Richard Williams, Mott MacDonald
ICE/IStructE/HSE/SCOSS Prestige Lecture 2009
History is littered with major disasters. Most are not just accidents or fate playing its part. They are usually avoidable. Procedural failures are often sought as causes of such disasters. Less commonly examined are the cultural and behavioural issues surrounding a disaster, in particular the style and culture of the management. The events surrounding the collapse of Enron and throughout the banking world suggest a managerial arrogance leading to highly intelligent individuals ignoring common sense, ultimately resulting in disaster not only for themselves, but often society at large.
In this lecture, Richard Williams contends that these issues are directly transferable to the design and construction industry in all facets of engineering. He argues that managers seem to fail to understand that the same behaviours which can provide commercial protection against significant safety risks and it's about getting those behaviours right.
For more information, please contact (recordedlecture@ice.org.uk)
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This one will bring the house down: the unexamined role of the manager in failure
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