The first detailed and systematic review of workplace research
reveals curiosity's many upsides, occasional downsides,
and how managers can encourage employees to be curious.
Even though everyone makes mistakes, many organizations are
reluctant to accept that errors happen and correcting them
offers chances to learn and grow. Leaders who adopt an error
management approach have a better image with employees than
leaders who focus on avoiding mistakes. (See below for more
Insights summaries on workplace errors.)
Today’s headlines are filled with news about errors that
produce service interruptions, product failures, injuries, and
loss of lives. Consider the manufacturing errors that led to
massive Toyota and Samsung Galaxy Note 7 recalls, medical
errors that are responsible for thousands of deaths in U.S.
hospitals each year, or the errors that contributed to the
self-driving Tesla car crash, BP’s oil spill in the Gulf of
Mexico, the Fukushima disaster, or the recent train derailment
in Washington state. Errors are ubiquitous not only in
organizational life, but also in the economy, the environment,
and in public policy. The wisdom of managing and learning from
errors is incontrovertible. The goal in this
Academy of Management Discoveriesspecial issue
is to broaden thinking on errors and to build a knowledge
resource that is more visible, systematic, and influential on
organizations. This endeavor is even more relevant in an era
of rapid technological innovations, such as artificial
intelligence and machine learning.
