Everybody Fails, But Not Everybody Learns: Why Is It So Hard to Learn from Failures?

What do the US Marines, freight rail staff, computer programmers, Formula 1 drivers, and health care practitioners have in common? They all experience errors and failures at work and the same set of models can explain why and how they can improve failure reduction.

Failure learning has emerged as a vibrant interdisciplinary area of research. This book brings 14 scholars together in an edited volume containing failure studies and highlighting learning issues in settings such as freight rail, nurses hand washing routines, operating theatres, aviation, computer programming, Formula 1 racing, and the US Marines. In-depth analyses highlight what we know and offer deeper insights into the processes of (non)learning as well as learning. The book contains an overview of 13 commonly used models when studying error and failure learning; and interviews with a flight safety instructor, a surgeon and an international business executive put the models used by scholars to the test and offer insights on how to refine and extend the theories. Synthesizing across settings and theories, the book highlights overlooked aspects of failure learning and outlines new areas of study that can help us better understand how to improve failure reduction.

Kristina Dahlin, Professor MSO, Copenhagen Business School, You-Ta Chuang, Professor, School of Administrative Studies, York University

Kristina Dahlin works in the fields of organizational learning and innovation, analysing muti-year and multi-firm data sets in a variety of industries from tennis rackets, telecommunications to freight rail. She has a PhD in Organizational Behavior and Theory from Carnegie Mellon University and before that she studied Mechanical Engineering at Chalmers in Sweden. She held positions in leading research universities such as Oxford University and the University of Toronto before joining Copenhagen Business School.

You-Ta Chuang received his BSc from Kaohsiung Medical University, Taiwan, M.B.A from the City University of New York, and Ph.D. from Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. He has published journal articles on organizational learning, competition, and LGBTQ+ issues in the workplace. He teaches strategic management and innovation at the School of Administrative Studies, York University, Canada.