Experiencing the improbable: Rare events and organizational learning

Organization Science

Volumn 20, Issue 5, 2009, Pages 835-845

  Lampel, Joseph ^a   Shamsie, Jamal ^b   Shapira, Zur ^c  

^a CITY UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

^b MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^c NEW YORK UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Learning processes; Learning triggers; Organizational learning; Rare events

Indexed keywords

EID: 77049091359     PISSN: 10477039     EISSN: 15265455     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1287/orsc.1090.0479     Document Type: Article

References (46)

1. Aidt, T. S., B. Leong, W. C. Saslaw, D. Sgroi. 2006. A power law distribution for tenure lengths of sports managers. Physica A 370 697-703.
2. Baum, J. A. C., K. B. Dahlin. 2007. Aspiration performance and railroads' rates of learning from train wrecks and crashes. Organ. Sci. 18(3) 368-385.
3. Beck, T. E., D. A. Plowman. 2009. Experiencing rare and unusual events richly: The role of middle managers in animating and guiding organizational interpretation. Organ. Sci. 20(5) 909-924.
4. Bordo, M. D., B. Eichengreen, D. Klinegbiel, M. Martinez-Peria. 2001. Is the crisis problem growing more severe? Econom. Policy 32 53-82.
5. Carley, K. M., J. R. Harrald. 1997. Organizational learning under fire: Theory and practice. Amer. Behavioral Scientist 40(3) 310-332.
6. Christianson, M. K., M. T. Farkas, K. M. Sutcliffe, K. E. Weick. 2009. Learning through rare events: Significiant interruptions at the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum. Organ. Sci. 20(5) 846-860.
7. Cohen, W. M., D. A. Levinthal. 1994. Fortune favors the prepared firm. Management Sci. 40(2) 227-251.
8. Desai, V. M. 2008. Constrained growth: How experience, legitimacy, and age influence risk taking in organizations. Organ. Sci. 19(4) 594-608.
9. Feldman, M. S. 2000. Organizational routines as a source of continuous change. Organ. Sci. 11(6) 611-629.
10. Fisher, B. 2004. Easy Rider: 35 years later. Moviemaker (June 22).
11. Gallarotti, G. M. 1995. It pays to be green: The managerial incentive structure and environmentally sound strategies. Columbia J. World Bus. 30(4) 38-57.
12. Gioia, D. A., K. Chittipeddi. 1991. Sensemaking and sensegiving in strategic change initiation. Strategic Management J. 12 433-448.
13. Grudens, R. 2004. Chattanooga Choo Choo: The Life and Times of the World Famous Glenn Miller Orchestra. Celebrity Profiles Publishing Company, Stonybrook, NY.
14. Harding, D. J., C. Fox, J. D. Mehta. 2002. Studying rare events through qualitative case studies: Lessons from a study of rampage school shootings. Sociol. Methods Res. 31(2) 174-217.
15. Haunschild, P. R., B. N. Sullivan. 2002. Learning from complexity: Effects of prior accidents and incidents on airlines' learning. Admin. Sci. Quart. 47 609-643.
16. Hoffman, A. J., W. Ocasio. 2001. Not all events are attended equally: Toward a middle-range theory of industry attention to external events. Organ. Sci. 12(4) 414-434.
17. Isabella, L. A. 1990. Evolving interpretations as a change unfolds: How managers construe key organizational events. Acad. Management J. 33 7-41.
18. Kale, P., H. Singh. 2007. Building firm capabilities through learning: The role of the alliance learning process in alliance capability and firm-level alliance success. Strategic Management J. 28 981-1000.
19. Kaufman, H. 2008. How the credit crisis will change the way America does business. Wall Street J. (December 6) A11.
