Getting pandas to breed: Paradigm blindness and the policy space for risk prevention, mitigation and management

Fischbacher-Smith, D. (2012) Getting pandas to breed: Paradigm blindness and the policy space for risk prevention, mitigation and management. Risk Management, 14(3), pp. 177-201. (doi: 10.1057/rm.2012.6)

Abstract

The manner in which organizations are able to accept challenges to their worldviews is an important element in the identification and prevention of risk and the development of the policy spaces that seek to control the consequences of hazardous activities. A key consideration here is the manner in which paradigm blindness can prevent organizations from accepting challenges to these worldviews. This article considers paradigm blindness through a focus on the development of the policy space around the technical verification of risk as a policy construct. The article has a focus on those policy areas where there is a high level of uncertainty surrounding the technical determinations of both probabilities and consequences. Following on from a consideration of the processes around failure, the article considers the importance of paradigms in determining organizational decision making. The article moves on to consider the role of expertise within the process, and outlines two theoretical perspectives that seek to explain the relationships between the wider context of risk and the processes around technical verification.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Fischbacher-Smith, Professor Denis
• Authors: Fischbacher-Smith, D.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > Adam Smith Business School > Management
• Journal Name: Risk Management
• ISSN: 1460-3799
• ISSN (Online): 1743-4637
• Published Online: 01 January 2012