High reliability virtual organizations

Abstract

Highly reliable organizations (HROs) are those organizations, which by nature or design, cannot or must not fail; the consequences of failure in such systems are usually catastrophic. Systems that combine the characteristics of highly reliable operations and distributed, virtual organizations are known as highly reliable virtual organizations (HRVOs)—distributed and electronically linked groups of organizations that excel in high-consequence settings. Tsunami warning systems (TWS) are one example of virtual organizations that operate under enormous expectations for reliability. Adaptive structuration theory suggests that, in complex systems, technology and organizational structures co-evolve, and users adapt technology to their needs, creating shared meaning about the role and utility of technology in various settings. In this article, we consider how the shared meaning that develops in the social shaping of technology in one HRVO, tsunami warning systems, contributes to reliability enhancement. Following Poole and DeSanctis [2000], this study is a structuration study in a particular context, exploring how structuration occurs, the conditions that influence it, and its consequences or outcomes. We begin by describing HRVOs and the co-adaptive roles that technology and organizational structures play in such organizations. We then describe a global tsunami warning system as an illustrative case of a globally distributed sociotechnical system for which use of technology and distributed organizational structures should enhance reliability. We describe how social media plays a role in adaptive structuration in tsunami warning systems, and then return to consider the nature of HRVOs and their characteristics, en route to identifying challenges in the co-adaptation of technology and organizational structures in highly reliable tsunami warning systems.