20. Kim, J.-Y., J.-Y. Kim, A. S. Miner. 2009. Organizational learning from extreme performance experience: The impact of success and recovery experience. Organ. Sci., ePub ahead of print June 15, http://orgsci.journal.informs.org/cgi/content/abstract/orsc.1090.0439v1.
21. Kunreuther, H., J. Meszaros. 1997. Organizational choice under ambiguity: Decision making in chemical industry following. B. Z. Shapira, ed. Organization Decision Making. Cambridge University Press, New York, 61-70.
22. Lampel, J. 2006. Rules in the shadow of the future: Prudential rule making under ambiguity in the aviation industry. Internat. Relations 20(3) 343-349.
23. Lampel, J., Z. Shapira. 2001. Judgmental errors, interactive norms, and the difficulty of detecting strategic surprises. Organ. Sci. 12(5) 599-611.
24. Lyman, R. 1999. The chills! the thrills! the profits! The New York Times, late ed. (August 31) E1.
25. Lyons, C., T. M. Gray. 1999. Spooked by the witch: Low-budget picturns studio mind-set upside down. Variety (August 15) 7.
26. Madsen, P. M. 2009. These lives will not be lost in vain: Organizational learning from disaster in U.S. coal mining. Organ. Sci. 20(5) 861-875.
27. March, J. G., L. Sproull, M. Tamuz. 1991. Learning from samples of one or fewer. Organ. Sci. 2(1) 1-13.
28. Meyer, A. D. 1982. Adapting to environmental jolts. Admin. Sci. Quart. 27 515-537.
29. Moldoveanu, M. C., Baum, J. A. C. 2002. Contemporary debates in organizational epistemology. J. A. C. Baum, ed. The Blackwell Companion to Organizations. Blackwell, Oxford, UK, 733-751.
30. New York Times. 2008. Paulson cautions against overregulation. (November 21).
31. Ocasio, W. 1997. Towards an attention-based view of the firm. Strategic Management J. 18 187-206.
32. Rerup, C. 2009. Attentional triangulation: Learning from unexpected rare crises. Organ. Sci. 20(5) 876-893.
33. Risen, J., T. Gilovich. 2007. Informal logical fallacies. R. J. Sternberg, D. Halpern, H. Roediger, eds. Critical Thinking in Psychology. Cambridge University Press, New York, 110-130.
34. Schein, E. H. 1972. Professional Education: Some New Directions. McGraw-Hill, New York.
35. Starbuck, W. H. 2009. Cognitive reactions to rare events: Perceptions, uncertainty, and learning. Organ. Sci. 20(5) 925-937.
36. Swiss Re. 2009. Natural catastrophes and man-made disasters in 2008. Sigma, No. 2.
37. Tamuz, M. 2000. Defining away dangers: A study in the influences of managerial cognition on information systems. T. Lant, Z. Shapira, eds. Organizational Cognition: Computation and Interpretation. Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ, 157-184.
38. Weick, K. 1969. The Social Psychology of Organizing. McGraw Hill, New York.
39. Weick, K. E., K. M. Sutcliffe. 2006. Mindfulness and the quality of organizational attention. Organ. Sci. 17(4) 514-524.
40. Weick, K. E., K. M. Sutcliffe, D. Obstfeld. 2005. Organizing and the process of sensemaking. Organ. Sci. 16(4) 409-421.
41. Williams, T. 2008. How do organizations learn lessons from projects-and do they? IEEE Trans. Engrg. Management 55(2) 248-266.
42. Winter, S. G., G. Szulanski. 2001. Replication as strategy. Organ. Sci. 12(6) 730-743.
43. Zander U., B. Kogut. 1995. Knowledge and the speed of transfer and imitation of organizational capabilities: An empirical test. Organ. Sci. 6(1) 76-92.
44. Zollo, M. 2009. Superstitious learning with rare strategic decisions: Theory and evidence from corporate acquisitions. Organ. Sci. 20(5) 894-908.
45. Zollo, M., Reuer. 2009. Experience spillovers across corporate development activities. Organ. Sci. Forthcoming.
46. Zollo, M., S. G. Winter. 2002. Deliberate learning and the evolution of dynamic capabilities. Organ. Sci. 13(3) 339-351.