies. Please read our Privacy Statement to learn more.