Management responsibility for human errors

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the adverse impact of management systems on the occurrence of human errors.

Design/methodology/approach

Conducted is systemic analysis of scenarios, which are illustrating creation of human errors, caused by functions of management systems. The text refers to a research study on mechanisms of errors committed by employees, conducted by the author in several organizations. In the text a special focus is given to the interaction between error‐generating mechanisms and management systems.

Findings

First, there are decisions made in favor of the management systems that increase risk of human errors in processes. The conflict between managers and employees, who are blamed for the errors, may obstruct the elimination of errors and the improvement of management systems. Second, managers are expected to resolve the conflict by establishing and maintaining a policy regarding prevention against system‐specific mechanisms of human error. The involvement of managers in improvement and establishing effective vertical communication in the management system are necessary to successful implementation of the policy. Third, a scheme of analyzing adverse effects of decisions is shown.

Originality/value

The paper focuses on some issues that decide on effectiveness of prevention of human errors. It provides explicit evidence of the necessity of the “management involvement” in the quality management system and respective suggestions for the improvement. The considerations may be useful for organizations that are highly sensitive to human errors such as healthcare institutions.

Citation

Myszewski, J.M. (2012), "Management responsibility for human errors", The TQM Journal, Vol. 24 No. 4, pp. 326-337. https://doi.org/10.1108/17542731211247355